Language instruction and language engineering

When professionals or trainee professionals in industrial or commercial fields receive language instruction, it involves both user performance and formal linguistic knowledge. Firstly, the acquisition of one or more foreign languages enables distinct industrial or commercial activities in an international context. This foreign language skill must be shaped in keeping with the professional area and the functions which it is meant to support; it must also adopt the imperatives of efficiency which prevail in the sector of its application. Secondly, knowledge about the language itself supports an efficient use of electronic language tools and cross-language electronic communication in an automated environment, whether it be Information Technology, Computer-Assisted Design or Manufacturing. A result of the globalization of industrial and commercial activities, language instruction is also part of a huge economic interest. For all these reasons, language instruction for the corporate sector calls upon computers extensively and constitutes a rich field for the observation of language instruction in the context of language engineering. Efficient language instruction for that sector rests on focused contents, tailor-made provisions for individual learners or groups of learners, and modes of delivery which integrates well with existing corporate practices