The Definition of Specific-Purpose English Language Competences Needed in Border Control and their Development Potentials

Abstract

The aim of this series of papers is to present modern methods of linguistics and language pedagogy concerning specific-purpose language competences and, applying them to English for Border Guards (EBG), to describe the English competences to be developed at language courses for border guards in EU member states and to explore the prospects for their improvement. Having discussed the dilemmas and methodology related to the definition of specific-purpose language competences and to needs analyses, indispensable for language course design in the first part of the series, the further parts wish to prove that the ongoing FRONTEX project entitled English Communication for Border and Coast Guards very well illustrates how the new approach to needs analysis methods is used to define the English language skills needed for border control in the EU. The author also presents that, based on the authentic material provided by border guards, the ESP competences needed for their work can be defined according to the categories used in applied linguistics and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Due to the length limits of this paper, this part will only discuss elementary and intermediate (A2/B1) EBG competences.