New language policies and acquisition of plurilingual professional skills applied to the teaching of chinese speakers

Abstract

Student mobility and economic investment of Chinese entrepreneurs in Portugal have led to a growing demand by Chinese speakers to study Portuguese. Given this reality, we intend to demonstrate how the economic relations between China and Portugal can be strengthened by investing in the development of language skills geared to the professional and academic contexts. Starting from the framework of European and Portuguese language policies, through the analysis of the main guiding documents, conceived from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, we will demonstrate the need for a more adequate response in terms of language policies to the learning needs of the Portuguese language by foreign students and professionals, manifested by the absence of guidelines for language teaching in higher education and by the lack of visibility of language for specific purposes in these documents. Considering the issues of the intercultural approach (Byram & Morgan 1994) and the needs analysis in languages for specific purposes (Munby 1978), we will discuss the repercussions from different relational and business models, with special emphasis on Chinese and Portuguese business contexts, supported by studies carried out within the scope of communication and intercultural management (Finuras 2018). Since, in the context of intercultural management, we contact with codes of conduct and values of different people placed in relation, we point this as an important way to reinforce the Portuguese for specific purposes business-oriented programs, which should always include lexicultural elements (Galisson 1987).