Developing a cultural syllabus for business language e-learning materials

The increasing emphasis on ‘e-learning’ in all sectors of education, including vocational and professional domains, offers great potential to provide interactive, up-dateable multimedia materials which allow greater flexibility of access and use. This paper reports on an EU-funded, e-learning project which aims to exploit on-line technology to develop intercultural business and language skills for European managers in the construction industy. It advocates an integrated approach to language and culture training, describing how a ‘cultural syllabus’ was designed to develop users’ understanding of key aspects of European work culture and practices alongside their professional language skills. The resulting matrix syllabus incorporates insights from theoretical frameworks together with factual information and authentic accounts of cross cultural work experiences. It argues that the growing demand for on-line learning materials needs to be matched by great attention to quality of course and materials design so that technology enhances, rather than detracts from, content and pedagogy.