Madalena, 50.610-090 Recife-PE, Brazil
The author is aware that ergonomists place a high
value on a multidisciplinary approach to their work
and is confident that many highly qualified and
experienced ELT professionals in whatever country
would have great interest in collaborating with them
in any projects that may arise from any of the
observations and suggestions made. This is not to
suggest that there are off-the-shelf solutions [18].
Any that do exist are likely to be limited to specific
training for targeted personnel who need to enhance a
limited range of language skills in a short period of
time [19].
Tentative examples of the kinds of new approaches
that might be considered are:
a) If there is no English examination designed for
the special purposes of a high-profile, high-risk
profession, is it for the ergonomist to suggest that the
professional association should consider the need for
one and should approach an appropriate examination
body? If such an exam does exist, do the
professionals who have taken it find that any
language skills or specialist areas or areas of general
need are inadequately covered? To whom should they
express this and how does this get reviewed at an
international level? For how long should a positive
result in such an exam be considered valid?
b) Perhaps ELT professionals could draw up
guidelines for ergonomists on the types of error that
are unacceptable in manuals and instructions written
in English. This of course presupposes that the
ergonomist who is a NNS of English and would use
such guidelines has at least an upper intermediate
knowledge of English (i.e. the B2 level on the CEFR
scale)
c) Is there evidence that one or more specialist
journals used by ergonomists regularly publish
articles that are written in different varieties of
English? If so, how can such evidence be used to
persuade other journals to do likewise? If not,
perhaps in partnership with an ELT professional, a
representative group of ergonomists could explore
with selected journals if the journal would be
prepared to consider doing so in the light of the
global movement towards IE and/or to what extent
the journal approached considers that it does allow
deviation from an educated native speaker standard
of written English. The results of any such survey
should be published so they can be shared with
ergonomists worldwide.
d) Similarly, perhaps the editorial board of a new
ergonomics e-journal to be produced in English in a
country where English is not L1 would wish to work
with an ELT professional on drawing up guidelines
for the standard of written English they expect by
attempting to specify what deviations from a standard
variety of English are and are not unacceptable. This
will include testing these guidelines by identifying
written articles that follow them and subsequently
seeking the opinion of ergonomists, who are and are
not NSs of English, on the impact that a text that is
clear and well-argued but not fully in accordance
with a NS variety of English has on them.