Volume: 5  Number: 1  Page: 86–104

Language and Power: Raising Awareness of the Role of Language in Multicultural Teams

María del Carmen Méndez García and María Luisa Pérez Cañado Departamento de Filología Inglesa, Universidad de Jaén, Spain

The present paper explores the role language plays in establishing power relations in multicultural teams, understood as teams comprising members from three or more than three different national, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. To this end, the general relationship between language and power is examined in an initial theoretical section and subsequently probed from a practical viewpoint by reporting on the results yielded in a study recently carried out in Spain within the international research project ICOPROMO (Intercultural Competence for Professional Mobility). After characterising the latter and describing the sample of subjects who have integrated into the Spanish part of the study, this paper goes on to reflect their view of power in multicultural teams, with a clear focus on the relationship between mastery of the official team language and influence in such a team. The data obtained carries relevant implications, such as the need to consider language an integral component in current models of intercultural communicative competence or the significance of incorporating intercultural training in foreign language learning.

Keywords: multicultural teams, language, power, influence

© 2005 M.C. Méndez García & M.L. Pérez Cañado

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