Abstract:

The promotion of tolerance in the intercultural context of the European English language classroom in higher education is of central importance. This paper further explores the results of Arau Ribeiro's (2011) study on university-level speaking strategies as reported regularly in think-aloud protocols registered throughout the semester over four different years beginning in 2006-07 in tandem with a self-report inventory which registered a correlation of ERASMUS student participation in the Portuguese Business English classroom with greater levels of confidence and willingness to experiment with the target language. The variety of source countries - Poland, Spain, Turkey, and Lithuania - demonstrate that this is not due to any linguistic affinity but rather growing awareness of self and of the world. The promotion of intercultural dialogue for metalinguistic development in this class of English for Specific Purposes of Marketing aimed at students of Marketing, Management, and Accounting has raised the possibility of a non-traditional model of inclusion differing from those of multiculturalism based in the United Kingdom and that of the French model of assimilation.

Keywords:

English for specific purposes, intercultural context, Erasmus, Higher Education.