Global Business Languages Domain Analysis

Opportunity Description:

The successful applicant will be part of a team - instructional professors in world languages - that is pursuing a qualitative research project on Global Business Languages. Our team includes Colin Benert (German), Xiarong Wang (Chinese), Linxi Zhang (Spanish), Ana Flavia Boeing Marcelino (Portugese), Silvie Goutas (French) and Julie Matsubara (ESL). Although language business courses have long attracted pedagogical attention, there exists an increasing demand for curriculum that aligns with the linguistic and cultural competencies required in global business workplaces (e.g. Grosse, 2007). Many students and employers alike recognize that these gaps hinder effective professional preparation.

To identify these gaps, we are conducting a project that analyses communication in the global business domain, focusing on six target languages—Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and English as a second language (ESL). Domain analysis is a powerful methodological tool to investigate the language-related knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required in a domain. In our study, we are gathering rich data from over 80 surveys, 12 interviews, 120 job postings and 13 business language textbooks. The data is being coded and analyzed under the thematic analysis framework of Braun & Clarke, 2006 through NVivo. Preliminary results highlight the intertwining between intercultural understanding and linguistic skills, as well as the importance of speaking and listening skills under the impact of AI. Using these results, our study will determine future directions for assessment and curricula improvement for business languages courses.

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Assist in organizing and managing qualitative data sets.
• Perform coding, thematic analysis, and data visualization using NVivo.
• Collaborate with researchers to interpret data and prepare findings.
• Assist in preparing literature reviews, reports, and presentations.
• Ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and compliance with research protocols.
• Perform other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications and/or Eligibility Requirements: 

• Pursuing a degree in Social Sciences, Public Policy, Comparative Human Development, or a related field.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

• Experience with qualitative research methods (and/or thematic analysis) and ethics.
• Hands-on experience with NVivo or other data analysis software.
• Prior experience working on academic or nonprofit research projects.
• Experience assisting in publications or grant-funded projects.

Knowledge or skills gained from the experience: 

The student will benefit from this experience by gaining research skills in qualitative analysis, in particular coding: studying sources to identify recurring keywords, themes and concepts. The coding work for this project is partly bottom-up coding, so the RA will have the opportunity to make creative contributions to the project through their own engagement with the data. We are using a sophisticated software program for this work – NVivo – so the RA will also gain knowledge of and practical experience with this tool. NVivo also allows users to revise or reorganize coding systems, so the student, working in consultation with research team members, will gain the critical thinking skills needed for such revisions. Another important functionality of this program lies in the various tools its offers to visualize the collected data, which will be important both for analysis purposes as well as presentation purposes. The student will thus also gain experience with different data visualization tools, which is a valuable skill across a range of social sciences.

On the content side, students with an interesting foreign language acquisition and/or in global business will gain fine-grained knowledge of the specific world language skills that are required and needed in the business world. The student will gain concrete insights into how world languages are used, in which contexts and economic sectors. They can further assist in preparing literature reviews in the field of second language acquisition as well as reports and presentations.

Application Process: 

Please send your resume/CV and a brief cover letter outlining your experience with qualitative research to cbenert@uchicago.edu.

Application Deadline: 

Application Requirements: