Maritime English vs Maritime English Communication

Success of communication at sea is directly linked with clear and complete delivery and receipt of the target message between interlocutors. It can be said that speakers' effective delivery of their intended message and listeners' precise decoding and accurate understanding are the keys to successful maritime communication. From this perspective, the scope of maritime English education and training needs to be reconceptualized and expanded into the area of communication itself, beyond the simple acquisition of, and familiarization with, IMO Standard Maritime Communication Phrases (SMCP). Therefore, in order to make learners' acquisition of marine communication knowledge more feasible, and the knowledge learned more practically applicable, training on effective and clear oral delivery should be also considered within the frame of maritime English education. Thus, critical training elements to realize this goal need to be suggested as guidelines. In this presentation, the theoretical background on this will be introduced in terms of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and Lingua Franca Core (LFC), which are the current mainstream forms of English communication in the international business context. Based on this, six key training elements will be discussed; that is, speech rate, word groups, pauses, nuclear stresses, consonants (including consonant clusters), and vowels (specifically long and short vowels). Finally, the practical pedagogical methods of each element, and its actual application into a real ESP classroom, will be suggested.