[01] Crystal Jia-Yi Lin, Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan University of Sport, Taichung, Taiwan.

As sports economy becomes globalized, it provides students who want a career in sports a diverse range of opportunities in both domestic and international job markets. Given the dominance of English in the world, it is important that students who want a career in sports equip themselves with professional English needed in the field to benefit from having choices and free movement in the global job market. The study investigated views of students concerning their professional English needs. This included the English abilities that are essential to their specific field in the sports industry as well as the proficiency level required for those English abilities. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were administered to students in a sports university in central Taiwan. Results showed that regardless of the majors, having knowledge of vocabulary, especially sports jargon and body parts, was considered fundamental. In addition, oral communicative abilities such as the abilities to understand foreign umpires and English training prescriptions, to converse with coaches and players, and to express oneself when participating in a game were relatively more important for student-athletes. For non-student-athletes, while oral communicative abilities were indispensable, other communicative abilities such as reading and writing English emails, notices, and sports-related news were equally important. As to the proficiency level required for these abilities, it was found that for most students, all that is required is the ability to grasp the main idea with a few important details, a level which is achievable with some training even for students with basic commands of English. The study is concluded that to provide student-athletes and non-student-athletes with professional English needed for careers in the sports industry, course designers and English instructors should consider adjusting the focus of their course to students’ specific field in sports, incorporating authentic materials and activities in their classroom, and working on developing communicative competencies in their students.

Career Planning for Athletes, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Professional English, Student-Athletes, Globalized Sports Economy, Language Requirements

[01] Andreff, W. (2008). Globalization of the sports economy. Rivista di Diritto ed Economia Dello Sport, 4, 13-32. [02] Emerging Careers in Sports: Job Options, Salaries, & Resources. (2019, April 21). Retrieved October 8, 2019, from https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/career-resource-center/careers-in-sports/ [03] Heather, M. (2016, August 16). Why aspiring footballers should study languages. Retrieved December 13, 2016 from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-aspiring-footballers-should-study-languages [04] Dorman, L. (2008, August 26). Golf Tour’s Rule: Speak English to Stay in Play. The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/sports/golf/27golf.html [05] Guevarra, J. P. (2010). Learning English impacts sports-importance of learning English for athletes. Retrieved October 8, 2019 from https://ezinearticles.com/?Learning-English-Impacts-Sports---Importance-of-Learning-English-For-Athletes&id=4756212 [06] Dotto, S. (2016, June 20). How English Can Help Your Career in Sports. Retrieved October 8, 2019, from https://www.kaplaninternational.com/blog/how-english-can-help-your-career-sports. [07] Rpowell. (2019, April 9). Estimated probability of competing in professional athletics. NCAA Research. Retrieved October 8, 2019, from http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/estimated-probability-competing-professional-athletics [08] Campriani, N. (2018, July). What's Next? APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Sports Newsletter, 5, 27-28, Retrieved October 8, 2019 from https://aspn.tier.org.tw/backend/uptxt/20180725111045.pdf [09] Lin, C. & Liu, K. L. (2017). English language needs of college student-athletes in Taiwan. Sports and Exercise Research, 19 (3), 228-241. doi: 10.5297/ser.1903.003. [10] Kai, I.-H. (2012). The effect of ESP materials on college athlete students’ English learning motivation. Hwa Kang English Journal, 18 (1), 117-146. [11] Serafini, E. J., Lake, J. B., & Long, M. H. (2015). Needs analysis for specialized learner populations: Essential methodological improvements. English for Specific purposes, 40, 11-26. [12] Velescu, E. (2013). The role of authentic materials in the teaching of French for specific purposes (FOS) in the field of veterinary medicine. Lucrări Ştiinţifice, 56 (2), 277-280. [13] Huang, J., Tindall, E., & Nisbet, D. (2011). Authentic activities and materials for adult ESL learners. Journal of Adult Education, 40 (1), 1-10. [14] Abrams, Z. & Schiestl, S. B. (2017). Using authentic materials to teach varieties of German: Reflections on a pedagogical experiment. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 50 (2), 136-150. [15] Gilmore, A. (2011). “I prefer not text”: Developing Japanese learners’ communicative competence with authentic materials. Language Learning, 61 (3), 786-819.