THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF MARITIME ENGLISHIN VIEW OF INCREASED AUTOMATION

OF NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEMS

An Undergraduate Research PaperPresented to the Faculty of theCollege of Marine Engineering

PAMMADagupan City

In Partial FulfillmentOf the Requirements in

Maritime Research

BY:

Mark Christian R. SisonJustine Kenneth F. OlaguerLarry John S. AragonesAdrian F. BalocatingRolen M. HumildeManuel N. Bumanlag

Ian Kristoffer S. ImbisanLexter B. PinuliarMarcon S. SaavedraEric C. Mararac

APRIL 2014

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

“The ASEAN region holds great opportunities for shipping,

especially when the global economy and the shipping industry as a

whole still face uncertain times” this was the message delivered

by Singapore shipping Association (ASA) Honorary Secretary Esben

Poulsson at the start of the SSA’s shipping Conference 2013. He

told delegates attending the conference: “Shipping is a global

industry and while great attention has been paid to global trends

and the state of the US and European economies, one should not

fail to realize the dynamism and robustness of the maritime

sector in the South East Asian region.

The combined population of the ASEAN Countries, which is

close to 600 million people, is a fairly large consumer base,

with increasing affluence, the region is expected to increase the

demand of goods and services in the years ahead, he said. He

added: “Despite the global economic slowdown, the Asian

Development Bank has projected that ASEAN is forecast to grow

5.2% this year and 5.6% in 2014. These growths are largely

dependent on trade within the ASEAN community. An essential

element of that community is ASEAN’S economic integration.”

Poulson said the plan by the ASEAN region to establish an

ASEAN Economic Community was fast taking shape and the phased

removal of tariffs and trade barriers for good ad service by

2015, particularly with regard to the development of an ASEAN

FREE TRADE AREA (AFTA), will boast the bloc’s appeal as a

production base.

The process of globalization can be seen in all spheres of

modern life including navigation. So, forming international crews

as well as ASEAN crews becomes a common practice. It seems to be

an urgent issue that seafarers should have skills of adequate

international communication, know particulars of culture and

everyday life, basics of mentality of seafarers of other

nationalities. Question of forming forming language competence of

the future seafarers has been more investigated for the purpose

of fulfilment of their professional duties but is being still

widely discussed. The question of social everyday communication

is not so widely discussed and deeply researched.

STCW 2010 Amendments including mandatory training for BRM,

ECDIS, and leadership as well as other non-mandatory trainings

are welcomed by the Industry. New competency requirements such as

Ice Navigation, Cargo Handling in Oil/Chemical Tankers, Dynamic

Positioning Systems, Ship Safety Officer, Incident Investigation,

Engine Resource Management, Energy Conservation, Crises

Management, Leadership and Teamwork, Anti-Piracy Measures, etc.

have also introduced new terminologies along.

According to the international requirements, all members of

the crew must be able to establish good relationships between

members of the crew on board ship. Life at sea requires not only

professional communication but just socializing. To achieve

successful everyday communication and efficient fulfilment of

their professional duties future seafarers must have a certain

level of foreign language competence. The questions of the

content of everyday communication and what needs it should ensure

arise. It is widely recognized by the maritime industry that

human factors including seafarers’ psychology problems have

contributed to most of maritime accidents. Therefore improving

the psychological quality of navigational students has great

significance on the enhancement of maritime safety.

The crews the members of which can talk and laugh together

and even joke must be working observing safety and enjoying their

work despite the mix of different nationalities. Ability to

communicate a common language is a crucial factor which ensures

the success of multinational crews. The more seafarers understand

each other the more efficiently they work. We now realize that

issues of intercultural understanding evoke the other complex

questions: What kind of communication is needed? How does

communication contribute to creating a climate of respect, not

just tolerance?

Communication has diverse character. Some researchers

investigated linguistic and psychological aspects of

communication. When we speak about everyday communication of

seafarers it is important to take into consideration research

papers on communication in general. It is important to analyse

psychological models of interpersonal communication

encoder/decorder model, internationalist models, perspective-

taking models, dialogic models.

Statement of the Problem

The main purpose of this study intends to discuss whether

existing Maritime English standards and curricula are adequate to

cover multinational and multicultural competency issues.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following sub-

problems:

1. Describe the mishaps due to communication problems.

2. What are the factors related to the interface between

humans in relation to communication between crew members?

3. What are the major initiatives for enhanced Maritime

English?

Paradigm of the Study

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

Pangasinan Merchant Marine Academy, Perez Blvd. Dagupan city

was the locale of this study. It involved 60 third year Maritime

engineering students who belong to Section Bravo and are

officially enrolled in Maritime Research (MAR RES) for the second

semester, school year 2013 – 2014.

Significance of the Study

This study entitled “THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF

MARITIME ENGLISH IN VIEW OF INCREASED AUTOMATION OF NAVIGATIONAL

SYSTEMS”, have made the researchers discover some revealing aspects on

the importance and necessity of maritime English. Students were able

to expose themselves to gain knowledge especially now that the STCW

2010 emphasizes that safe operation of vessels depends on effective

and efficient maritime communication, which requires seafarers to

communicate linguistically, cross-culturally, and interpersonally.

The researchers strongly believe that the result of this study

will benefit and be useful to the following:

Students. The students are direct recipient of any favourable

actions to be undertaken by the school authorities, teachers and

parents. It will help them attain self-realization to direct them

towards self-improvement. Also for them to know the importance of

having maritime programs that will develop them as future seafarers

gain competency in navigation.

Administrators. The findings of this study will benefit policy

makers especially the college deans, since they will be provided

information on the discussion on the importance and necessity of

maritime English in view of increased automation of navigational

systems.

Future Researchers. This will serve as guide on how they will

conduct a similar study. This study was visualized to help the

maritime institution, the educators, the parents, the students, the

professors and other researchers.

Definition of Terms

Maritime communication.

Cross-cultural communication. is a field of study that looks at how people from

differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how

they endeavour to communicate across cultures. Intercultural communication is a related field of study.

Communication barriers. Barriers may lead to your message becoming distorted and

you therefore risk wasting both time and/or money by causing confusion and misunderstanding

Cross-cultural competence. refers to the knowledge, skills, and affect/motivation

that enable individuals to adapt effectively in cross-cultural environments. Cross-cultural competence is

defined here as an individual capability that contributes to intercultural effectiveness regardless of the

particular intersection of cultures. Although some aspects of cognition, behavior, or affect may be

particularly relevant in a specific country or region, evidence suggests that a core set of competencies

enables adaptation to any culture (Hammer, 1987).

Interpersonal relationship. is a strong, deep, or close association/acquaintance

between two or more people that may range in duration from brief to enduring. This association may be

based on inference, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social

commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the context of social, cultural and other

influences. The context can vary from family or kinship relations, friendship, marriage, relations with

associates, work, clubs, neighborhoods, and places of worship. They may be regulated by law, custom,

or mutual agreement, and are the basis of social groups and society as a whole.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents a summary of readings on THE

IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF MARITIME ENGLISH IN VIEW OF INCREASED

AUTOMATION OF NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEMS”. The researchers availed

themselves of some related literature done both in the Philippines and

foreign countries. These were gathered from different sources such as

books, general references, publication of professional organizations,

and magazines.

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE ABILITY

Language is the only thing that distinguishes human from other

creatures. Animals have “language” but it differs from that human

since it only communicates their immediate basic needs while human

communication fulfils many different goals personally and socially,

Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000: 3) state we communicate information ,

ideas, beliefs, emotions and attitudes to one another in our daily

interactions, and we construct and maintain our positions within

various social contexts by employing appropriate language forms and

performing speech activities to ensure solidarity, harmony, and

cooperation or to express disagreement or displeasure, when called

for. The acquisition of communicative competence in one’s first

language is a lifelong process, but the basic skills are quite early

in life. When learning another language we must combine knowledge of

the target language with strategies that enable us to use the language

effectively and appropriately in various social and cultural contexts.

In relation to language learning, strategies refer to those conscious

or unconscious processes that language learners make use of in

learning and using a language (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000: 241). To

use a language entails the ability to both interpret and produce

spoken and written discourse.

Bachman and Palmer in 1990 (as quoted by Celce-Murcia er.al,

1995) propose model of communicative language ability. They divided

language into two main categories; organizational knowledge and

pragmatic knowledge. These are the further elaboration of

communicative competence.

Regarding communicative competence, Celce-Murcia et al (1995)

propose a communicative competence model as a pyramid enclosing a

circle and surrounded by another circle. The ccircle within the

pyramid is discourse competence and the three points of the triangle

are socio-cultural competence, linguistic competence and actional

competence.

Communicative competence is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.

The term was coined by Dell Hymes in 1966,[1] reacting against the perceived inadequacy of Noam Chomsky's (1965) distinction between competence and performance.[2] To address Chomsky's abstract notion of competence, Hymes undertook ethnographic exploration of communicative competence that included "communicative form and function in integral relation to each other".[3] The approach pioneered by Hymes is now known as the ethnography of communication.

Debate has occurred regarding linguistic competence and communicative competence in the second and foreign language teaching literature, and scholars have found communicative competence as a superior model of language following Hymes' opposition to Chomsky's linguistic competence. This opposition has been adopted by those who seek new directions

toward a communicative era by taking for granted the basic motives and the appropriateness of this opposition behind the development of communicative competence.[4]

Figure 2

Schematic representation ofcommunicative competence

MARITIME ENGLISH

Maritime English as English for Specific Purposes is a product of

life in the ocean. International requirements for seafarers regarding

English language communication emphasise that seafarers need to

demonstrate ability to comprehend and interact in spoken English and

communicate effectively to ensure safety of navigation, between Ship

and shore, between crew members, between crew and passengers. It is

shown in STCW 95 requirements for English. The competence are use of

English both in written and oral form. The seafarers also have to be

good in knowledge, understanding and proficiency, especially in

communicating with passengers during an emergency. Seafarers need to

be trained to use English for practical purposes of communication.

The attempt to bring some standardisation into the terms and

phrases used at sea initially came from two directions, the teacher

and the book writer, and from The International Maritime Organization

(IMO). IMO model course 3.17 is the product as mandatory by IMO. It

proposes to improve the effectiveness of existing training course, and

enhance existing training material. Marlin Study Pack Book 1 is one of

textbook which is used in IMO 3.17.

SPOKEN DISCOURSE, REGISTER, AND COMMAND

1. Spoken Discourse

One way to classify communication is the distinction of spoken

and written discourse that produce spoken and written texts

respectively. Both spoken and written discourses are dependent on

their immediate context to a greater or lesser degree McCarthy

(1991: 149) states that spoken discourse can be said to be

‘language in action’ where language is used to accompany actions

being performed by the speakers. It is also typically heavily

context-dependent and measure high frequency of occurrence of

deictic words such as: this one, over there, near you, and bring

that here, which can only be decoded in relation to where the

speakers are at the time of speaking.

Spoken language are typically interactive situation. In most

spoken situation we are face-to-face with our interactant(s) and

we are very typically using language to achieve some on-going

social action – e.g. to get the furniture positioned, the kid

organized, etc. In such situation we usually act spontaneously,

so that our linguistic output is unrehearsed and we are generally

relaxed and casual during the interaction. Authors mostly agree

that written discourse has opposite features of spoken discourse

mentioned above.

2. Register

Language become intelligible when it is placed within its

context of situation. Context of situation can be specified

through the use of register variables ; field, tenor, and mode.

Register is the sets of meaning, the configuration of

semantic patterns that typically draw upon under the specific

conditions, along with the words and structures that are used in

the realization of meanings (Halliday, 1978: 23). It is

characterized in three ways: field, tenor and mode. The notion of

register is very simple and very powerful. It provides a means of

investigating the linguistics of everyday social interaction. The

theory of register governs how the language we speak or write

varies according to the type of situation.

Using register theory of Halliday can be a better way to

find the linguistic functions of everyday interaction, especially

to find the linguistic function of the command used, because it

will cover the topics and actions used to express, the roles and

personal relationships of participants and the means of

communication.

a. Field

Field is defined as the situational variable that has to

do with the focus of activity in which we are engaged

(Eggins, 1994:67). It refers to the social activity that

is happening in which language plays a part. It describes

what people are doing, and includes explained into

ideational meaning (the process being referred to the

participants in the process, and circumstances), topic

and subject matter. It refers to the topics and actions

which language is used to express. Field specified what

is going on with reference to what.

b. Tenor

Tenor refers to the social role relationships played by

interactants (Eggins, 1994: 63). Poynton says as quoted

by Eggins (1994: 64) that tenor can be broken down into

three continua: power, affective involvement and contact.

c. Mode

Mode refers to the role language is playing in an

interaction (Eggins, 1994: 53). The role can be seen in

two different types of distance; interpersonal distance

and experiential distance.

3. Commands

Commands are always used in daily activities, especially from the

higher rank to the lower. It can be from Officer, the captain to

the third Officer to the ratings or crew. There are four type of

Commands (Document of Quality Control, 2006: 16). They are as

follows:

1) Preparatory command; command which indicates a movement to

execute.

2) Command of execution; command which causes the desired

movement to execute.

3) Command and given without inflection; command without any

preparatory command.

4) Supplementary command; command given during the execution of

platoon movements.

REGISTER ANALYSIS OF COMMAND USED IN EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION BOARD

The Seafarers have many activities to do everyday. In this case,

emergency situation is a part of the activities of seafarers. The

commands used during emergency situations are:

No Commands Commander Commando1 Call the Captain! Officer of Watch Crew2 Get everyone out now! Officer of Watch Passenger and Crew3 Sound the alarm immediately Officer of Watch Crew4 Proceed to your muster

station immediately!Officer of Watch Passenger and Crew

5 Prepare to abandon ship Officer of Watch Passenger and Crew

The descriptions of commands are:

(1). “Call the Captain!” is a command uttered by Officer of Watch to

the crew to call the Captain, the master of the ship.

(2). “Get everyone out now!” is a command uttered by Officer of Watch

to the crew and passenger to go out of the cabin at the time of

Speaking.

(3). “Sound the alarm immediately!” is a command uttered by Officer of

Watch to Crew to sound the emergency alarm soon.

(4). “Proceed to your muster stations immediately!” is a command

uttered by Officer of Watch to Passenger and Crew to the place

directed in Emergency situation.

(5). “Prepare to abandon ship!” is a command uttered by Officer of

Watch to Passenger and Crew to go off board in order to save

themselves.

FIELD, TENOR AND MODE ANALYSIS

COMMANDS FIELD TENORSPEAKER-HEARER

MODE

Call the Captain! Request to call the Captain

Officer of Watch to the Crew

Spoken, commands are uttered with inflection language as action to do at the moment

Get everyone out now!

Request to go out of the cabin at the time of Speaking

Speaker of Watch to the crew

Sound the alarm immediately!

A command uttered to sound the emergency alarm soon

Officer of Watch to the crew

Proceed to your muster stations immediately

Uttered to the place directed in Emergency situation

Officer of Watch to the passenger and crew

Prepare to abandon ship!

Uttered to go off board in order to safe their self

Officer of Watch to the passenger and crew

After examining, it was found that the field of the commands are

calling the Captain, getting everyone out, sounding the alarm,

proceeding to the muster stations, preparing to abandon ship.

In the tenor (the interpersonal relationships between the

participants), the participants are the superordinate and subordinate.

The superordinates are the commander (the Captain or Master, some

officers) and the subordinates are the crew and passengers.

Despite a widespread recognition that safety at sea and

competency in English are inextricably linked, it is often the

technical side of training rather than the acquisition of linguistic

competence which is seen as a priority at maritime colleges and

institutes.

IMO’s Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) which was

adopted by the 22nd Assembly in November 2001 as resolution A.918 (22)

IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases, builds on a basic knowledge

of English and has been drafted in a simplified version of maritime

English. It includes phrases for use in routine situations such as

berthing as well as standard phrases and responses for use in

emergency situations under the International Convention on Standards

of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW),

1978, as amended.

But, how much longer will it be needed? With increased automation

of navigational systems, computers may well speak directly to other

computers in order, for example, to bring a ship successfully into

port, so eliminating the human element in communication entirely.

And is it only the internal and external (radio) communications

we are dealing with? Vangehuchten, et al (2010) propose that it is not

only the multilingual but also multicultural character of crew’s leads

to miscommunication on board and emphasize that it can also have

negative repercussions on the morale of the crew and their working

environment. One of the main aims of shipping industry is to retain

the work force by keeping high morale of the crew as well as

attracting new ones to the sector. Therefore intercultural contents of

communication should be considered in a holistic approach.

Moreover the increasing importance of ICT in communication for

maritime purposes is another paradox as oral communication is

increasingly being replaced by electronic mail and formatted messages.

Initiatives such as automatic speech translation, a technology that

combines speech recognition and automatic translation may have adverse

effects on language skills, which are vital to overcome cultural and

language barriers and interact effectively, harmoniously and

productively on board, while enhancing radio communications.

Despite the wide range of methods, all the automatic translation

processes pose problems that are not associated with the technology,

but rather with the language. Linguistic problems related to

translation are those that deal with lexical ambiguity, syntactic

complexity, the difference of vocabulary between languages, and

elliptical or incorrect grammar constructions (de la Campa Portela,

2010). Therrefore it does not seem very likely that these systems

would replace the human element in the near future to diminish the

importance of (Maritime) English even for external communications.

The research by The Seafarers International Research Centre on

maritime communication (Kahveci, Lane and Sampson, 2002), confirms

that language was not the only problem in maritime accidents. Cultural

differences in a mixed crew involving, for example, different meanings

and emphasis being applied to the same words and ways of communication

also cause friction and lead to accidents.

In view of STCW 2010 amendments new questions arose whether

existing Maritime English standards and curricula would be able to

cover multinational and multicultural issues to develop leadership

skills, reveal and develop management styles, achieve efficient

communication, produce effective teamwork, understand situational

awareness, know how to use standard operating procedures and

checklists, understand mental abilities and limitations, e.g. memory,

workload, competence/confidence, etc. enhance the quality of decision

making, understand health issues: fatigue, stress, nutrition, etc.,

human resources challenges for continuity/competence/culture to focus

on the significance of human capital in the sustainability and

development of the shipping industry. These sophisticated competencies

will definitely require in depth knowledge and very good command of

English language which is quite beyond the generally accepted maritime

English norms.

Maritime communication competence includes linguistic competence

and cross-cultural competence. However, in maritime English teaching,

the cross-cultural aspects are not given adequate attention. Usually

it is the language per se that is taught, while the cultural aspects

of communication are seldom touched upon. The present English teaching

curriculum for non-native speakers is inadequate to meet the needs of

the globalized shipping industry. The Maritime English teaching

process should be optimized to make students linguistically and cross-

culturally more competent.

A person needs communication, whatever state of mind he may be

in, joyous or sorrowful. Regardless of the nationality composition of

crews, story-telling remains an important part of life aboard and has

not been displaced by the sophisticated entertainment and

communication systems found on well-equipped ships. Stories are

typically told in those passing moments when there are just minute to

spare but there is a need to assert some social contact. In their

content these stories are not necessarily or even extensive narratives

with elaborate plots punctuated by climaxes and denouements. They just

tell of bars visited, beautiful women, lovely ports, sad shipmates,

storms and calms, good and bad captains, devious crewing agents,

abominable food, and the like. Such tales have a long tradition and

they unite the work content, work routines and social relationships

and create a new professional culture.

Modern merchant shipping increasingly utilises a global labour

market for seafarers. In recent years this trend has been accompanied

by increasing technological innovation at sea including the

introduction of direct voice-based communication technologies which

have made traditional and universal forms of communication at sea.

Thus with the introduction of multilingual crews and the loss of

universal forms of communication the importance of English as the

‘lingua franca’ of the sea has become paramount. To improve standards

of English amongst seafarers and to mitigate against accidents and

incidents at sea caused by poor communication, a ‘top down’ approach

to language learning has been utilised by industry regulators and

training establishments. The effectiveness of ‘top down’ approaches to

language development drawing upon ethnographic research conducted

aboard vessels with multilingual crews is obvious. The research proves

the importance of communication on board highlighting both-related and

social interaction and communication, and describing how these cannot

be considered in isolation. It concludes that with regard to

multilingual crews the evidence supports that ‘bottom up’ learning is

more effective aboard than a ‘top down’ approach. This has

implications for seafarers and the shipping industry, but we also

accept and support the work of linguists advocating ‘immersion’

teaching and learning programmes in providing evidence of the ways in

which effective learning and communication occur in a ‘real’ work and

social context beyond the confines of a classroom.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the research design that will be

used in this study. It includes the research methodology, the

respondents and the locale of the study, the sources data used in

the study, the data gathering procedure, the data gathering

instruments, and the statistical treatment of the data.

Research Method

The study made use of descriptive method of research.

According to Best (2006), a descriptive study describes and

interprets what is. It is concerned with conditions or

relationship that exist, opinions that were held, processes that

were going on, effects that were evident, or trends that were

developed. This type of research involves the collection of two

or more sets of data from a group of subjects with the attempt to

determine the subsequent relationship between those sets of data.

(Tuckman, 1972).

Subject of the Study

The subject of this study are belongs to section Charlie

with 65 marine engineering students officially enrolled in

Maritime Research (MAR RES) for the second semester SY 2013 -

2014. The group members tried to review documents and articles

about THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF MARITIME ENGLISH IN VIEW

OF INCREASED AUTOMATION OF NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEMS.

Locale of the Study

The researchers who conducted the review of documents and

articles regarding THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF MARITIME

ENGLISH IN VIEW OF INCREASED AUTOMATION OF NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEMS

are third year marine engineering students of Pangasinan Merchant

Marine Academy, Perez Blvd., Dagupan City.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The data gathered were carefully examined in order to

undertake the appropriate measures or actions. In treating the

data, the researchers made use of the Percentage to determine the

frequency distribution of the respondents.

P = f x 100% n

Where:

P = Percentage

f = number of responses

n = total number of respondents

100% = constant

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents the data gathered in this study that

sought to analyse THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF MARITIME

ENGLISH IN VIEW OF INCREASED AUTOMATION OF NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEMS.

The analysis and discussion of the literatures gathered are also

presented.

MISHAPS DUE TO COMMUNICATIONPROBLEMS

It is evident from studies of maritime accidents reports

where, in the chain of causation, ‘human error’ has been

identified as a significant factor. That is possible to break

down this category further and to identify that crew

communication failure (human- group) has played a key role in the

incidents. Poor communication even between crewmembers from the

same culture who are speaking the same language can, through

misunderstandings and mistakes, be a threat to the overall safety

of a vessel and pose an additional threat if one considers the

risk of subsequent pollution.

If one adds the additional variables of crews using English

as a second language and the cultural differences which maybe

experienced, then the odds of miscommunication may be increased.

Human communicative Error can be defined as Human Error which

occurs as a result of a failure in communication, be it ship to

ship, ship to shore or intra-ship (Pyne and Koester, 2005).

Therefore overall command in English which is the working

language at sea becomes more important than the maritime English

which is generally taken in a limited context. In the incident

which occurred on board the M/V Sally Maersk in June 2000 on a

voyage from Hong Kong to Long Beach, a repairman from Poland

suffered from pain in his back and fever. Due to poor English

language skills he asked his colleague – another repairman from

Poland – to act as an interpreter for him during the medical

consultation with the chief officer. The sick repairman had an

injury in his back few days ago. His colleague was aware about

this and assumed that the pain was caused by the injury. The sick

repairman explained and asked his colleague to translate that he

had pain ad felt sick with fever, but the information about fever

was lost in the translation and the chief officer got the

impression that the problem was the pain assumable caused by the

injury. The chief officer prescribed mild pain killers as the

only treatment. The Polish repairman paid several visits to the

sick repairman in the following two days. The sick repairman

complained about his illness and the fever which had become

worse. During the last visit the sick repairman seemed to be

asleep and his colleague left him without talking to him. Later

that day the sick repairman was found dead and the cause of death

was pneumonia (Pyne and Koester, 2005)

The recent Sub-Committee (STW 41/6) report on the fire on

the fishing factory vessel Hercules also highlights the need for

a common working language to ensure effective communication on

board among other reasons. A close investigation of casualty

analyses considered approved by IMO (sub-committee minutes, 12th

session) particularly focusing on the causes of accidents clearly

indicates that standards are not applied correctly and when human

factor issues are studied carefully there are omissions in the

education and training programmes received by the seafarers

involved in accidents (Brady, 2008). Therefore, it is believed

that, especially in view of new STCW competencies, MET programmes

must concentrate on the interface between humans in relation to

communication between crew members by enhancing general knowledge

in English together with socio-cultural aspects of the multi-

cultural environment.

FACTORS RELATED TO THE INTERFACE BETWEEN HUMAN IN RELATION TO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CREW MEMBERS

Intercultural communicative competence is vital because people’s

communication styles are inherently culturally bound. The STCW

convention and its amendment in 1995 theoretically dissolved

suceducation which brought in the first inclusion of specific

requirements for English Language certification. Communication lapses

identified as Human Error in the causal chain of accidents have led to

the use of English as common language under the revised STCW

Convention 1995 (Pyne and Koester, 2005). Following the recent

“Comprehensive Review of the STCW Convention and the STCW Code”, the

IMO has LSO MADE AMENDMENTS TO THE stcw. The amendments, which were

approved at the Diplomatic Conference held in Manila, Philippines in

June 2010, include some changes and additions of a linguistic nature.

The linguistic amendments emphasise the IMO’s desire to focus on

communication as the “building blocks” which ensure effective and safe

working conditions at sea (Vangehuchten, et.al. 2010).

The need for clear verbal communication between parties in the

commercial marine environment is multi-faceted as the ship is the

working environment, learning environment and social environment for

its personnel. Communication on an intra-ship level takes place daily

between personnel during operation of the vessel – when giving and

carrying out orders under “normal” or “emergency” situations – and

when the multinational crew must interact to maintain “social harmony”

in an off duty context and in their everyday “teamwork” to ensure

effective day to day operation (Pyne and Koester, 2005).

Metze and Nystup defined four dimensions of verbal communication

in a professional context. Any communication sequence (conversation,

statement, order, question, answer) analysed according to these four

dimensions:

1. Cognitive (knowledge and sense, exchange of exact information)

– affective (feelings and intuition)

2. Expanding (long conversation or dialogue, questions which lead

to comprehensive answers) – limiting (closing conversation as

quickly as possible, short answers, yes/no)

3. Confronting (focus on problems and conflicts) – concealing

(hiding problems and conflicts)

4. Listening (paying attention to what is said and showing that

by gestures or answers) – not listening (not paying attention,

indifferent, no eye contact)

In most professional contexts the communication is preferred to

be cognitive, confronting and listening. It whether the communication

should be expanding or limiting varies depending upon the context and

purpose of the communication. The command/confirm-communication, which

is used on the bridge, is an example of limiting communication, which

– of course – is appropriate in the given situation (Pyne and Koester,

2005). However, the importance of affective and expanding

conversations cannot be ignored when we consider “social harmony” in

an off duty context which is equally important to daily routine and

teamwork operations.

Pritchard suggests that native speakers are often too complacent

about their language use and their role in the conversation. They

often expect the other station to be fully situationally, culturally

and linguistically ‘integrated’. This is proved by the native

speaker’s negligence of standardised forms of communicating or lack of

awareness of the existence of SMCP – the language standard for

communicating at sea (Pritchard, 2010). Therefore command of general

English and possible interference with the mother tongue becomes an

important issue even for VHF radiotelephone communication using proper

SMCP.

Good communication isn’t created by efficiency or influence. It

is created by connection, interaction, balance and understanding.

Interaction involves both social and personal input, and forms the

basis of the vast majority of everyday talking. Interaction involves

emotions, creativity, agreement, disagreement, people waiting

patiently to get a word in, sighing, nodding, gesticulating and so on.

Interaction is not waiting to be asked a question. Interaction is not

giving a short, one-word answer to a question. The importance of

developing cultural competence in maritime professionals is

increasingly being recognized. Seafarers seek knowledge to help them

cope with the growing diversity of their employers, leaders and

colleagues. However, even though requirements designed to address

cultural competence are incorporated into maritime curricula, the

institutional culture of maritime education systematically tends to

foster static and essentialist conceptions of “culture” as applied to

seafarers (Chirea-Ungureanu, 2010).

MAJOR INITIATIVES FOR ENHANCED MARITIME ENGLISH

What do we want our officers to do tomorrow that they’re not

doing today? Why and how? Much more importantly, what does the

companies/flag states/industry want people to be doing? And most

important of all, what do the officers themselves have to say on

the issue?

The cost effective way of operating our ship depends on

various issues such as: safety/environmental culture, minimum

accidents/incidents, minimum maintenance & repair costs, zero

detention from PSC Inspections, Energy Efficiency (EEDI-EEOI-

SEEMP)

CHAPTER IV