Improving maritime English competence as the cornerstone of safety at sea: a focus on teaching practices to improve maritime communication

The International Maritime Industry (IMI) is a global web of shipping, connecting all Continents and bringing together mariners from a multitude of national, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Wherever humans interact, they communicate in some form or another and the ability to communicate competently is the cornerstone of safety at sea. This paper identifies the growth of English as the lingua franca of the sea, as a framework for the later discussion on current teaching practices. We consider that Maritime English (ME) fits into the category of a special-purpose form of English, in that it has generated, modified or adopted from other languages many terms and phrases that are only used in the IMI. This paper considers safety-to-practice as a factor in curriculum design, teaching and assessment as the basis for ME competence. Further, we propose opportunities to move industry focus forward, through collaboration with stakeholders and discussion about teaching practices. This paper identifies a gap in maritime teaching practices. This paper further explores the use of authentic teaching as a way forward to improve maritime communication.