Call center communication

Customer call center services in the United States and other English-speaking countries have been outsourced to strategic nations such as the Philippines and India since the early 1990s, essentially to lower operational costs in how these call centers are maintained (Friginal 2022). This phenomenon has produced a growing interest in research on call center discourse from sociolinguistic and pragmatic perspectives, and, especially, the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Turn-by-turn micro-analyses of call center communication have looked at the complex power relations and face-considerations in dealing with customers' and agents' behavior (Tovar 2022). In ESP, language training and assessment for agents who are predominantly non-native speakers of English have been examined, alongside language policy and planning practices and implications. This chapter summarizes the breadth of research in call center communication and explores ESP-based critical issues, limitations, and future directions.