Why bother teaching Business English ?
Posted: 30 Mar 2012, 15:55
I believe most studies have shown that "academic writing" exhibits a higher percentage of passive voice compared to other types of English. Setting that aside, there are no other significantly different characteristics among English "types", regardless of the content area. You can disagree with that if you like. However, I'm unaware of any research which would support another view.
Here's my question.
What then is "Business English?" Are you doing content based ESL with "business" as your content? Seems to me there may be a bit of the old flim flam operating here. Are your students aware that the English language is the English language regardless of whether or not you're discussing business or the movies? Other than concentrating on vocabulary and jargon that appears with higher frequency in "business" discussions, what makes business English different than English for Medical Purposes?
This is not an attack. Please don't take it as such. I'm just curious about your take on this.
Here's my question.
What then is "Business English?" Are you doing content based ESL with "business" as your content? Seems to me there may be a bit of the old flim flam operating here. Are your students aware that the English language is the English language regardless of whether or not you're discussing business or the movies? Other than concentrating on vocabulary and jargon that appears with higher frequency in "business" discussions, what makes business English different than English for Medical Purposes?
This is not an attack. Please don't take it as such. I'm just curious about your take on this.