What Varities of English: A Case Study of Three What Varities of English: A Case Study of Three

Chinese Textbooks of Written Business CommuniChinese Textbooks of Written Business Communi

cation in Englishcation in English

WANG Meiling

School of Economics

Shandong University

Email: wml4301@hotmail.com

Licentiate Thesis, Vaasa University, FinlandLicentiate Thesis, Vaasa University, Finland

"Responding to change: Three Chinese textbooks

of Written Business Communication in Englis

h", ESP World 3 (16), Vol 6, 2007 http://www.esp-world.info/Articles_16/issue_16.htm

OutlineOutline

1. Motives

2. The Case Study

3. Concluding Remarks

1. Motives1. Motives

• China’s integration into the world economy and consequently, the booming market of textbook production.

• Assumption: Textbooks not timely enough to accommodate changes, significantly, BE Lingua Franca.

• Previous research:

Halpern (1983): heavily influenced by “very formal, very pre-WWII” Br E with some blend of American English and in consequence, seen to be oddly Br and Am English (WHY?)

Scott (2000): cancelled cheque vs canceled check? The same tongue but two cultures!

Then, What varieties of English have been promoted in Chinese textbooks of business correpondence in English from the late 1980s to the early 2000s?

2. The Case study2. The Case study

2.1 Design

2.1.1 Material

2.1.2 Method

2.1.3 Procedures

2.2 Findings

2.1.1 Material2.1.1 Material

name Publication year

impression revision Sales figure

B1 Business English Correspondence and Dialogue

1995,

Original in 1989

13th 270 500 copies

B2 Communicating in International Business

1998, original in

1988

5th 2nd

edition in 1994

65 000 copies

B3 New Standard Business English

2001

2.1.2 Research Question2.1.2 Research Question

What English is taught to students, American

English, British English or others?

2.1.3 Research Method2.1.3 Research Method

Swales’s (1990) ESP-based genre theory framework

① Communicative purpose (primary determinant of

genre and subgenres)

② Discourse community (again, a multi-layered con

cept)

③ Conventionality (generic features: form and lang

uage)

2.1.4 Procedures2.1.4 Procedures

textbook

2 basic steps

B1 B2 B3

explicit

data

(paratexts)

prefaceforeword

prefacerevision note

prefacecontents summary

implicit

data

contents pageindividual chapters

contents pageindividual chapters

contents pageindividual chapters

2.1 (Q1) Continued dominance of traditional but a trend towards a 2.1 (Q1) Continued dominance of traditional but a trend towards a widening scope of int’l business widening scope of int’l business (Table 1 Chapter headings on (Table 1 Chapter headings on content pagescontent pages of of the 3 textbooks)the 3 textbooks)

textbook

themes

B1(bilingual) B2 (headings and sub-: English only) B3 (bi- headings but sub-: Chinese only)

written bizCommu genre: Overview

1 Introduction 1 Features and Principles of Biz letters

2 Format & Structure of Business Letters

subgenres (traditional foreign trade transactions)

1Establishing Trade relations

2 Inquiries and Offers

3 On Price

4 Ordering

5 Terms of Payment

6 Contracts

7 Shipment

8 Insurance

9 Claims and Arbitration

10 Agency

2 Inquiries & Replies

3 Offers & Sales Letters

4 Orders & Acknowledgments

5 Complaints & Adjustment

6 Transportation

7 Payment & Settlement of Accounts

8 Consignment, barter & compensation trade

3 Intro of Company & Products

4 Inquiries & Replies

5 Offers & Counteroffers

6 Sending Orders & Acknowledgment

7 Contract

8 The Establishment of L/C

9 Specimen of L/C

10 Shipment

11Covering Insurance

12 Complaint & Claim

(14 Miscellaneous Business Letters)

subgenres

(int’l economic cooperation)

9 Joint Venture and Leasing

10 Agency

11 Consultancy

12 Tenders

13 International Credit

techno-driven media 11 Telegrams & Telexes 14 Telegrams & telexes others 12 Market Reports 15 Miscellaneous Correspondence 13 OrdinaryInter-companyCorrespondence

2.2 (Q2) Developments of Communication Media2.2 (Q2) Developments of Communication Media

textbook

2 basic steps

B1 B2 B3

explicit √preface, foreword

(Postal letter+

telegram &telex)

√preface

(fax & email)

Implicit

(spatial placement & No. of occurrences)

√ Contents page

(1-10, postal letter)

(11, telegram & telex)

√ No. of sample examples

33 (postal letter)

Overview (postal letter)

√ contents page

(1, 2-13, 15, postal letter)

√ No. of sample examples

206 (postal letter)

5 (telex: §6-7 )

√overview (postal letter+fax & email)

√ contents page

(postal letter, telex (§7 cable L/C)

√ No. of sample examples

103 (postal letter)

1 (telex: again §7 cable L/C)

2.3 (Q3) A blend of AmE and BrE (implicit)2.3 (Q3) A blend of AmE and BrE (implicit) textbook

spelling style

B1

(No. of occurrences in 103 specimen letters)

B2

(No. of occurrences

in 206 specimen letters)

B3

(No. of occurrences

in 103 specimen letters)

inquiry/enquiry

(inclusive of derivative forms)

5/0 1/17 13/0

catalog/catalogue 3/0 2/17 1/10

favor/favour

(exclusive of derivative forms)

3/0 0/5 4/0

3. Concluding Remarks3. Concluding Remarks

3.1 Results

3.2 Practical recommendations for future textbook

design and production

3.3 Limitations of the present study

3.4 Forward-looking statement

3.1.1 Results3.1.1 Results

The empirical study suggests:

A trend towards the change in practice

A blend of Standard BrE & AmE

The continued core of written business communicatio

n in all 3 textbooks: foreign trade transactions through

fml postal letter

Poor editing work (misspellings, outdated content, cu

mbersome style of formulaic expressions, etc.)

3.1.2 Practical recommendations3.1.2 Practical recommendations

√Multifaceted int’l business forms

√ Strategies of business fax and email communication

√ Awareness of potential miscommunication in int’l English

lingua franca business communication

√ Research-based rather than intuition or expert’s opinion-

based textbook design and production

√ Improved editing work

3.1.3 Limitations and ideas for further study3.1.3 Limitations and ideas for further study

Limited use of research method: genre analysis (a qualitative

study but lack of examples of one whole message)

Limited research data: enlarge the number of textbooks used

outside SDU

Limited research scope: extend towards the teaching of

English, or incorporate the design of end-of-chapter tasks

3.1.4 Forward-looking statement3.1.4 Forward-looking statement

The present study calls for 1) more practical researc

h and consequently 2) more research-based textboo

ks developed in the near future to respond better to t

he challenge of doing business in English and servic

e better Chinese graduate students for their future jo

b performances.

Your comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

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