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Business English PDF
Business English PDF
Business English PDF
Purpose of the study In this study, we therefore attempt to present a more global picture of
how teachers’ and students’ views compare against the background
Factors that shape Learner and teacher practices are determined not only by their
and constrain individual beliefs and motivations but also by outside forces that may
the teaching and curtail or extend their flexibility. Thus, before we analyse how the two
learning reality groups responded to the way English is taught at our university, it
makes sense to refer to developments shaping the learning context.
Here we found it useful to distinguish between global, national, and
local influences.
Good and useful English ... is the ability to speak fluently and with a
good pronunciation and vocabulary.
... is correct English and also the English which is used in everyday
life as well as Business English.
In general, what they termed ‘inferior’ pronunciation and
pronunciation mistakes were seen as a greater impediment to
intelligibility than grammatical errors:
Teacher responses to If anything, teachers were even more adamant in stressing the
Questions 1–3 importance of effective communication. In contrast to the majority of
students, they see individual features such as grammatical correctness,
extensive vocabulary, and ‘accurate’ pronunciation generally only as
means to an end, namely getting the message across successfully,
Being prepared for the world of business does not necessarily mean
holding presentations on business topics or writing memos, but also
means entering oral negotiations and going out to dinner with a
partner. And we do not get trained for that.
Day-to-day speaking is neglected in class, I can’t do it, I can only
discuss economic concepts.
This group suffers most from a mismatch of their expectations and the
actual situation at university. The frustration these students experience
causes them to adopt a surface, syllabus-bound, exam-oriented
approach to studying: