BUSINESS ENGLISH: MY THOUGHTS

I’ve been involved with Business English since its early pioneering days when it emerged as a subset of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as a response to the growing trend of business to adopt English. In those early days, there was much discussion of what Business English actually was and what should be covered on courses. It was frequently dismissed as a niche unworthy of serious consideration.

So, what should be included in a course today?

I would include:

•  the language of business topics
• the teaching and training of business communication skills such as presentations
• intercultural issues and training
• the examination of issues surrounding the development of English as the global language of business.

Business English is now a global business tool that belongs to all of us. It is neutral, beyond culture and its use and application can have little to do with native speaker standards. Many of my university students learnt from me as a native speaker but these students may never do business with a native speaker in their careers while communicating in English. There have been many arguments over the years that native speakers need to learn global Business English in order to trade globally. I would tend to agree with these arguments.

Business English has developed as an academic discipline more recently, again in answer to what was and is actually happening in business. Companies and organisations need graduates to be ready for the workplace and Business English courses in universities are required in order to prepare students accordingly. At the same time, courses have to fit into the academic curriculum. It is often difficult to know what the assessment standards should be and different lecturers can be using different standards in the same university. I understand the arguments that state that there is decreasing relevance of assessing using native speaker standards and fully accept that non-native speakers have a role to play as teachers.

Everything about Business English in higher education is a fine balancing act and my own approach has evolved accordingly. A lot depends on the communication scenario itself. For instance, grammatical accuracy is much more important in a written report than in a presentation. A non-native speaker at a lower intermediate level is certainly capable of giving a better presentation than a native speaker who has learnt nothing about communication or structuring and delivering a presentation. Assessing a student presentation by listing grammatical errors is thus a fruitless exercise in my opinion.

So, my approach is increasingly to adapt to English as a global language and to develop critical thinking, flexibility and creativity to help students enter the workplace with confidence and practical skills.

It is difficult to know how the world will change but I believe that English is at the point of no return and today’s students and probably their children and even their grandchildren will be using English. The importance of Business English cannot and should not be underestimated. Technology, communication tools and the workplace change constantly. We don’t know how the world of work will look in 50 or 100 years but I would be happy to take a bet that English will be a constant and everyone will be communicating in English to some extent.