商务英语导论结课论文1

Business English and Its Learning Strategies

What is business English

Business English is English language especially related to international trade. It is a part of English for Specific Purposes and can be considered a specialism within English language learning and teaching.

According to Tan Wenru , business English is based on the adaptation to the languages in business life. It contains all aspects that concern business events. It also teaches how to communicate and cooperate with foreigners and studies their lifestyles. Much of the English communication that takes place within business circles all over the world occurs between non-native speakers.

Business English means different things to different people. For some, it focuses on vocabulary and topics used in the worlds of business, trade, finance, and international relations. For others, it refers to the communication skills used in the workplace, and focuses on the language and skills needed for typical business communication such as presentations, negotiations, meetings, small talk, socializing, correspondence, report writing, and so on. In both of these cases it can

be taught to native speakers of English.

The learning strategies of business English

Although business English is hard to learn, we can also master it by our hard work. Perhaps a good starting point is to look at how the word …strategy‟ is deployed in ordinary usage. A key element is that of problem-solving. A strategy is not simply what you do to obtain a result. It is the way you choose to deal with the questions that arise on the way to obtaining that result.

In a recent paper (Griffiths 2007) on teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of strategies, the author includes the following in the list of

32 …strategies‟ that she selects for exami nation:

●spending time studying English

●learning from the teacher

●doing homework

●revising regularly

●using a dictionary

●learning from mistakes

●studying English grammar

●consciously learning new vocabulary

Bialystok (1978) in her model of second language learning defines learning strategies as alternative ways of "exploiting available information to improve competence in a second language" . Four

categories of learning strategies are included in her model, namely, inferencing, monitoring, formal practicing and functional practicing. According to her, there are three types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, implicit knowledge and general knowledge of the world. She also states that the type of strategy used by the learner will depend on the type of knowledge required for a given task.

Some experts have done some interesting researches. Survey results indicate that “the contents of the activities were useful and practical” and that “the activities teach me to be a responsible person”

(80.8%). A total of 78.1% of the respondents mentioned “team work activities help me in improving English”.

As far as I‟m concerned, it will take a long time to study business English, especially when it comes to the knowledge with the business background. Thus we should insist on continuous practice and accumulation to improve our listening and speaking. What‟s more, a concrete and clear study plan is necessary. As the saying goes, “well begun is half done”. One study plan is called the overall plan and it plays a leading role in the completement of the task. The other one is the detailed contents in a plan, which consists of a lot of complex steps. For example, what do we should do every day and how can we train the four parts: listening, speaking, reading and writing? After we have set up our plans, we should carry them out strictly. Meanwhile,