Description:

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction for students and professionals who are studying English for business or workplace communication and covers both spoken and written English.

Based on up-to-date research in business communication and incorporating an international range of real-world authentic texts, this book deals with the realities of communication in business today. Key features of this book include:

• use of English in social media that reflects recent trends in business communication;
• coverage of the concept of communicative competence;
• analysis of email communication;
• introduction to informal English and English for socialisation as well as goodwill messages, such as thank you or appreciation messages, which are a part of everyday interaction in the workplace;
• examination of persuasive messages and ways to understand such messages;
• an e-resources website that includes authentic examples of different workplace genres and a reference section covering relevant research studies and weblinks for readers to better understand the topics covered in each chapter.

This book goes beyond the traditional coverage of business English to provide a broad and practical textbook for those studying English in a workplace setting.

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgements
1 Written and spoken communication in the workplace
Questions for reflection
Needs analysis
Introduction
Outline of the different chapters
Post­reading activities
2 Features of business communication
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Why should business English be concise and simple? Why the above features?
Post­reading activities
3 Email and emerging social media for different communicative purposes
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Writing effective email messages
Common errors in email writing made by second language learners
Concluding tips for sending email
Emerging use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM)
Perception of employers and employees towards use of social media
Post­reading activities
4 Conveying negative and goodwill messages
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Negative messages
Goodwill messages
Post-reading activities
5 Persuasive messages: Sales correspondence and job applications
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Persuasive strategies: Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion
Persuasive strategies: Six weapons of influence
Steps to prepare for persuasion
Two approaches in preparing persuasive messages
Analysis of persuasive messages
Sales correspondence
Job application letters
Post­reading activities
6 Persuasive messages: Enquiry and invitation messages
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Enquiry messages
Invitation messages
Move structure comparison between sales correspondence and invitation messages
Post­reading activities
7 Formal business reports/proposals
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Overall structure of business reports
Use of language in discussing findings
Writing the conclusion
Writing recommendations
Essential skills required: (1) Describing trends
Essential skills required: (2) Comparing and contrasting
Proposals
Post­reading activities
8 Making oral presentations
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Planning your presentation
Organising your presentation: Introduction
Organising your presentation: Conclusion
Persuasive speech
Delivering your presentation
Wrap­up: Importance of presentation skills
Post­reading activities
9 Socialisation
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Roles of small talk
Analyses of the Small Talk at Work sub­corpus (STW)
Expressions used for small talk involving different topics
Use of slang and informal expressions
Role of non­verbal communication
Post­reading activities
10 Business meetings and negotiations
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Challenges and difficulties in having meetings
Role of the chair
Openings and closings
Turn taking
Topic progression
Authentic language use in meetings
Discursive practices as indexed by common clusters in meetings
Expressions used for establishing interpersonal relationship in meetings
Minutes writing
Common questions about minutes writing (Gutmann, 2013)
Negotiations
Post­reading activities
11 Employment and appraisal interviews
Questions for reflection
Introduction
Employment interviews
Techniques required in interviews
Post­reading activities
Index