Communication is the passing on of ideas and information. The contact may be between people, organisations or places and can be in a number of forms, such as speech, writing, actions and gestures. The ability to communicate effectively in business related English is now a required skill for many employees worldwide. Business English as a subject means different things to different people. For some, it focuses on vocabulary and topics used in the world 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 and report writing.

Below you can find a wide range of business related reading materials and a number of interesting links concerning theoretical and academic considerations associated with business communication and language (some links require a logon access to particular journal databases and the link names below have, in some cases been shortened for clarity and space purposes).

I would recommend that any student connected to either the English language or business in general take a look at the monumental work of Geert Hofstede who is one the of the most prominent academics within the field of international business communication.

Geert Hofstede - Cultural Dimensions

Geert Hofstede - Analysis of Countries and Concepts

Geert Hofstede - Personal Homepage

The links above should provide a great introduction to the world of international communication, cultural differences and social behaviours.

Business English Activities

Business Email - making sure that your emails are not like a teenage chat room.

10 Tips Regarding Choice of Words for Business Writing.

Within the typical business English classroom environment there are basically three distinct components which must interact in a productive manner in order to reach a desirable outcome for all parties.


The student population, comprising of many individual differences in:

- Learning objectives
- Previous language experiences
- Motivations for study
- Areas of strength and weakness
- Preferred learning styles and methods
- Beliefs about what they need to progress


The teacher, an individual who brings to the classroom:

- Their own teaching beliefs
- Their own expectations for the course and students
- Their own preferred teaching methodology
- Their own experiences teaching
- Their own areas of strength and weakness
- Beliefs about what students need to progress


Finally, we have the course structure, situational variables, class personality and learning materials, which in many cases are what binds the teacher-student together in the pursuit of what are expected to be shared goals of attainment. In addition to these factors, the teacher-learner interaction within an EFL context is often molded by language teaching theory. The theoretical approach to language teaching can be decided by either an institution that directs the teachers' behavior or by the teacher acting alone.

There are though, a number of relatively simple steps any prospective business English instructor can take it order to provide a better structural teaching environment to maximize the teaching and learning processes.  These steps refer to the creation of a SBAK + (Student Beliefs, Attitudes and Knowledge) and TBAK+ (Teacher Beliefs, Attitudes and Knowledge) analyses devised by Woodman (1998) after elaborating on the BAK + devised by Woods (1996). To complete these visually structured analyses the teacher must take a highly reflective view of their prior teaching experiences and identify what they wish to achieve during the up coming corporate program. They must also communicate with a student (usually a designated class leader) in order to construct a visual representation of the students expectations and desires for course. Using these visual, reflective tools as a basis for course design and material selection is an excellent way for the business English instructor to empower themselves and the students by introducing knowledge and awareness of the many variables involved in the teaching-learning process.

The imagine below shows a typical SBAK+ diagram. I constructed this after a pre-course meeting with a class leader at a Japanese electronics company. This feedback was useful for me in designing a suitable curriculum and for knowing what the student expects and desires. Other teachers may want to do this with more than one student or they may even like to do the TBAK+ which looks at the teachers attitudes towards to a particular course. The two can then be cross referenced in the hope of finding a suitable solution which is beneficial for both teacher and students.


Click on the imagine to enlarge and open in a new window.

Business Reading Materials

My own personal interest in business communication focuses around language selection, virtual teams and email communications. Let's picture a typical business scenario :

We have two teams from company X in Japan and company Y from Malaysia. Most, if not all of the staff are native speakers of that country's language. These two teams must communicate via email in order to work together on a shared project for their company. It can be assumed that the language choice will be English - but this does not mean that they will both be communicating in the same language. There are a multitude of issues and variables which must be considered when attempting to analyze a communicative process such as this. The two diagrams below represent a visualisation of the process along with a host of important questions that must be considered.


Click on the imagine to enlarge and open in a new window.

A discourse analysis of business letters written by Iranians & native speakers

Adopting a common corporate language: IHRM implications

Analyzing international letters in a business communication class

An empirical study of best practices in virtual teams

An study of written communication apprehension and language choice in a business setting

Applying distributed learning theory in online business communication courses

Best practices for virtual team effectiveness

Business e-mail communication: some emerging tendencies in register

Business ethics judgments: A cross-cultural comparison

Business is booming: business English in the 1990s

Business-to-business interactions: issues and enabling technologies

Business with the Japanese: successful communication, management, and diplomacy

China: Business English: - A new wave

Communication and social identity theory: organizational identification research

Communication richness in electronic mail: critical social theory and the contextuality

Doing business in Korea and Japan

E-collaboration: the reality of virtuality

English as a lingua franca in Nordic corporate mergers

Enhancing communication and interactional effectiveness with Mexican-American trainees

Experiential learning, cases, and simulations in business communication

How can email communication affect your business?

Incorporating electronic mail into the business communication course

International business communication practices

Intra-language variation and its implications for international business

Japanese communication behavior as reflected in letter writing

Japanese international business communication: the place of English

Knowledge development and creation in email

Knowledge transfer and collaboration in distributed US-Thai teams

Language and visual imagery: Issues of corporate identity in East Asia

Language based communication zones in international business communication

Language choice and communication in Malaysian business

Language choice in a nation under transition: English and French in Cambodia

Language diversity and international communication

Language matters in global communication

Languages and business: The Hong Kong mix

Language: The forgotten factor in multinational management

Learning intercultural communication competence

Long distance leadership: communicative strategies for leading virtual teams

Managerial communication: bridging theory and practice

Managing communication within virtual intercultural teams

Mobile communications: evolution and impact on business operations

Right choice of words for effective business communication

Sketch of a basic theory for a formal language for business communication

Supporting knowledge creation with e-mail

The economic context for language choice

The role of communication competencies in international business relationship development

Using email for successful business communication

Using English for international business: A European case study

Intercultural influence: A study of Japanese expatriate managers in Canada