Business discourse

Business Discourse introduces a multidisciplinary approach to the research and practice of business communication. It promotes debate and enquiry on several new and competing issues and combines teaching practice, state-of-the-art research and innovative practical applications.

Author Notes

FRANCESCA BARGIELA-CHIAPPINI holds a research position at the Nottingham Trent University and has published widely on business discourse, most recently on Asian business discourse(s). She is also involved in advancing multi-disciplinary research for the study of organizations and institutions.

CATHERINE NICKERSON worked for many years at the Business Communication Studies department and Centre for Language Studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Alliance Business Academy in Bangalore, India, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Business Communication.

BRIGITTE PLANKEN is an Associate Professor in the Business Communication Studies department and Centre for Language Studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She is involved in teaching courses on English for Specific Business Purposes and (researching) business communication in intercultural contexts. She is a regular reviewer for the Journal of Business Communication.

General Editors' Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Part 1 The Field of Business Discourse
1 What is Business Discourse?	p. 3
1.1 What is business discourse?	p. 3
1.2 A short history of business discourse	p. 4
1.3 The hallmarks of business discourse research	p. 11
Types of data	p. 11
The link between data and methodology: multimethod research	p. 15
Research purpose: description and prescription	p. 16
English versus other business languages	p. 16
The importance of the organizational context	p. 18
1.4 Different approaches to business discourse research	p. 20
Discourse and power	p. 20
Profile: Karen Lee Ashcraft	p. 22
Critical approaches and business discourse	p. 23
Intercultural business discourse	p. 26
1.5 Business discourse around the world	p. 28
Profile: Linda Putnam	p. 29
Profile: Gina Poncini	p. 32
Profile: Janet Holmes	p. 34
Profile: Shanta Nair-Venougopal	p. 36
1.6 Summary	p. 38
2 Challenges in the Future	p. 39
2.1 Towards interculturality	p. 39
Rapport management	p. 41
2.2 Media, technology and business discourse	p. 49
Multimodality	p. 50
Hypermodality	p. 52
Beyond multimodality	p. 57
2.3 From multimethod research to multidisciplinarity	p. 57
Discursive strategies in multicultural business meetings	p. 60
Identity and role construction: gender and discourse in management	p. 61
Discourse and the projection of corporate culture: the mission statement	p. 62
Discourse analysis and business meetings	p. 63
Multidisciplinarity in the study of business discourse	p. 66
Profile: Dalvir Samra-Fredericks	p. 67
Profile: Rick Iedema	p. 69
Profile: Christina Wasson	p. 70
Profile: Barbara Czarniawska	p. 72
2.4 Summary	p. 73
Part 2 Applying Business Discourse Research
3 Research-based Business Discourse Teaching	p. 77
3.1 Professionals and professors: substance or style?	p. 78
Methodology	p. 78
Findings and relationship with previous studies	p. 79
How useful is survey research?	p. 80
3.2 Teaching English to meet the needs of business education in Hong Kong	p. 81
Methodology	p. 82
A survey of business professors - teacher perspective	p. 83
The interface between the academy and the business world - occupational perspective	p. 84
The implications of the project: project recommendations	p. 86
Research into practice?	p. 87
3.3 A corpus-based study of Business English and Business English teaching materials	p. 87
The Business English Corpus	p. 88
Findings of the BEC/BNC corpus analysis	p. 90
What is Business English?	p. 93
The BEC and the development of teaching materials	p. 95
3.4 Promoting intercultural communicative competence through foreign language courses	p. 96
The business projects and tasks	p. 97
The implications of the project	p. 99
3.5 The CIBW and IBLC: a course in international business writing and the Indianapolis Business Learner Corpus	p. 101
The research project	p. 102
The CIBW teaching project	p. 105
The ILBC-CIBW project: research into practice	p. 108
4 Research-based Consultancy Work	p. 110
4.1 The Reflect project	p. 110
Standardization versus adaptation?	p. 112
4.2 Horizontal corporate communication	p. 114
Methodology and findings	p. 115
Implications	p. 116
English as a corporate language: strategy or hegemony?	p. 118
4.3 The Language in the Workplace (LWP) Project	p. 119
Areas of interest	p. 120
Business discourse research in authentic settings	p. 123
4.4 An ESP programme for management in the horse-racing business	p. 123
Findings and implications	p. 125
ESBP or business discourse?	p. 126
4.5 Forms as a source of communication problems	p. 127
Methodology and findings	p. 127
Implications	p. 129
A way forward for business discourse research	p. 130
5 Research-based Teaching Materials	p. 132
Introduction	p. 132
5.1 A brief survey of published teaching materials	p. 133
5.2 Practice-driven approaches	p. 137
5.3 Theory-driven approaches	p. 141
5.4 Data-driven approaches	p. 143
5.5 Commentary	p. 146
Part 3 Researching Business Discourse
6 Themes and Research Strategies	p. 151
Introduction	p. 151
6.1 Corporate communicative practices in Brazil	p. 152
Methodology	p. 153
Main findings	p. 154
Implications and relationship with similar studies	p. 154
6.2 Email and English in an Anglo-Dutch multinational	p. 157
Methodology	p. 157
Main findings	p. 158
Implications and relationship with similar studies	p. 160
6.3 Between text and context: the mission statement	p. 161
Methodology	p. 161
Main findings and relationship with similar studies	p. 164
Implications	p. 164
6.4 English in Dutch job ads: evaluation and comprehension	p. 165
Methodology	p. 166
Main findings and relationship with similar studies	p. 169
In conclusion	p. 170
7 Research Methodologies, Frameworks and Project Ideas	p. 172
7.1 Investigating the business environment: studies of business discourse in context	p. 172
Business discourse practices and skills needs in organizations: quantitative approaches	p. 173
Business discourse practices and business discourse in context: qualitative approaches	p. 175
Investigating context: the impact of ICT and new media on corporate practices	p. 178
7.2 Researching written business communication	p. 180
Survey-based research into business writing: quantitative approaches	p. 181
Identifying text typology: genre-based studies of writing	p. 184
7.3 Researching spoken business discourse	p. 187
Studying business talk: approaches inspired by CA	p. 188
Studying business talk: approaches inspired by pragmatics and speech act theory	p. 193
Studies of business negotiation	p. 196
7.4 Investigating text quality and text production: studies in (business) document design	p. 199
Text evaluation: testing a public document in a multilingual context	p. 200
Text production: the collaborative construction of a new text form	p. 203
8 Research Cases	p. 208
8.1 Customer-friendly e-service? How Dutch and American companies deal with customers' email inquiries	p. 208
Introduction and aims	p. 209
Method	p. 210
Data	p. 210
Analysis	p. 212
Main findings	p. 212
Commentary	p. 215
8.2 Standardize or adapt? Audience reaction to localized product advertisements	p. 216
Introduction and aims	p. 216
Method	p. 218
Main findings	p. 221
Commentary	p. 221
8.3 Tailor-made teaching: the English workplace needs of textile merchandisers in Hong Kong	p. 222
Introduction and aims	p. 223
Method	p. 224
Main findings	p. 225
Commentary	p. 228
8.4 English as a lingua franca in corporate mergers	p. 228
Introduction and aims	p. 228
Methods and data	p. 230
Main findings	p. 231
Commentary	p. 236
8.5 The use of metadiscourse in the CEO's letter	p. 236
Introduction and aims	p. 237
Methods and data	p. 238
Main findings	p. 239
Commentary	p. 241
Part 4 Resources
9 A Guide to Resources for Business Discourse Research	p. 245
9.1 Books	p. 245
Book-length studies	p. 245
Edited collections	p. 246
Recent journals special issues	p. 247
9.2 Journals	p. 247
Business communication journals	p. 247
Related journals	p. 249
9.3 Professional associations	p. 251
Specially devoted to business discourse	p. 251
With an interest in business discourse and business language teaching	p. 251
With an interest in culture, communication and management in international business	p. 252
9.4 Principal conferences and workshops	p. 252
Other relevant conferences and workshops	p. 253
9.5 Email lists and bulletin boards	p. 253
9.6 Databases and abstracting journals	p. 253
9.7 Corpora	p. 254
9.8 Postgraduate courses and Masters and PhD level	p. 255
References	p. 257
Index	p. 280

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