business issues - besig.iatefl.org

BUSINESS ISSUESTHE NEWSLETTER OF THE BUSINESS ENGLISH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

Summer 2013 Issue 8403 Letter from the Coordinator – Marjorie Rosenberg 05 BOT Corner: A Round-up of the SIG’s Online Activities – Claire Hart06 Apps to Go – Carl Dowse08 A Short Guide to Providing Quality Service in Business English Courses – Dana Poklepovic 10 Psychology and ELT: Communication 1 – Nick Michelioudakis12 The Practice: Winging it – Roy Bicknell14 Making the Most of ‘The Apprentice’ – Part 2 – Alun Phillips18 Role-Play or Simulation? A Trainer’s Approach – Duncan Baker20 The Process of Selling Goods – Vocabulary and Grammar Combined – Nataša Gajšt 25 Three Vocabulary Builders – Phil Walker and Kate Baade27 Business English Lesson – Nataša Jovanović29 Business Toolkit: Stationery or Stationary? That is the Question – Monica Hoogstad31 Research Review: “Just spoke to …” – Evan Frendo

Price £4.50 Free for BESIG members ISSN: 1026-4272 www.iatefl.org

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BUSINESS ENGLISH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, SUMMER 2013, ISSUE 84

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Business Issues, the publication of BESIG – the Business English Special Interest Group of IATEFL (the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) – is published three times a year, in spring, summer and autumn.

Copy dates for articles and advertisements are: 15 July (for Autumn issue), 10 December (for Spring issue) and 10 March (for Summer issue).

Although every effort will be made to include articles accepted for publication in the next issue, BESIG reserves the right to postpone publication if necessary. BESIG also reserves the right to refuse any article.

AdvertisingYou can buy space in Business Issues (circulation: worldwide, circa 1,500). The advertising rates are as follows for advertisements requiring no setting or adjustments:

Full page £360 + VAT

Half page £200 + VATLandscape (174mm x 128mm)Portrait (83mm x 262mm)

Quarter page £60 + VATPortrait (83mm x 128mm)

Discounts: Three consecutive ads per year: 10%; Visible link to BESIG website on your website: 10%; Both: 20%).

All changes to advertisements ordered as a series (for a run of two, three or more) are the advertiser’s sole responsibility. If any change is required, the new artwork must be emailed to the Newsletter Editor before the copy date for articles and advertisements for the next issue of the newsletter.

All bookings for space, inserts, flyers, quotes for colour, setting, etc should be made to the Newsletter Editor at the address on the left.

BESIG Committee MembersCoordinator

Marjorie RosenbergEmail: [email protected]

Treasurer

Bethany CagnolEmail: [email protected]

Development Coordinator

Akos GeroldEmail: [email protected]

Business Issues Editor

Julia WaldnerEmail: [email protected]

Events Coordinators

Cornelia Kreis-MeyerEmail: [email protected]

Andrzej StesikEmail: [email protected]

Web Coordinator and BESIG Online Team Coordinator

Claire HartEmail: [email protected]

Copy should be emailed to the Newsletter Editor.

Photographs and graphics should be saved separately as .jpg files (not embedded in Word documents).

When you write an article for Business Issues, please include your name, address and, if possible, a photo of you and some biographical details – maximum 30 words – so we can tell our readers who you are. They are interested!

Advertising is also very welcome. Please contact the Newsletter Editor for details.

Contributing to Business IssuesCopyright requirements: teachers and institutions wanting to copy any part of Business Issues, and other publications wanting to reprint, should contact the Newsletter Editor for permission and notification of credit lines, etc.

Copyright Notice© Copyright for whole issue IATEFL 2013.

Copyright for individual contributions remains vested in the authors to whom applications for rights to reproduce should be made.

Copyright for individual reports and papers for use outside IATEFL remains vested in the contributors to whom applications for rights to reproduce should be made.

BESIG Business Issues should always be acknowledged as the original source of publication.

IATEFL retains the right to republish any of the contributions in this issue in future IATEFL publications or to make them available in electronic form for the benefit of its members.

DisclaimerViews expressed in the articles in the Business Issues newsletter are not necessarily those of the editor, of BESIG or of IATEFL.


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Welcome everyone to our summer edition of Business Issues. Writing this in March gives me time to reflect on what has been happening within IATEFL BESIG since the beginning of the school year as well as what is planned till the end of the summer term.

Weekend WorkshopsOur successful weekend workshops have been continuing and we are delighted to welcome new visitors as well as those who take part on a regular basis. Since the beginning of 2013 we have had workshops given by Marise Lehto on Putting action research into practice, by Rudi Camerer and Judith Mader on What business English trainers should know about intercultural competence and by Ed Pegg on A business English teacher’s guide to soft skills training. A big thank you to our presenters and to those who took part and made these workshops into an interactive professional development afternoon. We also have a wonderful line up of workshops to come (see programme below). The recordings of these workshops, as well as information on forthcoming events, are available for BESIG members on the BESIG website (http://www.besig.org/events/online).

IATEFL BESIG World BlogIATEFL BESIG has continued featuring members around the world on our BESIG Blog page on the website. Recent blogs have included Nick Michelioudakis from Greece who wrote about

his experience with Psychology and business English; Alessandra de Campos from Brazil has shared her thoughts on business English in Brazil; and Mercedes Viola from Uruguay has blogged about Global Perspectives on business English: Teaching in Uruguay. We are looking forward to hearing from more members around the world soon.

IATEFL BESIG Ning

Since we closed down the Yahoo discussion group in 2012, we have seen a real increase of members on the IATEFL BESIG Ning and at the time of writing this we have over 400. On the Ning you can find postings of events, information about what is going on in BESIG and a lively discussion forum which is organized into topics. If you have not yet joined the Ning, have a look at http://iatefl-besig.ning.com/ and become active. It is wonderful to touch base with other members around the world.

Letter from the Coordinator


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Marjorie Rosenberg lives in Graz, Austria where she teaches at university level. She also trains teachers, is a materials writer, and a Cambridge ESOL examiner and presenter.

Email: [email protected]

Date Presenter

21 April

5 May

2 June

7 July

4 August

1 September

Steve Flinders, From business English to management training: where are we going and what do we do when we get there?

Gabrielle Jones on small talk

Eric Halvorsen on task-based learning

Carla Arena on curating digital content

Justine Arena on a personalised approach to course design for one-to-one and small group courses

Lesley Crowe and Tim Phillips on applying the can-do statements


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Upcoming Events

1st IATEFL BESIG Online Conference

IATEFL BESIG is hosting a landmark event on 15 June 2013, namely an online conference focussing on business English and ESP materials and how they are created, developed and implemented. There will be two plenary speakers: Evan Frendo, who will talk about researching and analysing in-company discourse communities in order to create materials to use in in-company courses, and Vicki Hollett who will give insights on how to create and use video materials in business English courses. In addition, the conference will feature workshops and shorter “How to …” sessions. Our aim in holding this conference is to include and involve members and business English trainers from around the world.

Details about taking part will be sent to members and are also available on our website: http://www.besig.org/events/conferences/1st_IATEFL_BESIG_Online_Conference_2013.aspx

26th IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference, 8-10 November 2013 in Prague

It is hard to believe but this November sees IATEFL BESIG holding its 26th annual conference. We are thrilled that we can hold this conference in Prague, the impressive capital of the Czech Republic from 8–10 November 2013. The venue we have chosen is the modern and easily accessible Prague Congress Centre. We are again offering early bird booking from 1 June – 31 August 2013 and normal booking will then begin on 1 September and continue through 26 October 2013. We are hoping to see many of you there. Check out the website for travel

Submissions are now being accepted for the prestigious David Riley Award for Innovation in Business English and ESP. Details on how to submit and the criteria can be found here: http://www.besig.org/david-riley-award/submissions.aspx. The deadline is 31 August 2013 and the winner will be announced at the IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference in Prague.

and accommodation information as well as information about the programme and booking for the conference.

Stuttgart Conference SelectionsOn a final note, by the time you read this, the BESIG Editorial Team (BET) will have put the finishing touches to Stuttgart Conference Selections or SCS. This is IATEFL BESIG’s first-ever e-book and heralds new avenues for our SIG. SCS will be available for download on the BESIG website and BET will keep you posted about its publication.

We look forward to seeing many of you both online and face-to-face in the near future.

Marjorie Rosenberg IATEFL BESIG Coordinator


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We started off the year with an exciting IATEFL BESIG first: participating in Electronic Village Online (EVO), an initiative organised by the American TESOL Institute´s CALL Interest Section. For those who aren´t already familiar with this annual event, it is a programme of five-week-long online professional development courses for EFL teachers held in January and February and put together by teams of volunteers. Anyone can participate free of charge. The topics covered tend to be very diverse ranging from courses like “Becoming a Webhead” to looking at neuroscience and ELT. This year we added a new type of course to that mix: a course for business English and ESP teachers.

The “Designed for Business” session on business English course design was sponsored by IATEFL BESIG and the CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) Interest Section of the American TESOL Institute and it was moderated by an international team of teachers including Charles Rei, Kristen Acquaviva and myself from Germany, Roy Bicknell based in the Netherlands, Jennifer Verschoor from Argentina and BOT members Mercedes Viola from Uruguay and Justine Arena from Brazil. Together we created the course from scratch, something that had initially appeared a very daunting task, but one which we managed nonetheless. We used an Edmodo (http://www.edmodo.com) group to create an online space where participants and moderators could interact and a wiki where we stored the course tasks and resources. We combined these asynchronous elements with five live interactive sessions in Adobe Connect. Our aim was to explore course design but along the way we ended

BOT Corner: A Round-up of the SIG’s Online Activities

up discussing just about every aspect of business English teaching, as Flavia Uhlmann, one of our most active participants from Brazil, indicated in her end-of-course feedback:

“I have to congratulate all the team for the substantial content with its food-for-thought material. Just to name a few issues: needs analysis, theory and practice by analysing different company situations; mixed-level courses, their effectiveness and how to approach them; reflective process, the exponential factor, blended learning...”

It was also great to share ideas with Gretchen Clark who teaches both at a university and in-company in several cities in Japan. She told us:

“I think the moderators did an excellent job setting up thought-provoking activities that helped me relate the material to MY context. I got a lot of take-aways from this session – ideas for multi-level class groupings and course planning ideas were at the top of my list.”

We may have got the participants thinking and reflecting, but we also learned a lot from them and the experience opened our eyes to the wide range of contexts in which business English is taught around the world.

Summing up her time on the course, Roxana Pascariu, a business English trainer from Romania, told us:

“It’s been a most wonderful experience sharing both theoretical and practical ideas in such an interactive way in such an international context. I’ve enjoyed it to the fullest! The programme was brilliantly designed in such a way that everything we discussed together connected to our real-life classes the very same day...”

Claire Hart is a freelance business English and ESP trainer who delivers in-company courses in Ulm, Germany. She specialises in technical English and English for logistics. Exploiting authentic materials and technology, especially mobile devices, are two of her current interests. She is also the IATEFL BESIG Web Coordinator.



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Apps to Go

The success of the Collins Business English: Listening app in winning the 2012 David Riley Award for Innovation in Business and ESP sponsored by IATEFL BESIG and Macmillan was not only recognition of the quality of the resource, but it also signaled that apps designed for mobile devices were here to stay in ELT and not just a passing fad.

Comparison of this digital version with Ian Badger’s original self-study book of the same name provides a handy illustration of the advantages in terms of price and convenience that apps can bring. The book retails at €12.95 while the app can now be downloaded from Apple’s iTunes for just €4.49. The book comes with a CD containing the authentic listening material that sets this book apart from similar publications, while with the app, the recordings can either be downloaded individually when needed or en bloc. Playing them is an integral part of the app experience that requires no lugging around of a CD player.

Mobile devices of one kind or another have become ubiquitous. At the time of writing, we’re awaiting the launch of Samsung’s next generation smartphone, the Galaxy S4, of which the Korean company expect to ship 100 million units in the next nine months alone. Apple’s best-selling phone, the iPhone 4S, sold 110 million in the 15 months following its launch in 2011. It has become standard practice for companies to equip their sales forces with tablets (predominantly iPads) to enhance their customer relationship management systems, provide product training and add multi-media zip to their sales pitches.

In the teaching community, the explosion of interest in social media has come alongside similar excitement surrounding mobile learning. More recently still, increasing numbers of teachers have followed the example of the Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org) and are ‘flipping’ their classrooms so that learners watch recorded tutorials which tutors provide in order to free up valuable classroom time for learners to take a more active role in their learning. Often these recordings are both produced (see http://bcontext.com) and consumed on mobile devices,

which means that, in theory at least, learning can take place any time, any place.

Mobile learning is certainly not all about apps, as the example of the ‘flipped classroom’ illustrates. But in this new, regular ‘Apps to Go’ column, we’ll be restricting ourselves to this aspect of mobile learning and looking at apps that can be used for business English and ESP by trainers and learners both in and beyond the classroom.

There are, of course, many issues that have yet to be resolved concerning the use of apps for language teaching. For one thing, there’s the problem of competing operating systems. For instance, the Collins app mentioned above is only available to those lucky enough to possess an iPad. Clearly, recommending an app that only runs on Apple’s iOS is of no benefit to learners with devices running Google’s Android OS. Many are yet to be convinced that learners should be ‘allowed’ to use mobile devices in the classroom for fear that they will prove a distraction. Others have doubts about the pedagogy underpinning mobile learning. These are valid considerations, but this won’t be the place for this kind of debate. Rather, the aim here is simply to introduce apps – either those specifically designed for ELT purposes or others – that could be of interest in our work as business English and ESP trainers.

This being the first in the series, we’re going to start with something old and something new for learning vocabulary.

Apps on smartphones and tablets seem particularly suited to helping learners with learning vocabulary. There are quite a few monolingual dictionary apps to choose from. Longman, Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, for example, all offer monolingual dictionary apps for learners in both the iTunes App Store and in the Google Play app store. And there are also some popular free monolingual dictionary apps (see list below). And of course there are many bilingual dictionaries to choose from. Here in Germany, for example, Leo and Dict.cc are probably the most used on devices and both are available in Android and iOS. But dictionaries are far from being all that’s available.

Carl Dowse is responsible for the business English courses offered to undergraduates at a German business school. In recent years, he has been increasingly involved in the use of ICT in language teaching both as teacher and teacher trainer.


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QuizletFlashcards have been popular with learners for learning vocabulary for a long time and there are plenty of digital versions of this old teaching aid. Some, like Anki (http://ankisrs.net), are quite sophisticated and can be simultaneously installed on a desktop and on a mobile device. But a good place to start is Quizlet, which many of you will be familiar with because of the website (http://quizlet.com/). One advantage of using this app is that learners who have no smartphone but do have access to the Internet will also be able to use the sets of vocabulary the trainer or other learners produce.

FunctionalityWith the Quizlet app, lists of vocabulary items, known as ‘sets’, that the learners create on the website will be automatically downloaded onto their devices for them to study on the go. They can choose from three different modes of study. Learners can also share their sets and search for and download sets produced by others.

Possible Uses

The app can be used for testing the meaning

of new words using L1 translations or L2 definitions. It works well for learning synonyms, antonyms and collocations. With groups, I sometimes ask learners to take responsibility for recording the new vocabulary that comes up in a lesson and to produce and share a set in Quizlet.

What Could be Better…

At the moment, it’s not possible to create sets in the app itself. That has to be done on the website. The good people at Quizlet, however, say that they’ll soon be adding this feature (perhaps by the time of publication they’ll have done so). A good work-around, in the meantime, is to buy the FlashCards Sync (http://www.flashcardssync.com/) app (€1.79), which allows you to produce sets on your device, and because it syncs with Quizlet the sets are automatically added to your Quizlet account.

Phrasal Verb MachineThis free offering from Cambridge University Press is a relatively new addition (at the time of writing) to the ever-increasing range of ELT apps. With its fun, retro look that has something of the Phileas Fogg about it, this is a very attractive app that is clearly designed to lessen the stress some learners experience in learning phrasal verbs. The app looks good and works well in both

Android and iOS. Animated illustrations are used to help B1 – B2 learners understand and remember the meaning of the verbs.

Functionality

In the settings, learners can choose from six languages (French, German, Italian Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) in order to see a translation of both the verb and the example sentence provided for each phrasal verb. Users can view the phrasal verbs in order or can choose an exercise mode in which the 100 animated phrasal verbs are randomly tested using a multiple-choice activity.

Possible Uses

The app is clearly designed for self-study, but with a one-to-one student or with a group (if you can connect your device to a data projector), the app would be a fun way to start a lesson and introduce some phrasal verbs that are relevant to a topic you’re planning to work on.

What Could be Better…

At the moment, the app only works in portrait view; other than that, it’s a great little (free) app!

App Listing• Dictionary,com (Android & iOS - free

versions with ads)• Merriam Webster (Android & iOS - free

versions with ads)• Leo - German-English/English German

(Android & iOS - free versions with ads)• Dict.cc - German-English/English

German (Android & iOS - free versions with ads)

• Anki (Android free / iOS €21.99)• Quizlet (iOS (free) only, but there are

plenty of Quizlet-friendly Android apps recommended on the website http://quizlet.com/mobile)

• FlashCards Sync (iOS only, €1.79)• Phrasal Verb Machine (Android & iOS -

free)


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Dana Poklepovic has taught business English in companies for over 20 years in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and New York. She has also taught at university level. She holds a PhD in Modern Languages from USAL, Argentina.

A Short Guide to Providing Quality Service in Business English Courses

Business English courses can be seen as a training service. From this perspective, the teacher-student relationship becomes a customer-provider one and, as such, it is assessed with the same quality standards applied to training programs. This guide will help you become familiar with the main areas assessed and the standards used.

1 Trainer

a. Competence comprises the content knowledge, teaching and interpersonal skills you need to teach business English effectively. Professional students expect you to have at least a general knowledge of management topics and business skills which you may acquire through courses, conferences and by reading specific material. You can certainly capitalize on your experience, gain specific knowledge and become a specialist in a field, e.g. banking. Due to the changing nature of business, it is important to keep abreast of latest trends and advances to enhance your lessons. Being a part of a teachers’ association and networks is highly desirable to remain professionally competitive and provide quality teaching. You should always relate students´ needs to their jobs. If you adopt a facilitator approach and provide them with communication tools, they will be able to perform in English and will perceive the effectiveness of your classes. Set clear, reachable objectives. As most adult learners have a preferred learning style, observe how they learn and try to use this channel. In our global world, you have to be familiar with intercultural matters. You may also face some classroom management issues e.g. absenteeism. Set a clear standard of quality by reaching an agreement on how to make up for missed lessons. This shows that you are in command and your students will appreciate it.

b. Delivery entails providing teaching services in an appropriate and reliable manner. In the business context, you need to be outgoing and polite. Irrespective of personalities and

hierarchies, be friendly, courteous and treat everybody alike. Your personal appearance is a further item to consider. A neat, clean-cut look always works well in companies. Remember to check technological devices before starting the lesson and leave them in a good state and condition afterwards. These are signs of respect for people and their property. Compliance with these basic principles leads to a reliable service and a long-lasting teaching relationship.

c. Responsiveness refers to your capacity to give prompt answers and to account for your performance. For business people with busy and unpredictable agendas, flexibility means a lot. They will value a teacher who is ready to reschedule a class or work with unplanned material. Communication is also essential. Inform your students at all times of changes, lesson goals and objectives attained. Finally, keep track of course progress on a frequent basis and report on this. Academic progress may be monitored through continuous assessments and formal tests, depending on the course. Customer satisfaction may be measured by asking for regular feedback and conducting a survey at the end of the course. Listen to your customers; you will receive their loyalty in return.

2 Course Content a. Syllabus design. Business students will

assess the adequacy of contents and needs. Based on the initial needs analysis, prioritize some objectives and reschedule others. Talk with your students about these decisions and your action plan. If it is a general business English course, strike a balance between grammar, functions and skills. With specific courses or workshops, tailor the content to the skills required.

b. Activities. Business people are used to a dynamic work environment. In your classes, create an atmosphere where they can participate actively. By applying management


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methodologies you can prepare tasks that simulate job situations. Project work and debate may go well with group lessons while case studies and frameworks can be used both in individual and group lessons.

3 Material

a. Published Material. When choosing a book, consider the students´ age, interests and language level. Some students prefer to use a core course book and supplement it with extra material. If you are going to use a variety

of books, they should complement each other. Use modern, recently published material that reflects up-to-date business topics.

b. Authentic Material. When you work with authentic material, remember to tailor it to the students´ level and language needs, especially for low-level courses. They will be enthusiastic about learning with real-life documents.

c. Internet. Nowadays there is an endless range of resources on the internet, such as videos and blogs. While this abundance may be appealing, you have

to be selective and choose what is useful for your teaching purposes. There is no point in using material just because it is on the web.

Service quality reflects in each class and it rewards you with many benefits. Firstly, you will be well prepared for an audit process. Secondly, it assures you contract continuity. Thirdly, it keeps students´ motivation high. Finally, you will have improved your own self-confidence.

In essence, it is a matter of focus. Once you organize your teaching around these tenets, quality becomes second nature.

BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of IATEFL, is a professional body representing the interests and serving the needs of the international business English teaching community.

BESIG’s members are mainly teachers of Business English and include both native and non-native speakers of English. The largest proportion of our members comes from Europe but we also have members in over 50 countries including South America, Africa and Asia.

BESIG offers you ways to improve your expertise in teaching Business English and a link with other people in the profession. We do this through our annual international BESIG conferences, regional workshops, regular newsletters and reports describing conference papers/workshops in detail.

For information of current interest, please see:• Our website at: http://www.besig.org • The email discussion list: http://iatefl-besig.ning.com• The wiki: http://wiki.besig.org• The LinkedIn group: http://linkedIn.besig.org

Important Dates in 2013• 8June2013:IATEFL LTSIG, Barcelona, Spain• 27–28Sept2013: IATEFL LASIG event, Hannover, Germany• 11–12October2013:IATEFL LMCSSIG & LAKMA joint event, Vilnius,

Lithuania• 8–10November2013: IATEFL BESIG annual conference, Prague, Czech

Republic

BookonlineforallIATEFLSIGeventsathttp://www.iatefl.org

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join us at future events, don’t forget to

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For more information about the BESIG SIG: http://www.besig.org


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Psychology and ELT: Communication 1

Nick Michelioudakis has been a Teacher Trainer for many years. His interests include Motivation and Social and Evolutionary Psychology. He regularly posts comedy clips on YouTube under ‘Comedy for ELT’. For articles or handouts of his, you can visit his site at www.michelioudakis.org.


Notes to the TeacherThis article is meant to be used as a self-contained, integrated-skills lesson on ‘Effective Communication’ with students of business English. It is mostly based on D. Pink’s book ‘To Sell is Human’ (Chapter 7 – ‘Pitch’). The idea is that the teacher gets the students to read the text paragraph by paragraph. Having read one, they then stop and work together in pairs or groups to apply the research findings by writing something about their company (or, if this is pre-service training, any company they might choose). In this way students derive a double benefit: a) they improve their English and b) they can learn things which can make them more effective in the workplace. Here are some focus questions for each paragraph, together with some sample responses for the students to see (I have used IATEFL BESIG as an example).

• What is the problem with mission statements according to D. Heath?• What are the three key elements when writing subject lines?• What three kinds of tweet do people say they like best?• What is the ‘Pixar Story Template’? Why are stories so potent?• Why is a rhyming statement more likely to be effective?• What is the problem with using complex language?

Mission Statement [not the real one]:

IATEFL BESIG is a bunch of colleagues who help each other climb Maslow’s pyramid – because we think of ourselves as springboards for our students.

Subject Line: ‘Business English: 5 activities (+ handouts!) that you can use in class tomorrow!’

Tweet: Listen to this amazing joke (YouTube: Psychology for ELT – Humour) – what level would you use it with?

Pixar-style Story: Once upon a time there was a poor, overworked, underpaid EL teacher. Every day, she had to teach to the test, stick to the coursebook, kowtow to the boss and clean the school as well (echoes of Cinderella here.. :) ). One day, she joined IATEFL BESIG and discovered that there were thousands of committed professionals out there that she could join, help and learn from. Because of that, she quickly acquired new qualifications and got promoted to senior teacher. Because of that, she started publishing her work, attending international events, she became famous and got invited to various balls. Until finally she won the Nobel Prize for ELT and a pair of glass slippers.

A Rhyme: ‘To help IATEFL to be big, do your bit and join BESIG’! :)

‘How Can We Communicate Effectively?’Communication 101 – Mission Statements: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” said G. B. Shaw the Great – and he was on to something… Communication should be simple. You have something to say – go ahead and say it! Yet time and again we find that our message can be ineffective, clunky and sometimes even incomprehensible! Take mission statements for instance. Do you know your company’s

mission statement? If you do, is it clear? Is it effective? Is it inspiring? Watch the amazing Dan Heath talking about the two criteria any good mission statement should meet. * So now you know: it has to be concrete and it has to give a reason. In what follows we take a look at four ways of improving our ‘pitch’ to prospective customers.

Over to you: Before moving on, let us stay with Dan Heath for a while. Chances are you do not know your company’s Mission Statement… Well, here is your chance to draft one yourself in the light of Dan Heath’s advice…


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The Serious Side of Subjects

Naturally, you do not read all the emails you get or do you? But what is it that might make you open one email and not another? Researchers looked into this (Wainer, Dabbish & Kraut 2011) in one study by asking participants to go through their emails using the ‘think-aloud method’. It turns out that subject lines are very important. Apparently, the best among them have to do with one of two factors: a) Utility – ‘Does this have something to do with me?’ (e.g. ‘Win a scholarship for the next IATEFL Conference’) or b) Curiosity – ‘What’s this?’ (e.g. “The one Web tool to rule them all!”) As Pink (2013) points out, research shows that these two do not mix well, so a successful subject line would have to use one or the other of the two approaches. A third key factor is Specificity. The more specific the subject is, the better. So a line like ‘Feedback and its importance’ is too ‘woolly’ compared to ‘Five top feedback tips’

Over to you: Imagine you want to send an email to prospective customers/clients about one of your company’s products/services. How would you phrase the subject line in light of the above?

TerrificTweets

All you Tweeters, take heed! Researchers set up a site (‘Who Gives a Tweet?’!!) and asked Twitter users to evaluate other people’s tweets (Andre, Bernstein & Luther 2012). Their findings were fascinating: first of all, about 65% of all tweets were rated from neutral to bad (i.e. ‘not worth reading’; this is hardly surprising really, if Facebook posts are anything to go by!) But it was the specific findings which were the most interesting. The worst tweets were: Complaints (‘Flight delayed’), Me Now (‘Just woke up’) and Presence Maintenance (‘Hi all!’). But what about the best ones? a) Tweets asking followers to respond (‘What is the one trait a good teacher should have?’), b) Info and links (‘Check out this amazing article!’) and c) Self-promotion tweets (provided they offer some useful info! e.g. ‘Here is my latest clip on YouTube in the “Comedy for ELT” series’!)

Over to you: Pink says the best tweets are 120 characters long (so that others can re-tweet them). Think about your company. Can

you create a 120-character tweet informing potential customers/clients about a new product/service your company has launched?

Pitching with Pixar

Pixar is a huge success story in the field of animation entertainment. If your 13 feature films have grossed $ 7.6 billion, that means that you are doing something really well! And what Pixar does well is…tell stories! Stories have enormous persuasion potential (Heath & Heath 2008), which is hardly surprising since some researchers believe we are pre-wired for the story format (Gottschall 2012). So, let us see how Pixar does it. According to Emma Coats, a former Pixar employee, all Pixar films can be reduced to the same basic model: “Once upon a time …………….. Every day, …………….. One day, ……………… Because of that, …………….. Because of that, …………….. Until finally ……………..” (Pixar Touch Blog – May 2011). Yet this format is not only useful to film animators; we can use exactly the same template to tell people about what we have to offer!

Over to you: Think about your company – can you create a ‘story’ explaining how things can change for your customers/clients as a result of using your company’s products/services?

A Reason to Rhyme

Look at these statements: ‘Life is mostly strife’ and ‘Life is mostly struggle’. Aren’t they

virtually identical? And what about these two: ‘Caution and measure will win you treasure’ as opposed to ‘Caution and measure will win you riches’? Well, the message in each pair may be the same but there is in fact a difference. When subjects were asked to rate such statements according to how accurately they depicted human behaviour, the rhyming statements got much higher marks! This is yet another manifestation of the power of a phenomenon known as ‘fluency’ (= ‘ease of processing’). What we have here is a spill-over effect; amazingly, the ease with which we can say/process something makes us think that it is more accurate/truthful! (Mc Glone, & Tofighbakhsh 2000).

Over to you: Think about your company – can you create a rhyme which describes what it does or what is special about its products or services?

Last words - Don’t Do This!

What is wrong with this statement? “We are leveraging our assets and establishing strategic alliances to create a robust knowledge centre…(etc., etc.). Apparently this means: ‘We are consultants’! Time and again people try to impress their audience/readers with jargon, convoluted structures and over-elaborate language. Research however shows that this often backfires; the processing difficulty spills over to the content which is perceived as less convincing! (Goldstein, Martin & Cialdini 2007) Here is one of my favourite examples. It is from an Art Gallery Programme: “…Each mirror imaginatively propels its viewer forward into the seemingly infinite progression of possible reproductions that the artist’s practice engenders, whilst simultaneously pulling them backwards in a quest for the ‘original’ source of referent that underlines Levine’s oeuvre’.” No comment… :)

* Go to YouTube and type ‘Psychology and ELT – Communication 1’ or just click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIy7_ABP9VA&feature=youtu.be

References

Available on request from the author.


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Roy Bicknell lives in Amsterdam and teaches at Interlingua. His passion is music – from Abba to Zappa. Roy is interested in your views.


Winging it

Icon treatment by Roy Bicknell. Source: ©iStockphoto.com/czardases

Recently I was having a break with one of my Dutch business students who works for a national connectivity provider. I happened to ask him about unusual roles that he was sometimes expected to perform as a sales manager. This wasn’t just chit-chat as this is something I often do. Like most teachers I am curious about the students we teach and also about what happens with them outside the classroom. We live in a connected world and I think we should see that in the different senses of the word. The world does not end when the classroom door closes and, what’s more, their lives outside the classroom are highly relevant as our students increasingly have to perform in a rapidly-developing English-speaking environment. His answer was an interesting and surprising one. Often he is asked to go to a client who is not in his portfolio and troubleshoot, i.e. handle any questions or complaints that the client fires at him. The aim is to restore trust in his company’s service and it is a tricky assignment as he usually has to drive straight over without prior knowledge as to what he can expect from the client.

So, I said ‘Oh, you have to wing it then’. He didn’t know the expression but loved it and immediately identified how this referred to his own situation

when he has to face the client unprepared. My student was, in other words, expected to improvise or extemporise. This is something that my students are often expected to do in their daily work as they nowadays often work in virtual global teams. If I flip open the Merriam-Webster app on my smartphone I see that improvise has its origin in the Latin word improvisus which means ‘not foreseen’. Our curriculum is primarily focused on the functional use of English and necessarily so, but much of what students do in real practice goes beyond the strictly functional and we need to find ways of addressing this in the classroom.

Silly QuestionsThe new discipline of applied improvisation is one area that I have been looking at with a view to introducing elements into the classroom that are outside the standard curriculum, but which in my view are didactically relevant. Kat Koppett is a writer on applied improvisation and has some great ideas on introducing improvisational techniques for a wide range of professional activities. One of the activities she discusses caught my eye. It’s called Ask a silly question. As Kat Koppett rightly suggests, being or doing silly takes us out of the status quo and, I would add, out of the seemingly routine nature of the workspace we perform in. And I think this simple idea hits the nail on the head when it comes to our own business students. We prepare them to handle scenarios that address the functionality of their roles but is this, when considered on its own, truly fit-for-purpose? How do we train our students to handle the unexpected? I decided to take Kat Koppett’s idea and use the underlying principle for a new classroom activity.

The activity would work for small and medium-sized groups up to a maximum of twelve. This is basically so that all participants have the opportunity to undergo the experience of handling unexpected questions. I split the class into small groups of 2 or 3. They should prepare silly or unexpected questions for other group members. The questions should be related to their professional role or fit a realistic scenario. This only takes 2–3 minutes or perhaps a bit longer if background information needs to be obtained from the other participants. Some students find it difficult to be creative, so I first prepare the ground and model some questions or put myself forward as a guinea pig. One question that I could be asked is, ‘Is this your first time as a teacher?’ © Roy Bicknell


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This is a provocative question but an interesting one for anyone who is not a novice practitioner and it usually breaks the ice for most students. Then I reorganise the space in the classroom into a circle or semi-circle of chairs with two groups of 2 or 3 students facing each other. This is so that students have the real feeling they have to perform. I allow freedom in how they respond, but they have to stick to one basic rule: they must respond to the question, however ridiculous or irrelevant it may seem. This guarantees a high fun element but is at the same time challenging for students. Having small groups ask and respond will help more inhibited students participate and should increase student awareness of the importance of group interaction. Once one group have asked their questions, it’s the turn of the responding group to put their own questions to the other group.

Students who are not in the performing group would have an observational task. They are asked to notice and point out strong questions and responses after the activity. Then it’s their turn to join the

performing groups. The emphasis here is not on accuracy of student production but on building student confidence in ad-libbing and improvising. Now, you might think that this is more suitable for advanced students, but I have found that lower-ability students can respond just as well if they are given some scaffolding to support their performance. Exploring a simple repertoire of questions would, for example, raise their anticipation and the fun factor while addressing the vocabulary they need for the task.

Going Forward

The above is just one of a range of similar activities that are not only fun but address student skills in speaking, listening and observing. The brief is to get students used to improvising and to finding ways of responding to the unexpected, so the activity should have its primary focus on that aspect. As we are teaching business English, the activity could be linked to the more explicitly functional by extending and embedding the activity through

a quick exploration of the language used. However, I feel that if we over-emphasise this, we may be missing an important didactical point. This is an exercise for the students in handling the unscripted, something they are challenged to do when they leave the safe classroom space and re-enter the workspace with all its caprices and vagaries. And that is, in a sense, functional too.

So, the dualism that is suggested by the functional / non-functional divide is, in some respects, a misleading one. I would say that the boundaries are fluid and that it is relevant to incorporate improvisational skills in business English programmes, not only as an energiser or as part of a presentation-skills activity, but also as an integral part of any programme that prepares students for performing in the real workplace.

References

- Koppett, K. (2013), Training to Imagine, Stylus Publishing: Sterling, Virginia (US)


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Alun Phillips currently teaches English at the University of Venice and does in-company training in the Veneto area of Italy. He is also a materials writer and has written several books for the Italian market.

Making the Most of‘The Apprentice’ – Part 2

The aim of this article is to show how a full episode of “The Apprentice” TV programme can be used to develop participants’ listening skills, both in terms of listening for specific information and understanding the general sense of a dialogue. The aim is also to show how several fluency activities related to the theme of the episode can easily be created. The language is demanding and requires a good B2 level to cope but the programme offers lots of context and non-verbal clues that, in my experience, help participants to follow what’s going on. The tasks have also been designed to encourage participants to focus on key information and gist understanding of the more difficult parts.

Your students should already be familiar with “The Apprentice” participants from watching the introductory video (see previous article in spring issue of this newsletter). As the full episode is quite long, we have selected the key parts to focus on and have designed specific activities to exploit these. If time is short, you can skip the debriefing session at the end and just reveal the final decision on who to fire.

The Apprentice, Series 7 Episode 4 Task sheet: Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpVz4ihp2nU. (All timings based on this clip)

1. Introducing the Task and the Teams

Watch from 03.09 to 06.031. Where do the participants have to go to meet Alan Sugar? _________________________2. What is the aim/nature of the participants’ task? _________________________________3. Where will they have to do the task? __________________________________________4. How many teams are there? ________________________________________________5. What are the names of the two team leaders? ______________ and ____________

2. Deciding on the Shop Location

Now watch from 07.15 – 08.40 and tick the two locations the two teams decide on:a) in a stand-alone shop in the city centre ____b) inside a shopping centre in the city centre ____c) in a stand-alone shop in the suburbs ____d) in a large out-of-town shopping centre ____

3. The Possible Treatments

08.41-13.52i) Order the treatments in which you see them being presented a) Cold stone pedicure ___ b) Body wrap (Egyptian mummy style) ___ c) Spray tan ___ d) Wavy gravy – a tool to create wavy hair ___ e) Chocolate facial ___ f) Male cosmetics (various) ___ g) Lava shells (heated massage) ___ h) Clip-in ‘winge’ (fringe that’s a wig) ___

1. ___ 2. ___ 3. ___ 4. ___ 5. ___ 6. ___ 7. ___ 8. ___

ii) Watch again and tick the products that the teams decide on.


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iii) Watch from 13.53-15.05. One product is initially chosen by both teams. Which team is successful in getting the treatment and what does the other team decide on?

4. The Selling Process

i) Now watch the two teams in action. First watch Felicity’s team in the Birmingham Bullring (18.55 – 19.33). What selling spaces do they have? Tick the correct option a) In the main concourse and on the third floor ____ b) In the main concourse and on the second floor ____ c) In the main concourse and on the first floor ____

ii) Now watch Zoe’s team in the out-of-town Westfield site (19.34-21.20). What spaces do they have? Tick the correct option a) 1 room and a retail space ____ b) 2 rooms and a retail space ____ c) 3 rooms and a retail space ____

iii) Now watch Felicity’s team from 21.23 to 23.30 What is going well for them and what is not going so well? _____________________________________________________________ What criticism does Nick Hewer (Lord Sugar’s aide) make about the team?________________________________________________ What does Felicity decide to do?__________________________________________________________________________________

iv) Watch from 23.30-25.50 Why isn’t the spray-tan gun working?______________________________________________________________________________ How successful is Susan in selling the spray-tan treatment? ____________________________________________________________ What does Karren Brady, Alan Sugar’s aide, say about Susan?__________________________________________________________

v) Watch from 26.00 to 28.08 What problems are Felicity’s team facing?__________________________________________________________________________

vi) Watch from 28.09 to 28.50 Who is performing well in the Westfield Centre?_____________________________________________________________________

vii) Watch the dialogue from 28.51-30.04 and mark these statements True or False a) Zoe, the team leader, is critical of Susan’s performance ____ b) Susan accepts that she hasn’t been successful ____

viii) Watch from 30.05-33.17 and mark these statements True or False a) Felicity’s team is eventually able to get people to do the massages ____ b) They have to offer the massages for free ____ c) The treatment room gets very busy in the end ____


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5. Focus on the Teams

Now evaluate the two teams on the basis of what you’ve seen

6.TheDebriefingandSackingPhase

i) Based on what you’ve seen, which team do you think is more successful in terms of sales/profit? Discuss your reasons with a partner. How do you think the two team leaders performed? Who do you think may get fired based on what you’ve seen (this person is always from the losing team)?

ii) Watch from 34.25-58.18 and check your answers to the above points. Do you agree with the final decision?iii) As you saw, three people in the losing team are identified for potential firing: Watch the final session

Possible Follow-up Tasks

1. Imagine you have to promote and sell one of the products featured in this episode. What do you need before you get started? How will you get people interested in the product and actually sell it?

2. Work in groups of four. Role-play the final ‘firing’ discussion. One person takes the role of Lord Sugar and the others play the role of the three team members called into the boardroom for sacking.

3. If participants are interested, they can watch a follow-up programme where the fired participant discusses what happened in the episode. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xd4GzT--c0

4. There are clear teamwork issues in both of the teams, especially Felicity’s. Based on what you‘ve seen, discuss what these issues were, what caused them and how both team leaders and members could have avoided them.

Felicity’s team (Hair ‘winges’+ styling and massages)

Zoe’s team (Spray tanning and pedicure)

How well did the team work together?

What do you think of their approach to their potential customers?

How well did the team leader manage the team?

How well did they respond to issues as they occurred?

Felicity (team leader) Ellie Natasha

Criticism made by her team-mate(s)

Criticism by Lord Sugar and aides

Response to criticism


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Answer Key1. 1. British Museum; 2. To sell beauty treatments; 3. Birmingham; 4.Two; 5. Zoe and Felicity

2. Felicity’s team b); Zoe’s team d)

3. i) 1. e; 2. b; 3. h; 4. d; 5. f; 6. g; 7. a; 8. C ii) Zoe’s team – Spray tan, pedicure; Felicity’s team – lava shell massages, spray tan iii) Zoe’s team; hair treatments

4. i) a ii) c iii) The selling of products is going quite well but they are getting nobody for treatments; he says that the treatments make the most profit and

they’re not pushing this aspect enough; bring Tom downstairs to generate more business for the treatments upstairs. iv) It’s not switched on; Not very, people aren’t buying it; Susan set herself up as an expert in the field and now she’s in for a ‘great big fall’ v) They haven’t done any treatments upstairs vi) Leon vii) a) T; b). F viii) a) T; b. F; c. T

5.

6. ii) Zoe’s team made a small profit, Felicity’s a loss; Felicity is fired. iii)

Felicity’s team (Hair ‘winges’+ styling and massages)

Zoe’s team (Spray tanning and pedicure)

How well did the team work together? Not very co-ordinated especially at the beginning. No real strategy for getting people upstairs for treatments.

They seem quite focussed and they concentrated on the task.

What do you think of their approach to their potential customers?

Not very convincing when trying to sell ‘winges’.

Quite dynamic. Leon in particular has a winning approach, Susan less so.

How well did the team leader manage the team?

She realised there was a problem with the massages but continued to focus on selling products rather than working out a way to get the more profitable treatments.

Zoe blames Susan for ordering too much of the product. She could have done this 1:1 instead of in front of everyone. Otherwise she manages the team effectively.

Felicity (team leader) Ellie Natasha

Criticism made by her team-mate(s) Slow to react to problem of not getting treatments.

Didn’t work for the team, not pro-active.

Didn’t do enough selling.

Criticism by Lord Sugar and aides Always asks opinions, doesn’t take decisions.

Stayed up in the treatment room doing nothing for several hours.

She’s a good talker - ‘talks the talk’ - but nothing else.

Response to criticism Managed the team as well as she could, tried to resolve the problem of not getting treatments by moving Tom downstairs.

Called down to highlight the problem.

Did what she was told, sold more than Jim.


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Duncan Baker and his wife Rita run Lydbury English Centre – see http://www.lydbury.co.uk – specialising in short, intensive, residential programs in the UK in English and soft skills for business and professional purposes.

Email:[email protected]

Role-Play or Simulation? A Trainer’s Approach

Over the years, I have increasingly questioned the value of role-plays for post-experience students on short, intensive courses. Much of the work I am involved in is soft-skills training in English for middle to senior managers from a variety of mainly European corporate clients.

I had better make it clear how I differentiate between role-plays and simulations. To me, a role-play is where the participants take on a role that is separate from what they do in their everyday business or professional life. A simulation is where the role of the participant is as close as possible to what they do in everyday life.

A role-play can be very useful for pre-experience students who have not yet entered the workplace and do not yet know what they will be doing once there. To my mind, a post-experience student on a short, intensive programme is seeking to hone the skills that s/he will need when returning to the job. Hence my leaning towards simulations.

I use very much the same approach – though sometimes in diluted form – for any communication skill, whether it be verbal or not. Verbal skills can be in the form of a dialogue such as a face-to-face negotiation, a telephone conversation or a small video conference. They can also be a monologue such as a presentation. Reading and writing skills can include emails, reports and note-taking.

All can be focused as closely as possible on the student’s needs and an approximation to real life.

How to go about it?

I go back to the basic principles of student-centred learning and “using the student as the resource”. The essential is not to skimp on preparation time – neither for the student(s) nor the trainer.

I am fortunate that we have several regular clients and we are very familiar with the company structures and many of the roles and responsibilities that our individual students have. I suspect many people, especially freelancers outside the UK who work in a limited number of

companies on a regular basis, are in much the same position.

My approach works most easily in a one-to-one situation but can also work very successfully with a small group of students as I will illustrate later.

I start by explaining our philosophy on simulations and our reasons for using them rather than role plays. For example, it would be a waste of time to role-play being a bank manager and client when the student is a commissioning engineer for a power generation plant. I then explain that I want the student to think of a situation that most closely fits what they have to do in real life. Is it a meeting with the client? Is it a telephone call with a supplier? Is it an email conversation with the ICT helpdesk?

I then give the student 5 minutes to prepare the scenario in detail. This is to include a full briefing for me so that I can play my role as accurately as possible, with the student remaining as nearly as possible in his everyday role. I stress that the situation can be as open or closed as is useful for the student. For example, if we are simulating a negotiation, does the student want us to agree or disagree, does s/he want to set the price or conditions that we will eventually agree on or leave the conclusion entirely open?

I then leave the student entirely on their own before coming back to be briefed. This is where patience really does pay. Time invested here is not wasted. I found it a bit difficult to get used to this idea when I first started doing simulations and tended to rush in before we were properly prepared. It is essential that the trainer fully understands the situation, including the trainer’s role and any conditions that the student wishes to bring into play.

We then run the simulation. If it is a verbal simulation, I record it; if it is a written simulation, I keep a record of all the emails etc. If it is a negotiation or a phone call, I find 5 to 10 minutes is plenty. I also keep notes of the important points as we go along. I find there is not normally time to note down both the incorrect and correct forms so I normally just record the incorrect forms and


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work out the correct forms after the event.

What happens next really depends on the situation. I generally run through the feedback, both on paper and the recording where appropriate. As far as possible, I get the student to self-correct. When I play the recording, I stress to the student that I will stop the play-back when I think it is necessary but I also make it clear to the student that they can stop the play-back if we come to a point that they wish to discuss or to ask questions. Very frequently we will then re-run that simulation or a similar one that will exercise the language points and vocabulary that have come up during the feedback. Finally, I offer the student the recording as an MP3 file and copies of any written material, such as emails, on a CD or on a memory stick so they can transfer the files to their laptop. It is also possible to email the files; I find the best way is to zip them up and, if this produces a big file, to use a free service such as https://www.wetransfer.com/.

The scenarios I have described above really refer to a one-to-one situation. If the trainer is

working with a small group of students, it can happen that their real-life roles allow them all to “simulate”. If you are fortunate enough to have a sales manager, a purchasing manager and a quality control manager, they may be able to set up a simulation that allows all of them to play their everyday roles. This might well require a longer preparation time but this, if well handled, can lead to very useful and positive language learning as it will be carried out in English.

If you are not fortunate enough to have such a homogeneous group, it may be necessary for the students to take the simulation position in turn and for the others to role-play. In this situation, the students still prepare their own simulations in the way I described above and brief the others on how to play their roles – in the way I described the trainer being briefed. I find that a total of three students (or maybe four) is the maximum for a simulation such as this. I have only occasionally tried this with a larger number and have found that it is best to divide the students into very small groups of two, three or four rather than try and tackle it en masse. I also find that, in this case, the trainer is best

placed to act as an observer and facilitator rather than to be directly involved in the simulation.

If you are new to this game, you may find the prospect a bit daunting, but it does work! Have the confidence to give it a go. Your students will be very pleased with the results, especially as they can see the direct correlation between what they are doing with you and what they have to do in real life.

The two vital things I find I have to remember are:

1. The student is the expert. Use them as the resource and be ready to admit when you do not understand or need more information.

2. The actual simulation is only the catalyst. Spend plenty of time on the preparation – otherwise the simulation will not work – and plenty of time on the feedback so that you get maximum learning for the student.

Good luck. Do get in touch if you have any questions.

Contribute to our Wider Membership Individual SchemeLaunched in 2007, the Wider Membership Individual Scheme enables individuals who live in countries where there are no current Teaching Associates to apply for free two year memberships.

Our aim is to ultimately help these members establish their own Teaching Associations so that all English languageteachersintheircountrycanenjoythebenefitsofbeingpartofaTeacherAssociationwhichisanassociate member of IATEFL.

Leading members of the profession have already agreed to be Scheme Founders, by helping to build a starter fund and by lending their reputation to the project and supporting it publicly. We have helped many areas in sub-Saharan Africa and are keen to help teachers and groups of teachers in more countries.

IfyouwouldliketoapplyformembershipthroughthisschemepleasecontactIATEFL’sExecutiveOfficer,[email protected].

PleasecontactIATEFL’sExecutiveOfficer,GlendaSmartglenda@iatefl.orgifyouwouldliketodonateorvisitthedonationssectiononourwebsiteathttps://secure.iatefl.org/onl/donate.php

IATEFL’s WMIS currently assists members in Madagascar, Eritrea, Senegal and Myanmar.


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Nataša Gajšt (MA) teaches business English at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Maribor in Slovenia. Her professional interests lie in corpus linguistics, ESP lexicography and materials design.

E-mail: [email protected]

The Process of Selling Goods: Vocabulary and Grammar Combined

Aims• To learn vocabulary related to the process of sale and delivery of goods • To learn passive voice structures• To learn basic sales-related vocabulary and collocations

Standard terms and conditions of sale are legally binding documents (i.e. contracts) in the field of commerce. They define particular arrangements, rules and specifications related to the delivery and payment terms agreed between a seller as the provider of goods and/or services and a buyer of these goods and/or services in a way that they impose obligations on and confer rights to both parties (Business dictionary online, 2012). They address a number of aspects of commercial transactions such as basis of sale, orders and specifications, price, payment, delivery, risk and retention to title, assignment, the right to return goods and receive a refund, guarantees, confidentiality, publications and endorsements, communications between the buyer and the seller, force majeure, waiver, severance, law and jurisdiction, etc. Because of their characteristics, they can serve as a good source of commerce-related terminology and grammar.

Tasks• Match verbs to their definitions • Practise passive verb structures• Revise basic sales-related vocabulary

LevelMixed-ability group (intermediate and above)

TimingApproximately 60 minutes depending on the level and the size of the group

Task 1: GRAMMAR FOCUS: Passive voice 1A) GRAMMAR FOCUS – Passive voice (present tense)Rewrite the sentences using the passive voice.

1. We allow no cash or other discount unless we agree in writing.

____________________________________________________________________________________

2. If the bank authorises the payment, you will receive an acknowledgement of the payment.

____________________________________________________________________________________

3. We base the contract price on prices and rates, terms and duties applying at the time of quotation.

____________________________________________________________________________________

4. We calculate the delivery fee according to the weight, size, nature and value of your goods.

____________________________________________________________________________________

5. We charge a minimum shipping and handling fee of £3 for all orders.

____________________________________________________________________________________


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1. apply ___ a) to ask for payment for goods/services by sending a list of these goods/services, including all costs

2. calculate ___ b) to deal with documents step by step

3. charge ___ c) to say you will not do something if asked to do it

4. give ___ d) to send, to transport products to someone (by land, by air, etc.)

5. govern ___ e) to return money (e.g. to a dissatisfied customer)

6. invoice ___ f) to do something in a certain situation; to use a certain method

7. make ___ g) to mathematically determine the amount of something (e.g. costs)

8. notify ___ h) to demonstrate something to others

9. process ___ i) to offer someone the right to do something, to allow someone to do something

10. refund ___ j) to control; to regulate

11. refuse ___ k) to arrange for something to be paid (e.g. by credit card); to demand an amount of money to be paid for something

12. settle ___ l) to do something; to perform an action; to arrange something

13. ship ___ m) to inform someone about something in an official way

14. show ___ n) to resolve a disagreement (e.g. in court)

Task 2: VOCABULARY FOCUS: Verbs and their meaningsMatchtheverbswiththeirdefinitions.

1B) GRAMMAR FOCUS – Passive voice (future tense)Complete the sentences by using the verbal phrases below.

1. Products returned by you because of a defect ___________________________ in full.

2. Overdue accounts ___________________________ interest at 2.5% above the prevailing base rate.

3. Orders placed before 12 pm on a working day ___________________________ that day and will be delivered within 3 working days.

4. All items ___________________________ as one delivery.

5. VAT charges ___________________________ separately on your invoice.

6. Any goods returned without authorisation ___________________________.

7. When the delivery date cannot be met, the buyer ___________________________ and given the opportunity to agree on a new delivery date or

receive a full refund.

8. The payment card ___________________________ on shipment of the ordered items.

9. The rate applicable for the delivery charge ___________________________ on the date you place your order.

10. The customer ___________________________ the option to accept the new price or cancel within 7 days.

11. The customer ___________________________ by the company on the date that the customer makes a purchase.

12. All deliveries ___________________________ ex-works.

13. Damaged goods claims ___________________________ by the seller within 5 working days.

14. A restocking charge ___________________________ to deliveries returned for exchange or credit.

15. The contract ___________________________ by English law.

16. Any disputes ___________________________ by the civil court.

will be applied will be calculated will be charged (2x) will be given will be governed

will be invoiced will be made will be notified will be processed (2x) will be refunded

will be refused will be settled will be shipped will be shown


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Across4. The process of sending goods somewhere 5. The additional amount of money that has to be paid (e.g. because payment is overdue)6. The lowest rate of interest, usually set by a central bank (two words)9. Something made (e.g. an item, goods) and meant for sale11. A serious disagreement13. A fault or imperfection that prevents something from functioning safely or effectively14. A small plastic card that is used to buy goods or services and then pay for them later e.g. at the end of the month (two words)16. A list of goods/services that is issued by a seller and which includes the prices for these items and other terms of payment and delivery17. A tax on goods or services that is added at each stage of the production process18. Permission by a customer to complete a transaction (e.g. when paying by credit card)20. A request from a buyer for some goods or services to be sold/bought21. Money that customers have to pay for the delivery of goods (two words)22. A card that is used for buying products or services (two words)

Down1. An amount of money that is paid for processing an order (e.g. packaging costs and shipping costs, etc.) (two words) 2. An amount of money that is charged by the seller when they accept the returned goods and pay the refund to the customer (two words)3. The agreed date on which the goods must be delivered to the buyer (two words)7. Someone who makes a purchase8. The transfer of ordered goods to an agreed place; also the goods that are transferred9. Goods/services that are bought; also the process of buying goods/services10. The entire amount of money that is returned to the buyer if he/she is not satisfied with the products/services (two words) 12. A deduction from the usual cost of goods/services15. Someone (e.g. a person or an organisation) who buys goods/services from a seller 19. A single article (‘thing’) that can be bought.

Task 3: VOCABULARY: Crossword puzzleFind the words and phrases in Tasks 1A and 1B overleaf to complete this crossword puzzle.


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Teacher’s notesWarmerAsk the students to discuss the process of selling goods. Ask them to focus on the steps the seller has to take from the moment the buyer orders the goods to the time the buyer receives the goods (e.g. processing the order, issuing the invoice, shipping the goods, dealing with complaints etc.).

TASK 1: GRAMMAR FOCUS: Passive voiceTask 1 deals with passives in the present and future tense. • If needed, explain how the passive voice is formed in English. • Tell the students to complete task 1A. Additionally, deal with sales-related vocabulary in the sentences (e.g. discount, authorisation, payment,

acknowledgement, contract price, rates, quotation etc.). • Follow the same procedure for task 1B. Again, point out sales-related terminology in the sentences (e.g. defect, overdue account, delivery,

invoice, VAT charges, full refund etc.).

TASK 2: VOCABULARY FOCUS: Verbs and their meaningsTask 2 deals with the verbs that are related to the process of selling goods. • Explain the task and tell the students to match the verbs to their definitions. Monitor the students’ work and help where necessary.

TASK 3: VOCABULARY – Crossword puzzleThe words and phrases in the crossword puzzle are taken from tasks 1A and 1B.• Tell the students to complete the crossword puzzle as a revision of the vocabulary in tasks 1A and 1B. Students can work individually or in pairs.

KeyTask 1A1. No cash or other discount is allowed unless agreed in writing.2. If the payment is authorised, you will receive acknowledgement of the payment.3. The contract price is based on prices and rates, terms and duties applying at the time of quotation.4. The delivery fee is calculated according to the weight, size, nature and value of your goods.5. A minimum shipping and handling fee of £3 is charged for all orders.

Task 1B1 will be refunded / 2 will be charged / 3 will be processed / 4 will be shipped / 5 will be shown / 6 will be refused / 7 will be notified / 8 will be charged / 9 will be calculated / 10 will be given / 11 will be invoiced / 12 will be made / 13 will be processed / 14 will be applied / 15 will be governed / 16 will be settled

Task 21 f / 2 g / 3 k / 4 i / 5 j / 6 a / 7 l / 8 m / 9 b / 10 e / 11 c / 12 n / 13 d / 14 h /

Task 3Across4. shipment / 5. interest / 6. base rate / 9. product / 11. dispute / 13. defect / 14. credit card / 16. invoice / 17. VAT / 18. authorisation / 20. order / 21. delivery fee / 22. payment cardDown1. handling fee / 2. restocking charge / 3. delivery date / 7. buyer / 8. delivery / 9. purchase / 10. full refund / 12. discount / 15. customer / 19. item


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Phil Walker, a business English trainer in Stuttgart, works for Target Training GmbH as an Incorporate Trainer®©, training globally based clients using Moodle and other methods enabling remote access.

Kate Baade is a Program Manager at Target Training GmbH, based in the Stuttgart area. She is also a co-author of Business Result Advanced, Oxford University Press.

Three Vocabulary Builders

1. The Word WheelThis is an idea for vocabulary building and development that uses just a simple piece of paper and a pencil as opposed to a photocopiable piece of material.

Examples


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Process

1. Draw (or invite participants to draw) a circle in the middle of a piece of paper.2. Write any word (or a chosen word if you want to focus on a particular area of vocabulary) in the middle of that circle.3. Now draw a second circle around this one and divide the circle into four (ideally beginning to make the circles look like a Target). 4. Ask participants to write a word that they associate with the word in the first circle in all of the four sections.5. Now draw a third circle around this one and divide it into eight. This time eight words should be entered.

This can go on as far as you want it to, but it does start getting hard even in L1 around the 32 mark.

The activity generally pushes participants. It shouldn’t be a test and they may not know words that they need, so help them out.

2. Word ExtensionParticipants take it in turns. The first one writes a word on a card or piece of paper, the next adds to the word and so on, making the word string as long as possible until it cannot be extended any more.

Example: carcar partspare car partspare car part distributionspare car part distribution process

housedetached housepurpose-built detached housesingle-storey purpose-built detached housesingle-storey purpose-built detached country house

3. Categories (adapted from 5 minute activities by Penny Ur and Andrew Wright)

Give participants a list of words you want them to revise (about 20–30 words). In groups or pairs ask the participants to put the words in order. Any order is fine: for example, topic, word class (nouns, adjectives, prepositions, phrasal verbs etc.), order of usefulness to them, alphabetical order, known and unknown – let them choose their own order.

When they have finished, compare the categories between groups and clear up any queries about meaning, word class etc. You can then ask them to add some more words to each category if you like. Alternatively, ask them to choose three of the words each and find a way to make the word memorable: make a drawing, find a synonym or antonym or write a sentence or short story with the words in it.

See if they know the words in two or three weeks!

Join IATEFLIf you enjoy reading this newsletter and would like to subscribe and/or join us at future events, don’t forget to renew yourmembershipofIATEFLorbecomeanewmemberofIATEFL.Youcannowdobothonlineat:http://www.iatefl.orgoryoucancontactIATEFLHeadOfficeat:

IATEFL, Darwin College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NY, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1227 824430 • Fax: +44 (0)1227 824431 • Email: [email protected]


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NatašaJovanovićhashad15 years’ experience in ELT, teaching advanced levels ofproficiencyandvariousESOL exams. She has also run seminars with the British Council Serbia & Montenegro and American Corners in Serbia and participated in international conferences.

Business English Lesson

Aims• To teach business-related vocabulary and grammar • To teach useful phrases, collocations, phrasal verbs etc. related to business• To discuss business and corporate-related topics • To express opinions, viewpoints, preferences• To develop vocabulary through dictionary work

LevelB2, upper-intermediate and above

Target Age16+

Suggested activity for business English students, Cambridge BEC Vantage & BEC Higher students

Activity 1In questions 1–10, each sentence has four underlined words or phrases. Identify the one underlined word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct.1 2

1. Since the President’s death was announced on 5 March, thousands of people have taken to the streets to mourn there president.

2. The Future Bank has said it will reimburse some customer who was left out of pocket as a result of a technical glitch on Friday night.

3. Apipas, the world’s second largest clothes manufacturer, has reported a lose for the last five months of 2012 mainly owing to impairment charges relating to its Rabook brand.

4. The company W&G had to write up 265m euros to reflect lower growth predictions for their brand.5. Practor and Gimble’s poorly performance has been worldwide, including North America, Japan and

China.6. The company said it would increase spending on its hypermarkets by about 2.2bn euros to try to

revival sales and profits.7. Business groups has warned of continuing tough conditions in the UK economy.8. The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has cut its economic grow forecast for this year to 0.8%

from 2%.9. USA manufacturers also said conditions remained difficult, with weak market conditions both at home

or abroad.10. UK consumers shrugged off higher taxes to boost retailing spending by 2.1% in March from the

month before.

Activity 2: Possible Follow-ups

Discussion Point – Over to You

1. Do you know of any rules on refunds and reimbursements for disgruntled customers? Have you ever made a complaint in writing to a company you purchased goods or services from? Do customer protection laws work in practice?

2. Think of examples of companies which have gone bankrupt in recent months or years. Search the web and give a short talk about them.

1 Some sentences are adapted from BBC news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business2 Some names of the companies mentioned in the activities are merely fictitious


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3. Do you have a favorite brand(s)? Why do you think it is good for the company to make your product a brand? Does your company/employer ensure that they produce brands and not simply products?

4. Which industries are expected to have higher growth predictions in the foreseeable future?5. Will well-established companies and brands maintain their status worldwide or will they disappear from the global market so that new ones

emerge?6. What strategies does your company/employer apply to revive sales and profits in your working environment? 7. Will the tough conditions in the world economy continue? If so, for how long do you think? Elaborate your viewpoints and support your

arguments.8. What is the main role of the Chamber of Commerce in your local community or region?9. Are high taxes imposed on the companies in your country or in your line of work? What taxes have to be paid in your working circumstances?

What are tax havens and has your company considered incorporating them into their business?

Activity 3: Vocabulary BasketThis is a possible lead-in or a follow-up through dictionary work or a web search To reimburse (syn. to refund) Technical glitch To report a lossTo write off (possible collocation- to write off bad debt) Impairment charges Hypermarket (related words – high street) Brand (related words - brand loyalty, brand stretching) To go bankrupt (syn. to go bust; related vocabulary to wind up a company, voluntary liquidation, hostile takeover)Credit crunch (syn. financial crisis) (related phrasal verb to bail out)Tax legislation (related vocab.: tax havens, tax avoidance, high taxes) Retail (related vocab.: retail chains, retail prices, wholesale, wholesale prices)

Activity 4: Sentence StartersComplete the sentence starters with possible variations. This is an open-ended activity to recycle vocabulary from Activity I and to elicit more vocabulary from students and increase fluency.

A customer can be reimbursed………………………………………………………………...........................................................................................

When there is a technical glitch…………………………………………………………………......................................................................................

Poca Pola has reported a loss……………………………………………………………………....................................................................................

We had to write off…………………………………………………………………………...............................................................................................

Due to poor performance …………………………………………………………………...............................................................................................

DOT DOT company has managed to revive its ……………………………………………….......................................................................................

Wan Wan business groups have boosted their………………………………………………….....................................................................................

Answer Key for Actvity 11. there …………..their (possible follow-up or a lead-in activity: personal pronouns and commonly confused words) 2. some …………any (possible follow-up or a lead-in activity: the use of some v any) 3. a lose ……..a loss (word formation and inflexions)4. write up …….write off (phrasal verbs for business English)5. poorly ……..poor (difference between adjectives and adverbs)6. to revival ……..to revive (infinitives v word formation and inflexions for nouns)7. has warned…………have warned (auxiliary verb: to have for present perfect and plural forms)8. economic grow…….economic growth (word formation and inflexions for nouns)9. both at home or abroad……..both at home and abroad (parallelism both ……and)10. retailing spending ………………..retail spending (-ing forms used as adjectives v compound nouns)


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Monica Hoogstad is a Business English teacher and teacher trainer with twenty years ELT experience. She runs The English Channel, a language institute specialising in organising and conducting in-company business communications training programmes and teacher development courses.

E-mail: [email protected]

Stationery or Stationary? That is the QuestionEvery time education pundits tackle the creativity subject, what they have in mind is young learners. Does this imply that creativity in secondary and tertiary education is deemed trivial? Well, let’s see. For instance, I have yet to encounter a teaching job ad that mentions creativity as one of the core prerequisites for the position. Why is that? The answer is simple: because the role of creativity in post-primary education is often underestimated and mistakenly seen as synonymous with raucous behaviour and light-hearted attitude towards learning. Fortunately, there is an increasing number of voices in the fields of pedagogy, psychology and teaching methodology that acknowledge the crucial significance of creativity in the learning process.

One of these voices belongs to a renowned professor of education – Sir Ken Robinson – who defines creativity as the process of developing original ideas that have value. He reassures us that creativity is as much about having fun and being playful as it is “working in a highly focused way on ideas and projects, crafting them into their best forms and making critical judgements along the way (…). In every discipline, creativity also draws on skills, knowledge and control. It’s not only about letting go, it’s about holding on.”

His inspirational books – The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything and Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative – have reinforced my belief that, as a teacher,

I have a duty to make a difference in my students’ lives. My brief isn’t limited to merely conveying information, but it also involves helping my students understand themselves better as learners and, consequently, taking greater responsibility for their progress, instilling key learning and thinking skills in my students and persuading them that English isn’t the ultimate goal of learning, but an instrument of communication to be used spontaneously and creatively outside the classroom. Employing imaginative approaches in teaching business English at colleges and universities may seem like a tall order, but it’s certainly not unattainable. Well-thought-out and practically-oriented activities which kindle the creativity that lies dormant in adult learners are the answer.

The Leitmotiv underlying the activities I’ve selected is using stationery as teaching props so as to prevent my classes from becoming too … stationary. The idea sprang to my mind when I revisited one of my favourite quotations about teaching by Adrian Underhill: “I believe that education is change and that I will not be able to educate unless I am also able to change, otherwise my work will come to have a static quality about it that is not good for me or for my students.”

Today, more than ever, creativity is in high demand. Solving problems which are triggered by the economic recession, environmental issues related to pollution and sustainable energy or social and health issues caused by famine and diseases requires a great degree of creativity. In a ground-breaking book, Thomas Friedman argues that among the competencies people need in today’s world are: the ability to imagine new opportunities, to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services and new ways to combine existing technologies. The traditional education system fails to instil these values in most learners. Those who have developed them have done so in spite of their schooling and not due to it. A paradigm shift is necessary in order to prepare new generations to face the challenges that await them in life and on the work floor. With this purpose in mind, it is the teachers’ main task to contribute to producing people who are creative, innovative, good communicators and reliable team players.


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Task 1: Lexis Review and Recycling

Materials Post-it notesGold star stickersSmall red stickers

Instructions Distribute three post-it notes to each student. Ask them to write one newly-encountered lexical item on each.Collect, shuffle and re-distribute the notes, again three per student. Ask them to use the lexis in context.Provide feedback and ask them to use the stickers to colour-code accuracy of use: gold star – excellent; red sticker – still needs to be worked on.

Upsides Learner-centredEngages visual and kinaesthetic intelligences

Materials Plastic cups Coloured paperclipsPost-it notes Small colour stickers

Instructions Ask the students to team up.Distribute the post-it notes and ask them to predict how many paperclips their team will successfully throw into the cup.Give one plastic cup to each team and three paperclips to each student. Assign different colours to different teams so that you can better assess and compare results.The students attempt to throw their paperclips into the cup.Then they check their predictions and stick colour stickers on the post-its according to the accuracy of their prediction: green – perfect match; blue – almost right; red – wrong.The team with the highest number of paperclips in the cup and the most accurate predictions wins.

Upsides Develops teamwork skillsHighly engaging through its competitive natureUnearths personal skills and aptitudesEngages verbal, visual, kinaesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligencesBrushes up the language of predictions

Materials Bending strawsSellotape rolls One additional item per team (optional)

Instructions Ask the students to team up. Distribute two packs of straws and one roll of sellotape per team.Invite the students to build a machine – existing or imaginary – with the help of the given materials but without using any tools (scissors, penknives, etc.). They are allowed to use one additional stationery item (e.g. paper, rubber bands) if necessary.When the constructions are made, each team gives a short presentation describing their machine and giving operating and safety instructions.

Upsides Develops teamwork skills and cements classmate relationshipsReveals personal strengths and roles assumed in a team projectEngages verbal, visual, kinaesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligencesBrushes up the language of descriptions Develops presenting skills

Task 2: I Predict That … This activity was inspired by a recent article on practical teaching ideas by Amy Lightfoot.You may want to help with a few prompts written on the board, depending on the students’ proficiency:

It is certain that he will…/ He will certainly …It is probable that he will…/ He will probably …It is possible that he will…/ He will possibly …

Task 3: Bob the BuilderIf needed, you can provide a list of useful verbs to be used during the presentation, e.g. add, apply, change, consist, contain, create, cut, force, form, hold, insert, involve, lift, move, operate, press, provide, push, remove, unplug, use, winch.

References- Friedman, T.L., 2007, The World Is

Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty First Century, London: Picador.

- Lightfoot, A., Raiding the Stationery Cupboard, English Teaching Professional, issue 83, November 2012, pp. 48-50.

- Robinson, K., 2011, Out of Our Minds. Learning to Be Creative, Chichester, West Sussex: Capstone Publishing Ltd., 2011.

- Underhill, A., Training, Development and Teacher Education, TEIS Newsletter, vol. 5, no. 1, spring-summer 1989.

1

2

3


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Materials Plastic cups Coloured paperclipsPost-it notes Small colour stickers

Instructions Ask the students to team up.Distribute the post-it notes and ask them to predict how many paperclips their team will successfully throw into the cup.Give one plastic cup to each team and three paperclips to each student. Assign different colours to different teams so that you can better assess and compare results.The students attempt to throw their paperclips into the cup.Then they check their predictions and stick colour stickers on the post-its according to the accuracy of their prediction: green – perfect match; blue – almost right; red – wrong.The team with the highest number of paperclips in the cup and the most accurate predictions wins.

Upsides Develops teamwork skillsHighly engaging through its competitive natureUnearths personal skills and aptitudesEngages verbal, visual, kinaesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligencesBrushes up the language of predictions

Materials Bending strawsSellotape rolls One additional item per team (optional)

Instructions Ask the students to team up. Distribute two packs of straws and one roll of sellotape per team.Invite the students to build a machine – existing or imaginary – with the help of the given materials but without using any tools (scissors, penknives, etc.). They are allowed to use one additional stationery item (e.g. paper, rubber bands) if necessary.When the constructions are made, each team gives a short presentation describing their machine and giving operating and safety instructions.

Upsides Develops teamwork skills and cements classmate relationshipsReveals personal strengths and roles assumed in a team projectEngages verbal, visual, kinaesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligencesBrushes up the language of descriptions Develops presenting skills

Reviewer: Evan Frendo has been active in business English and ESP since 1993, mostly in the corporate sector. His methodology book for teachers, How to Teach Business English (Longman, 2005), is used in teacher training all over the world. Visit his blog, English for the Workplace,tofindoutmore.

“Just spoke to …”: The types and directionality of intertextuality in professional discourse

Martin Warren

English for Specific Purposes, 32 (1), 12-24.

RESEARCH REVIEW

Anyone who has ever written emails knows that they rarely stand-alone. They normally contain references to other communications, be they other emails, conversations or whatever. A series of interconnected discourses like this can be described as discourse flow, and how the language in these discourses connects and overlaps and relates to the language in other discourses is known as intertextuality. This study by Martin Warren focused on the different ways this intertextuality manifested itself in two sets of discourse flows in the workplace. The insights it offers will be of interest to anyone involved in teaching written communication skills.

The data consisted of 404 emails collected over a 5-day period and divided into two sets. The first set came from an IT manager based at a multinational bank and consisted of 271 emails totalling 21762 words, involving 27 different writers and 63 readers (including cc-ed readers). The second set was from a merchandiser working for a company sourcing the design and manufacture of handbags; this set consisted of 133 emails totalling 5978 words, involving 17 different writers and 29 readers (including cc-ed readers). All these emails were either written by the subjects or read by them.

Warren found it necessary to work closely with the two subjects in order to understand the professional perspective and background context of the emails, especially regarding how they connected to other types of discourse such as meetings or telephone calls. He came up with 25 different discourse flows. These ranged from emails updating colleagues about business deals, through making arrangements for trade exhibitions to discussions about software defects and changes to databases.

The two sets of emails were analysed in terms of four types of intertextuality, based on Bhatia (2004).

“1. A part of a text which explicitly refers (i.e. signals) to prior and / or predicted texts.

2. A part of a text which implicitly refers (i.e. signals) to prior and / or predicted texts.

3. Text(s) which is / are embedded in a text by means of paraphrase, summary etc.

4. Text(s) which is / are embedded in a text by means of a direct quote (i.e. cut and pasted directly) from (an)other text)s).” (page 15)

The direction of the discourse is said to be backwards when a text refers to a prior text or forwards when it refers to predicted texts. Warren found that, in both sets of discourse flows, the most common type of intertextuality were explicit references (e.g. “Re lining”, and “Just spoke to …” and “as per our price list shown”). However, for the IT manager the second most common type was direct quotes, whereas for the merchandiser the second most common type was paraphrasing and summarising. Most of the direct quotes in the IT manager’s set were writers cutting and pasting computer code. In terms of directionality, the IT manager’s emails tended to be backwards, (especially regarding sections of computer code), whereas with the merchandiser directionality tended to be forwards, with themes such as making enquiries and chasing up orders.

For me this study highlighted several issues, all of which have clear implications for the classroom. The first issue is the importance of intertextuality in written communication. “Writers are never solely concerned with the current text, given that every single text contains intertextual elements providing contexts within which the current text is to be interpreted” (page 21). Warren noted a “heavy reliance on all of the types of intertextuality” (my italics), also pointing out that this intertextuality “has to be mastered and handled well for communication to be effective”. Secondly I was surprised to see just how much of the language in the emails interconnected with other discourses – it was not just a case of writing a reference number at the top of the page or the odd phrase in an email. And thirdly, even though much of the language used was conventionalized, the differences between the two sets emphasised how different professionals approach intertextuality in different ways, thus providing a reminder for teachers that a good needs analysis is necessary before materials and course content can be produced.

References- Bhatia, V. (2004). Worlds of written discourse.

London: Continuum.

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