"What I understand by Business English Teaching”
an online presentation for Accent International Language Consultancy prepared by Vivian Midlane MEd
My name is Viv Midlane and I’d like to welcome you to a short presentation “What I understand by Business English Teaching” prepared for Accent International Language Consultancy.
The simple term ‘Business English Teaching’ covers a wide variety of contexts, even when narrowed down to loose definitions such as
• “Business English Teaching is the teaching of English as a Foreign or Second Language in the context of Business Practice’
or• “Business English Teaching involves teaching a subset of English which is specifically targeted to the needs of people in business”.
These two possible definitions suggest two opposing approaches; either students are taught English in the context of business, where the main aim is to improve their English level, or they are taught English with the express aim of improving their ability to function in the language when doing business. Experience suggests that actual practice is not so clear cut.
My career experience to date leads me to think in terms of two distinct and contrasting areas of ‘Business English Teaching’:
Business English - the corporate approach
These approaches are dealt with individually on two parallel pages on this site, which then return to a common conclusion page.