Using to Enhance EFL Business Writing Rich Hall

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1 1 Using to Enhance EFL Business Writing Rich Hall Introduction In this chapter, I will explore how using can enhance the teaching and learning of EFL business writing. The goal is to create a mutually beneficial exchange between my European international business students and a colleague s American international business students, to enhance one another s L2 business writing. To give the chapter some context, I have imagined the following scenario: Several junior executives have approached the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) in Brussels about improving their English business writing. They come from three different language backgrounds: Italian, French, and German. Their English writing proficiency ranges from Higher-Intermediate to Lower- Advanced, and they all work for American companies with branches in Belgium. CLL has hired me, a freelance English trainer, to upgrade their clients English business writing to a professional level within 30 days. To do that, I have created four teaching units, each focusing on a different kind of business writing in an increasingly challenging sequence: memo, letter, report, and proposal. Each unit comprises three one-hour activities, to be presented on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. To enhance the quality of the course, I will partner with a colleague at the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia who teaches international business to American graduate students. Among his students are people who plan to work for either an Italian, French, or German company in the U.S. after they graduate. All have been studying their target company s native language, with writing proficiency roughly comparable to my students English. My colleague agrees that corresponding with a native speaker in their L2, especially a businessperson, would motivate his students professionally and better prepare them to work for their target company. He further agrees that incorporating an component into their studies would be an effective way to do this. Since his semester has just begun, he will have time to make this option available to his students for their Independent Course Project. To give him an overview of my course, I will the colleague my business writing unit summaries. As undergraduates, his students have already learned how to write a memo, a letter, a report, and a proposal. Their job now will be to give my students feedback on their English business writing, as well as to create comparable writing samples in their L2 for feedback from my students. Once we agree on the time of the course and the feedback rhythm, I will him an American business letter format and feedback guidelines for both our students.

2 2 This chapter presents the second teaching unit in my course: How to Write an American English Business Letter. An overview of how to use technology to enhance the teaching and learning follows: Overview of Technology As Dudeney (2005) points out, is the most widely used tool on the Internet. It is easy, fast, inexpensive, and reliable. Indeed, is why many of us get a computer in the first place. So with rare exceptions, teachers won t have to show their students how to use . What they may have to do, however, is remind them how to use it effectively, specifically in the business context. In his Top Ten Tips for Using Effectively, Warschauer (2000) offers several good suggestions about how to use with clarity, simplicity, courtesy, and discretion. These are especially important virtues for a medium that lacks the emotional clues normally expressed in person through intonation and facial expressions. Unless s/he has a colleague like my fictional friend at Wharton, the EFL business writing teacher s first challenge will be to find a suitable partner to co-manage the students exchange. Enter the Internet. The Internet is full of lists (also called discussion lists, listservers, or listservs), which allow people worldwide to communicate and network with one another about their areas of interest. One of the oldest and largest EFL listservs is TESL-L, at Another one is NETEACH-L, at For a current list of all listservs, visit Liszt at which covers over 80,000 fields on the Internet, including most major world languages. Once subscribing to a listserv, a teacher can look for a subgroup likely to have people s/he would like to network with. Listservs also contain vast archives of past discussions, plus teacher resource files for various subjects accumulated over the years. After joining a particular discussion group, many teachers just eavesdrop, or lurk, to see if they re in the right place (Dudeney 2005). In our scenario, once an EFL business writing teacher has found the right discussion group, the next step is finding another teacher in the group who could commit their international business students to an exchange. The teachers would then try to match each student with a keypartner from their partner school. The teachers may also consider having backup partners ready if any of their students become ill or drop out. That way, the other students would still have someone to correspond with.

3 3 Both teachers would make sure that all participating students have access to individual accounts. They would prepare their students carefully, making sure they understand the feedback guidelines and the crucial time commitments they were making to their keypartners. Finally, they would remind their students about the problems that can arise trying to communicate with a person from another culture, and be prepared to mediate any misunderstandings that may come up during the lessons. Anticipated problems: exchanges are too slow to keep up with the activities. Prevention: Remind students beforehand that tardiness is unprofessional and will not advance their careers. Indicate that every instance of tardiness will lower their course grade by, for example, one percentage point. Keypartners don t understand each other or don t get along. Prevention: Schedule a getting-to-know-you period before the course begins, to make sure keypartners are compatible and understand each other s written L2. Exchanging culture packets (photos, newspaper items, etc.) and personal letters through the postal service is a good way to do this (Warschauer 2000). Teaching Unit: How to Write an American English Business Letter Aim: To produce a professional business letter in American English Level: Higher-intermediate to lower-advanced Rationale: Professional letter-writing is a required skill for a successful business executive. Throughout the writing activities, careful peer and native feedback ensures the unit s aim. Activity 1: Creating Your Letter Sequence: introduces the unit with brainstorming, quickwriting, and drafting followed by feedback and formatting instruction Aim: to determine the letter the student wishes to write and to organize it Language: quickwriting and drafting, feedback and formatting Material: index card notes, American business letter format (see Appendix A) with OHP transparency, feedback guidelines (see Appendix B) with OHP transparency, OHP. Preparation: Note down on an index card different kinds of business letters the students may wish to write. Bring enough copies of the American business letter format and feedback guidelines with their OHP transparencies. Make sure the OHP is in good working order. Procedure 1. Call on students to describe different kinds of letters people write in the business world. Describe more from your own notes if necessary. 2. Ask students this: If you had the skill to write one business letter to your boss in the American company you work for, what kind of letter would it be? A recommendation? A congratulation? A complaint?

4 4 Something else? Call on a few students, then ask everyone to quickwrite for five minutes what, specifically, their letter would be about. Put students in pairs to share their answers. 3. Ask students to select two points from their quickwrite and draft a paragraph on each. Students then exchange drafts with their partner, take turns reading them aloud, paraphrase each other s points, and ask questions for clarification. 4. Distribute the feedback guidelines and the American business letter format. As the students read along, project the guidelines on the wall, then the format, giving examples of how to respond to letter drafts and how to use the format to draft their own letter. Extra-class Follow-up Before the next class, the students are to write a first draft of their letter and it to their keypartner in America. After reading the letter, their keypartner will promptly them American English feedback on their format, content, and organization only, along with their own L2 letter. After reading their keypartner s L2 letter, our students will their native feedback on format, organization, and content in their keypartner s L2. Remind the students to bring their first draft, their keypartner s American English feedback, and the feedback guidelines on a USB storage device to the next class. Variation If the school doesn t have a computer lab, students can rewrite and print their drafts at home, and the teacher can devote more of the next class to reviewing the feedback guidelines and overseeing the peer review. Activity Two: Improving Your Letter Sequence: moves the writing focus from format, content, and organization to deeper issues of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary Aim: to improve the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of the student s letter Language: draft, feedback Material: computer lab with Internet connection and printer, feedback guidelines Preparation: Reserve the school s computer lab well in advance. On the day of the class, make sure the computers, modems, and printer are working. Procedure 1. After assembling in class, lead the students to the computer lab and situate everyone before a computer. Have everyone double-check their Internet connections. 2. Tell the students to use their feedback from America to write a second draft of their letter and to print one hard copy. Circulate among the students to help them with any English or computer-related issues while they work.

5 5 3. After the students have finished writing and printing, tell them to a copy to their home computer or save it to their storage device. 4. Review the feedback guidelines for grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Using these guidelines, ask the students to reassemble their pairs, exchange hard copies of their second draft, and give each other oral feedback. Extra-class Follow-up Before the next class, the students are to incorporate their latest peer feedback into their letter s second draft and it to their keypartner in America. After reading the letter, their keypartners will promptly them their American English feedback on grammar, syntax, and vocabulary only, along with the second draft of their own L2 letter. After reading their keypartner s L2 letter, our students will their native feedback on grammar, syntax, and vocabulary in their keypartner s L2. Finally, students are to write a third draft of their letter, incorporating the latest feedback from their American keypartner. Students are to print out a hard copy of this draft and bring it to the next class. Activity Three: Polishing and Sending Your Letter Sequence: completes the writing process by editing, proofreading, and sending the letter Aim: to complete a professional business letter in American English Language: editing, proofreading Material: editing checklist (see Appendix C) with transparency, English dictionary, OHP Preparation: Bring enough copies of the editing checklist with its OHP transparency. Remind the students beforehand to bring their English dictionary. Make sure the OHP still works. Procedure 1. Distribute copies of the editing checklist. Using the OHP, present the checklist to the students, who will follow your explanations through the various headings. 2. Reassemble the pairs and ask students to exchange hard copies of their latest draft with their partner. Using the editing checklist and their English dictionary, the students circle words, phrases, and sentences that sound problematic. Students discuss the apparent problems with each other and, where appropriate, find solutions. The teacher circulates among the pairs to help with especially difficult problems. Extra-class Follow-up At home, the students are to write the final draft of their letter, it to their teacher, and send a copy to their American keypartner. The students understand that if their final draft is professional enough, they will have the option of sending it to the intended receiver in their company. Meanwhile, the

6 6 American keypartners back their final comments along with the final draft of their L2 letter. The European students back their final remarks in their keypartner s L2. Finally, the teacher s each student a thorough evaluation of their final draft, including a grade. As promised, if the teacher thinks a letter is professional enough, s/he gives the student the option of sending it to the intended receiver. Write on! References Chew, G. (2004). The business letter [Handout]. Honolulu: Hawaii Pacific University. Dudeney, G. (2005). The internet and the language classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Perrin, C. (2004). Peer s evaluation sheets [Handout]. Honolulu: Hawaii Pacific University. Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in teaching writing. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Sherman, J. (2003). Using authentic video in the language classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Warschauer, M. et al. (2000). Internet for English Teaching. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

7 7 Appendix A THE AMERICAN BUSINESS LETTER FORMAT Date The American date format: month before the date, then the year. Example: May 17, 2006 Write out the month. Recipient s name Recipient s address City, State and Zip Code Include person s title Address: use U.S. Post Office format If a foreign country, the last line should be the name of the country. Salutation Use the same name as in the address, including the person s title. Use the first name only if you would normally do so in person. Body Single-spaced Two types: Block and Modified Block Block type all paragraphs are justified to the left-hand side of your document. Modified Block only the first sentence is indented, and all the remaining words and sentences in the paragraph are justified to the left-hand side. Closing Begin at same horizontal point as your date line. Capitalize first word only. Follow the closing word or phrase with a comma. Examples: Thank you, Sincerely, etc.

8 8 Appendix B FEEDBACK GUIDELINES Before giving feedback to the writer, ask yourself the following questions: 1. Format: Does the letter follow the American business letter format? Are the margins balanced? If the paragraphs are indented, are they indented consistently? Is the spacing standard between sentences and paragraphs? 2. Content: Is the topic of the letter clear? Are the points well-founded and amply supported? Is the tone appropriate for the writer, recipient, and topic? Are there any unnecessary words, phrases, or sentences? 3. Organization: Are the body s paragraphs arranged in a reasonable order? Does the letter flow logically from opening to closing? 4. Grammar: Is every verb in the correct tense? Is every tense in the correct form? Do all the subjects agree with their verbs? If there are relative pronouns, are their antecedents clear? 5. Syntax: If there are clauses, are they properly subordinated? If there are modifying phrases, are they near what they modify? Do all the words, phrases, and clauses flow smoothly? Are there any parts that sound awkward or like nonnative English? 6. Vocabulary: Are all words in their correct form? Are all words used correctly? Was a word ever used where another would have obviously been better? 7. Mechanics: Are all words spelled correctly? Are capitals present where required? Is the punctuation appropriate? `

9 9 Appendix C EDITING CHECKLIST When editing and proofreading the final draft, double-check the following items: Format Date Name and address Salutation Body Closing Content/Organization Clarity Logic Brevity Tone/Mood Grammar/Syntax Parts of speech Subject-verb agreement Tenses Sentence construction Vocabulary Word choice Word usage Appropriate for letter Spelling/Punctuation Standard American business English