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Year 2014, Volume: 29 Issue: 29-2, 16 - 33, 23.07.2014

Abstract

Today English serves as a lingua franca in international business communication between local and foreign professionals in Kazakhstan. Many Kazakhstani business people write business documents in English. However, non-native speakers may continue to use the rhetorical patterns of their native languages. At the same time English native speaker may expect writers using a second language to have a similar fluency in culture and customs. Therefore, this paper explores the rhetorical and pragmalinguistic peculiarities of business letters written in English by Kazakhstani students taking the English for Business Purposes course. The findings of the present study demonstrate that the written texts of sales letters not only reflect specific linguistic characteristics that differentiate them from other types of business texts, but also contain a number of unique national and cultural features which make them valuable “indicators” of the communicative traditions of the people. Based on the results and discussions, recommendations are offered for preparing students well for the business workplace through incorporating more authentic models and contexts into pedagogical strategies.

References

  • Aimoldina, A., Zharkynbekova, Sh., and Akynova, D. (2012). The role of English in business communication in Kazakhstan. Journal of Law and Social Sciences. Vol. 2 No.1, Singapore. 251-257.
  • Akar, D. (2002). The macro contextual factors shaping business discourse: The Turkish case. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 40: 305-322.
  • Bargiela-Chiappini, F. and Harris, S. J. (1996). Requests and Status in Business Correspondence. Journal of Pragmatics. Vol. 28/4: 635-662.
  • Bell, A. H., Becker, H and Dillon, W. T. (1995). German memo and letter style. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 5(2). 219-227.
  • Bhatia, Vijay K. (1993). Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
  • Bhatia, V.K. (2001). In Ed. By M.Hewings. Analysing Genre: Some Conceptual Issues. Academic Writing in Context: Implications and Applications. University of Birmingham Press.
  • Biber, D., Connor, U. and Upton, T. (2007). Discourse on the Move: Using Corpus Analysis to Describe Discourse Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Brown, P. and Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Studies in International Sociolinguistics 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Second Language Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Cheng, W. (2003). Intercultural Conversation. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • Du-Babcock, В. (2013). English as Business Lingua Franca: A comparative analysis of communication behaviour and strategies in Asian and European contexts. Ibérica, 26. 99-131.
  • Guffey, M. E. (2001). Essentials of Business Communication. Cincinnati: Couth-Western College Publishing.
  • Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to Face Behaviour. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor.
  • Hayes AF, Krippendorff K. Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures. 2007; 1:77–89.
  • Hewings, M. (1999). The Academy Meets the Real World: Response to Audience in Academic Business Writing”. In Hewings, M. and Nickerson, C. (eds.) Business English: Research into Practice. Harlow: Longman.
  • Hsiao-I Hou and Min-Yu Li. (2011). A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Internship Cover Letters Written by Taiwanese and Canadian Hospitality Majors. International Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 3, No. 1: E43.
  • Kaplan, R. (1966). Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education. Language Learning, 16 (1, 2). 1-20. dos Santos, Valeria B.M. Pinto (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21: 167-99.
  • Li , Wei, Zhu, Hua, and Li Yue. (2001). Conversational Management and Involvement in Chinese-English Business Talk. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1: 2. 135-150.
  • Ora-Ong, Chakorn. (2002). Contrastive Rhetoric of English Persuasive Correspondence in the Thai Business Context: Cross-Cultural Sales Promotion, Request and Invitation. Centre for English Language Teacher Education. University of Warwick. PhD thesis.
  • Sarangi, S., and Christopher, Candlin. (2011) Professional and organisational practice: A discourse/communication perspective. In Cristopher Candlin and Srikant Sarangi (eds), Handbook of Professional Communication in Professions and Organisations. Berlin: De Gruyter. 1-49.
  • Scollon, R., and Suzanne Wong Scollon (2001). Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
  • Sarybai, M.S. (2004). О роли английского языка и должности переводчика в современной казахстанской организации (по материалам объявлений о вакансиях переводчиков в прессе) [About the role of the English language and the position of translator in the modern Kazakhstani organisation (based the material of newspaper advertisements on the vacancies of translator in press)]. Communication at Work: Issues and Challenges. 2nd Annual CA ABC, Conference, 23–24 January. 130–135.
  • Smith, M. (2012). The Kazakhstan opportunity. World Monitor-Industrial Development. №5 (36). 38-39.
  • St. John, M. J. (1996). Business is booming: Business English in the 1990s. English for Specific Purposes, (11). 35-18.
  • State program of development and functioning of languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2001-2010. [Государственная программа развития и функционирования языков в Республике Казахстан на 2001-2010 годы]. http://ru.government.kz/docs/u010550_20040329.htm (accessed 12 July 2013).
  • State program of development and functioning of languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020 [Государственная программа развития и функционирования языков в Республике Казахстан на 2011-2020 годы]. http://ru.government.kz/docs/u110000011020110629.htm (accessed 12 July 2013).
  • Swales, John. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.
  • Varner, I. (1988). A comparison of American and French business correspondence. The Journal of Business Communication, 25(4). 55-65.
  • Upton, T. and Connor, U. (2001). Using Computerized Corpus Analysis to Investigate the Textlinguistic Discourse Moves of a Genre. English for Specific Purposes: An International Journal 20: 313–29.
  • Yli-Jokiph, H. (1994). Requests in professional discourse: A cross-cultural study of British, American and Finnish business writing. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
  • Zharkynbekova, Sholpan and Aimoldina, Aliya. (2012). Английский язык и национально-государственное строительство в Республике Казахстан [The English language and Nation-building in the Republic of Kazakhstan]. In Sholpan Zharkynbekova (eds). Софункционирование языков в поликультурном пространстве Казахстана [Co-functioning of languages in multilingual space of Kazakhstan]. Astana:Wowprnt.kz. 65-104.
  • Zhu, Y. (2000). Rhetorical Moves in Chinese Sales Genres, 1949 to the Present”. Journal of Business Communication. Vol.37/2. 156-172.
  • Zhu, Y. (2005). Written Communication across Cultures: A Sociocognitive Perspective on Business Genres. Amsterdam: John Bejamins.
  • Zhu, Y. (2006). Cross-Cultural Genre Study: A Dual Perspectives. Intercultural and International Business Communication. Linguistic Insights. Peter Lang A.G. 181-196.

Incorporating Authentic Models into Business Letter Writing within the ESP course at Kazakhstani Universities

Year 2014, Volume: 29 Issue: 29-2, 16 - 33, 23.07.2014

Abstract

Günümüzde, İngilizce Kazakistan'da yerli ve yabancı profesyonellerin arasında uluslararası iş iletişimi için kullanılan bir lingua franca olarak hizmet vermektedir. Kazak iş adamlarının birçoğu iş yazılarını İngilizce olarak düzenlemektedir.Ancak, İngiliz dilini yabancı dil olarak kullananlar kendi dillerine özğü retorik konuşma tarzlarını kullanmaya devam edebilmektedirler. Aynı zamanda, İngilizce anadili konumunda olan okuyucular ikinci dil olarak kullanan yazarlardan dilde akıcılıkla birlikte kültür ve gelenekte benzer akıcılığın olmasını bekleyebilmektedir. Bu nedenle, araştırmanın amacı iş mektuplarını iş İngilizcesi kurslarında yazan Kazak öğrencilerin retorik ve pragmalinguistik özelliklerini inceleme olmuştur. Çalışmanın bulguları satış amaclı yazılmış metinlerin sadece başka iş metin türlerinden ayırt edici belirli lingustik karakteristiklerden değil onunla birlikte belirli dil özelliklerini yansıtan birkaç özel ulusal ve kültürel özellliklerin olduğunu göstermektedir.Araştırma bulgulara ve yer alan tartışmalara dayanarak öğrencileri çalışma ortamına hazırlamda otantik modeller ve unsurların kullanması yönünde pedagojik stratejiler sunar.

References

  • Aimoldina, A., Zharkynbekova, Sh., and Akynova, D. (2012). The role of English in business communication in Kazakhstan. Journal of Law and Social Sciences. Vol. 2 No.1, Singapore. 251-257.
  • Akar, D. (2002). The macro contextual factors shaping business discourse: The Turkish case. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 40: 305-322.
  • Bargiela-Chiappini, F. and Harris, S. J. (1996). Requests and Status in Business Correspondence. Journal of Pragmatics. Vol. 28/4: 635-662.
  • Bell, A. H., Becker, H and Dillon, W. T. (1995). German memo and letter style. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 5(2). 219-227.
  • Bhatia, Vijay K. (1993). Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
  • Bhatia, V.K. (2001). In Ed. By M.Hewings. Analysing Genre: Some Conceptual Issues. Academic Writing in Context: Implications and Applications. University of Birmingham Press.
  • Biber, D., Connor, U. and Upton, T. (2007). Discourse on the Move: Using Corpus Analysis to Describe Discourse Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Brown, P. and Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Studies in International Sociolinguistics 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Second Language Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Cheng, W. (2003). Intercultural Conversation. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • Du-Babcock, В. (2013). English as Business Lingua Franca: A comparative analysis of communication behaviour and strategies in Asian and European contexts. Ibérica, 26. 99-131.
  • Guffey, M. E. (2001). Essentials of Business Communication. Cincinnati: Couth-Western College Publishing.
  • Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to Face Behaviour. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor.
  • Hayes AF, Krippendorff K. Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures. 2007; 1:77–89.
  • Hewings, M. (1999). The Academy Meets the Real World: Response to Audience in Academic Business Writing”. In Hewings, M. and Nickerson, C. (eds.) Business English: Research into Practice. Harlow: Longman.
  • Hsiao-I Hou and Min-Yu Li. (2011). A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Internship Cover Letters Written by Taiwanese and Canadian Hospitality Majors. International Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 3, No. 1: E43.
  • Kaplan, R. (1966). Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education. Language Learning, 16 (1, 2). 1-20. dos Santos, Valeria B.M. Pinto (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21: 167-99.
  • Li , Wei, Zhu, Hua, and Li Yue. (2001). Conversational Management and Involvement in Chinese-English Business Talk. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1: 2. 135-150.
  • Ora-Ong, Chakorn. (2002). Contrastive Rhetoric of English Persuasive Correspondence in the Thai Business Context: Cross-Cultural Sales Promotion, Request and Invitation. Centre for English Language Teacher Education. University of Warwick. PhD thesis.
  • Sarangi, S., and Christopher, Candlin. (2011) Professional and organisational practice: A discourse/communication perspective. In Cristopher Candlin and Srikant Sarangi (eds), Handbook of Professional Communication in Professions and Organisations. Berlin: De Gruyter. 1-49.
  • Scollon, R., and Suzanne Wong Scollon (2001). Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
  • Sarybai, M.S. (2004). О роли английского языка и должности переводчика в современной казахстанской организации (по материалам объявлений о вакансиях переводчиков в прессе) [About the role of the English language and the position of translator in the modern Kazakhstani organisation (based the material of newspaper advertisements on the vacancies of translator in press)]. Communication at Work: Issues and Challenges. 2nd Annual CA ABC, Conference, 23–24 January. 130–135.
  • Smith, M. (2012). The Kazakhstan opportunity. World Monitor-Industrial Development. №5 (36). 38-39.
  • St. John, M. J. (1996). Business is booming: Business English in the 1990s. English for Specific Purposes, (11). 35-18.
  • State program of development and functioning of languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2001-2010. [Государственная программа развития и функционирования языков в Республике Казахстан на 2001-2010 годы]. http://ru.government.kz/docs/u010550_20040329.htm (accessed 12 July 2013).
  • State program of development and functioning of languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020 [Государственная программа развития и функционирования языков в Республике Казахстан на 2011-2020 годы]. http://ru.government.kz/docs/u110000011020110629.htm (accessed 12 July 2013).
  • Swales, John. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.
  • Varner, I. (1988). A comparison of American and French business correspondence. The Journal of Business Communication, 25(4). 55-65.
  • Upton, T. and Connor, U. (2001). Using Computerized Corpus Analysis to Investigate the Textlinguistic Discourse Moves of a Genre. English for Specific Purposes: An International Journal 20: 313–29.
  • Yli-Jokiph, H. (1994). Requests in professional discourse: A cross-cultural study of British, American and Finnish business writing. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
  • Zharkynbekova, Sholpan and Aimoldina, Aliya. (2012). Английский язык и национально-государственное строительство в Республике Казахстан [The English language and Nation-building in the Republic of Kazakhstan]. In Sholpan Zharkynbekova (eds). Софункционирование языков в поликультурном пространстве Казахстана [Co-functioning of languages in multilingual space of Kazakhstan]. Astana:Wowprnt.kz. 65-104.
  • Zhu, Y. (2000). Rhetorical Moves in Chinese Sales Genres, 1949 to the Present”. Journal of Business Communication. Vol.37/2. 156-172.
  • Zhu, Y. (2005). Written Communication across Cultures: A Sociocognitive Perspective on Business Genres. Amsterdam: John Bejamins.
  • Zhu, Y. (2006). Cross-Cultural Genre Study: A Dual Perspectives. Intercultural and International Business Communication. Linguistic Insights. Peter Lang A.G. 181-196.
There are 34 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Journal Section Makaleler
Authors

Aliya Aımoldına This is me

Sholpan Zharkynbekova This is me

Publication Date July 23, 2014
Published in Issue Year 2014 Volume: 29 Issue: 29-2

Cite

APA Aımoldına, A., & Zharkynbekova, S. (2014). Incorporating Authentic Models into Business Letter Writing within the ESP course at Kazakhstani Universities. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 29(29-2), 16-33.