Business Communication Quarterly

75(1) 5 28
2012 by the Association for
Business Communication
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DOI: 10.1177/1080569911430379
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Exploring Business Request
Genres: Students Rhetorical
Choices
Hai Nguyen
1
and Jennifer Miller
1
Abstract
This article presents selective findings from an ongoing study that investigates rhetorical
differences in business letter writing between Vietnamese students taking an English
for Specific Purposes course in Vietnam and business professionals. Rhetorical analyses
are based on two corpora, namely, scenario (N = 20) and authentic business letters
of request (N = 25). Two criteria, the notion of move (a meaningful unit in linguistic
form contributing to the communicative purposes of a text) and linguistic properties,
are used for rhetorical analysis, supplemented by analysis of data from interviews with
student participants. Based on the findings and discussions, recommendations are
offered for preparing students well for the business workplace through incorporating
more authentic models and contexts into pedagogical strategies.
Keywords
rhetorical choices, genre acquisition, cultural differences, critical pedagogy, transition
Vietnam entered the 21st century with both ever-expanding opportunities for its
business community and challenges for its education sector. External economic
conditions include the role of the European Community, the expansion of U.S.
commercial relations with Asian countries, Vietnams entry into the World Trade
Organisation, and a growing number of Vietnam-based multinational corporations
engaging in international trade. With the burgeoning international business sector
come higher requirements for qualified human resources. In response to this, Business
English courses flourish in Vietnam and are offered by a large number of economics
and commerce universities. However, in most of these courses, the pedagogy of
Business English emphasises inflexible textbook examples and memorisation of
formulaic structures. Application to the workplace has, to a great extent, been quite
limited (Nguyen, 2008).
1
Monash University, Australia
Corresponding Author:
Hai Nguyen, 2/25 Spring Road, Springvale South, Melbourne, Victoria 3172, Australia
Email: Hai.Nguyen@monash.edu
6 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
The importance of English in familiar business writing genres such as email
messages, letters, and reports is now taken for granted (Campbell, 2002; Nickerson,
2005), and competence in English writing is significant not only for students learning
achievement but also for their future careers. It has become a significant criterion in
the recruitment process in companies. Karr (2001) writes, Business writing will
continue to be valued by recruiters and hiring professionals, who believe a persons
ability to write well can help him or her move up the corporate ladder (as cited in
Bacha & Bahous, 2008, p. 76). Among these genres, business letters are widely used
in the world as a main channel of business correspondence in spite of widespread
developments in communication technology (Arvani, 2006, p. 13). The common goal
of any business letter is to obtain a favourable response from the addressee. To achieve
that goal, persuasion via the manipulation of rhetorical strategies for certain readers
plays an important role. However, writing patterns that are effective in one culture and
language may not transfer successfully in intercultural communication (Park, Dillon,
& Michell, 1998). Moreover, in the context of globalisation where English is used as
a lingua franca for business purposes, communicators in the global business community
increasingly encounter pluralized national and cultural identities and need to deal
with the boundaries between them in multiple ways (Starke-Meyerring, 2005, p.
477). They need to go beyond the traditional approach of adopting the presumed
norms and conventions ascribed to national cultures to achieve effectiveness in
multicultural communication settings. At work, students are expected to write business
letters in lingua franca English that will be read and judged by readers according to a
range of standards and conventions. The writing styles represented by the students
may not match the expectations of readers, causing communication breakdown. Being
aware of the similarities and differences in writing patterns of various cultures may
help prepare students well for a multicultural workplace.
This article reports selective findings from an investigation into the elements that
constitute effective business letter writing. The study adopted a contrastive approach,
investigating the differences between the discursive features of English business
letters written by Vietnamese EFL (English as a foreign language) students and those
written by business people from different cultural backgrounds. Specifically, the
research questions were the following:
1. What are students rhetorical strategies in business letters in a business
correspondence course? How and why are they different from those in
authentic business letters?
2. What are students perceptions of the underlying factors that shape their
business writing?
Theoretical Background
Contrastive Rhetoric and Genre Analysis
The term contrastive rhetoric was first used in Kaplans (1966) study of international
students writing in English, which focused on the interference of first-language
Nguyen and Miller 7
thought and writing patterns with writing in a second language. Following Kaplan,
numerous research studies have drawn on contrastive rhetoric (Leki, 1991). One
important finding from these studies indicates that what is rhetorically effective in
one culture might not be effective in another, and vice versa (Park et al., 1998, p.
329). The focus of contrastive rhetoric studies has recently expanded beyond essay
writing to examine academic and professional writing for specific tasks (Connor,
1997). In business writing, in particular, it has been found that cultural elements play
an important role in a discourse community characterised by ritualistic and
formulaic language (see, e.g., Bell, Dillon, & Becker, 1995; Kong, 1998; Maier,
1992; Valero-Garcs, 1996; Vergaro, 2002, 2004; Yeung, 1997).
A useful definition of genre in contrastive rhetoric is offered by Swales (1990),
who claims that a relationship exists between the purpose realised through the genre
and the schematic structure of the genre, the text, and the language used. Swales
writes,
A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which
share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognised by
the expert members of the parent discourse community and thereby constitute
the rationale for the genre. This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the
discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style. (p. 58)
In this definition, Swales suggests that unless the participants in a communicative
activity share a common focus and are homogeneous in their preference for structure,
style, content, and intended audience, their communicative activity does not typify a
genre.
In a similar vein, Bhatia (1993) points out that a communicative activity can only
represent a genre if the participants understand its purpose and accept its ruling
conventions and the constraints on their form of communication. As he argues,
combinations of language insights and sociocognitive and cultural considerations all
contribute to genre construction, interpretation, and exploitation. Bhatia focuses on
analysing genres in the professional contexts of legal and business situations, observing
that writers often use moves, and within them they adopt individual strategies, which
are creative elements that allow them to use a particular genre effectively.
The Business Letter Genre
According to Swaless (1990) definition, a business letter cannot be seen as a genre
since there is insufficient indication of purpose realised in the letter, although it
performs a communicative function. However, Van Nus (1999) argues that the purpose
of a genre should not be restricted to a communicators intention. Rather, genres
should be understood as a way through which a discourse communitys tasks are
performed and individual purposes achieved through language. Members of the same
discourse community will recognise genres through culturally shared aspects of
8 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
language use. If we add the term business to letter, a widely agreed set of common
goals can be found. Although superficially it might seem that buyers and sellers have
different goals (selling at the highest price possible, buying at the lowest price
possible), they share an underlying rationale, which is the maintenance of their
optimum business relationship. And in Van Nuss view, a business letter constitutes a
genre and as such, consists of a recurrent schematic structure comprising a subject; an
opening salutation; prepropositional, propositional, and postpropositional sections;
and a closing salutation (see also Vergaro, 2002).
The concept of genre repertoire, that is, a group of genres, is identified by Swales
(1990) as one of the defining characteristics of a discourse community. Van Nus
(1999) agrees, explaining that genres may evolve to form genre repertoires because of
the exigencies that are associated with a set of recurrent activities. Within the genre
business letter, it is possible to distinguish genre repertoires such as chasing money,
requesting, offering, promoting sales, and so on, all within the business discourse
community. In the context of our corpus, a routine business request letter is defined as
an intercompany document requesting some kind of response, such as the supply of
information or that some appropriate actions be taken (Kong, 1998, p. 111).
The Study
The study collected and analysed written data sets, two of which are reported in this
article. These concern trade enquiry letters and comprise a number of authentic
business letters and a group of letters written by students based on a business scenario.
Interviews with some of these writers provided a further source of data. Details of the
data sources are presented in the following sections.
Authentic Business Letters
This corpus data set consists of 25 actual trade enquiries written by business
professionals of various cultural backgrounds (American, Australian, Chinese,
Japanese, and Vietnamese). These letters were selected from the sent files of emails
or email attachments and were in the routine request category as classified by Charles
(1996). We use the term letter to refer to a genre in which the writer includes a greeting,
an opening, and a closing sequence, and signs off. To select the corporate participants,
we first approached two key persons who were my former classmates. One of them is
now working in the Vietnam Ministry of Trade, which is responsible for the promotion
of trade domestically, regionally, and internationally through creation of an enabling
business and investment environment of the country. The other holds a management
position in the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This organisation
represents the Vietnamese business community and is one of Vietnams largest trade
promotion agencies. We talked with them about the study and asked them for advice
regarding the collection of business letter samples. We then established a short-list of
Nguyen and Miller 9
target businesses with information about their background as well as contact details.
With each business, we first contacted a board member and invited them to participate.
Once the board agreed and also recommended who should be the most potentially
suitable for the research, we approached those recommended in person. All the
business participants were experienced in dealing with business correspondence. The
sample letters they contributed reflect rhetorical choices and patterns that are typical
of daily business correspondence and provide a rich set of rhetorical choices for
contrastive analysis in business discourse.
Scenario Business Letters
Scenario-based business letter samples were provided by 20 Vietnamese university
students. These students were taking an English for Specific Purposes course,
Business Correspondence, in the final semester of a 4-year Bachelor of Economics
program in a university in Vietnam. This course focuses on writing business letters in
English for import-export transactions. Students took part in this study 2 weeks after
they had completed their final exams and were about to graduate.
Based on the samples collected of real business letters, a writing task with a scenario
was designed, namely, a trade enquiry letter. Student participants were given a task
describing a situation from a business environment, which required them to write a
business letter in order to solve the problems stated. This type of letter represented a
familiar task and genre in their business correspondence course but was not used in
their examination (see Appendix A). The scenario task was designed to give students
as much flexibility as possible, so that they could be creative in contextualising their
writing. There was no requirement for the textual structure of the scenario letter,
except that it had to be a trade enquiry sent to an international supplier, the same
criterion used for the authentic letters. The scenario and authentic letters are comparable
in terms of the communicative task and audience.
Follow-Up Interviews
After the writing task, five students (Loan, Mai, Ngan, Quan, and Thu)
1
participated
in a 45-minute individual interview. Each was asked to talk about the text he or she
had completed, using a technique known as a discourse-based interview (see
Hyland, 2004). The interviews aimed to engage students in an exploration of language
choices in their texts and the way they combined contextual valuables and incorporated
the writing traditions of their own culture and their courses.
Interviews were also conducted with corporate participants who wrote the authentic
letters with a view to investigating what they do naturally in business correspondence
and what they consider to be an effective trade enquiry in intercultural settings.
Interview questions are listed in Appendix B.
10 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
Data Analysis
Move structure analysis was used to analyse the data. A move in a text is a meaningful
unit presented in lexical-grammatical forms and related to its communicative purposes
(Miller, 1984; Swales, 1990). As pointed out by Swales, if two texts are said to belong
to the same genre, they should share the same communicative purpose, and the
schematic structure of a given genre is the result of the conventions and activities of
the discourse community established and developed in response to recurrent rhetorical
needs. For the examination of the schematic structure of a genre, Swales proposes the
move structure analysis framework. Applying this, Kong (1998) specifies the seven-
move structure of trade enquiries. Rhetorical analysis of the business letters in this
article covers investigation into both move structure and linguistic realisation of
moves using Kongs template specified below.
Move 1: Source of reference
1a. State where and when you heard the information
1b. Refer to previous correspondence
Move 2: Make the request
Move 3: Background of the company or to the matter
Move 4: Justification for the request
Move 5: State the condition
Move 6: Enquiry about other related items or matters
Move 7: Cordial conclusion (p. 112)
Authentic business letters were scanned according to the selection criteria to make
sure that they all belonged to the proposed genre. All letters were then divided into the
two corpora, authentic and scenario. Each letter was analysed based on a template
showing all conventional moves and typical linguistic items of the selected genre (see
the next section). The total number of analysed moves and steps in each letter was
counted, then shown in a table with the frequency of moves in each corpus aggregated.
A summary of linguistic realisations of moves was also presented in a table for the two
corpora.
Findings And Discussion
Rhetorical Analysis of the Two Corpora
This section first presents two samples of scenario and authentic trade enquiry (see
Figures 1 and 2), each described by a table (see Tables 1 and 2) of more structure
analysis showing how the analytical framework has been applied. Analysis of
rhetorical organisation of the entire corpora will then follow.
Nguyen and Miller 11
The number of moves realised. The number of moves identified in the two corpora
illustrates the flexibility in rhetorical choices of professional compared with student
writers. Apart from Move 6, other moves as stipulated in Kongs (1998) framework
are present in almost every scenario letter. By contrast, the number of moves business
professionals include in authentic letters varies. Move 2 is compulsory, being the
nucleus of the letter, and the rest are optional. In the majority of the letters, space is
mostly devoted to presentation of the key points, namely, their interest and specific
requests. Giving background information about the business is significant in prompting
a potential buyer to buy, but such a move seems not to be preferred by professional
writers. They also tend not to specify any conditions relating to their request nor do
they make other related requests (see Table 3).
Figure 1. An Example of a Scenario Trade Enquiry (Routine Request)
Note: The example in Figure 1 has been used after obtaining written permission.
12 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
Figure 2. An Example of an Authentic Trade Enquiry
Note: The example in Figure 2 has been used after obtaining written permission.
Nguyen and Miller 13
Functions of Moves Moves Linguistic Realisations
M ove 3: Giving the
background of the
company
Id like to introduce myself as one of the
leading retailers specialising in colour
television in Vietnam.
Use of standard structure
would like to
M ove 1: Stating where
and when you heard
of the company
We were impressed by selection of colour
television sets displayed on your stand at
last months International Goods Exhibition
on Giang Vo Street, Vietnam.
Use of passive structure
were impressed by
M ove 4: Justifying the
request
Were interested in importing a large num-
ber of colour television sets, 29 29 and
32 29 inches, at screen.
Use of prepositional
phrase
M ove 2: Making the
request
Would you please send us the recent prices
FOB Kobe Japan as well as discount and
payment terms.
Use of question with
modal
M ove 6: Making other
related requests
We would also appreciate it if you could
send us some samples each kind of the
product.
Use of subjunctive mood
M ove 5: Stating the con-
ditions
If the prices quoted are competitive and the
quantity is up to standard, well be glad to
become your regular client.
Use of conditional if
M ove 7: Conclude
politely
We hope to hear from you in the near
future.
Use of standard structure
we hope to
Table 1. Move Structure Analysis of a Typical Scenario Trade Enquiry
Table 2. Move Structure Analysis of a Typical Authentic Trade Enquiry
Functions of Moves Moves Linguistic Realisations
Move 1: Stating where
and when you heard
of the company
Your name and address have been given to us
by some importers in Vietnam.
Use of passive
structure
Move 3: Giving the
background of the
company
(Move 4: Justifying the
request is embedded)
We are a material and complete equipment
exportimport Corporation (XXX), being one
of the main importers of steel scrap, Steel
billets, ferro alloy and other steel material for
steel making in the past decade.
Use of indicative
mood beginning
with we
Move 5: Stating the
conditions
We are able to import the following materials.
Shredded steel scrap IRSI 210/211
Quantity: 2000 MT
Shipment to: Hai Phong Port, Vietnam
Use of simple
expressions with
following for
itemisation of
conditions
Move 2: Making the
request
I would be very pleased if you can send us your
latest quotation.
Use of subjunctive
mood
Move 7: Conclude
politely
Highly appreciate your early reply.
Thanks and best regards
Flexible ending
expression
14 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
Table 3. Move Occurrences in the Two Corpora of Trade Enquiries
Move No. of Scenario
Letters, N = 20
No. of Authentic
Letters, N = 25
Move 1: Stating where and when you heard of the
company
20 4
Move 2: Making the request 20 25
Move 3: Giving the background of the company 19 9
Move 4: Justifying the request 17 25
Move 5: Stating the conditions 18 5
Move 6: Making other related requests 14 3
Move 7: Concluding politely 20 25
The flexible nature of rhetorical patterns in authentic enquiries is also illustrated by
one example from the corpus. A potential buyer surfing the net contacted the vendor
company through a web enquiry rather than through an email, that is, by entering his
or her details on a webpage. The database would be configured to email the details of
the enquiry to someone in the company. It then gets passed to the relevant salesperson.
Clearly, the categories in Kongs (1998) framework do not apply here. As Cheung
(2008) stresses, texts written for similar communicative purposes tend to display
differences in discourse structure due to the impact of new media, which allow writers
to encode their messages in particular ways to maximise effectiveness.
Order of presentation of moves. Although scenario enquiries do not follow the order
of moves identified in Kongs (1998) framework, they are quite similar in their move
sequence. Moves 3 and 1 are often interchangeable at the beginning of the letters.
Nevertheless, the rest are in almost the same order in every letter. The preferred
sequence of moves in all cases is justification, accompanied by the presentation of the
request.
However, a common sequence of moves was not identified among the authentic
letters. A couple of letters have a similar structure to Kongs (1998) framework. Some
are characterised by the shifting of the position of Move 2 (presentation of the request)
towards the end of the letter. Others display heterogeneous layouts. Sometimes, the
request is presented right at the beginning and often supplemented with explanations
as to why it is made. In this case, the message to the reader comes to the fore in the
letter. Other authentic letters begin with introduction of the writer, background of the
company, and/or conditions associated with the request. In these cases, presentation of
the request is delayed, occurring towards the end of the letter.
Micro-linguistic realisations. Analysis of micro-linguistic realisations in the two
corpora focused on pragmatic use of mood and modality. Details are presented in
Appendix C. It is clear that formulaic expressions are infrequent in the authentic
corpus but consistently present in scenario letters. Given the high degree of lexical and
syntactic variation within and across the texts, the authentic letters demonstrate a more
Nguyen and Miller 15
flexible expression pattern than scenario letters. For example, in Move 2 the novice
writers stick to using subjunctive moods to present the request. However, the
professional writers tend to convey a request through a range of expressions. Apart
from the subjunctive mood (only two occurrences), the use of please in combination
with modals, the interrogative form, and the direct indicative forms are common in
authentic letters. While Move 4 of the scenario letters are always signalled by the verb
look for in present continuous tense, it is realised through a number of different
expressions in the authentic letters. Also, while there are only two types of ending
structures in all scenario letters, constituting standard and deferential conclusions,
various concluding expressions by professionals illustrate the difference in linguistic
elements between the two corpora.
A further observation of the differences of linguistic realisations concerns the
politeness strategies employed in the two corpora. In scenario letters, novice writers
persuade the reader to meet their requests through consistent use of subjunctive moods.
In doing this, the writer gives freedom of action to the receiver by expressing the
conventional indirectness, which is sender based (Pilegaard, 1997). In addition, the
conventional polite marker please is used as a mitigator in combination with modals
would and could. This interrogative form of request also signals a lesser imposition on
the reader. The novice writers are always deferential and polite in conveying their
request. They assume a distance between them and the reader, and the face system
employed in the scenario letters is of symmetrical deference (Brown & Levinson,
1987). Interrogative forms with modals and the mitigator please are also used by the
professional writers and mostly display examples of can rather than would and could.
This is considered a less deferential strategy. It is noticeable that authentic letters
exhibit two direct request forms as in We will have to be sent and Is there anyone
I can meet in Taiwan? Framing requests in this way is not a tactful strategy since the
use of have to in the first example and a direct question in the second one may create
potentially face-threatening communication.
Two findings concerning move structure and linguistic items can be drawn from
the above analysis. First, the scenario letters demonstrate a number of commonalities
and cover all move categories of a standard request letter. The linguistic elements
indicate a heavy use of formulaic phrases. The pattern is so strong that the scenario
letters look almost the same regardless of the contexts represented. On the other hand,
the authentic letters represent diversity in their rhetorical patterns in terms of both the
number and order of representation of moves. Linguistic elements are also flexible
and diverse. Professional writers rely on their own expression rather than formulaic
phrases to best describe their situation. The second finding relates to politeness
strategies used in the letters. The face system employed in scenario letters was found
to be one of symmetrical deference given the absence of face-threatening moves and
adoption of an inductive rhetorical strategy. In contrast, symmetrical solidarity
strategies were found in a majority of authentic letters characterised by the use of a
deductive rhetorical pattern and face-threatening communication (see Scollon &
Scollon, 1995).
16 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
Students Talk About Their Rhetorical Choices
The responses from student participants helped verify and explain the findings from
the textual analysis above. These were mainly concerned with the way they composed
the scenario letters and the underlying factors that they saw as affecting their writing.
Writing instruction. When asked about how business letter writing was taught in
class, most of the students revealed that classroom instruction was not contextualised
enough to facilitate their understanding of genre. Given a focus on replicating rhetori-
cal formulas and applying rules, this range of instruction did not support students in
developing awareness of the complexities of the audience and context of writing.
The teacher just focused on the theory in the course book, reading some relevant
chapters and translating some parts into Vietnamese if necessary for rules of
writing such as how to write the letterhead correctly, how to address the reader,
then consider the form, the style. (Quan)
The teacher used the letter sample, dividing it into smaller parts and in each part
she emphasised some formulaic sentences and structures. But sometimes we did
not have a sense of a complete letter as we were not encouraged to analyse the
organisation of these parts and function of each in the context given. (Mai)
Some of the students complained that they felt they had been poorly prepared for
writing to a real audience in their part-time job in the final year of the program.
Although the course provided her with instruction and practice in composing several
professional genres, Loan found that she had not experienced any sense of the complex
realities she encountered in the workplace writing situations. She was surprised at the
negative comments from her work supervisor on the business letters she prepared to
foreign partners. She said, Soon after I took over the part-time job the supervisor
came to me and told me that my letter was too long, too serious, and rigid, something
like that and he had to edit most of it.
Through the part-time job in a trading company, Ngan also realised that the course
prepared her poorly for workplace writing.
In class we are taught how to write in a very formal way and we have to write
the letter with a fixed order. But I found that in real business we write the letter
quite informal, and also the words and many things we write are simpler. We
were taught how to write business letters following the same sequence of
content. But in real-life communication sometimes we can let some steps
outside, some sentences can be crossed out. (Ngan)
Ngan observed the flexibility in writing at work as opposed to a rigid approach to
writing in her course, which was described by her as always following a fixed order.
Nguyen and Miller 17
Students need to be encouraged to consider the complexities of the audience and
context if they are to critically engage with writing and to communicate competently
in their future workplace (Schneider & Andre, 2005).
Challenges in writing. Students varied in their perception of the challenges faced in
business letter writing. Most found problems in contextualising their rhetorical
strategies and determining appropriate move structures and linguistic elements to
realise the communicative goal. Some students thought writing was difficult due to the
rigid assessment criteria of the course, which require them to produce flawless pieces
of writing in terms of grammar, spelling, format, or the like.
For almost all students, the task of writing business letters was easy to understand
but difficult to do.
The main task in an enquiry is simple to do, just to ask for the information about
the product that you are interested in but many products are quite unfamiliar to
us. We dont know what aspects of quality we should focus on and which ones
are important to ask. And also, it is difficult to decide on what related request
should be made. (Loan)
It was clear that the combination of inventing a product in English and knowing how
to write was compounded by lack of practical knowledge. This prevented students
from achieving persuasiveness in the letter. It was at times challenging to make up
good propositional content if products were unfamiliar to them.
Some students perceived the difficulty of writing differently from the others. Since
they were mindful of course assessment, the pressure of having high scores made
writing very challenging. Thu said, We still had to try to follow what the teacher said
in order to get good marks. Quans comments on his teachers evaluation criteria best
illustrated this phenomenon:
The teacher tells us if we make mistakes in our writing and if we do not
remember the basic structure of business letters of some kind well get bad
marks in the final exam. The format accounts for 30% and content 70%. (Quan)
While taking the course, Quan took a part-time job in an embroidery import-export
company. He found that the majority of the business people were from nonEnglish
speaking countries and the English used by them in business letters was relatively
simple. For Quan, business letter writing in real situations was easier and simpler than
in the business correspondence course he is taking:
I think that writing business letters in a standard way, the way being taught at
the university is quite difficult. To get high scores in the final exam we have to
write everything correctly right from the letterhead to the end. I remember once
we practised formatting letters such as the letterheads and inside addresses and
a lot of mistakes were found. But if the teacher did not point out the mistakes
we couldnt realise them. I think that writing in such a perfect way is really
difficult. (Quan)
18 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
Good writing in the English for Specific Purposes course, as perceived by Quan, was
about minor details of layout. Grammatical and lexical errors were also penalised. In
addition, any mismatch between the letters they wrote and the rules introduced to them
in class also affected marks. The pressure of meeting university requirements was felt
by Quan as a burden. He was conscious of the evaluation criteria of the course and
approached university writing in a pragmatic way, even though he had experienced a
sense of real-life communication. His perspective of writing as meeting evaluation
criteria coloured his perception of the difficulty of writing and illustrated the tailoring
of writing towards exams at university.
Writing as reproduction. Students revealed that they followed the same order in
presenting the propositional content, so it was not surprising that the outlines were
similar in all scenario trade enquiries. To begin the letter they either introduced their
company or referred to the previous communication through which they had come to
know the potential supplier. Next they presented their request followed by related
enquiries. Finally, they stated their expectation of the reader.
There was also a shared argument that in all business encounters an introduction is
essential. Loan said, First I talked about the company, its business lines, and extensive
distribution network. Ngan had her own formula of introduction, which is similar to
Loans: You should say that you are a large company specialising in certain items.
You have been trading with a number of businesses worldwide and own extensive
chains of supermarkets. Quan, Mai, and Thu also mentioned the necessity of
presenting an image of a prestigious company with all its advantages to their readers.
The stating the conditions move was acknowledged an important move by all
students. To justify this particular move, Thu explained before concluding the letter,
there should be a part in which you negotiate your terms. Loan, Mai, and Quan placed
an emphasis on meeting the requirements for consideration of an ongoing business
relationship by stating suitable aspects of price and quality. As a formula, they all used
conditional structures specifying that the price must be competitive and the quality
up to standard for regular orders to be placed.
At times, students attempted to contextualise their letters, moving beyond
mechanically memorised phrases. To impress on the supplier the worthiness of the
buyer, Ngan added another move to her letter, the statement of enclosure. She believed
that by enclosing a reference from a bank or prestigious organisation, she could
guarantee the enquiry came from a reliable company. However, a trade enquiry
offers the recipient an opportunity of sale, and references are not important. As
suggested by Vergaro (2004), student writers seem to allow too much personal
creativity in their texts, which violates the established norms and conventions of
business writing, and as a consequence, their writing is not always rhetorically
effective.
Cultural values and beliefs in business writing. Student responses revealed diverse
perspectives on culture and rhetoric in business letters. For some, a focus on the reader
meant taking into consideration the cultural tradition of the audience and relevant
rhetorical conventions. These students were aware of the significance of cultural
Nguyen and Miller 19
differences in international business communication, although it had not been overtly
addressed in class. As Thu claimed, she and her classmates did not have opportunities
to take part in business communication events involving different cultures. In the
course, they lacked a chance to research a specific culture or witness the translation of
cultural traditions into the rhetorical conventions of business correspondence.
A missing component of cultural knowledge in the business writing course affects
the way students write their scenario letters. Students tended to treat readers in the
same way or impose on them the same cultural assumptions influenced by their own
values and perspectives. Mai admitted that she did not consider the reader in cultural
terms in forming the rhetorical moves of her scenario letters.
In my letter, although I target Asian customers, it seems that I did not imply any
focus on any aspect of the reader. I dont think we need to adjust anything in a
trade enquiry. For every reader I write in the same way, all the same, no
difference. (Mai)
Ngan also treated customers in the same way but she tried to impress the reader by
being formal and deferential.
The only aspect I consider about the reader is whether they will feel they are
respected by us so they will pay attention to my enquiry. In the letter, I tried to
be formal and deferential and to show that I am a potential buyer, buying a large
quantity on a regular basis. (Ngan)
Thus, apart from a positive image of the business the soft tone of the message was
claimed significant in the success of the letters. Students acknowledged that the choice
of language in scenario letters was affected by the cultural belief described thus by
Quan: to get somebody to do something for you, you need to beg him for it rather
than demand. It was also clear that student writers did not simply consider readers as
information providers but placed much hope on them, as illustrated by Thus response:
Perhaps, this time your reader cannot respond to your enquiry but later they may give
you good opportunities if you are grateful to them. Such perceptions explain the
presence of similar moves in students letters, as well as the high degree of formality
of their message.
Boiarsky (1995) contends that rhetorical conventions are informed by cultural
custom and are manifested in a variety of ways (p. 246). Cultural custom or tradition
often regulates the content, organisational pattern, and format of texts communicated
in any culture. Students culturally shared preference for formality and respect was
reflected in the way they chose linguistic items for scenario letters. As Phan (2001)
points out, tactfulness and indirectness are valued in Vietnamese writing, as influenced
by its cultures (p. 305). This was confirmed in the students perceptions.
The analysis of students perspectives on their rhetorical choices indicates the
influence of culturally situated Vietnamese values on the way students write business
20 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
letters in English. This finding reflects a key proposition of the contrastive rhetoric
field, namely, that second-language writers do not necessarily approach their writing
in the way expected by the target language audience (e.g., Maier, 1992; Park et al.,
1998). However, the findings also show that culturally embedded preferences are not
the only factor influencing the way students write. Students elaborations of their
rhetorical strategies in scenario letters reflected the contribution of their acquired
knowledge about culture and communication. They implied that schooling and writing
instruction had had an impact on the way they composed their letters (see Purves,
1988).
The Complexity of a Simple Enquiry
Interviews with business professionals about their perspectives on written
communication in general and specific communication practice in the requesting
genre revealed that business communication has changed partly because business
peoples perceptions of communication effectiveness have been influenced by other
external factors of the corporate world. The rise of English as an international language
(EIL) for business purposes has given rise to changes in written business communication.
In global business, communicators deal with business professionals who are at
different levels of linguistic competence (native and nonnative speakers of English).
The participants in this study demonstrated that they did not try to achieve the target
of a native-like speaker with impeccable language skills, but at the same time they
acknowledged that they needed to acquire flexible competence in linguistic and
pragmatic skills to produce effective English lingua franca messages.
The development of EIL in addition to technical advances has resulted in
interconnectedness among business cultures. Communicators in a global business
community tend to adopt new, hybrid conventions as a result of blurred national and
cultural boundaries. They need to mediate national cultural values with corporate
cultural values to achieve effectiveness in communication. In business letters, such
mediation affects the rhetorical choices of writers.
Changes in business practices were also reported by the participants to be another
motivation for adjustment of their rhetorical choices in business letters. Communication
in a specific community often embraces a set of established norms and conventions
developed by the members of the community. However, companies devise new ways
of doing business and need to communicate about these practices as part of their
corporate culture. These new practices in turn stimulate creativity and flexibility in the
organisation of business messages. The discourse practices noticed by the participants
went beyond the application of formulaic and ritual procedures to reflect actual
business operations embedded in preferences for certain move types and move
sequences. Some also expressed the notion that textbooks underplayed the flexibility
needed for business writing.
In the requesting genre, the way professional writers developed their rhetorical
strategies was also influenced by the multiple effects discussed above. A trade enquiry
Nguyen and Miller 21
is often considered a simple letter that requests information from a potential customer
about a product or service. However, business people from different cultures define
and assume communicative roles in different ways. For some, an enquiry letter is
simply seen as an interaction between an information seeker and information provider
who are close and trusted friends on an equal social footing. Others believe they
need to show in the letter a willingness and commitment for future obligations if they
want to obtain a favourable offer from the supplier. Choices of rhetorical strategies are
therefore culture bound, and far less rigid than might be implied in some university
courses.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that classroom instruction did not expose students to a
learning environment where actual workplace scenarios were represented. This was
reflected in the students rigid approach to writing and their replication of formulas
and application of rules as opposed to the more flexible approach of business
practitioners. In light of these findings, this article suggests several ways in which
university teachers can enhance their role in improving students writing, easing the
transition from classroom to workplace (Bremner, 2010; Dias, Freedman, Medway, &
Pare, 1999; Mabrito, 1999).
First, classroom instruction needs to support students by providing a grasp of
conventions of common workplace genres and practice in composing these genres. In
this pedagogical process, students should be made aware of the complex nature of
genres and genre acquisition via learning experiences that realistically prepare them
for future communication at work. To that end it is beneficial to include authentic
workplace scenarios throughout the lessons, ones that feature appropriate uses of
business vocabulary, terminology, and social conventions. On a practical level, a
critical pedagogy that combines the explication of genres and the provision of exposure
to authentic discourse is an approach that could work. Such exposure can be made
available through authentic readings, case studies, and tasks set in a rich discursive
context. Authentic resources will help students interpret the relationship between
textual regularities and the underlying rules, so that subtle and complicated rules can
be understood and acquisition and performance of new genres facilitated.
Second, as teachers, we need to deal with the influence of cultural differences on
students writing. As Wang (2010) suggests, our pedagogical practices should reflect
changes in the rhetorical practices across cultures and the way they may influence one
another under specific situations. Again, our students need to be given both the
opportunity to engage in authentic intercultural situations and the incentive to solve
communication problems as they arise. Such an approach facilitates a deeper
understanding of intercultural communication than a method focusing on simplified
explication of conventional cultural knowledge. It also requires major changes in the
22 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
choice of teaching materials. In particular, business writing textbooks need to provide
more opportunities for increasing both student and teacher awareness of international
issues and strategies for building rhetorical and situational sensitivity rather than a
narrow focus on decontextualised tips, dos and donts, or stereotypes about foreign
cultures.
Third, universities should reduce the negative effect of high-stakes assessment on
students writing performance through introduction of an ongoing assessment scheme.
When the focus is shifted from writing performance in a one-time examination to
continuous writing achievements, teachers can help students acquire various strategies
to write rather than simply cover formulas for good writing.
The final recommendation concerns particularly authentic experiences claimed by
the students in this study who got part-time jobs while taking the course. These
students acknowledged that what they were doing in the outside world was not close
enough to what they learned in class with regard to business writing. As they confronted
authentic tasks in the workplace, they developed an understanding of the context in
which writing took place. The application of their theoretical knowledge to a new
setting proved to be an interesting and challenging experience. Students found that
writing in the workplace was not merely applying writing rules in the conventional
sense but the way to understand and work in continually evolving conditions. Thus,
their theoretical knowledge about business writing was then supplemented with
hands-on experiences and skills through workplace task engagement. They realised
that they were given a unique opportunity to share experience with workplace peers
while adapting to a new social setting. In that sense they could become familiar with
the wide range of discourse behaviours of the business community and consolidate the
relevant knowledge and skills to perform the professional genres they had been taught
in class more flexibly and more responsively to the communicative context.
Therefore, universities should encourage students to pursue part-time job schemes
or work options in which they can gain experience in the chosen field. Work terms
provide students with practical experience, exposure to the socially situated nature of
genres, opportunities for developing rhetorical awareness, and extensive feedback
from their workplace peers. Work term experience is considered indispensable to
students, facilitating their development as writers (Schneider & Andre, 2005). Anson
and Forsberg (1990) and Dias et al. (1999) recommend writing internship courses as a
part of an academic program that can help ease students transition to workplace
writing. Through reflection on their classroom instruction and workplace engagement
in writing tasks, students come to a fuller practical and theoretical understanding of
the social action of writing in the workplace (Schneider & Andre, 2005, p. 213). To
maximise students benefit from work experience, universities should work closely
with businesses to organise internship courses or work terms at a time during the
academic program that is appropriate for both students and business professionals.
Nguyen and Miller 23
Appendix A
Task Description
The Situation.You work in an import department of a trading company. You know a
foreign company supplying the product that you need to import. You are now
considering choosing this company as one of your main suppliers in the coming time.
You need to access necessary information before you can make a final decision.
Your Task
Write a letter to the foreign producer to ask for what you need. Feel free to invent
specific details and names.
Appendix B
Questions for Student Interviews
1. Is this kind of business letter familiar to you? Can you talk about that?
2. How is business letter writing taught to you?
3. Is business letter writing easy or difficult for you? Can you talk about that?
4. What are the biggest challenges in business letter writing?
5. What purposes are you supposed to achieve in this kind of letter? What sort
of content and style are required for this kind of letter?
6. How did you organise content into your letter?
7. How did you choose language elements in your letter?
8. While you were writing, did you think about your readers? If yes, in what
aspects?
9. How did the context of the situation influence your writing?
10. What kind of business knowledge is involved in writing this kind of letter?
Questions for Business People
1. How often do you use English for your written business communication? Is
a particular kind of English needed for business communication?
2. Do you have to alter your English to make it sound standard in your
written business communication? How does that work?
3. Has written business communication changed recently? What is impacting
on business communication in your view?
4. How did you choose the content for your letters of request? Why?
5. How did you organise your letter?
6. Are there ways you write to get the response you want from the reader?
Explain your answer?
7. While you were writing, did you think about your readers? If yes, in what
aspects?
(continued)
24 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
8. Does the situation influence your writing?
9. From your experience, what are key elements for a successful letter of request?
Please give an example.
Appendix C
Linguistic Realisations of Moves in Scenario and Authentic Trade Enquiries
Moves and
Functions
Linguistic Realisations
Scenario Letters Authentic Letters
State where and
when you heard
of the company
Limited use of similar structures
(We were impressed/attracted
by):
W e were impressed by selection
of colour television sets
displayed on your stand at . . .
Use of simple structures using first
person pronoun (this move is rare):
I/we know your company through . . .
W e were attracted by your
material displayed on your
stand at . . .
Make the request Consistent use of subjunctive
moods:
A wide range of expressions:
W e would be grateful if you could
send us . . .
Use of subjunctive moods:
W e would appreciate it if you
could send us . . .
I would be very pleased if you can . . .
Use of questions with modals
could/would in combination
with please:
Use of question with modals:
Could you please send us . . . Can you send me . . .
Use of simple question form:
Is there anyone I can contact in
Taiwan?
Use of indicative mood:
We will have to be sent . . .
Introduce the
company/the
matter
Use of similar types of
expression in all cases (beginning
with we)
Use of indicative mood beginning with
we (this move is rare):
W e are one of the large textile
manufacturers in . . .
We are the main importer of . . .
W e are a large chain of retailers
in the capital . . .
(continued)
Appendix B (continued)
Nguyen and Miller 25
Justify the request Use of present continuous tense
to explain the reasons for
the request. Limited range of
expressions (using look for in
all cases):
A wide range of expressions
Use of modals:
So me important features we would
need . . .
Use of present tense to describe
existing condition: We are . . . and are looking for
Recently we want to . . ./We are now
able to import . . .
Use of prepositional phrases:
We are interested in . . .
State the
conditions
Use of conditional if in
combination with formulaic
expressions:
Use of modals
If the product is satisfactory, we
will order on a regular basis
Use of simple expressions for
itemisation such as following, as
follows:
If the prices quoted are
competitive and the quality
up to standard we will place
substantial orders
The required standard would have
to be the following:
Use of cause and effect structure: The requirement will be as follows:
A s we usually place substantial
orders, we would expect a
quantity discount of 20%
We are able to import the following:
Make related
enquiries
Use of indicative mood: NA
We would also like to know . . .
Use of subjunctive mood:
W e would also appreciate if you
could . . .
Conclude politely Use of standard phrases: Flexible endings:
W e look forward to your reply
soon
W aiting for your reply, highly appreciate
your early response
W e hope to receive your reply
soon
Best wishes, Thanks and regards
Authors Note
The study discussed in this article was granted approval by the Standing Committee on Ethics
in Research Involving Humans of Monash University on August 5, 2008 (Project No.
CF08/1875-2008000933).
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Appendix C (continued)
26 Business Communication Quarterly 75(1)
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Note
1. All names are pseudonyms. Interview responses and samples from their writing have been
used after obtaining written permission.
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Bios
Hai Nguyen is a PhD student at Monash University. She taught Business English at Hanoi
Foreign Trade University of Vietnam for 13 years before coming to Australia. Her research
project looks at rhetorical choices in business letter genres by professional and student
writers.
Jennifer Miller is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Her
research and publications are in the areas of language acquisition and identity, the sociocultural
framing of language pedagogy, and teachers work. Her current research concerns low-literacy
refugee students in the high school mainstream and teachers from nonEnglish speaking
backgrounds.
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