The Language Of Business

Abstract

The teaching of the language of business, sometimes also called the “language of commerce” or “administration” (Yates 1977), has the longest history of any specific purpose teaching area; and, in ESP at least, the largest number of textbooks have been produced for business students (Robinson 1980). Yet most seminal research contributions to ESP have been in English for Science and Technology (EST). Due to this phenomenon, Swales (1985) subtitles his ESP retrospective “a source and reference book on the development of English for science and technology.” Earlier well-known collections–e.g., MacKay and Mountford (1978), Trimble, Trimble, and Drobnic (1978), and Selinker, Tarone, and Hanzeli (1981)–provide further evidence for the dominance of EST in teaching and research.