Business English for Success

Business English for Success is a creative solution to a common challenge across Business Communication courses: Business English or Business Presentations? Some classes place an equal emphasis on oral and written communication, and if that is the case for you please let me direct you to our free online text Business Communication for Success. If, however, your class places the emphasis squarely on written communication and writing proficiency then this book is for you.

The Business English course and corresponding text often starts with a solid foundation in written communication with several opportunities to both review the fundamentals as well as to demonstrate mastery and move on to more challenging assignments. Our students are sometimes learning English as they enter a business program and benefit from the attention to the basics. At the same time this course often articulates as a course-equivalent for English or fulfills a writing requirement for a degree program. This range provides the instructor with both challenges and opportunities that Business English for Success can address.

We open the text with a discussion on the sentence and then break it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences with paragraphs and larger assignments. This step-by-step approach, with many exercises and opportunities for reinforcement along the way, provide a clear path to studentcentered learning.

A note to the student

Writing is often a challenge. If you were ever challenged to express yourself via the written word, this book is for you. I encourage you to explore it, use the exercises as opportunities to learn new skills, and most of all, to be successful in your achievement of your course objectives and goals. This text is available free online and is the result of the dedication of many professionals who share the common goal of increasing access to educational materials for all students. Please thank your instructor for choosing an open source text.

• Exercises are integrated in each segment. Each concept is immediately reinforced as soon as it is introduced to keep students on track.
• Exercises are designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration. This allows for peer-peer engagement, development of interpersonal skills, and promotion of critical-thinking skills.
• Exercises that involve self-editing and collaborative writing are featured. This feature develops and promotes student interest in the knowledge areas and content.
• There are clear internal summaries and effective displays of information.
• This contributes to ease of access to information and increases students’ ability to locate desired content.
• Rule explanations are simplified with clear, relevant, and theme-based examples. This feature provides context that will facilitate learning and increase knowledge retention.
• There is an obvious structure to the chapter and segment level. This allows for easy adaptation to existing and changing course needs or assessment outcomes.