A Study of English Language Teaching at Universities through Business English and Newspaper English

Abstract

We are now in the age of the so-called international community, and the learning of 'practical English', which is suitable for a variety of world-wide activities, is eagerly expected by both students and teachers. We, the present writers Koike and Sugiyama, taking into consideration the present-day social needs, tried to investigate what practical English teaching should be at universities. As a result of our repeated discussion, we have come to suggest that, in the general culture course at universities, the students should be trained in business writing (especially, business letters writing) and newspaper reading for the purpose of acquiring a practical knowledge of English. In this respect, we think that business English and newspaper English are excellent teaching materials for developing and improving students' writing and reading abilities, respectively. Business English is the language used in the international trade or business transactions. Now that Japan plays a very important role in the world economy, so a number of students go into international business after graduation. We think such students, who are to be internationally-minded persons, should cultivate their business ability early enough by learning business English. It is the business letters writing' that is the most weighty field in bisiness English. In recent days, there is a great variety of business letters, so the students are urgently required to master English business writing to the full extent. On the other hand, newspaper English is the language read through the English news- papers. The articles in English newspapers range over a wide variety of subjects like politics, economics, society, education, sports, entertainments and so on. The content of the articles is up-to-date and lively, and the language used there is actual and living English. This is why we think that English newspapers are excellent teaching materials for learning English reading. By the way, business English and newspaper English, as teaching materials, have some similar characteristics. For example, both of them give us not only knowledge of English as a language but also that of various activities in the human community. Besides, they are both able to satisfy the students' interests in practical English. In this sense, they are closely concerned with each other. Therefore, we are sure that positive learning effects will be boosted through a combination or integration of business English and newspaper English.