One of the most important areas for business educators to address in preparing their students to compete effectively in world markets is cross-cultural negotiating and conflict management. To do so, teachers must prepare students to understand the markets into which they enter as managers. The objective is not to learn a great deal about one…

It is beneficial to integrate the teaching of computer use into the foreign language business course through such activities as simulating business and commercial situations. Students will not only learn computer terminology in the foreign language but also expand their practical working vocabulary. (CB)

Presents a classroom investigation conducted in the framework of Exploratory Practice (EP) and illustrates EP's potential for developing a research culture in a university institution. Illustrates how investigation into group work arose from interest in developing a culture of inquiry and concludes with a note of caution concerning the pace of…

Describes a secondary school's successful curriculum project. The project linked the Modern Languages and Design Technology departments as part of a German Exchange visit program. This exchange enabled participating teachers to explore new curriculum ideas and provided a curriculum-enriching experience to the participating students. (three…

Describes a business communication classroom project designed to provide students with a framework for making ethical decisions and then to apply effective writing skills to communicate these decisions to someone inside or outside the organization. (SR)

Finds that Georgia State University College of Business Administration faculty perceived that students were able to design and present their documents well, but felt students were less able to select and organize material, present a plan of action, and express their message clearly. Notes that faculty expressed frustration with lack of time to…

Surveyed a group of South American business people on their television viewing and perceptions of U.S. business people, exploring the relevancy of media-cultivated perceptions for understanding intercultural communication between U.S. and Latin American businesses. Found that Americans were viewed as aggressive, an undesirable communication trait…

The Professional Communication Unit (PCU) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) recently conducted a business communication needs analysis to determine student perceptions of their communicative competence and the teaching strategies being used to develop such competence. Students felt that the specialist, stand-alone communication program was more…

A brief overview of discourse analysis is presented, followed by: (1) a description of cross-cultural discourse analysis; (2) an explanation of how cross-cultural discourse analysis applies to language for special purposes (LSP) in general; and (3) a discussion of selected areas for ongoing and future research areas. Emphasis is on discourse…

This paper discusses the problems faced by teachers of business German, the possible goals of business German courses, and the design of an effective textbook to integrate business content and language skills. Special reference is made to the two-semester business German course offered by the University of Southern California (USC). The major goal…

At Concordia College's Institute of German Studies (Minnesota), an immersion program, a 1-month course entitled "German in the Business World" concentrates on development of written and oral communication skills needed in firms dealing with German-speakers. As part of its emphasis on banking, insurance, and business, the course includes…

The University of Rhode Island, through the cooperation of its College of Business Administration and Department of Languages, has undertaken efforts to market its business language program. The target group consists of the incoming freshman class, all of whom must have completed 2 years of high school language study and do some college work in a…

Eastern Michigan University's (EMU) bachelor's (B.A.) and master's (M.A.) programs in Language and International Trade began in 1978, and have awarded 181 B.A. and 249 M.A. degrees in their first 10 years. Two surveys of program graduates revealed that most are employed in jobs with international concerns. Alumni observations strongly reflected…

The successes and failures of a small private college in internationalizing its business curriculum are discussed. The college's condition of severely constrained resources is outlined, and the college's program development approach of sharing resources with other institutions is described. A consortium of local institutions was created to…

One college language teacher's experience in becoming familiar with business German, economics, and the German-speaking business world is described. The training for the business German teacher at Middlebury College included auditing courses in macro- and microeconomics offered at Middlebury college and spending 6 weeks in West Germany to gather…