Business English

Chapter I
Introduction

A. Background of the Study

The whole world is going global; everyone takes effort to be competitive anywhere in the world. This shift doesn’t only call for skill-oriented competence but also communicative wise. This phenomenon brought the great need for language performance and competence specifically in one of the world’s global language, English.

English is the most widely spoken language in the history of our planet, used in some way by at least one out of every seven human beings around the globe. Majority of international phone calls are made in English, more than 70% of International mails are written and addressed in English. Half of the world’s books and as much as 80% of all computer texts are written and stored in English (Lederer, 2001).

The rise of English speaking nation’s economic power paved the way for this phenomenon. Non-native English speaking nations, in order to compete with this paradigm shift of the global economy made its major adjustment. The philosophical underpinning of globalization has given birth to a growing international scholarly and business literature on the subject in English. The international organizations and institutions used English as the language to express, negotiate and administer compacts among groups (Wright, 2004). Thus the academic field sought ways to meet these demands. Different language subjects (and courses) were made to cater the increasing needs in language proficiency, especially in higher educations. Specialized English language programs such as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) with its various umbrella program such as English for Academic Purposes, English for Business Purposes etc.), Business English and Business Communication were tailored to meet the needs of the Economic (Business) sector for linguistically competent workforce.

In the Philippines where English is considered to be the second language, Business, Laws, Sciences, Education and other

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