ATTITUDINAL IMPLICATIONS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING BUSINESS ENGLISH

Abstract

Throughout its short history, there have been many attempts to define the concept of Business English. One of the definitions states that Business English is English for the purposes of effective communication in business in a variety of specific business contexts. In that sense, it is not easy to distinguish whether it belongs to the field of business studies or language learning. As there are numerous factors influencing BE, it is important to distinguish between two main categories- aptitude and attitude. The authors here present four most important attitudinal factors influencing language learning: self-esteem, motivation, inhibition, anxiety. They can be divided into those which inspire a positive attitude towards language learning (self-esteem and motivation) and those which have a negative effect on the very process ( inhibition and anxiety). Therefore, the individuals with strong motivation and self-esteem ascribe their achievement to their great effort and, simultaneously attribute  failure to the lack of effort, believing that it is what determines the result. On the other hand, the individuals with strong inhibition and anxiety give up tasks more easily and make little effort believing that they are not associated with the final result. In this respect, it is claimed that teachers are responsible for developing students’ positive attitude to language learning. For this reason, they design different strategies in order to achieve the atmosphere of encouragement. The attitudinal factors are even more emphasized in learning Business English as the opportunity to practice the acquired knowledge and enhance the overall performance is immediately available.