Topic outline

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    • Time: 12 hours
    • Free Certificate
    • CEFR Level C2
    Doing business in English has its own set of guidelines and challenges. This course explains how and why business documents are used and what kind of terminology you can expect to see in business settings. This course is designed to prepare you to use Standard American English in professional settings and further develop reading and writing skills at the C2 level. In Unit 1, you will examine Standard American English in business contexts. You'll consider how writers use direct and indirect communication and what terminology is applied. Unit 2 looks at the different genres of writing in the business world. You'll recognize the differences between emails, memos, and letters. You'll see why each is used and examine when each type of writing is used. Finally, you'll write a business memo based on a real-life case and use your language skills to make your ideas clear to your readers. By the end of this course, you'll be able to recognize different business writing styles and know when to use them.

  • How Good Is Your English?

    Welcome to the final course of the ESL series. When you are learning a new language, you should be able to measure your growth and improvement. In this section, you will complete activities that demonstrate your knowledge of English so you can measure your success from the first course of the series. We hope our ESL courses have given you the skills that you need to attain your personal and professional goals.

  • Unit 1: Business English

    This unit will introduce you to business English. You're probably familiar with writing for school assignments and writing for personal communication. There are many different types of writing, each with its own set of guidelines. Writing for business or professional purposes has a set of guidelines to help writers communicate clearly and effectively. We refer to different ways of writing as genres. In this unit, you'll learn about the different genres of business writing, how to use direct communication, and what kind of words to use when writing for business. Finally, you'll have the opportunity to practice some of the elements found in business writing and use direct communication.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

      • define the Standard American English terms commonly used to create documents in business contexts;
      • differentiate commonly-used business vocabulary terms from professional jargon; and
      • recognize rhetorical devices in business writing, including genre, tone, structure, and audience.

    • 1.1: What is Business English?

      When we talk about genre, we're really talking about the audience, organization, and writing style. When you send an email to a friend, you may be casual and funny; when you write a paper for a class, you may include research; and when you write a memo for a business partner, you'll use a formal tone and specific words. The section will introduce you to the basics of business writing.

    • 1.2: Direct vs. Indirect Communication

      Words are tools for communication, and when we use them, we want to be clearly understood. Unfortunately, words can be confusing if not used correctly. In business writing, it is extremely important to be understood. If you don't use direct, clear language in business, you could risk losing money and workers or even get the business into legal trouble. We call the misuse of words that can lead to miscommunication "barriers" because they block our ability to be understood. This section will help you understand direct language and the different kinds of barriers that can create indirect wording and miscommunication in business writing.

    • Unit 1 Assessment

  • Unit 2: Writing for Work

    This unit will show you how and when to use the direct communication we discussed in Unit 1. Now that you're familiar with using direct communication in business writing, you can practice using it to communicate professionally. Business writers use many small genres, or writing categories, such as emails, memos, reports, and even text messages. In this unit, you'll practice using concision to continue being direct with your writing, and see a variety of different business writing categories. Finally, you'll have the opportunity to revise an email to make it fit business writing guidelines.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

      • recognize when to use a variety of professional documents;
      • explain to rewrite business writing for concision and clarity;
      • identify and correct errors in business writing documents to prevent miscommunication; and
      • identify essentials of professional business correspondence documents such as informative messages.

    • 2.1: Concision

      In academic writing, there is a tendency to use a lot of fancy words to explain a point. In business writing, however, the opposite is true. Part of using direct language is to write with concision, meaning to make your point with as few words as possible. Writers also shift between active and passive voice, depending on the professional situation. The key to business writing is that the writer tries to make their point easy to understand to their reader, which saves time and is more efficient. Read this section to learn strategies for concise writing and using active or passive voice.

    • 2.2: Informative Messages

      Writing occurs for a variety of purposes. In academic writing, we often write to learn and share knowledge, while the purpose of personal writing may be to find out what is happening with the people we care about. Business writing focuses on information. Business writers seek information and provide information to build professional relationships, complete tasks, and communicate with others in the workplace. This section describes the different ways business writers communicate.

    • 2.3: Etiquette When Corresponding in Business

      Manners, manners, manners! Just like in-person conversations, written conversations in business require us to use manners. Online etiquette, or netiquette, is important when corresponding professionally. Whether you are sending a coworker a text message, writing an email to a manager, or drafting a letter to a client, there are guidelines that you must follow. This section will explain the guidelines for appropriate business correspondence.

    • Unit 2 Assessment

  • Course Feedback Survey

    Please take a few minutes to give us feedback about this course. We appreciate your feedback, whether you completed the whole course or even just a few resources. Your feedback will help us make our courses better, and we use your feedback each time we make updates to our courses.

    If you come across any urgent problems, email contact@saylor.org.

  • Certificate Final Exam

    Take this exam if you want to earn a free Course Completion Certificate.

    To receive a free Course Completion Certificate, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on this final exam. Your grade for the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you can take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt.

    Once you pass this final exam, you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate.