This book analyses the learning experiences of students of Business English at a Chinese university. It addresses several topical issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) education and Business English teaching, including how ESP students learn, how they develop multiple identities. In particular, it focuses on their professional identity in the classroom, and how these identities are transferred to the workplace. This allows the author to present a model of learning Business English that corresponds to the lived experiences of students in China, but which can also be applied to other ESP learner contexts. In doing so, he demonstrates how to research the professional identity of ESP learners from multiple perspectives, and contributes to the validity of research on language learning and learner identity. This book will appeal to scholars of English for Specific Purposes, Second Language Acquisition, and TESOL Education.
Zuocheng Zhang is Senior Lecturer in TESOLEducation at the University of New England, Australia. His publications include monographs and textbooks on Business English and business discourse.
This book analyses the learning experiences of students of Business English at a Chinese university. It addresses several topical issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) education and Business English teaching, including how ESP students learn, how they develop multiple identities. In particular, it focuses on their professional identity in the classroom, and how these identities are transferred to the workplace. This allows the author to present a model of learning Business English that corresponds to the lived experiences of students in China, but which can also be applied to other ESP learner contexts. In doing so, he demonstrates how to research the professional identity of ESP learners from multiple perspectives, and contributes to the validity of research on language learning and learner identity. This book will appeal to scholars of English for Specific Purposes, Second Language Acquisition, and TESOL Education.
Presents a new model of learning Business English and professional identity construction Offers insights into the experiences of ESP learners and ESP learning achievements Compares how professional identity is narrated by Business English students to how it is actually enacted
Zuocheng Zhang
English for Specific Purposes Second language acquisition Adult language learning Lingua Franca Business English Professional Identity Participatory Learning english discourse analysis
“Learning Business English in China may be considered as an outstanding book to instructors and researchers of both ESP and Business English, but it can also be suitable for other kinds of readers, especially when having in mind the increasing popularity of Business English programmes around the world. Additionally, from a methodological viewpoint, this book provides excellent materials on how to study the professional identity of ESP and Business English students from multiple perspectives.” (Álvaro Subero-Saenz, ESP Today, Vol. 7 (1), 2019)