To the issue of development of students’ business letter writing skills

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УДК 378Л47:8П.Ш'38

Lecturer of the Department of Foreign Languages State Higher Educational Establishment «Uzhhorod National University»

TO THE ISSUE OF DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS' BUSINESS LETTER WRITING

Dido Nataliya

Introduction. English is the language of international business and, therefore, it is very important for Business people to be able to adequately express themselves in spoken and written English. In order to communicate effectively in written English, a person must not only possess a good understanding of the English lexicon and related syntactical structures and rules but also be able to use the appropriate lexical and syntactic structure in particular types of written business correspondence.

The topicality of the subject of our investigation is determined by the fact that in today's reality there is a particular need for highly qualified specialists in various fields that have the knowledge of the language most widespread in the world community. The successful development of the economy and competitiveness in international markets requires not just translators but experts in various fields of science, technology and economics possessing a foreign language to the extent necessary for mutual understanding of different language cultures. So, the requirements to foreign language proficiency are significantly changing today, the practical skills of using business language in oral and written language, the ability to use a foreign language in professional activity are becoming more and more important.

Now the importance of letters has increased because of vast expansion of business, increase in demand as well as supply of goods. First of all, business letters help in maintaining proper relationship as nowadays business activities are not confined to any one area or locality. The businessmen as well as customers are scattered throughout the world. Thus, there is a need to maintain proper relationship among them by using appropriate means of communication. Here business letters play an important role. The customers can write letters to the businessman seeking information about products and businessmen also supply various information to customers. This helps them to carry on business on national and international basis.

The analysis of recent investigations. The question of the development of business letter writing skills was under research of foreign (S.L.Brock [4], A.Kench [5]) and Ukrainian (I.Karpus [1],L.Seredyuk [3], А.Plotnikov [2]) linguists. The analysis of the literature shows that the scientists have made an attempt to work out some techniques and approaches of business letter writing skills and to think of the ways of improvement of these skills.

The aim of the investigation is to consider the main aspects of teaching students the skills of business letters writing in English, as well as the peculiarities of business letters writing style.

Main material. Initially, the meaning and importance of business correspondence, as well as its structure and style of presentation should be introduced to students. The growing business and cultural ties with foreign countries require the skills of business letters writing from modern experts. Business correspondence is a means of sharing information. Writing a business letter requires special skills. Business letters may be defined as a media or means through which views are expressed and ideas or information is communicated in writing in the process of business activities [6, p.155]. Students in their future activity will have to write letters seeking information about availability of services, their price, quality, or offering some products, looking for a job, etc.

Any act of written business communication should be at most effective thus business letters, reports, contracts, claims and other documents must be written in accordance with modern requirements to business correspondence. In order to learn to write business letters successfully, students should be aware of the peculiarities of their content, structure, qualities and style. A letter should serve the purpose for which it is written. A good business letter should possess the following qualities [8, p.57]:

- Simplicity - Simple and easy language should be used for writing business letters. Difficult words should be strictly avoided, as one cannot expect the reader to refer to the dictionary every time while reading letter.

- Clarity - The language should be clear, so that the receive will understand the message immediately, easily and correctly. Ambiguous language creates confusion. The letter will serve the purpose if the receiver understands it inthe same manner in which it is intended by the sender.

- Accuracy - The statements written in the letter should be accurate to, the best of the sender's knowledge. Accuracy demands that there are no errors in the usage of language - in grammar, spellings, punctuations etc. An accurate letter is always appreciated.

- Completeness - A complete letter is one that provides all necessary information to the users.

- Relevance - The letter should contain only essential information. Irrelevant information should not be mentioned while sending any business correspondence.

- Courtesy - Courtesy wins the heart of the reader. In business letters, courtesy can be shown/expressed by using words like please, thank you, etc.

- Neatness - A neat letter is always impressive. A letter either handwritten or typed, should be neat and attractive in appearance. Overwriting and cuttings should be avoided.

When establishing business contacts correct and well- worded letter can present the company in the best way possible and make a good impression on a potential partner. Considering this, business letter must be competitive in terms of content, design, and way of delivery. Being equal in all economic conditions a good business letter should win psychologically.

In the process of teaching the general features of business correspondence should be explained to students. First of all, they should remember that a business letter, serving as a major means of formal communication, has become an independent "genre". It possesses its own style and phraseology, vocabulary and syntactic constructions. The style and the language of business letter are its most important components, as through them the main purpose of the letter is fulfilled - bringing the information to the recipient that would cause a reaction and result.

The most important requirement to the language of the business letter is accuracy and prevention of the possibility of different interpretations. Visual accuracy, precision of facts or register accuracy are achieved by the usage of certain words in accordance with their lexical meaning.

Communicative precision is ensured by correspondence of the meaning of words, context and grammatical constructions, the correlation between the parts of the text. In addition, the language of official documents should be characterized by such feature as consistency. The principle of the presentation of information in business letters is formally logical. The subject is considered from the perspective of social relationships rather than interpersonal. Hence lack of emotional and expressive assessment of the situation or the fact, objectivity of presentation, neutral tone, and conciseness are the main characteristics of business letters.

It is always quite difficult to stick to the desired style, especially if you need to write in a foreign language. In this case we should be aware of the fact that every language has its own distinctive set of idiomatic expressions, grammatical forms and lexical phrases and its stylistic peculiarities.

In general, in the long history of its development business language has developed special language form - cliches associated with specific genre, type of document and its compositional part. The peculiarity of the current stage of the development of official documentation is its unification and standardization - bringing language and text means to some unified form. The task of drawing up the document becomes easier due to the possibility to choose the formulas according to the purpose of the sender of the letter.

Business letters should conform to the following format [7, p.1]: 1) Heading - the sender's address (but not the sender's name). 2) Date. 3) Inside address - the recipient's address. 4) Greeting - the opening salutation (Dear Dr. Jones). 5) Body - if the reason for writing is clear and simple, we should state it in the first paragraph; if details are necessary, provide them in the first paragraph and then move on to state the purpose of the letter. 6) Closing - the complimentary closing (Sincerely, Cordially, Yours truly, Respectfully yours, Best regards). 7) Signature - the full name of the sender, including any title. 8) Additional information - may include a list of the recipients of copies of the letter (cc John Doe), the word Enclosures or the abbreviation enc. to indicate that additional material mentioned in the letter is enclosed.

For effective business letter writing certain ethical and psychological recommendations have been worked out. In particular, it is recognized that the point of view of the addressee should be taken into account while writing the letter. The issue should be viewed from the position of the recipient comprehending his needs, determining his interest and predicting his reaction. Good manners are important not only in personal contacts, but also in correspondence, thus any idea, especially negative one (complaint, rejection of proposals, refusal to cooperate, etc.) can and should be expressed politely and tactfully.

Students should be taught the rules of language etiquette of writing (more formal than the etiquette of speech) as well. Taking into account the variety of types of business letters (letter of invitation, a letter of order, a letter of request, etc.), the writer is not only to use appropriate cliches and structures, follow the rules of politeness, but also use specialized language to create the content of the letter. skill writing letter thinking

In practice, a vast use of cliche-phrases in the official written English language and the use of different types of conjunctions in the middle of a phrase unity between sentences and paragraphs cause special difficulties for students hard to overcome. That's why students should do special exercises aimed at mastering the style of writing. In addition, students perform creative tasks for writing official letters, for example, when studying the topic «Applying for a position» students learn to write a resume and cover letter.

The process of teaching should be organized in the way students are able to work out all the necessary material and to learn the necessary skills of writing business letters. First of all, the samples of different types of business letters should be represented to students, theoretical and practical recommendations for their use should be given. Then they learn situation-specific vocabulary and grammar structures they can use to write reports, proposals, emails and CVs etc. It is performed through group work and a variety of practical exercises, such as: - choose the English equivalents of the phrases characteristic of certain type ofbusiness letters written in their native language; - insert missing letters or words into sentences; - insert some meaningful words into cliches; - choose cliche phrases from the set of words; - write a letter (a part of letter).

The mentioned exercises enable students to learn the structure of the types of business letters, to master lexical and grammatical material necessary for their writing. Then students perform creative training exercises, where they have to write a business letter of a certain type independently, using the particular situation and initial data. The following tasks may be given to students: - start, continue or complete the letter using corresponding stereotyped phrases; - write a letter using the sample letter; - continue the letter, using the original data and so on.

The aim of these tasks is to provide students with practical and essential writings skills that will enable them to communicate effectively in written format so they can achieve their goals in English-speaking markets.

Business Letter provides student's readiness to expression. The student becomes an active participant of the educational process, when he gets the task to write a business letter, to inform about the arrival of the head of the company or to book a room in hotel etc.

Conclusions. Thus, to develop students' business letter writing skills effectively the work should be conducted towards mastering the style of presentation, phraseology that is used, vocabulary and syntax of business correspondence. The psychological component and the skills of strategic planning of the message should be taught as well. Business letters provide conditions for the development of students' thinking, contribute to forming certain skills of oral and written speech in the sphere of business.

Literature

1. Карпусь И.А. Английский деловой язык /Карпусь И.А. - Киев: МАУП, 1995. - 46с.

2. Плотников А.В. Деловая переписка с зарубежным партнером / под. ред. А.В.Плотникова. - Киев: Мира, 1992. - 125с.

3. Shiyab S.M. Writing Business Letters Across Languages: A Guide to Writing Clear and Concise Business Letters for Translation Purposes / S.M.Shiyab, S.Halimi. - Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015. - 160 p.

Annotation

The article focuses on the main aspects the students should be taught to acquire the skills of business letters writing in English, as well as the peculiarities of the style of business letters that should be explained to students to give them clear understanding of this way of business communication. In the article the role of business correspondence, as well as its structure, main qualities and style of presentation are defined. Business letters are defined as a media or means through which views are expressed and ideas or information is communicated in writing in the process of business activities. Students in their future business activity will have to write letters seeking information about availability of goods, services, their price, quality, offering some products, placing orders for purchase of goods, looking for a Job, etc. Key words: business letter, business correspondence, writing skills, style of presentation, qualities of business letter

В статье основное внимание уделяется главным аспектам развития у студентов навыков написания деловых писем на английском языке, особенностям стиля деловых писем, который должен быть понятным студентам для успешного освоения этих навыков. Поскольку английский язык получил статус языка международного делового общения, развитие профессиональных навыков письма у будущих специалистов различных отраслей трудно переоценить. В статье определены виды заданий, выполнение которых поможет овладеть необходимыми навыками написания деловых писем. В статье подчеркивается, что деловые письма обеспечивают условия для развития мышления студентов, способствуют формированию определенных навыков устной и письменной речи в сфере деловой переписки. Ключевые слова: деловое письмо, ведение деловой переписки, навыки письма, стиль изложения, качества делового письма.

Ключові слова: діловий лист, ведення ділової переписки, навички письма, стиль викладу, якості ділового листа.

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