The Applicability of EFL Email Writing in Professional Environment
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This paper covers the email communication between NS (native speaker) and NNS (non-native speaker), and to what degree the acquired email writing skills of the NNS during primary and secondary school can be applied in the professional world. Students are taught how to write emails for different occasions and are made familiar with the levels of formality. However, several studies have shown that EFL/ESL textbook email writing does not transfer well in NS - NNS communication. These studies suggest that NNS emails may be perceived as impolite or inconsistent, resulting in unfavorable judgments being made about the senders' personalities rather than their language proficiency limitations. Expanding on these findings, this research shows that in the business world, where writing rules can be more lenient, emails composed by NNS can sometimes be negatively perceived due to the use of L1 structures in English and EFL education focused on formal email structures and not on the cultural norms and etiquette of the English-speaking countries. Fifteen NNS EFL students from three counties (France, Macedonia, South Korea) were asked to compose an email requesting and delivering important information to a client. After gathering and analyzing the emails from the NNS students, fifteen NS professionals from the business field provided feedback by evaluating the emails regarding the responses' structure and politeness. The NS evaluators then rated the emails according to how suitable they are for the professional world. Results show that NNS know how to compose decently structured emails but lack politeness which causes them to appear unprofessional in the eyes of NS.
Abstract
This paper covers the email communication between NS (native speaker) and NNS (non-native speaker), and to what degree the acquired email writing skills of the NNS during primary and secondary school can be applied in the professional world. Students are taught how to write emails for different occasions and are made familiar with the levels of formality. However, several studies have shown that EFL/ESL textbook email writing does not transfer well in NS - NNS communication. These studies suggest that NNS emails may be perceived as impolite or inconsistent, resulting in unfavorable judgments being made about the senders' personalities rather than their language proficiency limitations. Expanding on these findings, this research shows that in the business world, where writing rules can be more lenient, emails composed by NNS can sometimes be negatively perceived due to the use of L1 structures in English and EFL education focused on formal email structures and not on the cultural norms and etiquette of the English-speaking countries. Fifteen NNS EFL students from three counties (France, Macedonia, South Korea) were asked to compose an email requesting and delivering important information to a client. After gathering and analyzing the emails from the NNS students, fifteen NS professionals from the business field provided feedback by evaluating the emails regarding the responses' structure and politeness. The NS evaluators then rated the emails according to how suitable they are for the professional world. Results show that NNS know how to compose decently structured emails but lack politeness which causes them to appear unprofessional in the eyes of NS.
참고문헌 (26)
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