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List of high frequency business English terms
Elżbieta Jendrych, PhD LSP Conference, Vien 2013
The aims of the paper
• Address the complexity of ESP teaching of today
• Discuss the role of language input with high didacFc relevance
• Present the results of a corpus study into high-‐frequency business terms conducted for teaching purposes
• Suggest quanFtaFve studies into ESP teaching materials
• Highlight the need for more extensive corpus studies in the future
Introduc:on -‐ Short history of ESP
• 1964 -‐ Pioneer studies on language use by Halliday, MacIntosh and Strevens
• late 1960s -‐ the term ‘English for Specific Purposes’ appeared • It was a response to changing learners’s needs -‐ learners
wanted courses of language for specific purposes
• 1987 -‐ Hutchinson and Waters: famous ‘language tree’ • ESP -‐ an umbrella term which includes English for Science and
Technology, English for Business, English for Management, English for Medicine, English for Finance, English for Academic Purposes, English for Law, English for Tourism/Engineering/ AccounFng, etc.
Learners’ needs
• The importance of learners’ needs – common to all types of ESP courses
• Focus on learners’ immediate needs and future needs – target situaFon analysis
• Narrow focus – only subject area course content (English for Air Traffic Controllers called Air Speak)
• Broad focus – more than subject area (broad communicaFon with professionals and laymen, e.g. small talk, telephoning, networking)
Today’s needs
• Today we can sFll witness that demand for English for Specific Purposes conFnues to increase and expand throughout the world .
• Mobility of the global workforce increases.
• Emerging economies demand good language skills – English funcFons as Lingua Franca (ELF) in all types of professional communicaFon.
• MulFnaFonal organizaFons recruit employees who have excellent linguisFc competence coupled with nonlinguisFc competences and skills – global communicaFve competence.
• Language skills and CommunicaFon for Specific Purposes (CSP) are essenFal for professionals of today and tomorrow.
Challengers for teachers • Language teachers need to learn: -‐ non-‐linguisFc skills -‐ fundamentals of subject mader (content knowledge)
-‐ how to make use of online materials and social networks -‐ how to select and incorporate authenFc materials into the
course
-‐ how to evaluate teaching materials using quanFtaFve methods
-‐ what to prioriFze in an ESP course (high-‐frequency lists) -‐ how to increase the effecFveness of ESP courses
• Life-‐long learning for ESP teachers • ‘EnglishizaFon’ of terFary educaFon in the future
An Avalanche is Coming
• Higher educaFon: the problem of mismatch between what the global labour market demands and what a university educaFon all-‐too-‐ofen provides.
• The number of graduates is increasing rapidly due to the numbers going to university in emerging markets.
• ”Every two days we create as much informaFon as we did from the dawn of civilisaFon up unFl 2003”, according to Eric Schmidt of Google.
• Massive Open Online Courses – free of charge, open to a global audience, linked to presFgious universiFes and built for a large number of people.
An Avalanche is Coming, Sir Michael Barber’s report (2013)
• The content of any ESP course today needs to be judiciously selected.
• Students need to be exposed to the highest-‐frequency ESP language elements very early in the course.
• It will give them a sense of achievement and improve their moFvaFon.
• The didacFc relevance of a course prioriFzing such elements will increase significantly.
• Making vocabulary personal helps to make it more memorable (McCarten, 2007).
• Learning time will be beder used; learning efforts will be more streamlined and focused.
• EffecFveness of ESP courses will increase.
More effec:ve ESP materials
Major considera:ons in developing effec:ve ESP teaching materials
• DidacFc value of teaching materials:
input> <intake -‐ what teaching materials do students get (input)?
-‐ is the terminology index high enough? -‐ how much new ESP language can they learn (intake)?
• Frequency of use: corpus-‐based frequency lists of ESP terms -‐ how frequently specific language elements are used in
real-‐life professional communicaFon? -‐ what to prioriFse in the course?
-‐ new vs. recycled materials?
The role of terminology in ESP courses
• ESP terminology is the most important single factor that makes a quantum of difference between general English and English for Specific Purposes.
• Highest frequency ESP terms are of key importance in professional communicaFon and should be taught early in the course.
• The core ESP terminology, collocaFons and phraseology idenFfied in corpus studies should be prioriFzed in ESP courses.
• ”Terminology is the DNA of knowledge” (K. Wartburton, responsible for IBM’s terminology strategy, 2005)
Defini:ons of a term
• A word whose occurence is limited to a parFcular field of domain and which has a specialized meaning.
Dic2onary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguis2cs
Richards and Schmidt, 2002
• An area-‐specific lexical item the meaning of which can be clearly defined and which can be used in specialized texts in professional communicaFon.
Podstawy terminologii
Lukszyn and Zmarzer, 2006
Lists of core specialised words
”Research (…) suggests that vocabulary gains may be quite impressive (up to 2500 new words per year) if the learner (…) adapts a more specialized focus, for example, on academic vocabulary (Coxhead 2000), where up to a 10% leap in comprehension can be gained simply by learning small, carefully chosen academic word lists consisFng of fewer than 1,000 common core words”.
O’Keeffy, McCarthy, Carter 2007: 50
“The best opFon is to encourage learners to specialise – specialisaFon of any kind can produce dramaFc results, whether it be reading cookery books or gardening books, or pushing the vocabulary of music, business or poliFcs”.
O’Keeffy, McCarthy, Carter 2007: 50
Quan:ta:ve analysis of didac:c texts
• Today, ESP course-‐book writers and teachers do not make use of the quanFtaFve text analysis.
• The quanFtaFve analysis of ESP materials shows how many specific terms and collocaFons a given didacFc text includes.
• If the effecFveness of ESP courses is to be maximized, we need quanFtaFve evidence to know which language elements to prioriFse (Thornbury, 2002; Harmer, 2003; Johnson, 2008).
• Swan says that it is now becoming increasingly necessary to supplement and revise what we are teaching (2005).
Why do we need corpus studies into high frequency ESP terminology?
• High-‐frequency language elements: core vocabulary (both ESP terms and specific lexical items), specific collocaFons and phrases used in the language of professional communicaFon need to be idenFfied in corpus studies carried out for teaching purposes.
• Frequency lists should be a prerequisite for authors of ESP course-‐books.
• IntuiFon and experience of course-‐book writers do not give the hard evidence that is provided by means of corpus studies into authenFc business texts.
• Corpus studies give an objecFve quanFtaFve measure of which language elements to prioriFze in course-‐books.
Methodology in corpus studies – frequency lists
Corpus studies for teaching purposes usually follow at least five
basic stages: 1. selecFon of texts and a balanced composiFon of a business
corpus 2. excerpFon of all business lexis items from the corpus and
lemmaFsing them
3. idenFficaFon of business terms 4. criterion for inclusion – e.g. min. 5 ‘tokens’ of a given ‘type’
5. organizaFon of the selected high-‐frequency terms into a frequency list
Materials: a balanced business corpus
• Materials included texts from academic sources, press and internet sources, and real-‐life business situaFons:
-‐ fragments of academic textbooks in business studies -‐ arFcles in business newspapers and magazines
-‐ business reports -‐ business leders and emails
-‐ case studies -‐ interviews with business people
-‐ corporate websites
-‐ business plans -‐ financial reports and ESG reports
-‐ trade contracts
Forms of business terms iden:fied in the corpus
• Single words, e.g. invoice, demand, profitability
• Compounds, e.g. bo@leneck, headcount, workforce • MulF-‐word items, e.g. break-‐even analysis, fast-‐moving
consumer goods, Research and Development Department
• Acronyms, e.g. B/E, CFO, R&D, IMF • AbbreviaFons, e.g. ad, demo, rep, repo
• Symbols, e.g. $, €,™, ©, k, m
High-‐frequency list of business terms
• A study was carried out to examine a research corpus of authenFc specialist texts (spoken and wriden, of approx. 200,000 running words).
• By idenFfying word counts in the corpus texts it was possible to create a list of highest frequency specialist terms.
• The list contains over 1,100 business terms. • The list can be used as a reference guide for wriFng ESP
materials.
• Materials used in tradiFonal ESP course-‐books are ofen found to contain many terms with low frequencies and to miss some of the most common terms.
Top 10 business terms
Term: Tokens in the high-‐frequency list:
Company 2683 Business 1227
Customer 1152 Work (v) 1043
Product 928
Staff 677 Market (n) 589
Money 525 Work (n) 484
Manager 467
Seman:c classifica:on of high-‐frequency terms
• The list of high-‐frequency business terms was produced specifically for teaching purposes.
• The highest-‐frequency terms were divided into eight specific categories represenFng different areas of business.
• All the remaining terms, as well as those that belong to more than one category, were collecFvely called ‘general business terms’.
Annota:on of business terms
• AnnotaFon of terms according to the area of business:
-‐ Economics -‐ Management
-‐ Human resources -‐ ProducFon
-‐ Trade and Services
-‐ MarkeFng, PromoFon, AdverFsing and PR -‐ DistribuFon, Transport and LogisFcs
-‐ Business Law -‐ General business terms
Economics: examples of high-‐frequency terms
boom (v) business sector capital compeFFve advantage consolidaFon consumpFon
demand (n) developing country economic
economics economies of scale economy
emerging economy income inflaFon labour labour force labour market
manpower market (n) meet demand monopoly natural resources per capita
poverty price (n) private sector
profit (n) public sector recession
recovery resources unemployment
value workforce
Distribu:on, transport and logis:cs: examples of high-‐frequency terms
cargo carriage
carrier consignment
deliver delivery
dispatch (n) distribute distribuFon distributor
forwarder forwarding
infrastructure logisFcs
means of transport mode of transport
public transport ship(v) shipment transport (n)
transport (v) transportaFon
Promo:on and adver:sing: examples of high-‐frequency terms
ad advert
adverFse adverFsement
adverFser adverFsing
adverFsing agency adverFsing budget adverFsing campaign billboard
brand brand idenFty
brand image brand name
brochure catalogue
commercial (n) desk research direct mail exhibiFon
field research image
key account leaflet
logo market research
The need for more corpus-‐based evidence
• More corpus studies are needed into:
-‐ high-‐frequency business lexis items -‐ common collocaFons
-‐ mulF-‐word phrases -‐ standard business metaphors
-‐ acronyms
-‐ symbols -‐ abbreviaFons
Recent changes in business terminology
• What comes in Fme, changes over Fme. Business English changes over Fme – now, probably faster than ever before.
• Lists of core business English terminology should be up-‐dated regularly.
• It is in the recent decades that the words like ‘advertorial’, ‘ageism’, ‘apps’, ‘business angel’, ‘cafeteria plan’, ‘cold calling’, ‘deshopper’, ‘e-‐tailing’, ‘desk banking’, ‘hot desking’, ‘hybrid car’, ‘financial/fiscal cliff’, ‘financial supermarket’, ‘flagstore’, ‘flexiFme’, ‘knowledge economy’, ‘mystery shopper’, ‘subprime mortgage’, ‘teleworking’, ‘tax haven’ and ‘toxic assets’ have appeared.
Recent changes in terminology -‐ reasons
New business words idenFfied when examining the corpus texts can be adributed to some changes in business:
(a) progress in informaFon technology and the extended use of the internet in business, e.g. ‘bricks and mortar’, ‘dot com business’, ‘e-‐commerce’, ‘golden-‐collar worker’ or ‘on-‐line shopping’, ‘QR code’,
(b) changing realia in the world of business, e.g. ’biofuel’, ’business angel’, ,greenwashing’, ‘mystery shop test’, ‘no-‐frills airlines’, ‘green audit’,
(c) globalizaFon, e.g. ‘off-‐shoring’, ‘nearshoring’, or ‘outsourcing’,
Recent changes in terminology – reasons (2)
(d) greater importance of human resources in business, e.g. ‘flexiFme’, ‘homeshoring’, ‘outplacement’, ‘temporary secondment’ or ‘work-‐life balance’
(e) progress in management studies, e.g.’bodom-‐up management’, ‘crisis management’, ‘disturbance handler’ or ‘knowledge management’
(f) greater importance of adverFsing in business, e.g. ‘advertorial’, ‘ambient adverFsing’, ’B2B’, ‘brand image’, ‘infomercial’, ‘pop-‐ups’, ‘shock campaign’, ‘street furniture’ or ‘viral web adverFsing’, ‘wordmark’.
How else can we improve the didac:c value of teaching materials?
• We can make use of the the parametric text analysis – the terminology index is a reliable tool in idenFfying the didacFc relevance of a text.
• The terminology index is measured by comparing the number of business specific terms and collocaFons to all running words in a didacFc text.
• It is easy to measure the number of ‘types’ (new terms) and ‘tokens’ (their repeFFon) in short sample texts.
• The terminology index in authenFc business texts may vary slightly depending on the genre, type of text, subject mader, the intended audience/reader and the author.
The importance of the terminology index in ESP teaching materials
The terminology index:
• provides unbiased quanFtaFve data on language use • measures the concentraFon of high-‐frequency ESP terms in
input materials
• helps to assess teaching materials in terms of how much new ESP terminology students can learn using a given text
• shows the repeFFon rate of key terms (recycling)
• helps to select texts/course-‐books with the proper concentraFon of business terms (graded according to students’ language competence and to students’ needs)
• idenFfies texts/course-‐books that require supplementaFon • assures high quality teaching materials
Very low terminology index of 0.10 Why do people need internaFonal trade? Let’s start with the
following statement: no country can be self-‐sufficient, which means that it cannot produce all the goods its ciFzens need because it hasn’t got raw materials or because goods produced in other countries are cheaper or beder. Because of climate bananas grow in Africa but not in Canada. Brazil can produce coffee, Norway can’t. This is called absolute advantage. The next quesFon is why many people prefer German cars to Korean cars. Probably because German cars are considered to be more reliable and safer. The Germans have a longer tradiFon of car manufacturing.
(More appropriate for A2 or B1 students or as warm up; only 6 ‘types’ and 2 ‘tokens‘ )
Low terminology index of 0.16 Once a trade contract has been signed, it is legally binding. A
contract is a wriden confirmaFon that an order has been placed with the seller at the price quoted (together with the discounts that have been granted). If the terms and condiFons of the contract are not met by one party to the contract, e.g. when the delivery dates have not been kept or when sedlement has not been made in due Fme, we talk about a breach of contract – a violaFon of a valid contract. In such a situaFon, sFpulated penalFes can be used, or – in more difficult cases – legal acFon can be taken and the mader taken to court.
(The text contains many collocaFons and rouFne phrases; 10 ‘types‘ and 5 ‘tokens’)
Didac:c value of text 2 • Rich in collocaFons and rouFne formulae (12):
-‐ sign a trade contract -‐ legally binding contract
-‐ place an order with -‐ quote the price
-‐ grant a discount -‐ meet the terms and condiFons of the contract
-‐ party to the contract -‐ keep the delivery date
-‐ make sedlement in due Fme
-‐ breach of contract -‐ violaFon of a valid contract
-‐ take legal acFon
Medium terminology index: 0.20 There are three basic types of a naFonal economy: free
economy, controlled economy and mixed economy. Ownership and allocaFon of resources are the key determinants here. If resources are owned and allocated by individuals (whose decisions are based on the market forces of supply and demand), the economic system is classified as a market economy or free economy. At the other extreme, all resources are owned and controlled by the state. This type of economy is called a centrally planned economy, controlled economy or command economy. In a state controlled economy it is the government who owns the means of producFon.
(We can disFnguish 7 ‘types’ and 20 ‘tokens’)
Very high terminology index: 0.65 A contract of employment usually includes a job Ftle and a
job descripFon. It also includes informaFon on the rate of pay, gross pay, tax deducFons, net pay and frequency of payment. The contract should also include the date of commencing work, the lenght of noFce of leaving, disciplinary rules, and opFonally also grievance procedures, holiday enFtlement, medical plan, pension scheme contribuFons, sickness benefits and trade union subscripFons. A remuneraFon package may contain the following: (1) basic pay – hourly rate, flat rate, piecework, pay-‐for-‐performance; (2) bonuses and incenFves, (3) fringe benefits/perks, (4) benefit schemes.
(The text can be discouraging for B2 students due to extremely condensed business terminology input : 28 ‘types’ and only 1 ‘token’)
Terminology indexes in popular business English course-‐books
• In authenFc business texts terminology index is 0.25 (Lukszyn 2008)
• In recently published course-‐books (from leading BriFsh and American publishers) -‐ from 2 to 3 Fmes lower as compared to that in authenFc business texts
• The terminology index in B2/C1 course-‐books should be close to that in authenFc business texts
• Low terminology indexes do not guarantee didacFc relevance of teaching materials
Conclusions -‐ Recommenda:ons for ESP authors and teachers
• EffecFveness of ESP courses can be measured by quanFtaFve assessment of the didacFc relevance of input materials.
• High-‐frequency business collocaFons, phrases, acronyms and abbreviaFons need to be idenFfied by means of corpus studies into authenFc texts.
• A list of high-‐frequency terms should be treated as a benchmark and used to verify the selecFon of ESP terms.
• The terminology index visualises the saturaFon of didacFc materials with business terms and collocaFons.
• EffecFveness of ESP courses can be significantly enhanced by means of these two corpus research tools.
Why do students need more effec:ve teaching materials?
”They need English to do business,
not just to talk about business”. Frendo, 2007
• In fact, students need English both to do business and to talk about business.
• They need effecFve ESP materials because their language competence translates into beder employability, more career opportuniFes and higher remuneraFon.
Beder language skills = More money
Interac:ve terminology for Europe
www.iate.europa.eu
The biggest ESP terminology database and also
the bigest mulFlingual electronic dicFonary in the EU
