Abstract:

Today Business English, which has always been traditionally conventional, is developing very fast. One can’t help noticing its recent tendency for a native speaker to use language means that break the existing rules and patterns of business communication, thus making the work of an EFL teacher more difficult. Examples of unconventional business rhetoric can be found not only in the mass media, but also in the most unexpected sources, such as IMF transcripts and working papers, White House press releases or UN reports. To sound authentic and fully understand the message students should learn the essence and the functional significance of different verbal devices in business discourse: irony and sarcasm, informal vocabulary and offensive expressions, black humour and sometimes even inappropriate jokes, intended exaggerations, abundance of similes and metaphors. Teachers of Business English must be able to explain at what circumstances these verbal devices can be used without ruining communication, when and why they may have positive influence on the discourse and help achieve necessary outcomes. Providing students with the basics of functional linguistics and linguosynergetic analysis of oral and written texts is a key to developing their rhetorical skills as well as better understanding how the language of business works, what purposes, functions and effects language units have in various registers. Finding ways to optimize the methodology of teaching modern Business English, especially unconventional business rhetoric, is one of the most important goals for the pedagogical community. The focus of the present paper is on linguosynergetics and its holistic approach to the functional field of discourse, which can open new opportunities for teachers to improve their students’ rhetorical skills.

Keywords:

Business English, teaching methodology, functional linguistics, linguosynergetics, rhetoric effectiveness of speech.