1. Lecturer, Shandong University, China
Sino-Finnish Project: A Teaching Tool for Tertiary Business English Writing Course By
WANG Meiling
Lecturer, Shandong University, China
Postgraduate, Vaasa University, Finland
8:00-8:30, Oct 24, 2004

2. Outline
Objective: To explore the pedagogical benefits of an international exchange for EFL Business Writing course teaching
Structure
Previous Research: Genesis of the project
Project Planning and Implementation
Post-project Feedback and Discussion

3. Some studies on e-mail used in the corporate workplaces
1. Genesis of the project
Previous studies
Mainstream Textbooks
Some studies on used in the corporate workplaces
Cultural competence and the teaching of biz commu
Englishes (international language), e.g. Euro-English, China-English

4. 2. Project design and implementation
Reference projects of international projects as a teaching tool
Guidelines:
- case study
- genre pedagogy
Technical arrangements: curriculum conflict, wide different student number, teacher’s role to coach
Implementation: Problems

5. Chinese company
Profile: Zhimei Furniture Accessories is a well-known Chinese supplier of badges, plates, lanyards, and other line-of-business items. It has been on the shortlist of successful Chinese companies in the past 5 years. Its objective is to explore new European markets, especially Nordic countries.

6. Finnish company
Profile: Pohjanmaan Kalustetehdas Oy is a small family furniture factory (about 20 employees) in Vaasa, Finland, and Mr Markku Mäkelä and his wife are the joint owners of the company. Pohjanmaan Kalustetehdas exports high quality office furniture, e.g. sofas, tables, and swivel chairs to Sweden.

7. Case brief
Pohjanmaan Kalustetehdas Oy has closed a big deal of birch swivel chairs with its well-established Swedish Möbeldistributörerna Ab. To satisfy such a large order, the Finnish company makes an inquiry to the Chinese company Zhimei Furniture Accessories for metallic plates. The Chinese company, unfortunately, has only items of the ordered plate in stock, but promises to make efforts to meet the full supply on May 31, 2002.

8. Letter of request
Say where you got the information from.
Give some general information about your business.
 State your general reason for writing.
Request action.
Close the letter formally.
Add a salutation.

9. Specifics
Date: February 2, 2002.
Information source: from his Hong Kong business associate, catalogue downloaded from the website.
Inquiry: metallic plates to be attached to the furniture, stamped the company’s logo and some text (attached), item P-5843, “Smooth”, in copper, size 55*25 mm, thickness 6 mm, interested in “Smooth” in other metal colours as well, available in e.g. antique silver?
Price: for items?
Urgent need: items should be delivered by the end of April the latest.

10. 3. Post-project feedback and discussion
Techniques:
a small-scale questionnaire
commentary
Corpus of exchanged messages

11. Questionnaire 1．在交流的过程中，你认为自己需要强化的方面递减排列的顺序依次是（ ）。
1．在交流的过程中，你认为自己需要强化的方面递减排列的顺序依次是（ ）。
1）贸易实务知识 2)专用术语或行话 3）英语表达能力
2． 在电子邮件往来中，您感受到文化因素对有效沟通 的影响是（ ）。
1）没有意识到 2）有一点儿 3）很大
3．不同的目的决定了对应信函的主要内容，你认为常 见内容要点提示（即语体特征）对商务信函撰写学 习（ ）。
1）没有必要 2）有必要 3) 非常需要
4． 如果你与芬兰伙伴中断交流，原因有可能是 （ ）。
1）不常读写电子邮件 2）对方不够积极
3) 自己对本国际项目失去兴趣

12. Summary
Pedagogical purpose behind the project
Undeniable pedagogical value of student-centered teaching, situation-centered learning and process writing
Suggested strategies on how to improve the follow-up project.
A tentative way of integrating international exchange to the content of business communication teaching.

13. end
Thank you!