As a platform of talents cultivation, universities should provide related teaching programs to meet the social demands of specific talents to prosper economic and social development. And as the main carrier of knowledge, professional teaching materials play a vital part in school education. A comprehensive, carefully compiled BE textbook which follows cognitive rules and the features of BE and meets student’s learning needs is of indispensable significance in cultivating students’ language skill. “To a great extent, teaching materials determine the teaching output and effect. As a result research on textbook is an important breakthrough point in improving teaching quality” (Tang and Su, 2009:70).
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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 BE Writing Textbooks
Writing has a certain purpose. To reach this purpose requires relevant knowledge and skills. BE writing is the purposeful communication in the business context and a communication event of which the process is to reach the target. Different targets will need different text forms and different styles. In the process of writing, not only the knowledge of English language, but also the business knowledge and cultural knowledge will be involved. So to sum up, BE writing is a purposeful communication event and an effective means to make business and trading activities happen (Zhou, 2013:19).
During the process of business globalization, China’s foreign trade has further developed and an increasing number of Chinese enterprises have entered the international market, which needs a batch of comprehensive and applied talents who are familiar with the international business practices and in the meantime proficient in English and good at communication. As a vital means to achieve effective business communication, writing plays an indispensable role in international trade. Excellent writing skill, which is one of the core language skills, serves as the lubricant removing the cultural barrier in international business communication.
Different from the general English writing skill, BE writing skill is a combination of the knowledge of English language, cross-cultural knowledge, business knowledge, and the art of communication. Zhang Zuocheng (2010) defines BE writing as “the special English writing style or the creation of written business discourse to meet the needs of business communication (such as international business, international finance, international trade etc.), involving language application, and interaction in the context of the industry and of the whole society”. In brief, BE writing is the creation of written business discourse in business context. China’s expanding foreign trade activities also expand the scope of BE writing. Li Taizhi and Wang Xuewen (2009) point out that BE skill involves not only linguistic factors such as BE discourse analysis and the discourse context, but also the non-linguistic factors such as cross-cultural knowledge, business knowledge etc. Therefore, BE students are supposed to master both the English language knowledge and pragmatic strategies on the one hand, and cross-cultural knowl
