1
The Discourse Flows of the Professionals in Today's Globalised World
Winnie Cheng
Department of English, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Language and Culture: Creating and Fostering Global CommunitiesThe National University of Malaysia
5-6 May 2009
Department of English
Mission: Linguistic excellence in professional contexts
Programmes BA (Hons) in Language Studies for the Professions (phasing out)BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions (since 2008/09)BA (Hons) in English for Business and Professional Communication (part-time, self-financed)MA in English for the Professions (all MA programmes are mixed-mode, self-financed)MA in English Language Studies MA in English Language Teaching MA in English Language Arts (starting 2009/10)MPhil and PhD programmes
Research Centre for Professional Communication in English (RCPCE)
Established in Jan 2006
Mission: To pursue applied research and consultancy so as to deepen our understanding of professional communication in English and better serve the communication needs of professional communities.
Two goals of RCPCE research projects
1. To provide a description of the purposes, nature and patterns of communication through the medium of English in business and professional contexts.
2. To promote ESP teaching and research through collaboration across different disciplines, businesses and professions.
Recent projects
1. Language Use in the Professional World in Hong Kong
2. Hong Kong Professional Corpora: Towards the Computer-assisted Investigation of English Phraseology
3. Assessment of Professional Communicative Competencies
4. Discourse Processes and Products: Professionals in Hong Kong
5. An Initial Professional Communication Audit in the Field of Logistics: Project Management in Geomatics
6
Research methodologies
Textual and corpus-based analyses: websites primarily written discourses collected from different research sitescritical discourse analysis, critical genre analysis, pragmatics, communication theories, conversation analysis, etc.
Ethnographyfield notesProfessional Discourse Checklist
Survey research: interviews at different project stagesParticipating professionals, industry, professional associations, etc.
7
Online RCPCE Profession-specific Corpora
http://langbank.engl.polyu.edu.hk/HKFSC/
1. Hong Kong Financial Services Corpus (HKFSC) (6.7 million words)
2. Hong Kong Engineering Corpus (HKEC) (5.2 million words)
3. Hong Kong Corpus of Spoken English (HKCSE) (1 million words)
4. Hong Kong Budget Speech Corpus5. Hong Kong Surveying and Construction
Engineering Corpus, on-going
8
Hong Kong Financial Services Corpus (6.7 million words)
Annual ReportBrochureBank Service Charge CodeCorporate AnnouncementCircular Fund DescriptionFund ReportFactsheetGuidelinesGeneral MeetingsInsurance Policy
Interim ReportInsurance Product DescriptionInvestment Product Description Model AgreementMedia ReleaseOrdinance ProceduresPrinciple ProspectusRulesResults AnnouncementStandards Speech
Example of a discourse flow
prior discourses prior discourses prior discourses prior discourses telephone discussion project report meeting prior e-mail
predicted e-mail predicted meeting predicted telephone
10
11
Individual participants
1. Fun• Communications Manager, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
2. Paul• Electrical and Mechanical Engineer, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
3. Kate• Marketing Manager, ABC International (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd.
4. Yan• “officer in a supporting unit to provide support (esp. drafting/editing/translating
documents) to other staff members”
5. 5. Andy• IT Manager, Bank
6. Edward– PR Manager, a five-star hotel
12
Fun: Communications Manager
Communicative activities Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Read Email 21 15 14 34 21
Write Email 12 11 6 16 6
Read Covering Note 2 1
Write Covering Note 3 3 4
Unclassified (Read) 3 1
Unclassified (Write) 1
Business Phone Call 15 11 5 4 9
Informal Office Phone Call 1
Personal Phone Call 3 1 2
Formal Meeting 1 1
Informal Meeting 2 2 1 1 2
Give Verbal Instruction 3 6 4 3 5
Business Related Discussion 3 1 3 2
Informal Office Talk 1 6 5 4 2
Unclassified 5 2 4 3
Total: 70 62 47 69 49
13
Paul: Electrical and Mechanical Engineer
Communicative activities Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Read Email 19 20 9 16 20
Write Email 3 5 4 3 4
Read Letter 1
Write Report 1 4
Read Contract Specification 1 1
Consultant's Comments 2
Request of Information 3
Read Covering Note 1
Business Phone Call 3 6 3 4 1
Informal Office Phone Call 1 2 1 1
Personal Phone Call 1 3
Formal Meeting 1
Receive Verbal Instruction 1
Business Related Discussion 2 2
Informal Office Talk 1 3 2
Site Inspection 4
Unclassified 2
Total: 37 40 24 29 31
14
Kate: Marketing Manager
Communicative activities Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Read Email 9 5 17 20 12
Write Email 9 6 5 11 8
Write Letter 1
Write Covering Note 1
Business Phone Call 3 4 6
Informal Office Phone Call 4 1 1 1
Personal Phone Call 2 1
Formal Meeting 1 2
Informal Meeting 3 3 5
Receive Verbal Instruction 1 2 1
Give Verbal Instruction 3 1
Unclassified 1 3 8 1
Total: 36 25 31 42 28
15
Yan: Officer in a Supporting Unit
Communicative activities Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Read Email 8 8 1514 8
Write Email 9 11 3 12 1
Business Phone Call 2 3 5 2
Informal Meeting 3
Receive Verbal Instruction 2 1
Business Related Discussion 1 1 4
Informal Office Talk 3 1 3 2 3
Unclassified 2
Total: 28 24 30 30 15
Andy: IT Manager
www.engl.polyu.edu.hk/RCPCE 16
17
Quantitative comparison of communicative activities in a five-day period
Number of occurrences
1. Fun 397
2. Paul 161
3. Kate 162
4. Yan 127
5. Andy 317
18
Quantitative comparison of common activities over five days: vertical and horizontal reading
Communicative activities Fun Paul Kate Yan
Read Email 105 84 63 53
Write Email 51 19 39 36
Business Phone Call 44 17 13 12
Informal Office Phone Call 1 5 7
Personal Phone Call 6 4 3
Formal Meeting 2 1 3
Informal Meeting 8 11 3
Give Verbal Instruction 21 4
Receive Verbal Instruction 1 4 3
Business Related Discussion 9 4 6
Informal Office Talk 18 6 12
Read Covering Note 3 1
Write Covering Note 10 1
Unclassified 14 2 13 2
19
Communicative activities specific to profession(al)
Paul - Electrical and Mechanical Engineer
Read Contract SpecificationsRead Consultant's CommentsFill in and read Request of Information FormsSite Inspection
20
Fun
Internal ExternalEnglish
(E)Chinese
(C)Both
(E + C) Frequency
Day 1 (11 Apr 2005) 58 11 37 31 2 70
Day 2 (12 Apr 2005) 52 16 32 30 0 62
Day 3 (13 Apr 2005) 35 12 21 26 0 47
Day 4 (14 Apr 2005) 54 14 45 20 3 69
Day 5 (15 Apr 2005) 41 6 30 16 1 49
Total: 240 59 165 123 6 297
21
Paul
Internal External BothEnglish
(E)Chinese
(C)Both
(E + C) Frequency
Day 1 (9 Jan 2006) 5 6 1 12 0 0 37
Day 2 (10 Jan 2006) 4 9 0 13 0 0 40
Day 3 (11 Jan 2006) 7 2 0 9 0 0 24
Day 4 (12 Jan 2006) 7 3 0 9 1 1 31
Day 5 (13 Jan 2006) 8 3 0 11 0 0 17
Total: 31 23 1 54 1 1 149
22
Kate
Internal External BothEnglish
(E)Chinese
(C)Both
(E + C) Frequency
Day 1 (12 Nov 2007) 17 10 0 18 18 0 36
Day 2 (13 Nov 2007) 11 9 0 13 12 0 25
Day 3 (14 Nov 2007) 8 17 0 24 7 0 31
Day 4 (15 Nov 2007) 23 9 2 38 4 0 42
Day 5 (16 Nov 2007) 16 8 1 19 9 0 28
Total: 75 53 3 112 50 0 162
23
Yan
Internal External BothEnglish
(E)Chinese
(C)Both
(E + C) Frequency
Day 1 (12 Nov 2007) 17 11 0 16 1 27
Day 2 (13 Nov 2007) 14 10 0 18 6 0 24
Day 3 (14 Nov 2007) 12 18 0 13 12 5 30
Day 4 (15 Nov 2007) 10 20 0 23 4 3 30
Day 5 (16 Nov 2007) 6 5 4 2 10 3 15
Total: 59 64 4 72 32 12 126
24
Internal and external communication
Participant
Internal External Total
Fun 240 (81%)
59 (19%) 299
Paul 31 (58%) 23 (42%) 54
Kate 75 (59%) 53 (41%) 128
Yan 59 (48%) 64 (52%) 123
25
Use of English vs. Chinese
Participant English Chinese
Fun 165 (57%) 123 (43%)
Paul 54 (100%) 0
Kate 112 (70%) 50 (30%)
Yan 72 (70%) 32 (30%)
Andy: IT Manager: 109 discourse flows
www.engl.polyu.edu.hk/RCPCE 26
SubjectRE: / FW:
Role of
Andy
No. of Participa
nts
No. of
Senders
No. of PRNo. of
SRSent Date
Time Frame(Dates,
Duration)
No. of Texts
1Migration Concept
N.A. N.A. 13 1 8 42-Apr-
08
2 Apr 08 -
18 Jun 08 (7,
2mths16days)
12
2 FW: N.A. 2 1 1 03-Apr-
08
3 FW: N.A. 6 1 3 29-Apr-
08
4 RE: N.A. 7 1 1 59-Apr-
08
5 RE: N.A. 6 1 1 49-Apr-
08
6 RE: N.A. 6 1 1 49-Apr-
08
7 FW: N.A. 3 1 2 011-Apr-
08
8 RE: N.A. 3 1 1 111-Apr-
08
9 FW: N.A. 6 1 1 411-Apr-
08
10
Systematic data profile for PB
N.A. N.A. 3 1 1 123-Apr-
08
11
PB Products - Data Profiling from GDW (crest)
N.A. PR 14 1 11 217-Jun-
08
12 RE: N.A. 2 1 1 0
18-Jun-08
Andy: Discourse Flow 007
SubjectRE: / FW:
Role of Andy
No. of Participa
nts
No. of
Senders
No. of PR
No. of SR
Sent Date
Time Frame(Dates,
Duration)
No. of Texts
1
Meeting minute - GCS HK Wave 1 project presentation on 28 May
N.A. PR 14 1 1 12 2-Jun-08
2 Jun 08 -
16 Jun 08
(6, 15 days)
12
2 RE: SR 5 1 1 3 2-Jun-08
3 RE: SR 7 1 1 5 4-Jun-08
4 RE: Sender 12 1 1 10 6-Jun-08
5 RE: PR 11 1 1 9 6-Jun-08
6 RE: Sender 11 1 1 9 6-Jun-08
7 RE:Sender & PR
12 1 2 9 11-Jun-08
8 RE: PR & SR 12 1 1 10 11-Jun-08
9 RE: Sender 11 1 1 9 13-Jun-08
10
<Urgent> please confirm approval from RPCCB GCS HK Wave 1 project presentation on 28 May
N.A. SR 6 1 2 3 16-Jun-08
11 RE: SR 6 1 1 4 16-Jun-08
12 RE: PR 3 1 2 0 16-Jun-08
Andy: Discourse Flow 019
Analysis of two discourse flows
Discourse Flow 007
Discourse Flow 019
Total number of emails
12 12
Number of emails sent / forwarded to Andy 1 (No. 11) 12 (No. 1-12)
SubjectRole of
AndyRE: / FW:
I / ENo. of
Participants
Sender
No. of PR
(no.) U / D / H
No. of SR
(no.) U / D / H
1
Meeting minute - GCS HK Wave 1 project presentation on 28 May
PR N.A.7 I 6 ?
14 H 1 122 U 1 D 3
H 6 ?
2 SR RE: 4 I 5 H 1 1 H 3 2 H
3 SR RE:4 I 2 ?
7 H 1 1 H 5 2 H 2 ?
4 Sender RE:10 I 1
?12 1 1 H 10
3 U 1 D 5 H 1 ?
5 PR RE:9 I 1 ?
11 H 1 93 U 1 D 4
H 1 ?
6 Sender RE:8 I 2 ?
11 1 1 ? 93 U 1 D 4
H 1 ?
7 Sender & PR
RE:9 I 1 ?
12 2 1 H 93 U 1 D 4
H 1 ?
8 PR & SR RE:9 I 1 ?
12 H 1 103 U 1 D 4
H 1 ?
9 Sender RE:9 I 1 ?
11 1 1 H 93 U 1 D 4
H 1 ?
10
<Urgent> please confirm approval from RPCCB GCS HK Wave 1 project presentation on 28 May
SR N.A.3 I 2 ?
6 H 2 1 H 1 ? 3 1 H 1 ?
11 SR RE:
3 I 2 ?
6 H 1 1 U 4 1 H 2 ?
12 PR RE:
1 I 1 ?
3 H 2 1 ? 0 N.A.
Discourse Flow 019
Analysis of Andy’s role Role
No. of times
(Email no.)
Sender PR SR Mix
Discourse Flow 007
1
(no. 11)
Discourse Flow 019
3
(no. 4,6,9 )
3
(no. 1, 5,12)
4
(no. 2, 3, 10, 11)
Sender & PR (no. 7)
PR & SR
(no. 8)
Analysis of internal or external communication Discourse Flow
Email no.
007 019
1 7 I 6 ?
2 4 I
3 4 I 2 ?
4 10 I 1 ?
5 9 I 1 ?
6 8 I 2 ?
7 9 I 1 ?
8 9 I 1 ?
9 9 I 1 ?
10 3 I 2 ?
11 5 I 8 ? 3 I 2 ?
12 1 I 1 ?
Note:
I: Internal Email E: External Email ? : unknown
Analysis of relationship of participants with Andy (Discourse Flow 007)
Role of
Andy
No. of Participant
s
Senders
No. of PR
(no.) U / D / H No. of
SR(no.) U / D /
H
11 PR 14 H 11 2 D 1 H 7 ? 2 1 H 1 ?
Analysis of relationship of participants with Andy (Discourse Flow 019)
Role of Andrew
No. of Participants
SenderNo. of
PR(no.) U / D / H
No. of SR
(no.) U / D / H
1 PR 14 H 1 12 2 U 1 D 3 H 6 ?
2 SR 5 H 1 1 H 3 2 H
3 SR 7 H 1 1 H 5 2 H 2 ?
4 Sender 12 1 1 H 10 3 U 1 D 5 H 1 ?
5 PR 11 H 1 9 3 U 1 D 4 H 1 ?
6 Sender 11 1 1 ? 9 3 U 1 D 4 H 1 ?
7 Sender & PR 12 2 1 H 9 3 U 1 D 4 H 1 ?
8 PR & SR 12 H 1 10 3 U 1 D 4 H 1 ?
9 Sender 11 1 1 H 9 3 U 1 D 4 H 1 ?
10 SR 6 H 2 1 H 1 ? 3 1 H 1 ?
11 SR 6 H 1 1 U 4 1 H 2 ?
12 PR 3 H 2 1 ? 0 N.A.
35
Inter-faculty research project
An Initial Professional Communication Audit in the Field of Logistics: Project Management in Geomatics, 2005-2008
• Department of English (ENGL)• Department of Land Surveying and
Geo-Informatics (LSGI)
• Cheng, W. and Mok, E. (2008). Discourse Processes and Products: Land Surveyors in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 27(1): 57-73.
36
Project site
A construction site office of the consultancy firm - “Road XX and Associated Roadworks”
The site office, set up for more than a year, provided consultancy to a main Contractor employed by the Hong Kong Government to work on a highway project.
The site office had 83 staff members in five departments:1. Land Surveying (19 staff members)2. Works and Environment3. Contractual and Mainline4. Quantity Surveying5. Administration
37
‘Fly-on-the-wall’ case study
Six whole days in Feb 2006 in Land Surveying Department
A trained research staff took field notes about communicative events and discursive activities in the officeshadowed a few land surveyors in office and on siteinterviewed some land surveyors collected samples of written discourses
Selected land surveyors filled in a ‘Professional Discourse Checklist’
38
Main discourse products and medium of
communication in LS Department
Written discourse Medium of communication
1. Design Plan Linguistic text in English, with maps, graphs and diagrams
2. Tender invitations and proposals English
3. Business letters English
4. External and internal e-mails English
5. Project Works Linguistic text in English, with maps, graphs and diagrams
6. Phase Division of Project Works Linguistic text in English, with maps, graphs and diagrams
7. Forms: ‘Request for Inspection’ and ‘Request for Information’
English
8. Contractor Submission Report English
39
Spoken discourse Medium of communication
1. Formal and informal meetings
•Most formal meetings are attended by RLS, and sometimes by SSOs; those with government and contractors are conducted in English
•Informal meetings are primarily in Cantonese, and are in English with English-speaking land surveyors working for the Contractor
2. Phone calls Cantonese
3. Site visits and inspections Cantonese
40
Discourse processes and products among parties in external communication
Parties involved in external communication
External discourse products between different parties and Contractor and Sub-contractors
Client (Highways Department, Hong Kong Government SAR)
Contracts
The Consultancy Firm Letters
Resident Land Surveyor in LS Department of Consultancy Firm
Meetings, e-mails, Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Senior Surveying Officer in LS Department of Consultancy Firm
Meetings, e-mails, Phase Division of Project Works
Surveying Officer in LS Department of Consultancy Firm
‘Request for Inspection’, ‘Request for Information’, Phase Division of Project Works, meetings, e-mails
41
Discourse processes and products among parties in internal communication
Parties involved in internal communication
Upward communication Downward communication
The Consultancy Firm
Meetings (including telephone meetings), e-mails, Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Meetings (including telephone meetings), e-mails, Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Resident Land Surveyor
E-mails, Phase Division of Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams), Phase Division of Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Senior Surveying Officer
E-mails, meetings, Phase Division of Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Meetings, e-mails, Phase Division of Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Surveying Officer E-mails, meetings ‘Request for Inspection Form’, ‘Request for Information Form’, e-mails
42
Intertextuality and interdiscursivity in discourse flow of LS project
management
Project Works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams) Drawn up by Highways Department, Hong Kong Government
Invitation for tenders
Tender proposals
Letters of acceptance/rejection
Contracts between parties
Meetings between parties
Meeting notes/minutes
E-mails (internal and external)
Phase Division of Project Works(text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
Meetings between parties
Meeting notes/minutes
Daily worksheets/Site inspection report forms
E-mails (internal and external)
43
Discourse flow key
Communication remains at this level
Communication copied down
Communication copied up
44
Discourse flow (down) letters, tendering proposals
Client (i.e. Govt.) contracts contractor
The Company meetings (including telephone meetings) contractor e-mails, letters
project works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams) e-mails, letters
Resident Land Surveyor meetings contractor meetings e-mails
project works phase division of project works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams) (text, maps, graphs, diagrams) SSO e-mails, meetings, plan of work contractor
meetings meetings e-mails e-mails
phase division of project works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
SO reports, phase division of works contractor meetings, e-mails
45
Discourse flow (up) letters, tendering proposals
Client (i.e. Govt.) contracts contractor The Company meetings (including telephone meetings) contractor
e-mails, letters project works (text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
e-mails, letters Resident Land Surveyor meetings contractor
meetings e-mails e-mails project works phase division of project works
(text, maps, graphs, diagrams) (text, maps, graphs, diagrams) SSO e-mails meetings contractor
meetings meetings e-mails e-mails phase division of project works
(text, maps, graphs, diagrams)
SO report forms contractor meetings e-mails
46
Intertextuality and interdiscursity
Intertextuality: the intertwining of textual connections among texts within the discourse flow Interdiscursivity: the mix of genres and discourses within a text
Discourses studied include:1. Project works – text, maps, graphs, diagrams2. E-mail3. ‘Request for Information’ (RIF) form, etc.
47
Intertextuality and interdiscursivity in discourse flow of an external e-mail
48
‘Request for Information’ forma (RFI
#3)
Request for Information Subject: Construction Detail for the U-channel along xxx Retaining Wall
PLEASE SUPPLY THE FOLLOWING DETAILS:
QUERY:
According to your response to our previous RFI No. xxxx[1], the finishing ground level for the front and xxx xx Road – xxx xxx side of xxx RetainingWall shall be followed the level as indicated in the Contract Drawings No. xxxxx/xxxxx and xxxxx i.e. +6.3mPD.
Based on the above information, the proposed slope profile from the end of xxx Retaining Wall at xxx xx Road – xxx xxx side to xx xxx is too steep andthe proposed U-channel along the toe slope cannot be constructed. (For your easy reference, sections of the slope is attached).
Please review and advise, otherwise we will proceed the works as per your previous response.
RESPONSE:
The u-channel along the xxx xx Road side of the xxx retaining wall shall be constructed to chainage 187.5 as per the attached Sketch No. xx/xxxxxxx.
Encl.
[1] An ‘x’ represents
one letter or one digit
anonymised.
49
Intertextuality in RFI form(Enclosed project Works: design sketches) (Prior texts)
Request for Information Contractor’s nameTo: The Companycc: Subject: Construction Details for the U-channel along AB2 Retaining WallAccording to your response to our previous RFI No. XXXX, the finishing
ground level for the front and XXXX Road – the XXXX side of the AB2 retaining Wall shall be followed the level as indicated in the Contract Drawings No. XXXX, i.e. +6.3mPD.
Based on the above information, the proposed slope profile from the end of AB2 Retaining Wall at XXXX Road – XXXX side to CH 218 is too steep
and the proposed U-channel along the toe slope cannot be constructed. (For your easy reference, sections of the slope is attached).
Please review and advise, otherwise we will proceed the works as per your previous response.
50
Intertextuality in RFI form
ResponseFrom: The Company to: contractor The u-channel along the XXXX Road side of
the AB2 retaining wall shall be constructed to chainage 187.5 as per the attached Sketch No. XXXXX.
51
Analysis of intertextuality in RFI form
Intertextual link with preceding texts Intertextual link with enclosed texts
your response to our previous RFI No. xxxx (line 5)
U-channel along xxx Retaining Wall (line 2)
our previous RFI No. xxxx (line 5) the finishing ground level for the front and xxx xx Road – xxx xxx side of xxx Retaining Wall (lines 5-7)
the above information (line 9) the Contract Drawings No. xxxxx/xxxxx and xxxxx i.e. +6.3mPD (lines 7-8)
your previous response. (lines 13-14) the proposed slope profile from the end of xxx Retaining Wall at xxx xx Road – xxx xxx side (lines 9-10)
the proposed U-channel along the toe slope (lines 11-12)
For your easy reference, sections of the slope is attached (lines 11-12)
The u-channel along the xxx xx Road side of the xxx retaining wall (line 16)
the attached Sketch No. xx/xxxxxxx (line 17)
52
Analysis of interdiscursivity in RFI form
1. A linguistic text that requests for information
2. A form, with boxes to take and blanks to fill in
3. ‘Query’ and ‘Response pair’ (c.f. adjacency pair in conversation analysis)
53
Conclusions The discourses of land surveyors might not be as ‘glamorous’ or as inherently interesting to a wider audience as the discourses of doctors, lawyers, politicians etc. who have all been the subjects in a number of professional communication studies. Nonetheless, this study demonstrates that land survey professionals engage in a complex web of profession-related discourses worthy of study.
54
Need to capture all the discourses in the discourse flow in order to fully analyse each one and how they all fit together.
Need for stakeholders' input to fully understand the discourses and their inter-relationships.
Need to study the ways in which language use evolves within the discourse flow.
55
Novice Land Surveyors need to acquire
these profession-specific discourse skills:• ability to refer to and accurately reference prior
discourses• ability to summarise prior discourses and then
succinctly revise specific aspects of them• heightened awareness of all of the parties
involved in a particular discourse flow• mastery of multimodal texts and communication
Land surveyors at all levels of the profession engage in high stakes discourses every single day. For example, the RFI, one of the staple discourses throughout a project, can, and not infrequently do, result in legal claims between the parties often over financial matters (i.e. disputes over Variation Orders).
The few examples of findings produced by academic (REPCE, English Department) and business (e.g. engineering, land surveying, financial services, etc.) collaborative research have illustrated areas of useful investigations that have potential benefits and value for various interest groups and stakeholders, including the government, business people, business organisations, ESP and LSP specialists, researchers, and learners.
www.engl.polyu.edu.hk/RCPCE 57
In each of the examples, the findings were discussed and disseminated through project meetings with the companies and seminars for professional associations.
In the past year, seminars have been organised for accountants, securities and investment practitioners, and engineers. Meetings and seminars have shown to be a very useful platform for further communication between academics and business practitioners.
www.engl.polyu.edu.hk/RCPCE 58
References
Bhatia, V. (2004 ). Worlds of Written Discourse. London: Continuum.
Cheng, W. and Mok, E. (2008). Discourse Processes and Products: Land Surveyors in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 27(1): 57-73.
Cheng, W. (2009). Professional communicative competences: Four key industries in Hong Kong. In W. Cheng and K.C.C. Kong, (Eds.). Professional Communication: Collaboration between Academics and Practitioners (pp. 31-50). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Cheng, W. (in press). Bridging the divide between business communication research and business communication practice. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini (Ed), The Handbook of Business Discourse .Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
www.engl.polyu.edu.hk/RCPCE 59