How We Should Be Teaching Business Communication According to Findings of Writing Research
Although instructors of written business communication courses try to help students refine their writing, many instructors have had only limited-if any formal instruction in writing pedagogy. Familiarity with the pedagogy of writing will enable business communication instructors to help students improve their writing skills, especially students whose skills are substandard. When students’ writing skills are substandard, the writing process must also receive its fair share of attention. Regardless of how well students master the content and structure fundamentals of various types of business documents, the effectiveness of the material they write will be diminished when their writing skills are deficient.
Critical Writing Skills in the Legal Environment Classroom: An Analysis
Abstract For this research, legal assignment requirements and business communication theory were used to evaluate 83 legal environment research papers. Results indicate that though over 90% of the papers submitted received a grade of C or above after the legal content analysis, over 50% were deemed “unacceptable” by communication standards. This article contends that well-planned writing assignments can improve student writing and that students must be held to high communication standards throughout their academic career in order to develop and reinforce writing skill. Suggestions for improving “writing in the business disciplines” are given.
Expansion without equity: An analysis of current policy on access to higher education in Brazil
Access to higher education in Brazil is to a large extent restricted to the higher socio-economic groups. Public universities have limited places and entry is determined by highly competitive exams, thereby excluding those who have not had a high quality secondary education or attended an expensive preparatory course. There has been considerable growth in the private sector to absorb the excess demand, but the majority of Brazilians cannot afford the fees. This paper develops a concept of equity in higher education in which, firstly, there should be sufficient places in the system as a whole and, secondly, all people should have a fair opportunity of attending the university of their choice regardless of socio-economic background. Recent efforts to expand access are analysed, including incentives for the growth of private universities, student loans and the new Prouni initiative, in which private institutions provide free places to low-income students in return for tax exemptions. While these initiatives have the potential to increase the total number of places, they will not lead to an equitable expansion, as disadvantaged students will still be confined to courses of lower quality or with lower subsequent value on the employment market. Initiatives aimed at the public sector such as the introduction of quotas and changes to entry examinations are also discussed. Finally, some implications for future policy development are outlined.