Academic and Business Writing

Assignment -1

In this article author Felix S. Vasquez wants to convey the major differences
between academic and business writing. The purpose of this article is to
highlight how these styles of writing differ so that language instructors
teaching business courses in departments of modern language can better
prepare students for the needs of the twenty-first-century workplace.

The approach to the article by the author is straight forward and gives us a
clear difference between academic and business writing.
He explains this by giving an example that Spanish-speaking population in US is
growing fast by referring a report which mentions that in 2010 the US
Hispanics population was growing at three times the rate of the overall
population. Hispanic population as consumer want their new employee to
possess high level of proficiency in Spanish.
If people are not well versed with the language in business writing then
language barriers would be there and loss of clients as well as current
customers would be seen.
He compares and contrast both styles in terms of genres, readership, format,
tone and style. With the knowledge of this the instructor can better teach their
students. Workplace writing is primary in nature and should be clear and
concise and compelling so that reading is quick and easy.

He states different genres like cultural information are not always of main use
and are sometimes overgeneralised. Sometimes students are told to write
business letter very differently from the content without guidance. While in
some cases they are told to translate letters from English to Spanish with no
accurate skills which takes years to develop.
He mentions that in academic writing civilization and literature are the most
common genres and have similar structure. While in business writing we have
many genres like- letters, memos etc.
The structure in this is rigid format and different for every other genre.

In readerships author pens down that in business writing single or multiple

readers related to the organisation read the documents. While in academic
writing students seldom target multiple audience.

Now referring to format, he writes that an academic writing has to be as

directed by the instructor with no value given to visual appeal. Whereas in
business writing documents are designed in the way which and easily scanned
and skimmed to be able to read at different paces.

He then points out aspect in which two styles differ in tone. Attitude of the
writer is expressed by it. In academic writing students are taught to use it in
first person which in turn mirrors natural language acquisition progression and
oral register than in writing. Whereas in business writing tone is adjusted to
what the writer might perceive as the readers attitudes and value.

Time is money in business writing so to utilize it properly in business writing it

has to be concise and more condensed. Which author states that both are
different in style. Where in academic writing chatty text and filler text are mere
annoyance in respect to business writing.

So, in the conclusion author pens that students in universities should have
course of academic and business writing as their majors so that when they are
hired for a position they can set aside their academic style and adopt
workplace style.