Public Speaking in English for Business: Historical Perspective and New Directions in International Business Communication

The main objective of this contribution is that of showing how the public speaking domain could become one of the main specific communication tools in the training of financial and business experts. We will try to demonstrate how to teach international public speaking in the specific way that experts are likely to find effective and persuasive, on condition that business English teachers take their specificity seriously. The study of rhetoric, as applied to public speaking, is reaffirming its classical centrality. Issues such as determining the validity of evidence, assessing the adequacy of proof, deciding when conclusions are justified in the light of proof and evidence, being effective and efficient in oral production, are re-emerging not only as personal or pedagogical concerns but also as a pre-requisite at the heart of any oral production in English. The applications of the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency to English texts and contexts on the one hand, and to fields other than English linguistics on the other hand (economics and business, among others) are fundamental in order to describe the internationalized domain of public speaking both diachronically and synchronically. ‘ Globalized ’ and internationalized businesspeople are very much concerned with their manner of speaking. However, powerful and persuasive professional communication has a long tradition. In fact, the British and American tradition of elocutionary schools, as well as the long-standing tradition of rhetorical studies, will give us a lot of suggestions about the development of a science of speech, with particular attention to business communication in English. Different approaches to the study of public speaking in international contexts will be considered here, including analysis based on: communicative effectiveness, argumentation, and globalisation.