Discourse Analysis and Business Writing1

Business writing classes are often designed on the belief that Business writing in English is entirely different from Spanish. Therefore, the classes are an attempt to teach different types of business letters to students assuming that the students have no knowledge about business correspondence in English. However, simultaneously this class is assuming that the students' knowledge about the concept of business letters in Spanish is of no value for writing in English. It is almost as if the idea of Spanish business correspondence did not exist. Therefore, the major presupposition is that there is no relationship between business correspondence in Spanish and English.