Intercultural pragmatics research on written emails in an academic environment

Abstract

As an important part of information technology, email is now pervasive in our everyday lives. In western universities, email is widely used in the academic environment. Although it functions as a modern communication tool, email is also a good channel for students to practice their second language. However, how to write an appropriate email in an academic environment is seldom taught to English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) students. In this research study, through analyzing 30 feedbacks from EFL, ESL and English as native language (ENL) students, some linguistic differences were identified, analyzed and discussed. It is apparent that some linguistic features are instinctive to ESL learners while others are more obscure and therefore hard to acquire. Email, because of its special linguistic features and wide application should be given more attention in English education in China. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.