Genre Analysis of Business Letters– Taking Corporate Apology Letters as an Example

Abstract

Abstract Abstract Nowadays business letters are a common form of communication on business occasions. Since we need to be effective and accurate in business communication, the study of the language format of business letters is essential for the communicative purpose of this genre. Since the 1900s, genre theory has been receiving a lot of attention, both in academic and pedagogical circles. The place of genre analysis is becoming increasingly important in international communication. The study of genre analysis not only makes us get a better understanding of the linguistic characteristics of the texts, but also be aware of their structure which appeared to be organized according to genre expectations and conventions. In this essay, I will analyze four different corporate apology letters from four major international corporations for their crisis in different situations. The structure and language use of the four corporate apology letters demonstrates similarities and consistency to some extent. The results illustrate that it is necessary to have a method for describing the appropriate structure and language convention to help communication in business which is one of the goals of genre analysis.