This book brings together three different fields—academic skills, business communication and English as an Additional Language (EAL). It uses an integrated approach, foregrounded by an acknowledgment of the cultural politics of English as an international language.

In creating such a multi-dimensional text we have been mindful of, and indebted to, the significant number of textbooks in the broad field of business communication, most of which are published in the United States. The equally vast array of academic skills books, largely using social science/humanities content, the innumerable books for EAL students, plus the many carefully constructed grammar guides have also been invaluable in putting this ‘workbook’ together. As TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) educators with over 50 years’ combined teaching experience, we particularly wanted to frame English-language learning within a socio-political context, noting that that we are unaware of any other EAL textbook which specifically addressed this issue.

Therefore, we have aimed to incorporate all four elements—academic skills, business communication, EAL/grammar and the politics of English as an international language—in a text specifically tailored for the tertiary level EAL business student. Our experience in teaching business communication skills for EAL students at the University of South Australia has been that students needed to buy at least three separate textbooks and then use selective parts from each, in addition to the course book provided by the lecturer. All three books combined did not necessarily provide the core business content which business students encountered in their degrees, and therefore did not enable the EAL learner to become familiar with the specific vocabulary and discourses of the discipline. This workbook adapts the syllabus used in our course business communication skills for EAL students, with additional resources appended so that educators can pick and choose the most appropriate business topics to teach academic and professional communication. Our aim has been to ensure flexibility and ongoing usability.

The strength of this book lies in the way content and process are seamlessly intertwined, so that the various resources provided enable educators from a range of disciplines to adapt and use the textbook to meet their students’ needs. This text is particularly timely given the changing demographics in the tertiary classroom. For example, in many business faculties in Australian and New Zealand universities, international students (mostly EAL) comprise over 50 per cent of enrolments. Therefore, this workbook is a valuable resource, not only for foundation and EAL courses, but for all first year business courses with large international student enrolments.

We believe that this book provides the resources that students and lecturers may not previously have had access to in one format and we look forward to receiving feedback for improvements to future editions.