Business Communication, English, Psychology, and Marketing: A Study of Relationships

Business graduates must have effective skills in communication, and constraints in education require that efficient teaching strategies be used. Business communication as a process, not just a product, requires a variety of skills—the ability to use the language effectively, to analyze a reader's situation and needs, and to persuade the reader to adopt the writer's point of view. This study sought to find correlations between business communication course grades and courses in English, marketing, and psychology. Although none of the correlation statistics was higher than .45, the results suggest the following for the business communication course: principles from personal selling should be incorporated; English composition serves as a satisfactory prerequisite; rhetorical writing in English appears to bear only minor similarity to rhetorical writing in business; and more collaboration between English and business teachers could enhance business students' communication competencies.