Erfolg spricht Englisch

Finding the plot – why we need stories in business English This article first appeared in the BESIG Newsletter 2/2005, pages 2-3 ________________________________________________________________

An example
Here is a story I often tell. A friend of mine – Fiona S. – was giving a talk at IATEFL:

”…I was really nervous about it, so I set off from my hotel nice and early, and halfway there I suddenly realized that I had a ladder in my tights. So I popped into a newsagent and bought a pair of one-size tights – got to the conference hall and changed into them. Well, they said one size, but they were too small for me. And when it was time for my talk I realised as I set off to walk down the aisle to the podium that they were slipping down my thighs - and I was wearing a mini-skirt and I thought if I drop my tights in front of the whole of IATEFL I ‘m just going to die. Well anyway, since then I ALWAYS have a spare pair of my-size tights in my bag.”

How could I use this with a business English class? If you wish to know gentle reader, then read on…

Background
Traditionally humans have always loved stories. Our brains are hard-wired to create a story from a tiny amount of detail if we so choose (don’t you speculate about the person in front of you in the supermarket who only has a bottle of sparkling wine, three yoghurts and a Kit Kat in their basket?). This skill is very important. It enables each generation to pass on to the next its culture, values and the knowledge which helps it survive and make sense of the world. And we learn from birth that stories follow a particular sequence of events. This sequencing plays an important role in guiding us to predict and prepare for likely outcomes from a range of situations. They also provide all humans with a common base of shared experience. How common is described by Christopher Booker, in his book on storytelling The Seven Basic Plots, which argues that all the stories ever told can be divided into seven universal categories. He has found over a thousand independent versions of the Cinderella rags-to-riches story from around the world for example. In short, stories have a track record of success as a didactic tool not just over time but in every culture.

Where did they all go?
Given this record it is odd that business English courses with a story as a central theme are now so unfashionable. Of course, once upon a not-so-long- time-ago, stories were still a part of business English material. Robert O’Neill wrote wonderful courses based on storylines in the 70s and 80s. However in the 90s wicked publisher fairies put a spell on the market and stories have been largely banished ever since. But why? There are three main reasons. Firstly, storytelling has had low intellectual credibility for a long time. Plato said that poets and story tellers put dangerous ideas into people’s heads and they should be subject to strict censorship. This disdain increased from the Age of Enlightenment onwards, culminating in the 20^th century’s determined effort to reduce all knowledge to mathematical formulae and logical analysis. Teaching business English using stories as a medium became akin to suggesting the use of black magic. They were felt to be embarrassing and unprofessional. Secondly, applying scientific reductionism to language learning is commercially very attractive to both publishers and language course providers. How convenient it is to turn language into discrete lexical, grammatical and functional McNuggets as Scott Thornbury and the Dogmetists would describe them. You can tell your corporate clients that by paying for a defined input they will be able to perform defined tasks on demand. And business learners are accustomed to thinking all things are measurable, of course. Thirdly, courses with storylines can be inconvenient things for the teacher. They stop you being able to cherry-pick the lessons you teach.

Holistic learning
Now this is all very understandable but it is not necessarily in the best interests of the student. Stories help people learn better. Michael Berman in an article from the ELT Newsletter defines it well: “Storytelling is … an effective vehicle to deliver messages to the subconscious where the 'ahas' of metaphor take place. It is our ability to make metaphorical connections that allow us to learn anything at all. When something new is like something we've done before, we take what we know from the first situation and transfer our knowledge to the new situation. Metaphor instills the learning of content or process on a very subtle, often subconscious level. When the subconscious is activated or accessed, the material enters the mind with no resistance.” Stories provide a holistic learning experience. On the first level the student follows the story, which provides the appropriate situation. At the second level the student observes the interpersonal and intercultural skills that the protagonists need or use to achieve their goals. Finally at the core comes the actual lexis, functions or grammar employed. Level one is of course conscious, but levels two and three are initially largely subconscious. Because story structures are so familiar, they provide students with the mental scaffolding to help make unconscious predictions about the kind of language necessary as a story unfolds. This means our students can absorb the skills and the language in a meaningful and motivating context before they need to focus on them consciously.

Classroom credible stories
Teachers often fear that business English students will reject material that doesn’t look like as if it is culled directly from the business press. After twenty years working with students from banks, government ministries and some of the most global of global organizations I can confidently say this anxiety is misplaced.

So, what type of stories should we use? We can use personal and student anecdotes, urban legends, mini-sagas, get students to research and relate company history (many companies have a founding-father story), or have them write mini-biographies about each other. Many of the activities in the excellent book Once upon a time by Morgan and Rinvolucri can easily be adapted for a business class and – if you become a real enthusiast – you can try the storyline course books I wrote for Summertown Publishing, Double Dealing. If the story material has something useful in terms of language, interpersonal or intercultural skills, then it will be accepted by the groups. The only limits are our creativity. But - I hear you say gentle reader – what about that implausible anecdote from the start of this article? How do you use that? Well, as a way to convince students on a presentations course of the value of thorough preparation, it’s unbeatable.

Happily ever after?
In conclusion I predict that it will not be long before the value of stories is rediscovered by the business English publishers. It has already happened in the real business world. The book Who moved my cheese? - a metaphor on the importance of learning how to deal with change featuring mice and two Lilliputian men who live together in a maze - has been a huge success in management circles. The mainstream EFL publishers will follow suit and this will be good for us and our students. Stories increase attention, information retention and motivation because they give people a genuine reason to read, listen, write or discuss aside from their need to learn the language. This quote sums up for me why they are so effective and why we should use them as often as possible:

'The largest crowds are drawn by the storytellers. It is around them that the people throng most densely and stay longest ... their words come from further off and hang longer in the air than those of ordinary people' Elias Canetti

Bibliography
1. Berman M, ‘Once upon a story’ May 2000 Article 12, ELT Newsletter

2. Booker C, ‘The seven basic plots – why we tell stories’ 2004 Continuum

3. Canetti E , ‘The voices of Marrakesh’ Marion Boyars. London 1978

4. Johnson S, ‘Who moved my cheese?’ 1998 G.P. Putnam’s and Sons

5. Morgan J, Rinvolucri M, ‘Once upon a time’ 1983, CUP

6. Schofield J, ‘Double Dealing’ 2004/5 Summertown Publishing – Pre-intermediate and intermediate course books with storyline and story building activities.

James Schofield,
31 March 2005