Contrastive analysis of transmittal letters and memoranda in English and Spanish

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present an analysis of the generic structure of transmittal letters and memoranda. The study described in this article is part of a research project being carried out at Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia as an extension of DIRECT – Development of International Research in Commerce and Technology. This study uses a genre-based analysis to describe and compare the textual organization of 42 letters and 38 memos in Spanish and 16 letters and 13 memos in English, the latter written by non-native English speakers in the business field. The theoretical framework for this paper finds support in Swales’ (1990) and Bhatia’s (1993) concepts of genre. The move analysis method adopted is also based on the mentioned researchers’ and on Teh’s (1986) proposals for move delimitation. The resulting analysis reveals more similarities than differences in terms of generic structure, purpose and move characteristics. The researchers hope that these findings will serve to design appropriate Spanish and English teaching materials for the business sector.