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Business Result Elementary Student’s Book

David Grant, John Hughes, Rebecca Turner (Oxford University Press 2009)
ISBN: 978-0-19-474800-1

This book is the first step in the five stages of Business Result from Elementary to Advanced. It includes a CD-ROM (by Alastair Lane) with practice exercises, sample emails, tests for every unit, an interactive phrasebank and glossary. Accompanying the book, there is a very good student’s website with further material. Although there was no Teacher’s Book supplied for review, at www.oup.com there is a helpful teacher’s website containing material for needs analysis, placement test, extra information including BEC practice, and teacher development.
The Student’s Book itself is divided into 12 units, structured similarly to most language textbooks with respect to grammar, but the content is targeted at business users with topics such as jobs, meetings, departments, competition. Each topic is considered in terms of vocabulary, grammar, functional phrases, speaking activities, a case study, and, very usefully, a class activity. The expected outcomes are explicitly listed for each chapter. The layout of the book is clear, attractive, with some colour and photographs. Many pages have a blue box containing a useful tip. At the end of the book are sets of written activities suitable for classwork reinforcement or homework and the audio scripts to accompany the listening exercises.

For elementary students the standard of English expected is certainly high. Since there are no pronunciation exercises, the teacher will probably need to supply supplementary material for what is usually an important feature of work at this level.

Overall, the Business Result Elementary Student’s Book is lively, attractive, well-supplemented for student and teacher. Its practical approach includes explicit advice to the student about fast-track learning and a clear strategy outlining the use of the book for classroom and self-study.

Gail Donoher
Freelance