The Application Of You-attitude In Business Correspondence Writing--A Goal-oriented Approach

Human being's social activities are all goal-oriented. There is a purpose consciously or unconsciously guiding us in doing this but not that, in doing things this way but no that way. This point is recognized by all of us without any hesitation. However, not all of us have the consciousness or the knowledge to analyze our activities by adopting a goal-oriented approach. In view of this, the author introduces the goal-oriented approach, and takes this approach in the analyzing of You-attitude in business letters.Many researchers introduce You-attitude as a very important business letter writing principle. Most researchers point out that You-attitude takes the reader's thoughts, feelings, and point of view into account when writing a business letter. Some researchers even give some tips of You-attitude such as they suggest the frequent application of pronoun "you". Although their studies cover a broad range, none of them has proposed a complete understanding of You-attitude, nor made any systematic study on this issue. By reviewing the related studies and discussing the relations between You-attitude, CP, and PP, the author puts forward a tentative personal understanding of You-attitude: You-attitude is a strategic term, not a mere attitude. It is a comprehensive strategy package for the realization of communicative goals in the context of business.In light of the Speech Act theory, considering the different relations between their illocutionary acts and their social goals, business letters are classified into four types: collaborative letters, convivial letters, competitive letters and conflictive letters. The author then borrows the genre analysis model to analyze You-attitude in the four types of business letters, and points out that you-attitude as a strategy should be used with flexibility.Guided by the goal-oriented approach, the author makes a systematic study of You-attitude in different types of business letters, and come to the conclusion that You-attitude is crucial in business letter writing for the achievement of business letters' communicative purposes. Therefore, You-attitude should be considered as the primary principle in business letter writing.