Idioms in Business English Textbooks: The Case of Market Leader and Business Result

Idioms represent an important part of effective communication between native speakers, but they are quite necessary among non-native speakers too. Their crucial role in making communication flow easily makes them attractive and important to be studied. Their use in not very common among non-native speakers, because they are usually taught at higher levels, such as C1 and above. This paper is a systematic analysis of idioms representation in Business English textbooks used in higher education, both Market Leader and Business Result. The focus is in identifying their presence in these textbooks, followed by an analysis and categorization of idiomatic expressions across various units and topics. A thorough approach of their complex nature and connection to real-world business scenarios is taken in order to see the efficacy of their inclusion in the textbooks. The paper contains extractions, which show how these expressions are introduced to students in these two textbooks, and if they are equivalent to the requirements in the Common European Framework of Languages. This research’s objective is to help teachers, educators and curriculum see how idiomatic language is treated in Business English textbooks. Also, the study adds a contribution of raising awareness of the role idioms play in language acquisition and the implications for effective business communication.