Using Consulting Projects to Teach Critical- Thinking Skills in Business Communication

There is more to successful communication than learning the styles and proce dures often found in the traditional business communication syllabus. In this article, I discuss the benefits of using a critical-thinking approach to helping students to understand the complex social and political environment in which business communication is practiced. I explain how communication consult ing projects can be used to examine the context of organizational communica tion. Finally, I discuss the implications for teaching business and technical communication using a real-world, critical approach.