Grice's maxims,which define the conditions for efficient spoken communication,can be adapted to the teaching of writing by providing both teachers and writers with a way of understanding successful and unsuccessful written correspondence in mono-and cross-cultural settings.A survey of lay readers' responses to a sample letter which show that,while there are individual differences in the way these maxims are interpreted,readers expect clarity,brevity,and sincerity,and writing which fails to meet these expectations will be unfavorably received.Also discussed are the issues of contrastive rhetoric,and ways of helping writers to position themselves in relation to their real or imagined reader.
The paper considers the role of the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teacher, in particular, to consider in what ways the ESP teacher's lot differs from that of the General English teacher. And finally it provides information about resources to help the ESP teacher.
