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An Approach to Report Writing 
in the World of Work

My experience has been very much that of trainingEnglish Language learners in the world of work -
the field which is commonly called EOP - English for
Occupational Purposes. To provide some examples, this
experience has included developing English Language
skills with Cambodian NGO workers, working for the
International Labour Organisation whose job it is to obtain
information on likely locations for investment, Sudanese
experts from the Ministry of Justice who are carrying out an
in-depth inspection of their country’s prisons, Russian
engineers, working on an offshore oil platform who are
concerned about the installation of fire safety systems, and
Armenian junior diplomats based in Minsk who are
reporting back on economic developments in the country.

These rather varied examples have been chosen as in each case, once outside the classroom
or training room, students were expected to detail their findings, research and
recommendations in the form of a report. Here, I will suggest that the writing skills and
especially the report writing skills we aim to develop in the world of EOP are significantly
similar to those which university lecturers aim to develop in the field of EAP - English for
Academic Purposes. Both sides, I feel, have a great deal to learn from each other and I hope
that the approach to report writing outlined here is of help both to EOP and EAP
practitioners. An ability to construct clear, concise and readable reports is of the utmost
value to a huge range of English language learners, working in a breathtaking range of work
situations. Worldwide, international organisations are keen to develop the skills of ‘national’
employees - and national organisations are keen to develop links with the wider world.
These organisations might include large multi-national companies - an oil company for
example where many different disciplines demand report writing skills. An ability to write
reports for a non-native speaking member of a company such as this opens doors! It might
include a small struggling non-governmental organisation which has made measurable
progress in remote rural areas and needs to document its progress. It might also include an
institution such as British Council itself where, in an Armenian context, report writing is a
major activity for each of the project managers, working here, each in a different sphere.
Thus to some extent, then, an ability to produce reports leads to sustainability and in its own
way plays a part in empowerment.

As in all aspects of English language learning, it is perhaps never too soon to start -
I suggest here that these report writing skills can be developed before entry into the
workplace, at university, as well as an important part of university based activities such
as research.

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Armenian Folia Anglistika                                                                                 Methodology

Andy Keedwell



It is attractive to view the development of report writing skills as figuring more at the
training end of the spectrum than at the educational end, as proposed by
H.G.Widdowson (1983, p.6). It is a type of training that leads to what the linguist has
called restricted competence. By its nature, report writing produces what A.Mountford
has called predictable and prescribable language (1988, p.78). A good report is
produced according to accepted norms and standards and these norms and standards in
English can be taught, regardless of the extent to which report writing formats vary from
one language to another. A.M.Johns (1990, p.32) talks of rules of discourse, which are
standards by which a native speaker will produce a discourse such as a report, bearing
in mind accepted standards of clarity, acceptability and appropriacy which meet the
reader’s expectations. Report writing is a routine, and these routines can be learnt.

In order to support learners in writing a report, we need to first of all determine the
features of a report and, in particular, those features which might prove problematical to
our learners. Clearly, a report is goal based - it aims to get something done. It is
purposeful and sets out to be a basis for action, whether that action is the correct siting
of a new fire escape, the launch of a new product on the market or the implementation
of funding for a teacher training programme. A report may be both informational and
persuasive (Britton J., 1975, p.99). It often aims both to provide information and to
persuade the reader to follow a particular course of action through recommendations.

It may be useful as a rule of thumb to categorise reports into the following groups,
although obviously there may be overlap between categories.

• An investigation which has found something out.
• A survey which has found out what people think.
• An evaluation or review which has found out how well something or somebody

is working.
• A feasibility study which has decided how well something will work in the future.
• A plan which gives details of what an organisation will do in the future.

Regardless of detailed content or context, the majority of reports would appear to
share the significant characteristics of one of these types or another. When for example,
engineers from Armenia Airways are giving information on whether a new kind of plane
should be used by the company, they are working on a type of feasibility study. An
organisation describing if a new way of interviewing new staff has been successful are
fundamentally evaluating. Familiarity with these report types will enable writers to
adjust their language to the appropriate format. A second view of report-writing which
has been found to be of use to students is to see the report writer as a lawyer arguing for
or against a case. Both lawyer and report writer have to:

• organise language to present ideas;
• give information clearly;
• include all-important information while excluding information which is not 

important;

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• make recommendations with clear reasons, and persuade;
• show why opposing recommendations should not be followed.

Before embarking on the design of a report writing course, we need to have
undertaken a thorough needs analysis, which in most cases will take one or more of three
forms: a genre analysis, a deductive needs analysis or an inductive needs analysis. Any
designer of a report writing course will find an extensive investigation of the genre of
the particular report type his or her students are or will be expected to write enormously
rewarding. Definitions of a genre hinge on the fact that exponents of a genre share a
communicative purpose and share  some or all characteristics of structure, style, content
and intended audience. (Swales J., 1990, p.45). A report is an example of a distinct genre,
and has distinctive linguistic features which characterise it as one. A genre will be
characterised by:

A micro-structure:

For example, the structural characteristics of a research paper as investigated by
Swales included:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
• Results and discussion.

A range of micro-functions:

Trimble and the Washington School identified a range of rhetorical functions and
techniques which may include, in the case of a report:

• Classifying
• Comparing and ordering
• Exemplifying
• Making relations between text and illustration. 

In undertaking a genre analysis, we need to ask focused questions. 
These might include:
• How is a report usually organised?
• How are aims usually expressed?
• How does the writer commit to a certain idea - are there any degrees of

commitment?
• How frequently do writers use the passive in a typical report?
• How does the writer usually express recommendations?

To support the design of a report writing course, I examined a wide range of reports
from the workplace, primarily reports which could be described as looking backward.

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Armenian Folia Anglistika                                                                                 Methodology



Findings show that these reports are usually composed of sections, on a similar basis to
Swales’ research articles. These sections might have different names, depending on the
type of report, but almost always include:

• An introduction which sets out the aim.
• A method section which describes how an investigation was undertaken usually

sequentially.
• A results section which presents data, with or without discussion of the data.
• A recommendation section in which proposals of some kind are made.

A typical introduction will outline the aim of a report, often either focusing on the
aim or on the report itself as subject:

It is very atypical in English to express an aim as ‘This report aims to……..’ as it
implies that an attempt will be made which may or may not be successful.

A range of verbs in the infinitive clause are used. Thus, for example,

to identify to recommend to examine to analyse
to classify to outline to evaluate to assess
to propose to determine to review

Introductions often follow a problem/solution pattern (Hoey, 1983) or more
precisely, a problem, purpose and scope pattern.

• The problem outlines the situation which led to the production of the report.
• The purpose explains what the report is setting out to do.
• The scope includes what will and will not be included, and, frequently, where

further information can be found.

In the Method section, the writer almost always highlights steps: through sequences,
and through staging. But surprisingly, the active is used almost as frequently as the
passive - so an engineer writing a technical report might say: 

The oil stream is directed through the main oil pump of a centrifuge. 
or
A centrifuge directs the oil stream through the main oil pump.

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Results:

In the results section, the writer uses an impersonal style and thematises results:

Many writers need to classify and to compare.
Classification can be complex as shown by the example below from an International

Labour organisation report:

The writer may often hedge, because not all facts are clear: 
It is also difficult to obtain data on...
In the absence of reliable information on age conditions, it is not feasible to...
It has not proved possible to discover the real incomes of...

Recommendations:

In a typical sample these results have been found.
Not surprisingly, recommendations use modal verbs. 

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Armenian Folia Anglistika                                                                                 Methodology



Recommendations also often use an impersonal it to express suggestions, e.g.:

A ‘quick and dirty’ genre analysis of this kind can:
• show us how a typical writer in this genre will express purpose;
• show us typical forms of organization which learners need to be  àble to manipulate;
• give us information on appropriate registers: formality and informality of typical 

texts;
• provide information on particular grammatical structures which learners will need 

to be able to use;
• provide us with examples of lexical choices, commonly made by writers in the 

particular genre.

Needs Analysis:

It is helpful to think about needs analysis in terms of needs, lack and wants.
(Hutchinson T., Waters A., 1987, p.56)

Deductive analysis (Berwick M., 1989, p.58)
The EOP needs analyst depends very much on the use of questionnaires, which need

to target:
• target level performance of the learner (Munby J.L., 1978, p.12);
• when English is used by the target learners and in which types of situations;
• the frequency with which language is used;
• how English is used - for which skills and in which genres of writing;
• what tasks in English the learner is expected to perform now and what tasks they

are expected to perform after the course, after promotion, for example;
• the learners’ own assessment of the language skills;
• if learners have previous experience of classroom lessons, forms of self-access

learning, ESP, etc.
It is not only the learner whom we need to target by needs analysis but also the

sponsors of the course, the learner’s employers and other agencies.
• What is their assessment of the learner’s skills?
• Which language skills do they think are essential or desirable for the learner?
• Which language tasks do they expect their learners to be able to perform and to

what degree?

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Inductive methods of needs analysis:
An inductive needs analysis involves watching the learner on the job. This might be

limited by time, feasibility, confidentiality and logistics. In designing a report writing
course for oil engineers, I was lucky enough to spend three months living on an off-shore
oil platform - but this was the exception rather than the rule!

Report writing - meeting the students’ needs:

In my opinion, errors in learners’ writing at upper intermediate level and above
involve far more than just accuracy in grammar and vocabulary and a traditional
approach to ‘mistakes’. M. Hoey (1983) emphasises that reading is a dialogue between
reader and writer. Non-native report writers often make demands which are too heavy on
native speakers because they violate one or more rules of discourse. And good reports
are written to be read in a hurry.

The report writer needs to be aware that he or she is only writing to meet the readers’
needs and to answer a series of questions which the reader has. The writer needs to
answer each of these questions about the reader at the planning stage:

1. What information does the reader need to find out?
2. Is the reader interested in your recommendations?
3. What facts and figures do they need?
4. How much does the reader know about this topic already?
5. Is the reader a general reader or a specialist? Will the reader understand specialist

terms and expressions?
6. What will the reader do after he or she has read the report? What change will it

result in?

A number of exercises can be developed by the course designer in order to draw
students’ attention to questions the report reader is likely to formulate and how the report
writer may answer them.
In my experience, students have also found four basic principles of report writing very
useful. A useful acronym is COPE - because these four principles will assist the student
to cope with report writing. The four principles are:

• Clarity - Helping the reader by being clear;
• Organisation - Ordering and structuring your report so it is easy to follow;
• Precision - Using language that has an exact meaning;
• Economy - Not using more words than necessary to communicate  your meaning.

A report writing trainer needs the flexibility and initiative to refer back to these four
principles at each and every opportunity. If we take COPE as set of principles, we can
see that an effective writing course needs to include all of these areas.

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Armenian Folia Anglistika                                                                                 Methodology



Organising a report:

• focus on the structure of a typical report;
• enabling students to identify the purpose of particular paragraphs of a report

(authentic or adapted);
• enabling students  to  identify the purpose  of particular sections of a report

(authentic or adapted);
• familiarising learners with the problem, purpose and scope in introductions.

Organising internal coherence and cohesion:

Topic sentence activities - matching topic sentences and producing topic sentences
for supplied paragraphs.

Being precise:

• expressing clearly which sections of the report are fact and which are  opinion;
• using language precisely to describe an existing situation;
• using language precisely to describe change;
• developing an ability to write formally and informal as appropriate activities

which include converting informal language into formal language and vice versa;
• using technical vocabulary efficiently, but more importantly, using sub-technical

vocabulary effectively.

Economy:

• stating exactly what is needed - no more and no less;
• developing an ability to distinguish what implies ‘hot air’ in a text – breaking

away from ‘Soviet’ traditions of using many words to say nothing;
• manipulating micro-functions of sequencing, referring to diagrams, comparing.

classifying etc. effectively, often through converting verbal data to non verbal
data and vice versa (Nuttall C., 1982, p.52).
Above all, we need to focus on developing the skills of a learner as a mechanic
of language - and throughout guaranteeing clarity.

References:

1. Berwick,  M. Needs Assessment in Language Programmes, from Theory to
Practice. In: The Second Language Curriculum ed.by Johnson, R.K. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 1989. 

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2. Britton, J. The Development of Writing Abilities. London, Macmillan, 1975.
3. Hoey, M. On the Surface of Discourse. London, Allen and Unwin, 1983.
4. Hutchinson, T.; Waters, A. English for Specific Purposes: a Language Centered

Approach. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987. 
5. Johns, A.M. Composition Theories. In: Knoll, B. Second Language Writing:

Research Insights for the Classroom. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
1990. 

6. Mountford, A. Factors Influencing ESP Materials Production and Use. In:
Chamberlain, D.; Baumgardner, R.J. ESP in the Classroom. ELT Documents 128,
London, ÌÅÐ, 1988.

7. Munby, J.L. Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 1978. 

8. Nuttall, N. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 1982.

9. Swales, J. Genre Analysis: English In Academic and Research Settings.
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990. 

10. Trimble, L. English for Science and Technology: a Discourse Approach.
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982,

11. Widdowson. H.G. Learning Purpose and Language Use. Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 1983.

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Armenian Folia Anglistika                                                                                 Methodology