An interdisciplinary approach to ESP: The milieu, discourse and culture of American technological risk companies

This paper underscores the importance of fieldwork and contextualization in the sphere of English for specific purposes (ESP). It focuses on the milieu, discourse and culture of American multinational companies specialized in oil and gas (ExxonMobil, Chevron and Conoco Phillips) and agrochemistry (Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer). Because their activities are sometimes considered as a threat to health and the environment, the six firms were chosen as representative of the technological risk industry. The author’s initial assumption was that they shared specific communication needs, making them a distinct discourse community within the corporate world. In order to check this hypothesis, an interdisciplinary methodology was used: genre analysis was combined with an ethnographic-driven approach to provide insight into the specific context that shapes the companies’ culture and communication. The aim was to show that discourse analysis can be used as an entry point into a specialized community and should be complemented by other approaches. Combining data from different sources, this paper shows that the main objective of technological risk companies is not only to promote their products, but also to legitimize controversial activities and bolster their image.