Kirjoittaja ja lukija teekkareiden kirjoittamissa kieltävissä rekrytointivastauksissa ; Author and reader in non-recruited recruitment answers written by the teakers

This article examines the writer and the reader constructed in rejection letters produced by Finnish students of engineering during a university-level writing course (Finnish as mother tongue). The aim of the study was to investigate the choices and rhetorical strategies the student writers use when constructing the authorial voice and reader in such texts. The results show that student writers use similar strategies in their texts as are used in real-life rejection letters. However, the selection of formal and informal means of addressing the reader is uneven and causes problems constructing and maintaining a realistic relationship between the writer and the reader. Based on the findings it is concluded that practicing the writing of rejection letters in business writing courses is relevant and beneficial and can be considered a valid approach for exploring the interpersonal metafunction when teaching and learning literacy skills for working life.