Curricula for business language instruction should be (1) based on analysis of the routine operations of local business, industry, and service organizations, (2) in the form of practical units of study for sequential development of target language competencies, and (3) accomplished through integrated partnerships with local business. Instructional materials should provide more realistic portrayals of business transactions between American and foreign customers, focus clearly on the controllable and non-controllable circumstances of local business, and provide an understanding of what it takes to do business well overseas. Most commercial materials about business transactions do not illustrate well the depth or length of an interaction, which might include a letter inquiry, responses, letters of clarification, an offer, legal considerations, investigations, and computations. Assessment of the business environment would address geography and market, advertising and promotion, values concerning responsibility and productivity, technological considerations, accounting and budgeting needs, reasons and means for problem-solving, and environmental and industrial standards. An experiential unit might require that a student analyze many aspects of a product, such as market, manufacture, shipping, promotion, and sale in the United States and overseas. (MSE)