Syllabus Information

1. General information

1.1. Aims of the course

The general aim of this English for Business course is to enable students to communicate at a reasonable level of accuracy in the present international business environment. More specifically, students should develop their proficiency in listening, reading, speaking and writing texts related to business topics and practice, including knowledge of how the language is used, how it works and how to analyse it and the contexts in which it is spoken.

1.2. Context and importance of this course in the degree

This is an optional module of 5 ECTS included in 1^st semester of the 4^th year programme of the degree course, provided by the Department of English and German Philology. The course seeks to provide practical learning resources focusing on a range of documents and texts (written and oral) related to the students’ future professional careers and, thus, enhance their employability in the international business world. 

This course should also help students to understand, analyse and produce academic texts related to other subjects in their degree course

1.3. Recommendations to take this course

To be successful, the student is recommended to start with at least the level of general English (written and oral) acquired in Bachillerato, and which is similar to B1 of the Common European Framework. The programme is fully taught in English and communication in the classroom takes place only in this language too. The student is also advised to work on it steadily, which implies attending lessons and practice sessions on regular basis.

2. Learning goals

2.1. Competences

Specific Skills

E1: Writing advisory reports on specific situations related to markets, economic sectors and organizations or firms and to their respective functional areas. 

E2: Understanding and applying professional criteria and scientific rigour to the solving of economic, firm or organizational problems.

Transferable Skills  

T1: Communicate in oral and written English in a way which is appropriate to the business professional context.

T2: Communicate in oral and written English with emphasis on developing arguments properly.

T3: Have theability to analyse and summarise.

T4: Have the ability to Search for and assess information from a variety of sources

T5: Have developed negotiation and problem-solving skills.

T6: Have the ability to work in a team

2.2. Learning goals

1:Communicate fluently and clearly at an intermediate-advanced level of English (oral and written) and in areas related to business practice.

2:Understand and make critical comments on the English texts including issues related to business functional areas. 

3:Present and interpret data relating to fields of business management using the specific language strategies and techniques (oral and written) for this type of discourse in English.

4:Use the corresponding language strategies for organising and summarising information in oral and written texts.

5:Have reasonable command of a range of vocabulary on familiar and some business specialised topics to be able to communicate effectively with other professionals in English.

2.3. Importance of learning goals

The skills acquired through the English for Business course are key for students of Business Administration and Management. Nowadays, they are crucial to access knowledge and enhance their employability within the growing international business practice, where a proficient command of English is specially required. 

3. Assessment (1st and 2nd call)

3.1. Assessment tasks (description of tasks, marking system and assessment criteria)

The student will prove that he/she has achieved the expected learning results by means of the following assessment tasks:

 Global Examination: All students of this module are only evaluated at the end of the semester (first and second calls) by means of a global evaluation of the command of their speaking, listening, reading and writing competences in English. Assessment will cover all the material that has been studied in the course and what students are expected to have acquired as independent learners. The examination will be based on the completion of similar tasks to those carried out throughout the course. These will include:

•       Delivery of a group presentation
•       Listening comprehension exercises
•       Reading comprehension exercises
•       A written vocabulary and language use test
•       Production of written communication texts      

Assessment criteria:

Accuracy in the use of the English language and appropriateness of style (formal register and specific business vocabulary); coherent organization of the information adjusting to the respective discourse structure of the different business genres; understanding of the main information -as well as in detail- in oral and written texts; correct pronunciation and intonation.

Oral language skills assessment (presentation and listening) will represent 50% of the final mark

Written language skills assessment (reading comprehension, test and written text production) will represent the other 50% of the total mark.

Note that it is the responsibility of students to ensure that they have read and understood this information and the one provided at the beginning of the module, to plan their work schedule in advance, and to keep to the assigned dates of the exams. If you are in any doubt, talk to the module teacher in good time.

4. Methodology, learning tasks, syllabus and resources

4.1. Methodological overview

The methodology followed in this course is oriented towards the achievement of the learning objectives. A wide range of teaching and learning tasks are implemented, such as lectures, practice sessions and tutorials.

Although part of any class session is likely to involve direct teaching, the emphasis is on student participation in English and the students will be expected to take part actively in discussion and in tasks such as small group and pair work, role play and oral presentations. These activities will include:

• Oral and written communication tasks.
• Analysis and production of written texts relating to business topics as well as copies of the most common documents and correspondence to be encountered in the business professional practice.
• Representation and description of trends and statistic data.
• Oral presentation of a business project or new ideas.
• Simulation of real business situations

4.2. Learning tasks

This course is organized as follows:

• Lectures (20 hours). Fundamental concepts of the course will be exposed, so that goals set by the teacher are achieved. The lecture is expected to be participatory and to encourage debate and clarify issues and questions based on the learning materials. The student will also be expected to spend time studying outside the class using extra facilities and materials to help them develop their expertise as an independent language learners.
• Practice sessions (30 hours). Individual and group tasks on business related discussions, team work and group interaction, preparation and presentation of companies, projects or ideas, simulation of business situations.
• Tutorials (75 hours). Individual or group sessions which allow a more direct and personal support to students in order to monitor tasks, answer questions and guide them in the study. Self-study, assignments, exam preparation and assessment activities.

4.3. Syllabus

1. THE COMPANY

- Description of a company organization: hierarchy and functions

- Description of job positions and responsibilities

- Profile of a company

2. SOCIALISING AND TELEPHONING

- Greetings and introductions

- Telephone language

- Cross-cultural (mis)understanding

3. RECRUITMENT

- The process of recruitment: job offers

- The process of job application: writing a CV and a letter of application

- The job interview

4. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

- Description of the process of an international commerce transaction and its documents

- Business letters and emails

- An international commerce transaction

5. BUSINESS PRESENTATIONS

- Preparation of a business presentation

- Structure of a presentation

- Language reference and instructions for delivering a presentation

- Instruction for the presentation of a project

4.4. Course planning and calendar

There is no set textbook. The supporting printed learning materials for the course will be available from the reprography service of the corresponding faculty. To help students to develop an autonomous learning programme, extra supporting materials to consolidate English grammar and pronunciation as well as extra practice materials for business related topics will be provided in the Digital Platform https://moodle2.unizar.es/. Authentic print and multimedia material covering a variety of styles, registers and genres will be used too.

Further information concerning the timetable, classroom, office hours, assessment dates and other details regarding this course, will be provided on the first day of class or please refer to the Moodle website (https://moddle2.unizar.es); Academic calendar website (https://academico.unizar.es/calendario-academico/calendario); or the website of your corresponding faculty (Zaragoza: https://econz.unizar.es/, Huesca: http://fegp.unizar.es/, Teruel: http://fcsh.unizar.es/).

Note that it is the responsibility of students to ensure that they have read and understood this document and all the information about the course, and have checked lessons timetable and exam dates in advance, so as to be able to plan their work schedule. If you are in any doubt, talk to the teacher in good time.