Syllabus

THIS COURSE IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS 'ENGLISH BUSINESS COMMUNICATION3' (EBC3). Bachelor students are required to have passed EBC2 prior to attending EBC3.

LEARNING OUTCOMES (LOs)

After successfully completing this course, students will be able:

• LO1: to demonstrate a level of general English competence equivalent to at least C1 on the Common European Framework;
• LO2: to understand and apply concepts from certain business and economic fields (globalization, international trade, legal matters, international payment, risks, countertrade, tender procedures, financial management, financial markets) and to recall as required the essential terminology associated with them;
• LO3: to recall at will, and use, the English equivalents of basic German terminology from these fields, as well as other typical features (structures, collocations, prepositional usage, etc) of the associated language, to discuss the above fields in an appropriate manner, to understand the principles of report writing, and to apply these in practice;
• LO4: to combine the various abilities mentioned above in order to understand upper-level written texts about the above business and economic fields, and to write communicatively-effective texts, both descriptive and analytical (specifically reports), relating to them.

In addition, this course fosters the following soft skills:

• Explanation and summary in German (or other native language) of English texts relating to the business fields mentioned
• Improved aural/oral skills
• Improved ability to analyse and understand texts in general
• Effective university-level study

The EBC3 course is divided into twelve units, as indicated above and containing a number of exercises designed to develop the requisite skills and knowledge. EBC3 classes (one for each of these units, plus one for review) are of a workshop nature and involve a wide range of activities based on the course literature. These will include some or all of the following:

• response to student questions and other discussion about tricky content;
• reading and working with texts;
• development of report-writing skills;
• further language development, involving both vocabulary and more advanced structures;
• writing and evaluating of short texts in response to instructions.

Some activities will take the form of pair or small-group work.

As EBC3 is a PI course, you must satisfy various criteria in order to pass:

Class participation (10% of total grade): You must participate in all class activities (at the very least, this means attempting to answer questions put by your instructor); if you do not do so in the early weeks of the course (for example, by simply not attending the classes), your instructor will discuss the matter with you so that you have a chance to improve. The requirements for class participation will be defined by the respective lecturer and communicated accordingly.

You will have to pass an oral exam in which you will need to demonstrate proficiency in spoken English at the level of (or very close to) C1 under the European Framework of Reference, which is defined as follows:

• Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning.
• Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions.
• Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.

Written Final Test (90% of total grade): The EBC3 Final Test is divided into three sections, corresponding toLOs 2-4 listed above (content, comprehension, communication). The firsttwo consist of short questions of various types (fill-ins; multiplechoice; etc) and text-based exercises. In the third section, you will be asked to compose a shortreport-style text dealing with business concepts discussed in class. 

In order to pass the course, you must fulfill the following requirements:

• pass the oral exam
  
• at least 60% on the Final Test
• at least 60% of the overall points total achievable

As a rule, you can take EITHER the First OR the Second Final Test, but not both. However, you will be allowed to retake the exam at the 2nd Final Test if you meet the following requirements:

• at least 50% on the First Final Test
• passed the oral exam

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Overall grade
Finally, if you satisfy the conditions specified for ALL the individual assessment elements above, you will be given an overall score (OS).

OS under 60%  ->   Grade 5; OS 60-67%     ->   Grade 4; OS 68-75%     ->   Grade 3; OS 76-84%     ->   Grade 2; OS 85-100%    ->   Grade 1

In order to take this course you must have passed

• the course EBC1
  
• the course EBC2 (at the latest, at the Exceptional Test before the start of the semester in which you wish to take EBC3)