The curriculum of this class comprises general language skills, core business content (i.e. the understanding of business principles and activities, technical terminology and registers) and communicative competence.

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
• Ability to demonstrate an original opinion on the topics dealt with

Regular attendance throughout all the units.

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. During this course, a particular emphasis will be placed on a select number of the units. 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:

Oral performance (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. This element also includes an oral assessment 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.

You can get up to 10 points, or 10% of the total grade, for this element, with the number of points you receive based on your actual contribution in class and performance at the oral assessment

Written homework (5% of total grade): Your lecturer will inform you about requirements and will set a deadline by which the homework must be submitted. You will receive 5 points, or 5% of the total grade, for timely delivery of an appropriate assignment. 

Written Final Test (85% of total grade): The EBC3 Final Test is divided into three sections, corresponding to LOs 2-4 listed above (content, comprehension, communication). The first two consist of short general questions of various types and a text-based exercise. In the third section, you will be asked to compose a short report-style text dealing with an investment-based report. This exercise will be discussed and practised in class.

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

• attend on time and regularly (details to be given in the first lesson)
• score at least 60% of the overall points total achievable

NOTE: If you fail the First Final Test you will have to repeat the entire PI.

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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

The Institute will offer a blocked EBC3 class in July/August 2019 EXCLUSIVELY for students who are almost done with their studies.

Who is eligible?
- Students who have completed no less than 165 ECTS (including, of course, EBC2) by July 23 are guaranteed a space in the course
- Students with 160-164 ECTS will be placed on a waiting list, with any available spaces in the course being filled from that list in descending order of ECTS (a few days before class starts)

Students who fulfill the requirements and will be able to attend the entire course can register for the course during the opening hours (Tue, Wed, Thu, 10-12) of the Department's Front Office  (D2, Entrance D, 2nd floor) IN PERSON only starting Tuesday, June 25, up to and including Tuesday, July 23. Registration will generally be done on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are absolutely unable to come to the Front Office during those times, please contact bizcomm@wu.ac.at to make separate arrangements.

Please note that you must provide confirmation of your total ECTS. For this purpose, please bring along a printout of your "Student Ranking/GPA" (NOT "Erfolgsnachweis"), which shows that number. Provided you fulfill the ECTS requirements (including having passed EBC2), you will be registered for the course right away as long as there is capacity (if you have between 160 and 164 ECTS, your name will be put on a waiting list).

In order to take this course you must have passed

• the course EBC1
• the course EBC2

You can contact your instructor throughout the duration of the course. There will also be office hours (details to be announced in the first lesson).