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

As with all PI courses, attendance is a requirement to pass EBC3. As a special concession, you may miss up to three meetings of your LV. However, if you miss a fourth, you will no longer be able to pass the course. This condition applies whatever the reasons for your absences may have been.

Please note that this attendance requirement will also apply if it is necessary to return to online teaching.

This EBC3 course consists of a mix of self-study, interactive online activities, and live/on-campus classes relating to different aspects of the course. Classes 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.

Self-study materials
Self-study materials will be posted regularly and are designed to be used alongside class materials. These comprise language, comprehension and content exercises to help you understand and be able to discuss business topics pertaining to globalised trade and sustainable business, international market entry, financial management, tendering, countertrade, legal English, ...

Interactive activities
During the course you will be invited to participate in a range of synchronous and asynchronous interactive activities, such as creating a mini-presentation, posting and responding to threads in a discussion forum, peer-reviewing reports, and working together in small groups (2-4 people) on a report. These activities are intended to help build a class community as well as help you go deeper into the material and prepare for the assessments.

Live/on-campus sessions
The live/on-campus sessions will be held during the scheduled class times and will have a content and/or language focus, depending on the relevant unit. EBC3 is currently scheduled to take place on campus. These sessions will comprise a mix of teacher-led input, spontaneous and prepared presentations and discussions, and preparation for the assessment elements.

Please note that the attendance requirement refers to these sessions, and will be upheld regardless of whether we have class online or on campus.

As EBC3 is a PI course, you must meet the Learning Outcomes by completing various tasks:

(1) Oral group discussions (15%): This element 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.

In groups of 3-4 people, you will discuss current business topics.

(2) Report practice and peer review (10%): This is practice for the Final Report (see below). I will inform you about requirements and will set a deadline by which the homework must be submitted. You will receive 3 points for the timely submission of a reasonable draft, 2 points for a constructive peer review of one of your colleague's reports, and up to 5 additional points for the quality of your final submission.

(3) Participation and interaction (10%): There will be a range of small activities and synchronous/asynchronous tasks throughout the course which are intended to encourage interaction and peer learning. You will find details about requirements, point allocation and timeframes on Learn once the course starts.

(4) Final Report (35%): In this assessment element you will need to write a new report on a market entry topic, as practised in (2) above. This will take place in class on 15 January and can be taken on paper only.

(5) Business English in Context (30%): This will be an on-paper test combining the content knowledge covered in the course with reading comprehension and text-based tasks. This will take place in class on 22 January and can be taken on paper only.

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

• score at least 60% of the overall points total achievable
• complete at least THREE of the interactive elements (participation and interactive tasks and/or orals)

If you will miss the Final Report and the Business English in Context because you are going abroad at the end of the semester, you can take both tests in the following semester, when you return. Please note that you must still fulfill the attendance requirement (max. 3 absences, including any absences due to being abroad)!

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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 60-69%     ->   Grade 4; OS 70-79%     ->   Grade 3; OS 80-89%     ->   Grade 2; OS 90-100%    ->   Grade 1

Bachelor students must have passed EBC2 prior to attending EBC3. Please note that registration via LPIS is required for 'EBC3'.

Registration is effected on a first-come, first-served basis. Any unfilled slots will be filled from waiting lists in accordance with study progress and in cooperation with the Vizerektorat für Lehre und Studierende.

Individual EBC3 instructors are NOT involved in registration and will NOT reply to mails on the subject.

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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)

You can contact your instructor during his/her office hours, immediately before or after class or by mail.