1-ADE-Academic skills for business studies

Dades generals de l'assignatura

Professorat

Vanessa Palomo Berjaga

Objectives

In this course, the student learns how to communicate with other people both by speaking and by writing in English in a coherent and efficient way, in situations related to the professional and social activity in a global environment, using a precise vocabulary and taking the appropriate formal aspects into account.
The student also learns how to identify the most significant aspects and the discursive organisation of the oral and written texts which are produced in the professional and social field. Moreover, he learns how to interpret the information asked and expressed by the interlocutor in English, either by a telephone call, a personal meeting or a written text, paying attention to the context and the situation.

 

Skills

Basic skills

CB1. Show knowledge and understanding in a field of study that builds on general secondary education with the support of advanced textbooks and knowledge of the latest advances in this field of study. 

CB4. Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists. 

CB5. Develop the learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of independent learning.

General skills

G2. Show ability to adapt to contexts and changing business and social realities within a global environment.

 

Transversal skills

T5. Exercise active citizenship and individual responsibility with a commitment to the values of democracy, sustainability and universal design, through practice based on learning, service and social inclusion.

T6. Use oral, written and audiovisual forms of communication, in one’s own language and in foreign languages, with a high standard of use, form and content.

T7. Become the protagonist of one’s own learning process in order to achieve personal and professional development and attain an all-round training for living and learning in a context that respects linguistic, social, cultural, gender and economic diversity.

Specific skills

E4. Design, plan, communicate and assess plans for an enterprise and its operational units in order to develop entrepreneurial business initiatives in the local or in a foreign language.

Learning results

1. The student uses the right resources in order to understand oral and written academic texts whichare specific from the business field.
2. The student is able to synthesise and summarise oral and written academic texts, as well as those from the business field, in an autonomous way.
3. The student uses the appropriate grammar structures and vocabulary for academic and business contexts.
4. The student expresses himself / herself by speaking and writing in a spontaneous way in the business context.
5. The student gives oral formal presentations on the business field.
6. The student shows respect towards linguistic, social and cultural diversity.
7. The student writes reports and other written documents (especially technical documents) with orthographic and grammatical correctness in  Catalan, Spanish and English. 
8. The student makes evaluations about his / her own practice and also about the practices of others in a critical and responsible way.
9. The student communicates information, methodologies, ideas, problems and solutions on the business field clearly and precisely to any kind of audience (specialist and non-specialist).
10. The student identifies his / her own educational necessities and organises his / her own learning process with a high degree of autonomy in different contexts.
11. The student uses gender-friendly language in both oral and written productions.

Recommendation

It is advisable that the student has an intermediate level of English (level B1, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). This level is achieved after passing the PAU exam.

Contents

BLOCK 1.- COMMUNICATION IN THE WORK FIELD

Unit 1.- Taking part in meetings. Basic e-mail.
Unit 2.- Telephonic communication.
Unit 3.- Meetings management and organisation.

BLOCK 2.- COMPANY AND PROJECTION

Unit 4.- The structure of the company.
Unit 5.- Advertisement, promotion and marketing.
Unit 6.- Presenting ideas, information and numbers.

BLOCK 3.- JOB OFFERS AND ADVANCED COMMUNICATION

Unit 7.- Advanced e-mails: apologies, complaints, job applications.
Unit 8.- Job interviews.
Unit 9.- International markets.

BLOCK 4.- COORPORATE ETHICS AND LEADERSHIP

Unit 10.- Ethics.
Unit 11.- Leadership.
Unit 12.- Competition

Educational activities

Master class by the professor
Watching videos and speeches
Simulations, games, dynamic activities, role plays, dramatisations
Debates, colloquiums, conversations and groups of discussion 
Translations
Reflections and meta-cognitive exercises
Oral presentations and project defences 
Text reading and comprehension, writing reports and summaries 
Exams and tests
Discussions and comments on documents (audiovisual, written, oral...) 
Individual preparation of tests. Personal study of the content.
Correction / revision of Exercises and checking activities
Elaboration of portfolios, memories, projects, thoughtful diaries
Realisation of activities and applied exercises

Moodle will be used as an online learning tool.

Course Evaluation

The evaluation will be continuous. The following table shows the different assessed activities divided into systems of evaluation.

Systems of evaluation	Details of the assessed activities	%	Repeatable
Checking the work done	Different exercises	20%	NO
Reports from the students	Analysis work	15%	NO
Specific tests of evaluation: exams	Exam 1: 20%. Minimum mark: 4 Exam 2: 20%. Minimum mark: 4	40%	YES
Elaboration of works or projects	Research work	25%	NO

 

 

 

In order for the student to get a satisfactory continuous evaluation, he or she must have an average of 5 or more in the final mark. If the student does not get the average punctuation (5 or more) in the continuous evaluation, he or she will be offered the opportunity to redo some tests at the end of the course (week of reassessment). In the period of reassessment, the evaluation cannot constitute the 50% of the final mark of the course.

If the student wants to improve the mark of an exam, they must formally notify the teacher responsible for the subject in a maximum of three days after the publication of the final marks of the ordinary evaluation period.

Additional information on the teaching of the academic year 2021-2022 (COVID-19)

METHODOLOGY

In case there is a situation of emergency which leads to a new confinement, the whole teaching activity will be done virtually, and the methodology will be adapted to the context. Likewise, whenever possible, all the practical activities will be replaced.

 

EVALUATION

In case there is a situation of emergency which leads to a new confinement, the weights of the evaluation system will not change. If the assessable activities cannot be done in class, they will be done virtually.

 

 

Bibliography

Basic material

- Cotton, D., Falvey, D., & Kent, S. (2010). Market leader: intermediate business English course book (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education. Find it in the library:

http://cataleg.upc.edu/record=b1431377~S1*cat 

Dictionaries

Ø Monolingual dictionaries

- Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. (2017). Retrieved April 18, 2017, from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/