Duration
80h Th
Number of credits
| Bachelor in business engineering | 7 crédits |
Lecturer
Emma Desforges, Ellen Harry, ISLV
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
All year long, with partial in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The course is based on an integrated course manual at intermediate level aimed at business people and students of business English:
-Cotton, Falvey and Kent. Market Leader. Intermediate Business Course Book. 3rd edition. Pearson Education, 2010.
This course manual is organized around thematic units relating to management and economic life. It offers a range of activities (articles from The Financial Times, expert interviews, speaking and writing tasks, case studies, grammar and vocabulary exercises) dealt with and exploited in class.
There is also a Level 2 Course Book Supplement which includes sections on presentation skills, grammar exercises, extra texts related to the units seen in Market Leader, as well as a sample exam.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
As this is a B2 level course, at the end of the year, the intended key learning outcomes are that the students will be able to...
- understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in business;
- interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party;
- produce clear, detailed text, comprising a range of business-related documents;
- explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options;
- understand extended speech and lectures on familiar subjects, taken from English-speaking media;
- show a relatively high degree of grammatical control, and correct most of their mistakes.
This course will allow students to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes distinctive to a specialist's action in their field. It will help students to demonstrate scientific precision and a critical mind and will train students to work efficiently in an international and multidisciplinary team, among others in a leading position. Also, this course will encourage students to analyze their managerial practice with a critical and ethical mind. This course will help students to communicate efficiently, internally and externally, about a company, organization or project; to improve their proficiency in one foreign language (among the 3 languages required by the program); to raise their awareness of the multicultural and international features of their environment. Finally, this course will encourage students to be curious and to show a scientific precision of academic level and will improve students' creativity, autonomy and entrepreneurial spirit.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The course is open to HEC students having successfully completed the 1st level course programme requirements, and to external students with an equivalent (intermediate) level of everyday and business English.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
This class uses a dynamic, interactive, and effective approach to learning business English and includes:
* the transmission of grammar and vocabulary through self-assessment tests, using parts of a sample previous exam (1st week of class, 3rd week of February, last week of April);
* periodic written assignments, testing writing and organizational skills;
* interactive role plays in case studies, putting into practice oral skills and business knowledge;
* business letter writing, using acceptable vocabulary, formality, and layout;
* improving listening skills with a focus on job interviews, presentations, and intercultural relations;
* presentations in pairs improving public speaking skills, based on business;
* the transmission of relevant grammar and vocabulary through Market Leader, which uses material from authentic business sources.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
An 80-hour, face-to-face course taught 3 hours per week throughout the year.
Recommended or required readings
Course Book: Cotton, Falvey and Kent "Market Leader Intermediate Business Course". 3rd edition. Pearson Education 2010. Available from the Centrale des cours in HEC.
Course Supplement: "Course Book Supplement 2nd Bac English for Business" available from HEC's Centrale des Cours, on myULiege (see link at the bottom of this page) and online via Lol@.
Assessment methods and criteria
3 self-assessment tests (including vocabulary, grammar, and writing) and 2 writing tests will be organised during the year during the weeks of 17th September, 5th November, 18th February, 11th March, and 1st April.
The presentations will take place in the weeks: 5th November, 10th December, 18th February, 11th March, 1st April. Half the marks given for the oral presentation are based on individual performance and the other half are for group work.
Students who do not make a presentation cannot sit the exams in the first session. This rule also applies for those who do not take the January oral exam. In the case of a missed presentation and/or missed in-class essay(s), the student will be required to redo his/her work in August.
All tests and essays will be taken into account as classwork, including in the second session.
The exam in January will comprise an oral exam. The final exam in May, testing the language and skills taught throughout the year, will include a written exam and a listening comprehension. The written exam in May/June will comprise exercises on the grammar and vocabulary seen throughout the year, as well as a reading comprehension and a writing assignment.
The students who did not pass the oral exam in January (i.e have less than 50% ) AND who have a second session in English will have have to retake it in the August session along with any other part of the final exam which received less than 10/20 in June.
The final marks (20 marks) will be awarded as follows:
Written exam - 8 marks (in May)
Oral exam - 5 marks (in January)
Listening comprehension exam - 2 marks (in January)
Presentation - 3 marks
Classwork - 2 marks
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Contacts
Ellen Harry
Chargée d'enseignement principal
Bâtiment B33, Bureau des enseignants de l'ISLV, niveau -1
Sart-Tilman
tél: 04/ 366 46 52
eharry@uliege.be
Emma Desforges
Chargée d'enseignement principal
Bâtiment B33, Bureau des enseignants de l'ISLV, niveau -1
Sart-Tilman
tél: 04/ 366 46 52
E.Desforges@uliege.be