Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

English- Corporate Communication & Economic Issues - Vol B

Code of the Teaching Unit

13ULG96

Academic year

2023 - 2024

Cycle

Number of credits

Number of hours

Quarter

Weighting

Site

Anjou

Teaching language

French

Teacher in charge

Todd James

Objectives and contribution to the program

At the end of the bachelor’s programme, students should be proficient in the following skills.

Language and communication skills:

Speaking skills:

• Take part in a conversation in which people don’t adapt to non-native speakers;
• Give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on complex subjects, integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion;
• Clearly distinguish ideas, concepts and things that closely resemble one other;
• Carry out a series of complex professional or academic procedures;
• Address an audience in an elaborate way with ease;
• Deal with a wide range of corporate issues and economic topics;
• Debating on different topics.

Listening skills:

• Identify essential information from an oral source (news, conferences, ...) and report its content into (correct) English;
• Understand enough to follow extended speech on abstract and complex topics beyond his/her own field;
• Recognise a wide range of idiomatic expressions, appreciating register shifts;
• Follow extended speech even when it is not clearly structured and when relationships are only implied and not signalled explicitly;
• Easily follow complex interactions between third parties in group discussions and debates, even on abstract, complex unfamiliar topics;
• Understand a wide range of recorded and broadcast audio/video material.
Reading skills:
• Understand in detail lengthy, complex texts, related to his/her own area of speciality;
• Understand a wide variety of texts including newspaper or magazine articles, and specialised academic or professional publications;
• Understand any correspondence or documents linked to company life;
• Understand implicit as well as explicit attitudes, emotions and opinions expressed in emails, discussions, forums, blogs etc.;
• Understand in detail a wide range of lengthy, complex texts likely to be encountered in social, professional or academic life, identifying finer points of detail including attitudes and implied as well as stated opinions.

Writing skills:

• Write clear, well-structured texts on complex subjects, underlining the relevant issues, expanding, illustrating with relevant examples, and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion;
• Respect the structure and conventions of a variety of written genres, varying the tone, style and register according to addressee, text type and theme in a wide range of corporate and academic genres (e-mail, research papers, essays, reports, minutes, pitch writing...);
• Backtrack when he/she encounters a difficulty and reformulate what he/she wants to say without fully interrupting the flow of speech;
• Resort to self-correction with a high degree of effectiveness.? The additional skills listed below will be developed throughout the course:

Soft skills

• Ability to work with others: team work, active listening skills;
• Presentation skills: body language and attitude when speaking in public or debating;
• Ability to reflect upon oneself or upon the course and to take critical distance (critical thinking).
• Thinking and analytical skills: memory, observation, analytical skills ?

Digital skills?
• Using sources and web sources critically;
• Working collaboratively and organizing work using digital tools, making (online) group presentations;
• Respecting copyright rules.

The general objectives of this course allow to develop the last point of the teaching profile and the learning outcomes of the Bachelor and Master cycles: "to be able to communicate orally and in writing in several languages" (LG5)

Moreover, the type of exercises practiced in the course also allows to target LG1 (to acquire tools and knowledge for the professional world) and LG3 (openness to the world).

Prerequisites and corequisites

Students should have successfully completed the first-year course (Block 1 - “English corporate communication skills and socio-economic issues”) and second-year course (Block 2 - “English Economic Issues, Corporate Communication and Academic Skills”) and have reached a C1 level as described by the European Common Framework for Languages of the Council of Europe. These skills are necessary to further progress in the third year of the bilingual programme (Block 3).

Content

This English course is designed for students following the bilingual (French-English) Bachelor in Business Management.
It is divided into 3 compulsory modules: Academic writing – Pitching – Debating – (Bilingual) job interview (which is another class – please see document related to that class)
The modules are taught by different teachers.

Teaching methods

Interactive class
The course aims at providing students with the necessary skills and tools to progress and communicate in English in a corporate context/on economic issues and debate on various topics. It also aims at developing academic and pitch writing skills.

How to prepare for the interactive class?
Before the course, do the assignments, readings, exercises required.?During the course: take an active part in the activities: presentations, debates, role-plays, discussions, written activities.?Devote time outside class to prepare for the assignments and exercises.

Course material:
All the necessary resources and study material for the course will be available on Moodle (documents, handouts and leaflets, videos...).

Assessment method

Formative and summative evaluations will take place throughout the year.?The final grade will be an average of debating, writing, and pitching modules. All exams are compulsory to obtain a final grade for the course.
If a student is absent for one of the assessments, he/she will need to retake that module's exam. Students retaking the academic writing exam in August will be assigned an individual essay.
To progress throughout the year, students are encouraged to participate actively in the interactive class. This oral participation is also taken into account in the evaluation.
The assessment procedures may vary from one exam session to the other. Students may be evaluated by other language teachers, in order to make grading as objective as possible.
To succeed, students will have to demonstrate a sufficient mastery of BOTH written and oral skills, and to comply with the required C1+ level of the European Framework for Languages defined by the Council of Europe. Moreover, students will have to demonstrate the appropriate business skills from the European Framework.

ASSESSMENT – DEBATING
Continuous evaluation throughout the Debating module as well as minimum one assessed debate during the last week(s) of classes.

ASSESSMENT – ACADEMIC WRITING
Argument essay on a controversial topic, to be written (individually) in class during the last session of the module (4th session).

ASSESSMENT – PITCHING
Continuous evaluation throughout the pitching module as well as a formal team pitch of a business plan (Pecha Kucha format) to an audience of potential investors. This exam will take place during the last session.

ASSESSMENT – JOB INTERVIEWS
The bilingual job interview (oral skill) will be assessed separately (as part of another course).