BUSINESS ENGLISH

The course will enable students to develop communication skills in English, allowing them to engage with professional economic and business management activities in the international market.

The course aims to enhance the linguistic skills necessary for clear and effective business communication in English. Specifically, the course focuses on the correct use of vocabulary and collocations related to the language of economic sciences, including finance, management, marketing, and trade, meanwhile ensuring the application of interpersonal and intercultural negotiation techniques in the workplace.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

- Know and understand the specific terminology and written and oral texts related to economics, business activities, and international trade.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

- Draft emails in the context of business communication using the appropriate formulas and register depending on the context, demonstrating adequate grammatical and lexical knowledge.
- Write brief reports following business meetings, or reports such as market research and business plans.
- Draft abstracts related to theses and studies in the economic field.

Critical skills

- Develop a critical approach to presenting topics in the economic or business management fields with a disposition towards developing alternative hypotheses and solutions to conflicts of ideas or intercultural communication styles.

Communication skills

- Deliver brief individual presentations for business meetings, using charts and meaning negotiation strategies, including non-verbal communication.
- Interact with superiors and colleagues through traditional media (telephone) and digital platforms (computer and work platforms, such as Slack, Zoom, LinkedIn).

Learning skills

- Take notes from oral content in more than one variety of English and reprocess and share the content with peers.
- Deepen knowledge and lessons independently.
- Recognize different communication genres and registers in the context of business communication and management.

B2 level (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR).

Study and consolidation of the morphosyntactic and lexical properties of specialized economic language and communication related to commercial activities.

Grammar:
- Verb tenses
- Modals
- Comparative and superlative forms
- Conditionals
- Articles
- Phrasal verbs

Vocabulary - Topics:

- Business culture and management
- Business ethics
- Banking and finance
- Innovation and circular economy
- Sustainability
- Marketing and advertising
- Leadership
- Intercultural negotiation and active listening
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IWONNA DUBICKA, MARJORIE ROSENBERG, BOB DIGNEN, MIKE HOGAN, LIZZIE WRIGHT, BUSINESS PARTNER B2 COURSEBOOK & EBOOK WITH MYENGLISHLAB & DIGITAL RESOURCES
Pearson Education Limited, Harlow UK, ISBN: 9781292392981. The book will be available from the Cafoscarina bookshop.
The edition without e-book is also ok: B2 Coursebook con My English Lab Interactive Workbook ISBN: 9781292248585
NB: there's an older version without the Interactive Workbook (the Interactive Workbook is necessary to gain bonus points for assignments during the course). The edition without Interactive Workbook is often proposed by Amazon so make sure you check you have the right ISBN before buying.

Written and oral exam
Written: Reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary gap fill e multiple choice, word formation, listening
Oral: group presentation

written and oral

The grading scale will be defined by the teacher.

- Interactive lectures and reading of articles from specialized journals; listening to variuos forms of business communication.
- Exercises involving written and oral reworking, in groups, of the lexical and grammatical content and forms of the analyzed texts.
- Analysis of different written genres such as abstracts, reports, and emails.
- Role-playing to simulate daily workplace interactions between colleagues and superiors, refining communication and negotiation strategies, including the correct use of vocabulary in context.

Students are strongly recommended to attend the lessons. A language course requires regular practice.
A "lettorato" will be held in parallel with the main course. This is an essential component of the course, during which students will complete their language preparation for the final exam.