Business English (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

H-5

Content scheduling

Practising the oral and written skills of English with field-specific and varied assignments.
Writing and reading texts, giving a presentation, discussing, practising vocabulary.

The extent of the course is 5 credits, corresponding to 135 hours of student work. The exact lecture dates can be found in the schedule. In addition, the course includes independent work alongside the lectures.

Objective

The student can both orally and in writing:
- describe the content and structure of his/her studies, training and working experience,
- introduce the operations and organization of a company and tell about different types of company forms as well as types of duties within a company,
- compile a professional job application and act in a job interview,
- communicate using right formality, vocabulary and phrases through a purchasing process (from an enquiry to an order, complaints, adjustments),
- analyze and tell about current business news in various Finnish media
- make and maintain contacts by phone, email, face-to-face

Content

Telling about the student’s own education, training and work experience. The student understands and can use appropriate business vocabulary and phrases both orally and in writing when describing the operations of a company, business environment, products and processes.
Making and maintaining contacts, discussing current business news, practising presentation skills. Compiling a job application and CV, acting in a job interview. Documentation used in a purchasing process.

Materials

The course learning material consists of versatile and field-specific materials supporting learning which can be found on the course's itslearning platform. The material will be discussed in more detail during the course.

Teaching methods

Learning methods are based on active learning and application of knowledge by the student, both independently and in groups.

Learning methods include for example problem-based learning, flipped learning, work life-based learning, peer-assessment, self-assessment, reflection and discussion.

Exam schedules

No exams, no re-sits.

Pedagogic approaches and sustainable development

Pedagogical approaches encourage students to actively learn and apply knowledge through a variety of methods and field-specific assignments.

Completion alternatives

No optional ways to complete the course other than completing the given tasks on time and active participation in the required number of lessons.

Student workload

The learning tasks consist of assignments, in-class activities and homework tasks. The assignments are part of the approved completion of the course. The assignments are assessed on the scale 0-5. The assignments are as follows:
- Video CV (DL Sep 22)
- Formal email (DL Oct 13)
- Company presentation (DL Oct 20)
- Learning report (DL Nov 10)

Detailed instructions for the assignments will be given during the course.

Evaluation methods and criteria

The assessment is based on presence in the lectures 6/9 presence is required) as well as approved completion of assignments (min. 3/4) and submission of assignments by the deadline. The requirement of presence is based on the nature of the studied subject. Spoken communication is learned and practiced with other people in groups.

Absences cannot be compensated with extra work and there are no exceptions to deadlines. If the student completes the course, it is not possible to raise the final grade by redoing one or more assignments (as per degree regulation).

The final grade for the course is based on the assessment scale of 0-5.

The assessment methods include teacher assessment, student's self-assessment and peer-assessment. The assessment criteria are gone through during the course and these are also found on the itslearning platform.

Failed (0)

The student does not complete the required tasks during the course. The oral and written production and understanding is scarce. The absences exceed the limitation, the student quits the course.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

The student succeeds satisfactorily in the oral and written production. The student is able to communicate even though the communication is inaccurate at times. The lack and inconsistency of the vocabulary repertoire limits the communication. There are deficiencies in the structures of the language.

Assessment criteria, good (3-4)

The student succeeds well in varied oral and written production situations. The student masters a varied vocabulary repertoire of the field and uses it well but there may be some inaccuracies in the language production. The student demonstrates skills to use structures in a versatile and correct manner but there might appear some mistakes in more demanding structures.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

The student demonstrates excellent skills in varied and demanding oral and written production situations. The student knows how to communicate in a context-appropriate manner. The student masters to a versatile and excellent extent the vocabulary of the field and in other contexts as well. The student is able to use multiple structures and shows how to use them in an almost impeccable manner.

Further information

The teacher can be contacted by email at piia.pesso(a)turkuamk.fi (NB! the teacher responds during office hours from 8 am to 4 pm).