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Business and Academic English
The Lauder Business School’s Business English program—consisting of Business English I to V—focuses on English for use in business and academic settings. We will strengthen the four fundamental language skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing in English. Students taking these courses will develop the communication skills necessary to succeed in a professional business environment and will learn about writing in English for academic purposes.
Business English I and II use Pearson Longman’s Market Leader (New Edition) Upper Intermediate Business English series, which emphasizes interpersonal communication in a business context. Your language learning will focus on vocabulary-building exercises; speaking and writing in a variety of typical business situations (negotiations, customer service, team building, giving feedback etc.); listening comprehension of American and British English; advanced reading comprehension using business-focused texts from publications such as the Financial Times and The Economist; and developing presentation and public-speaking skills. Additionally, you will review and strengthen your knowledge of grammatical structures and verb tenses while learning to use cohesive devices to construct smooth, clear, connected written discourse and to mark the relationships between ideas. Taken together, these skills will enable you to competently navigate everyday situations in English-language business settings.
The second-year Business English language program, consisting of Business English III and IV, takes the skills from Business English I and II to the next level. Drawing on a variety of sources and materials, your language learning will focus on refining spoken and written communication to enable you to competently navigate sophisticated situations and conversations in business settings. Students taking this course will become more fluent and confident using English in a variety of professional contexts and will develop strategies for writing in English for professional purposes. We will intensively engage in strengthening your formal communicative register, particularly with regard writing and speaking, on a practical, applied level. To this end, we will employ task-based learning, simulating real-world business contexts in order to apply the language skills you have developed. This may range from learning how to write press releases and company mission statements to holding press conferences and, further, how to make a powerful professional impression through employment documents (CVs and cover letters) and personal interviewing strategies.
The Lauder Business School’s third-year Business English language program (Business English V) shifts the focus to improving your English skills in an academic setting. You may be experiencing some anxiety about writing papers (bachelor work I and II) entirely in English. This course will help you to “troubleshoot” your academic writing in English, to develop a unique voice and style in your writing, and to clearly express your ideas in an appropriately academic tone. You will also review ethical writing, citation standards (APA style), and effective quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing strategies. We will work with a variety of sources and materials, including Writing Academic English (Oshima & Hogue; Pearson) and The Craft of Research (Booth, Colomb & Williams; Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing).