ECTS credits ECTS credits: 6
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Hours of tutorials: 14 Expository Class: 4 Interactive Classroom: 24 Total: 42
Use languages Spanish, Galician, English
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: English and German Philology
Areas: English Philology
Center Faculty of Business Administration and Management
Call: First Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable | 1st year (Yes)
This course has been designed for students with little or no previous experience in the business world and with a pre-intermediate level of English, which corresponds to the A2 level on the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR).
The main objective of the course is to improve students’ communicative skills so that they can interact in everyday work situations. At the end of this course students should reach level B1 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
To reach this general objective, students will have to develop their Business English language skills, with a focus on technology, and work on reading, writing, listening and speaking. This will allow them to improve their fluency, and to gain confidence when using English in work situations as a means of communication, both written and spoken.
The specific objectives of this course are the following:
• To introduce students to basic concepts of business, with a focus on technology
• To stimulate students’ interest in the subject
• To develop students’ reading, listening, writing and speaking skills
• To focus on language functions and structures particularly useful in business life
• To increase the students’ knowledge of specific vocabulary and idioms used in a business context
• To give students practice in writing business communication documents
• To give students practice in listening to and extracting information from recorded material containing natural speech in business situations
The course has three modules:
1.- Business Language Basics
• Greetings and introductions in formal and informal situations
• Spelling names
• Using symbols and abbreviations
• Dealing with numbers
2.- Business Communication
• Writing emails
• Writing business letters
• Making business calls
• Applying for a job
3.- Business Administration
• Understanding business organisations and job titles
• Describing trends and graphs
• Giving presentations
• Attending meetings
Each module comprises two main sections:
Business Theory:
Through the reading of commercial texts and documents, students will get familiar with specific concepts and vocabulary related to the fields of business and business technology.
Business Language and Skills:
This section focuses on vocabulary (words and phrases), language functions, and the skills needed to deal with different business situations. This involves mastering different skills, knowing specific terms and learning the structures and vocabulary to perform different functions in English.
I. BASIC:
SMITH, A. (2013). Best Commercial Practice. Eli.
• Any grammar practice suitable for intermediate and upper intermediate level (see below: 1 GRAMMAR AMD PRACTICE section).
• A bilingual English-Spanish, Spanish-English dictionary and a good Business English dictionary (see below: 2 DICTIONARIES section).
II. COMPLEMENTARY:
SKOESTER, A., PITT, A., HANDFORD, M. & LISBOA, M. (2012). Business Advantage (Intermediate). Cambridge University Press
1 GRAMMAR AND PRACTICE
ALEXANDER, L.G. (1990). Longman English Grammar Practice. Longman
BRIEGER, n. & SWEENEY, s. (1994). The Language of Business English: Grammar and Practice. Prentice Hall
CUDER DOMÍNGUEZ, P. y R. LÓPEZ (2005). Gramática Oxford para estudiantes de inglés: Bachillerato. Oxford U.P.
DUCKWORTH, M. (2003). Business Grammar and Practice. Oxford U.P.
EASTWOOD, J. (1999). Oxford Practice Grammar. Oxford U.P.
MURPHY, R. (2002). English Grammar in Use. Intermediate. Cambridge U.P.
SWAN, M & C. WALTER (1997). How English Works. Oxford U.P.
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/index.cfm
http://www.englishpage.com/grammar/
2 DICTIONARIES
Cambridge International Dictionary of English. Cambridge U.P.
Diccionario Oxford Inglés Español, Español-Inglés. Oxford U.P.
Oxford Dictionary of Business English. Oxford U.P.
Longman Business English Dictionary. Longman.
Diccionario Oxford Business Español-Inglés Inglés-Español. Oxford.
LOZANO IRUESTE, J.M.; Diccionario Bilingüe de Economía y Empresa. Pirámide
https://www.oed.com https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/
http://www.ldoceonline.com/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
http://thesaurus.reference.com/ http://www.wordreference.com/
3 VOCABULARY
FLOWER, J. (1990). Build your Business Vocabulary. Language Teaching Publications
HORNER, H. & P. STRUTT (1996). Words at Work. Cambridge U.P.
LEWIS, M. (Ed.) (1987). Idioms at Work. Language Teaching Publications
MASCULL, B. (1996). Key Words in Business. HarperCollins Publishers
MASCULL, B. (2002). Business Vocabulary in Use: Intermediate. Cambridge U.P.
REMACHA, S & MARCO, E (2007). Professional English in Use ICT. Cambridge
4 BUSINESS ENGLISH
ASHLEY, A. (1984). A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford U.P.
BRUCE, K. (1992). Telephoning. Longman
ELLIS, M. & N. O'DRISCOLL (1987). Socializing. Longman
FARRAL, C. & M. LINDSLEY (2008). Professional English in Use: Marketing. Cambridge U.P.
KERRIDGE, D. (1988). Presenting Facts and Figures. Longman
NATEROP, B.J. & R. REVELL (1997). Telephoning in English. Cambridge U. P.
O'DRISCOLL, N. & A. PILBEAM (1987). Meetings and Discussions. Longman
PRODROMOU, L & LUCIA BELLINI (2012). Flash on English for Commerce. ELI
SMITH, A. (2013). Best Commercial Practice. ELI
STRUTT, P. (1995). Longman Business English Usage. Longman
5 PRONUNCIATION
HANCOCK, MARK (2003). English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge U.P.
6 FURTHER PRACTICE
http://www.english-test.net/
http://esl.about.com/od/intermediateenglish/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/
http://www.elionline.com
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students who take this module must…
C1. Apply effective communication skills in a business and technological environment, both in their own languages and in English HD1. Use, prepare and communicate information in a foreign language.
HD5. Handle oral and written communication in a precise and clear way to convey knowledge, methodologies, information, results, problems and solutions.
HD6. Demonstrate capacity for autonomous learning and self-assessment.
The course has a practical and functional approach. The objective from the very beginning is that the students use the type of language that they are going to need during their professional career. Different activities have been developed to help students to communicate effectively in a business environment by exposing them to a specific type of language that is used in this field.
Being an online learning course, a large autonomous and personal workload is expected. Before starting each module, a teaching guide will be provided with detailed information about the objectives, the activities, the material needed and the schedule of activities and tasks to be carried out, as well as the submission deadlines for the assigned work. The student has to review the material of each module and do the assigned activities before the due date. To complement these activities, the students will also be expected to complete scheduled assignments and oral or written tests.
There will be a weekly tutorial session through Microsoft Teams, in which students who wish to do so will be able to consult any doubts they have. or questions that may arise. The schedule of this tutorial will be published by the teacher at the beginning of the course.
The USC Virtual Campus will be used for the publication of study materials and the activities.
Assessment will be as follows:
I. ORDINARY EXAM PERIOD (January)
Final oral and written exams
• Final written exam 80%
• Oral exam 20%
I.1.- Students who are retaking the course.
The assessment system for these students will be the same as for students in I above.
II. EXTRAORDINARY 2nd SITTING (July)
The same system which is outlined for the ordinary January exam opportunity applies for the July resit.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: In the event of fraudulent or plagiarised work or submissions in tests or exercises, the terms stated in art. 16 of the “Normativa de avaliación do rendemento académico dos estudantes e de revision de cualificacións” will be applied.
This course is a compulsory subject taught during the first semester of the Grado en Empresa y Tecnología and is worth 6 ECTS.
The workload for students should be around 150 hours devoted to personal and autonomous work. Broadly speaking, we could say that the average time of dedication to this subject is approximately 10 hours per week.
Regular completion of the assigned tasks is essential. Exercises and practical tasks are intended to consolidate the student’s learning.
Students are strongly recommended to make use of external resources in English, such as films, songs, the Internet and magazines, to increase their degree of exposure to the English language, not restricting themselves to the input provided.
It is also recommended that they study on a daily basis, rather than solely relying on one or two sessions per week to revise the entire course content.
Antonio Alvarez Rodriguez
Coordinador/a- Department
- English and German Philology
- Area
- English Philology
- antonio.alvarez [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: University Lecturer
Veronika Prokopova
- Department
- English and German Philology
- Area
- English Philology
- veronika.prokopova [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: Reader
| 01.23.2026 18:00-21:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Seminar 1 |
| 06.19.2026 18:00-21:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Seminar 1 |