The EBC1 syllabus consists of the following:
- all material contained in the EBC1 Coursebook (see 'Literature' below)
- all keywords in the New Handbook of Business English (see 'Literature' below) listed in the Coursebook
- all grammatical issues covered in those sections of the Mautner grammar (see 'Literature' below) explictly mentioned in the EBC1 Coursebook
LEARNING OUTCOMES (LOs)
After successfully completing this course, students will be able:
- (LO1) to demonstrate a level of general English competence equivalent to at least B2 on the Common European Framework with respect to reading and writing skills;
- (LO2) to understand and apply important concepts from the fields of business organisations, personnel management, business transactions and marketing, and to recall as required the essential terminology associated with them;
- (LO3) to recall at will, and use appropriately, the English equivalents of basic German terminology from these fields, as well as other typical features (structures, collocations, prepositional usage, etc) of the language associated with them;
- (LO4) to combine the various abilities mentioned above in order to understand lower-intermediate level written texts about the above business fields, and to write appropriate passages of communications relating to them.
In addition, this course fosters the following soft skills:
- Ability to explain and summarise, in German (or other native language), English texts relating to the business fields mentioned
- Intermediate-level aural/oral skills
As with all PI courses, attendance is a requirement to pass EBC1. As a special concession, you may miss up to two (2) meetings of your LV. However, if you miss a third, you will automatically fail the course. This condition applies whatever the reasons for your absences may have been.
EBC1 is divided into ten units, each centred on an aspect of one of the business fields mentioned in learning outcome LO2 above, and divided into three parts, dealing respectively with business content and terminology, language development, and text comprehension and production. EBC1 classes (one for each of these units) involve a range of activities based on the course literature (see 'Literatur' below), including:
- discussion of tricky content issues;
- vocabulary development and reinforcement of grammatical structures;
- listening comprehension; and
- examination preparation.
If you satisfy the attendance requirement above (see 'Regelung zur Anwesenheit'), your final score will be made up of the following three elements:
- Mid-Semester Test - 20%
- Home Exercise - 5%
- Final Test - 75%
In general, no dictionaries or other reference materials are allowed in the two tests. Exceptionally, if you are neither a German nor an English native speaker, you may use a bilingual dictionary of German and your mother tongue (but NOT any form of electronic translation device) in the Final Test only.
If you do not take the Mid-Semester Test or submit the Home Exercise, and you attend no classes after Unit 5, you will receive no grade, and you will not lose an 'Antritt'. Otherwise your grade will be based on your final score, as follows:
- 0-59% - grade 5
- 60-67% - grade 4
- 68-75% - grade 3
- 76-84% - grade 2
- 85-100% - grade 1
EBC 1 is a PI class, so if you receive a grade 5 you will have to re-take it in a later semester in full (i.e., including class attendance and all 3 assessment elements).
You can register for an individual EBC1 class (LV) ONLY by means of the LPIS system. For exact dates and times of classes, please see the WU's Directory of Classes (Vorlesungsverzeichnis / VVZ). Registration is effected on a first-come, first-served basis. Any unfilled slots will be filled from waiting lists in accordance with study progress and in cooperation with the Vizerektorat für Lehre und Studierende.
Individual EBC1 instructors are NOT involved in registration and will NOT reply to mails on the subject.
As EBC1 is a PI course, there is no need to register separately for any of the tests (see above).
You can contact your instructor during his/her office hours (see website), immediately before or after class or by mail.