Business English Course Description

Course Title: Business English    Course Code:

Course Prerequisites: Comprehensive English (1-2)

Follow-up Courses：Business English Writing, English Trade Correspondence

Credit: 2       Total Semester Credit Hours: 32

Lecture Hours: 32

Experiment/Computer Hours:           

Major: English

Course Offering School: School of Foreign Studies

Course Description:

Business English is designed for first- or second-year English majors who want to improve their English for business or professional purposes. The course is an elective in the Business Culture module. Business English is topic-based and incorporates practice in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation. Students train in classroom simulations that reflect the standard of business practice that they are likely to encounter in their future workplaces. These situations are a balance between controlled practice and meaningful communication. Course outcomes are students’ improvement in their practical skills as well as the acquisition of fundamental business knowledge. This course prepares students for advanced business courses, which are taught in English in later years, and for entering into the business community after graduation.

Textbooks and Course Materials:

1.        Jones-Macziola, S. Further ahead: A communication skills course for business English [M]. Beijing：Posts and Telecom Press, 2004.

2.        Yang, Z. How to study business English more effectively–as Further Ahead Example [M]. Beijing：Posts and Telecom Press, 2010.

3.        Yang, Z. The new business reader: foreign companies in China and Chinese firms doing business abroad [M]. Suzhou：Suzhou University Press, 2007.

4.        Yang, Z. Business English reader: Chinese companies and foreign companies [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2012.

Written by：Qing Xie