English Applied to Business Sciences IV

The students’ knowledge of the English Language should correspond to B1.

Classes will be both theoretical and practical; the first part will be mainly expositive and the second will be a practical application of the first.  Evaluation: A. Continuous evaluation – it will consist of two tests during lessons and a practical work, either individual or in-group, also to present in class. So: – Tests: 15 marks (7.5+7.5) – Practical work: 5. If the student chooses this type of evaluation, he will have to attend 80% of the classes. B. Final evaluation: final exam for 20 marks. This exam will include the contents of the two tests of the continuous assessment and it will last 90 minutes. If the student gets less than 7.5 marks in the exam, he fails; if he has 9.5 or more than 9.5 he passes; if he gets from 7.5 to 9.5, he will have to do an oral exam. The final grade is the average of both exams: the written and the oral.

The main aim of this curricular unit is to give the students the necessary elements, which will allow them to use adequately the English Language as a privileged means of communication in the Management area. Thus, taking into account the importance of the business letter in the company performance, the layout of the business letter, some principles to write a good business letter and the different types of business letters will be studied. Important documents will be analysed such as the invoice, the statement of account, the debit note and the credit note. Along with specific vocabulary of this area, the revision and consolidation of elementary and intermediate grammar structures of the English Language will be made.

Syllabus:

Business Correspondence

1. Components of an effective letter

a) Language

b) Tone

c) Focus of Attention

d) Length

2. The layout of a business letter

3. Different types of business letters

a) Offers

b) Enquiries

c) Replies and Quotations

d) Orders

e) Payments

f) Complaints, apologies and adjustments

• - Exam - 100.0%

• - Test - 40.0%
• - Fina Work - 20.0%
• - Teste - 40.0%

NAO

ASHLEY, A. (2003) A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

BAADE, Kate (2018) Business result: Business English you can take to work today. Oxford: Oxford University Press

ECKERSLEY, C. E. and W. Kaufmann (1963) English Commercial Practice and Correspondence. London: Longman.

GOUVEIA, Luís, Teresa Lameiras e Raquel Cardoso (2004, 2ª edição) Glossário de Contabilidade: Inglês-Português. ISCA Aveiro e ISCAC Coimbra

IRVINE, Mark and Marion Cadman (2003) Commercially Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

MASCULL, Bill (2002) Business Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

MYERS, Geoffrey (1996) Take a Letter. An Introduction to Writing Business Letters in English. London: Macmillan.

NATEROP, B. (1977) Business Letters for All. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

WILSON, James M., Teresa Lameiras e Raquel Cardoso (2004) Manual de Correspondência: Inglês-Português. Coimbra: Almedina.