Summer University Course

Building Skills in Business Communication
Miklós Földes

Prerequisites

This is a 100-level introductory course with no prerequisites.

Course Description

During the course students will be introduced to various topics and scenarios in business communication both in speaking and writing: how to conduct a successful interview, how to manage business meetings, and how to give engaging presentations. It further looks at topics on communication barriers due to differences in decision making, levels of directness, formality, and varying cultural norms. It also aims to give students opportunities to collaborate in project work, and to carry out interesting surveys, to produce visuals and group presentations creatively and interactively.

Topics

Identifying areas of business communication
Barriers to successful communication, stemming from culture, formality, and styles in decision-making
Meetings and negotiations
Writing, editing and proofreading of business emails, reports, and proposals (Communication in writing)
Conducting surveys, collecting information for presentations

Learning Outcomes

Identify various styles, expectations and barriers to successful business communication
Plan, conduct and reflect on business meetings and negotiations
Identify strengths and weaknesses in business emails, reports and proposals; edit and proofread own work.
Set up and carry out short term projects in groups
Plan and deliver a short presentation in groups; provide feedback on presentations delivered by others

Assessment

Students are assessed based on the planning, delivery and structured feedback on short presentations, produced along specific written and spoken criteria, following specifications of form and content. (50%)

Their management and participation in business meetings and negotiations will be monitored (25%).

Their production of emails, reports, and proposals will be assessed (25%).

Reading

M. E. Guffy, D. Loewy (2008): Business Communication: Process & Product (7th Edition), South-Western Cengage Learning

Miklós Földes is a free-lance teacher and academic tutor with a Master’s degree, originally from the Faculty of Arts, at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Since 2019 he has been an academic tutor for the Language Centre at the University of Oxford, has taught at Budapest’s IBS, ELTE, and worked as Academic Manager at Oxford Summer Courses. Between 2008 and 2017 he lived and taught in the United Kingdom. He has been a Business English teacher since 2006, and a foreign language assessor since 2000.