This is a course for students who wish to develop their skills in working with frequently used workplace documents and genres in both traditional and electronic formats. Course activities and assessments help students learn to create structurally effective, grammatically accurate, and contextually appropriate documents. Target genres will include business letters, emails, and job application packages. Additionally, the development of a professional persona in online environments may be covered. Coursework will emphasize the development of grammatical accuracy, effective writing from evidence, and reader-centered business writing.
Course Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1- Demonstrate skills in working with frequently used workplace documents and genres in both traditional and electronic formats (e.g. business letters, emails, contemporary paper-based job application packages, and online job applications, presentations – both in-person and online).
2- Create structurally effective, grammatically accurate, and contextually appropriate documents and communications. They will be able to demonstrate these skills by working both independently and collaboratively.
3- Demonstrate an appreciation of the effects and importance of reader-centered writing, including writing to meet a defined, instrumental purpose.
4- Demonstrate well-developed skills in writing an array of workplace documents and communications from evidence.
5- Demonstrate skills in creating effective public presentations and/or mass communications (both/either in face-to-face classes or online forums; both individually prepared and collaborative). Students will learn to consider “inclusiveness” in communication (meeting the needs of a variety of readers/auditors/spectators), and will demonstrate an awareness of inclusiveness in their work.
6- Demonstrate having acquired specific knowledge relevant to the construction of an effective, appropriate online professional persona.
7- Demonstrate having learned constructive approaches to working on co-authored documents, including effective approaches to editing others’ work Negotiation strategies.
8- Discussion techniques, arguments, debates, politeness strategies, and persuasive speaking; the significance of non-verbal communication and the effects of cultural differences on communication meetings.
9- Chairmanship and participation in meetings; practice in writing documents associated with formal meetings; practice in stating opinions, making recommendations, and expressing positive and negative viewpoints.
10- Reporting business-related data selecting and using relevant data; organizing ideas and information; describing tables and graphs; discussing and analyzing data; maintaining coherence and cohesion; adopting an appropriate style and layout in written reports; using verbal and non-verbal interaction strategies in oral presentations of data.
Learning & Teaching Modes:
The course is built around a series of lectures covering grammar and expression, and the conventions of common business documents. These will be complemented by weekly workshops in which students will practice the reproduction of a range of authentic business documents used in everyday work contexts in preparation for the submission of their own work. Workshops and assignments consolidate the learning of key principles in the construction and design of common workplace documents and develop skills in the evaluation of them. Weekly grammar workshops address the problems that students from non-English speaking backgrounds face in grammar, expression, syntax, style, and tone.
Assessment:
The policy is based on the following four principles:
1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgments about student performance.
3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.
Assessment Summary:
Assessment Task Task Type Weighting Learning Outcome
Seminar participation and Formative and Summative 20 % 1, 2, 3, 5
associated preparation
Job advertisement research Formative and Summative 5 % 1, 2, 5, 6
Formal letters and emails Formative and Summative 15 % 1, 2, 3, 5
Job application package Formative and Summative 25 % 1-6
Plan for a professional Formative and Summative 5 % 2, 5, 6
online profile
Exam Summative 30 % 1-6
Course Grading:
Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:
M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade Mark Description
FNS Fail No Submission
F 1-49 Fail
P 50-64 Pass
C 65-74 Credit
D 75-84 Distinction
HD 85-100 High Distinction
CN Continuing
NFE No Formal Examination
RP Result Pending
Certification:
GIPMD (Global Institute Projects Management & Development) certificate will be issued on successful completion of the course.
Requirements
- Students must attempt all assignments in order to pass the course.
- Other assessment-related requirements will be found in the Department of English and Creative Writing Policies and Procedures Handbook, as well as the English for Professional Purposes course guide.