ASSIGNMENT: 1

Look at the following syllabus for a Business English course in the Ukraine.

In 250 words evaluate the effectiveness of the approach taken by the teacher.

1. BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE.

BUSINESS ENGLISH COURSE is taught to students of the International Economic Relations Department within 5 years (9 semesters). To facilitate the academic process students are grouped in the first year according to their language performance and practical mastery of English. There is no arguing that teaching to more advanced students is far more challenging. You may have upper-intermediate to advanced students in the first year of study. It is something of a task to work out a five-year course with very scarce resources. The CRC session, which I had the luck to attend in late February 2000 was of great help.

The course I present is intended for third-year students. They have 5 hours of practical classes a week. Students are expected to acquire and develop their skills in carrying out negotiations, analyzing market research data, teamwork performance, business projects, and so forth. I designed my course with considerable emphasis on writing skills. I find it essential for students to work out the proper approach towards plagiarism, as there is an overall neglect of copyright in our academic circles. While reading articles in magazines, newspapers, and books students find important information that they wish to include in their paper. They must know how to borrow that author's words without plagiarizing the information. Instilling this conception is also valuable for submitting papers in the native language. So using quotations and writing paraphrases and summaries are important tools in academic writing, which this course facilitates.

2. ROLE OF THE COURSE IN THE OVERALL DEGREE CURRICULUM.

The mission of the International Economic Relations Department (IERD) must change because of the demands of our modern world and the unemployment problems faced by IERD graduates. Many of our graduates are being asked to use their knowledge of English for much wider purposes, for instance, they work in embassies, oil and mining companies, translate documents, act as interpreters or tourist guides, and serve as clerks and administrators, analysts. As we may see, in many of these cases, our graduates’ use of English is a gateway to many wider responsibilities in business, economics, and administration.

Learning is not just a mental process; it is the process of negotiation between individuals and society. Society sets the target and the individuals must do their best to get as close to that target situation as possible. If we do not take into account the requirements and needs of Ukrainian society by equating training with employment, the IERD graduates will just increase the number of unemployed youth roving the streets of our cities. What we need is to redefine the mission of IERD. We must work out the way to bridge the gap between the desperate youth struggling to find jobs and a hopeless population in dire need of educated leaders who care for their lives. We should bear in mind that we are preparing the future of our country.

All said above testifies to the fact that in today’s rapidly changing society, there cannot be any established curriculum for whatever subject for more than 2-4 years. If the curriculum is to serve the needs of development, it will require regular transformations. The purpose of the present Business English curriculum is to develop a curriculum for the Business English course emphasizing the use of English for developmental purposes since the established English syllabus does not adequately meet these needs.