module specification

This course is intended to support those students who wish to work in a business field related to the Arab world, as it increases their confidence in making presentations, engaging in business discussions in Arabic and working with documents.
Students will study business language and communication to achieve a higher intermediate level of expression (Common European Framework of Reference B2/C1). They will investigate the contemporary business environment, research and discuss current issues, examine intercultural aspects of business communication and prepare a variety of business related documents and presentations.

The students will be exposed to a variety of real-life and vibrant Business topics such as:

• Corporate structures and organisations;
• Cultural awareness;
• International meetings and etiquette;
• Making travel arrangements;
• Job interviews;
• International markets

General Arabic Language Skills

Students will study valuable speaking, listening, reading and writing skills such as:
specific pronunciation skills such as Arabic stress and vocabulary rhythm and intonation;
formal and informal Arabic language structures and when to use them;
tips for speaking with more confidence;
writing emails, letters and a wide variety of business correspondence; and

Practical Business Skills

Students will learn to communicate in Arabic through dynamic class-work, role-play and exciting group projects in order to learn how to:
express themselves confidently in business situations;
articulate opinions and ideas in an organised fashion;
present ideas effectively to a group or to individuals and invite suggestions and information from others.

Notional –functional contexts in which language is investigated include:
Marketing and business start-up considerations; branding ; job satisfaction; .web commerce; management styles; takeovers and mergers; risk avoidance; predicting the future

Lexical  and phrasing – the following will be analysed and used in a variety of contexts
 

• Business terminology
• Idiom and collocations
• Dependant  prepositions
• Word building structures: prefixes, suffixes and neologisms
• Multiword verbs and noun compounds 

Reading and writing – students will study texts from a variety of sources and

• Learn how to analyse longer texts
• Establish viewpoint and purpose in texts
• Examine the conventions of letter writing and emails: paragraphing and layout, punctuation and clarity analysing layout, function, purpose and requirements
• Write in a variety of registers for different purposes: formal report writing write summaries, reports, executive summaries, emails, proposals, action minutes, mission statements, information for websites, and a range of business letters.(CEFR B2)
• Demonstrate referencing and citation technique
• Follow coherent sequence of tenses and ideas in communication

Listening – students will be introduced to a variety of authentic and controlled sources (CEFR B2) to

• Identify information from authentic sources delivered at normal speed.
• Identify global and specific information
• Exchange and select key information in order to complete tasks
• Take notes, summarise and reconstitute

Spoken Arabic – students work on individual presentation and in group discussion to

• Present information: summarising and clarifying and supporting their views
• Discuss and debate , agreeing and disagreeing with proper regard to business etiquette and conventions, turn taking and asking questions
• Examine and discuss cultural understanding and misunderstanding in the business world
• Evaluate their own pronunciation and remedy weak sounds

The module is delivered by blended learning:

• lectures, seminars, and tutorials;
• WebLearn is used both for self-study and interactive tasks.
• small group work
• guided writing formative tasks and class based work.
• students reflect on each of the formative and assessed tasks

A. Read a business case –study, analyse the problem(s) and propose a limited range of solutions.
B.  Write at a higher intermediate level of expression.
C. Use appropriate business register and terminology in written work and recognise meaning and intention in texts.
D. Demonstrate the conventions of academic referencing, recognising sources and avoiding plagiarism.
E. Present business information coherently and appropriately in order to support a personal point of view in a presentation.
F. Demonstrate an intercultural understanding when approaching business related problems in discussion.

Assessment is designed to test the level of the students’ competency in the learning outcomes listed above:
1) Class test: reading, use of Business Arabic (B)
2) Individual presentations (D,E)
3) Coursework: individual writing assignment  (A,C)

• Arabic for Business Studies, Amel Mili, The Lauder Institute, The University of Pennsylvania, September (2011) (full reference to be added later)
• Mernissi, Fatima.  Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Modern Muslim Society (London: Al Saqi Books, 1987)

Dictionaries:
• Morry Sofer (ed.), Arabic Business Dictionary (Rockville, Maryland: Schreiber Publishing, (2006)
• John Mace, Business Arabic: An Essential Vocabulary (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, (2008).
• The Concise Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary (Oxford: OUP, 1984)
• Wehr, Hans, Arabic-English dictionary (Urbana, Illinois: Spoken Languages Services, 1994)
• Dr : freddie Baz , Dr: Makram Sader and Mr: Georges Abi Saleh. Glossary of banking Terms            Lebanon:Po . Box 11-870T47 Beirut

 Media

• The Middle East leading language daily news:
               http://www.arabnews.com/

• The following Arabic media website includes newspapers, songs, and movies:
              http://arabic-media.com/

• Arabic news and Radio/ France24- Radio Monte Carlo:
              http://arabic-media.com/sites/RMC-MO-Radio_Monte_Carlo.htm
• A site dedicated to news and current affairs across the Arab world    
http://www.middle-east-online.com/
• http://www.al-hakawati.net/arabic/Aboutus/Index.asp
Note: There will also be supplementary material provided by the course convener.