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Changes made this presentation are related to the advent and widespread availability of AIs. The extent to which this would be relevant to this course was not considered in the previous report. Changes that were decided upon later are described below.

The reference group that contributed to this report came from the MIL group which included international students.There were no reference group members or meetings from the BØA group. This represented about 20% of the group registered.There were two meetings between the class leader and the two student representatives from MIL, 23rd October and 12th December.The organisation of the course was changed to five seminars in weeks 34, 37, 39, 43 and 46. During these weeks there were 6 hours of face-to-face class time (2+4). Typically, two hours of class and four hours of a workshop-style class. During this time, learners prepared for working between seminar week and/or presented work completed between these weeks. The course was designed to take 187.5 hours work – the minimum set out in the Bologna Process for a 7.5 credit course.Students reported that they liked and felt motivated to attend the seminars. They appreciated the more flexible arrangements. Some students however, clearly felt that they had no obligations to the class and were outraged when they discovered, after the event, that two classes had obligatory attendance because they were used to complete two individual written assignments. The information for this was in the course handbook, available from the beginning of the course, and repeated in class and via Bb announcements, but the apparent lack of class-time commitment in the course may have enabled some learners to disengage completely.·        This model will be used again in the 2024 presentation.·        We will consider making all classes obligatory and/or using the first session to ensure students know where information can be found.The number of obligatory assignments were raised from three to seven in order to ensure student active engagement in weeks without class times. The comprised both individual and group assignments. However, there were students who clearly misunderstood the purpose of the seminars and the class-free weeks. The reference group reported that some learners felt there were too many obligatory assignments. The number of assignments were reflected in the 187.5 required study hours and students wanting fewer obligations are effectively asking for a downgrading of what is meant by 7.5 ECTS, something that we cannot do. The proposed solutions discussed with the reference group are:·        Even clearer communication of what is expected for 7.5 credits.·        A discussion with parallel course leaders to avoid several assignments from different courses having similar deadlines.Representatives reported that learners felt that they received, comprehensive, timely and useful feedback for all tasks. This is important as some of the teaching moved to formative assessments as it no longer took place in the classroom.·        The way in which feedback is given will therefore be maintained.Greater emphasis was placed on oral and alternatives activities that realized the learning outcomes and less on writing. This was due to the widespread use of AIs such as ChatGPT. Prior to the course beginning we made some design changes as it was clear that writing certain tasks from scratch were less likely to be part of these students’ workplace reality. Adopting a critical attitude towards texts, being creative with language (particularly oral language) to suit a range of contexts were therefore skills that we prioritized. Some writing was maintained as the exam, with its 60% weighting on written texts, could not be changed. Most learners reported that they found making a podcast and a film to be relevant tasks from which they learned, and which helped them gain greater confidence in speaking for an audience – something that learners consistently say they struggle with.·        The exam in the next presentation will consist of a 25% oral task, a 40% oral task and a 40% written task.·        More emphasis will be put on discourse analysis and developing a critical stance towards English as a global and corporate language.·        Confidence building activities will be increased, e.g., more in-class presentations.Representatives reported that students would have preferred a choice for the main written exam task. There is no pedagogical reason for only providing a single task.·        In 2024 students will be given a choice in the final written exam as they are in the oral components of the final exam.

NTNU:TIA:REST

Department of International Business

Institutt for internasjonal forretningsdrift

Spesifiserte trykte og håndskrevne hjelpemidler tillatt. Ingen kalkulator tillatt.

Engelsk

Faglig innhold

Emnet undervises på engelsk. Se engelsk versjon for emnebeskrivelse.

Kursmateriell

Obligatoriske arbeidskrav

Business English

Økonomi og administrasjon

Økonomi og administrasjon - bachelorstudium

Bachelor i markedsføring, innovasjon og ledelse

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There were, as usual, two groups taking Business English in the autumn/fall 2022 semester: Business Administration + international students and MIL. The course was run in its pre-pandemic mode - largely campus based with some asynchronous digital work. No students joined the reference group for either Business Admin. or MIL in spite of many exhortations from us to do so. This general lack of engagement was, unfortunately, reflected in attendance and participation in class activities as well as work set outside of the class. The assessments ensured a minimum engagement from all those registered students who had ambitions to take the final exam. The three obligatory assessments ensured that most students achieved most of the learning outcomes at at least a minimum level. The three assessments and the course were the same as delivered in 2021 with some greater emphasis on reflection and metacognitive skills, taking into account some changes in learning outcomes from 2022.

As above, most students achieved most of the learning outcomes at a level E or above through the three obligatory assessments and the final exams. However, a low level of engagement with the course and a lack of commitment to the study hours required for a 7.5 credit course means that the achievement was at a lower level than expected. All students who participate in the course should be able to achieve a final grade between A and C, as this best reflects a language ability of B2-C1, the level at which this course is pitched.

During classes and in assignments, students who chose to comment, appreciated much the same aspects of the course as have been reported in previous years, that is, discussion, interaction, guest teachers, level of feedback provided. Through the same channels it also became clear that students did not participate or engage with Business English because they disliked the subject or thought it irrelevant, but rather because they prioritized other courses that they perceived as more challenging, often using time set aside for working on BE tasks for other coursework. This almost certainly affected the final outcomes for some students. There is perhaps an argument to link BE more explicitly with other subjects studied in English. The question then is how to retain all the LOs for BE and not sacrifice these so that BE is merely a language support class for academic subjects and thus English for Academic Purposes (EAP).

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Business English was taught as a physical face-to-face class this year. However, as there were a number of students who were unable to attend these classes, we adopted a flexible hybrid approach. This consisted of two hours per week of F2F classes and two hours+ per week of group/pair/individual work. These were supported by recorded PP presentations, Panopto videos and online discussion forums. Overall, this approach appeared to function well for most students, although there were individuals who did not come to classes who said we should be doing more. It is difficult to see how much more we could do, as these individuals, when asked, appeared to be unaware of the materials provided on Blackboard and had not read announcements that directed students to this material on a weekly basis.The course had some changes from previous years in terms of content and output with more focus on weekly activities and process documentation, where students were required to explain the processes involved in producing texts, supporting their ideas using the source materials provided. This generally worked well and enhanced the academic content of the course. Many students said that they found the process documentation useful to their learning, which was the intention.We also enhanced the extent to which students were able to connect their learning to their future working lives. This was done through the inclusion of process documentation, but also through some changes in content and activities.

The learning outcomes were achieved by students who engaged with the course.New learning outcomes have already been written for the following year that increase the importance of these aspects of the course and students will receive greater training in this way of working in subsequent presentations of the course.

Business English is intended to be an interactive student-led course. Changes made this year have made this more achievable and these changes will be further developed next year. It is also a course that lends itself well to a hybrid teaching model and this will be maintained in the future. We have learned a lot about how much information students need to make this approach successful. This year has seen some of the best attendance and engagement with the course since we began in 2015.

Emnet undervises på engelsk. Se engelsk versjon for emnebeskrivelse. 

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Data used for the course report: One meeting with Frank Odin Berg Grønvik and Celine Eikeland Hjeltnes after the first half of the course. Paula and Margrethe Bakke’s reflections on teaching practice. My attempts to make contact with Frank and Celine for a final report have all met with no response. Course coordinator’s assessment of the quality of the course: AS201414, autumn 2020 followed the same schedule as in spring 2020, continuing the use of virtual asynchronous meetings. However, in spite of the ongoing pandemic but in line with Government advice and restrictions imposed by NTNU, there were very few synchronous virtual meetups, these being replaced by smaller physical classes in TEFTLab. These were not live-streamed, but due to the teaching approach of this course, it was nevertheless possible for students who elected not to meet up in person to follow the course, provided they made a commitment to working with a group on mandatory assessments. For the first time, AS201414, was offered only to MIL students. The syllabus remained largely the same as it had been when it was taken by both MIL and BØA students. The second assessment, a portfolio that comprised several pieces of work was altered so that all pieces of work were completed as a group. Previously, this portfolio comprised a mixture of individual and group work. This was changed to streamline the work students had to complete and address issues around clashes with obligatory work demands from other courses. This assessment was still aligned with LOs and the final assessment. In the one meeting, students were largely satisfied with the course. There were issues around clashes in obligatory work requirements from this course and others. I partly addressed these through changing the requirements for Assessment 2. Some students reported finding it difficult to understand the work requirements for the course particularly related to assessments. I have started to address this by submitting the BB page (without any student information) for a peer supported review with a colleague from another institution. In addition, I feel some of the material needs to be significantly updated to take account of new work situations (both in the university, but also in student future workplaces) and the fact that students come only from the MIL programme. Plan of action with measures and responsibility for follow-up: I will make changes to improve clarity in the BB page and how students can access information. Margrethe and I will rewrite parts of the course so that it orientates directly towards MIL students and is updated.

Understand the concept of global English and its application to international business. Understand the linguistic features of formal and informal English in both written and spoken texts. Be aware of cultural differences and be able to adapt the way in which they use English accordingly. Have a good understanding of the structure of English and the relationship between this and meaning. Be developing a wide general vocabulary as well as a wide vocabulary relevant to business. Understand the importance of register in speaking and writing English in a variety of business contexts. Be able to use appropriate register in both written and spoken texts. Be able to write letters, e-mails, work-based reports, proposals and other documents with a high degree of correctness in terms of grammar, lexical choice, syntax and presentation. Be able to speak in meetings, informal gatherings and at presentations with a high degree of correctness in terms of grammar, lexical choice, syntax, intonation and pronunciation. Be able to produce effective visual aids for presentations in English Be able to read reports and relevant written texts and be able to disseminate information from these texts effectively both in speaking and writing. Be able to source specialised and relevant literature. Be able to use English to communicate effectively with people from other cultures in the workplace and take the role of an intercultural interlocutor. Gain relevant insight into the importance of effective communication in a variety of business situations. Be able to plan, execute and/or lead projects, alone or in cooperation with groups within a monocultural or multicultural setting. Be able to communicate effectively in a wide range of situations where English is considered to be the lingua franca. Develop some understanding of themselves as language learners and be able to use this understanding in new situations.

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Business English - AS201414