Synchronous (Onsite) English for Specific or Academic Purposes Research Report/Paper (25 mins Onsite)
Designing an Effective Business Communication Course for Workplace-ready EFL College Students
The five key elements of business communication include practical, factual, concise and clear, and persuasive (Taylor, 2012). College EFL students, anticipating to carry out business communication effectively, rely on courses designed to incorporate the targeted elements. However, few studies were targeted at English for Specific Purposes, shedding light on business English particularly. This study aims to describe how an advanced business communication course should be prepared in the EFL context and report how effective its possible teaching activities will include. The study utilized questionnaire to elicit students’ expectations, and interviews to collect suggestions from the teachers, potential employers, and alumni. Three research questions—(1) What urgent skills will students learn most? (2) What activity types do students expect to see? (3) What will constitute effective business communication for EFL college students?—are used to guide this study. The findings suggested presentation and email-writing outweighed others, deserving immediate attention.
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Yu-hsun Sammi LI is a senior-to-be at Department of English, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and she has been working on her minor in Finance. She has a strong passion for English teaching and is currently pursuing an MA in TESOL program. This presentation is her pioneer work on TESOL in which she conducted a study on course design for English business communication, which showcases her interest and dedication towards her academic pursuits. Sammi is fluent in English and Chinese Mandarin.
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Jeng-yih Tim Hsu is an associate professor at the Department of English, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Tim holds a doctorate in Composition and TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA. He earned his Master in English Language and Linguistics from University of Arizona, USA. He is fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese, and also speaks Japanese. His teaches courses on business writing, business presentation, and his current research interests center around adapting Problem-based Learning (PBL) into EFL classrooms.