English for economics, finance and law - ENG

English for Economics, Finance and Law

Dott. Colin Irving-Bell

Course Code:    SSD L – LIN /12
Subject Code:   COD-EO359 – EO356
Ore: 48 : Cfu.6
Location:   Novara



1.    Educational Aims

The objectives of this course are to bridge the gap linguistically between the specialist world of legal and financial English and to outline the main concepts and differences between the English legal and business systems and those of Europe. This course will explain the differences between  English Common Law and the adversial jury system and Roman Law giving the student the necessary understanding of both the basic concepts of English Law and financial terminology.


2.    Contents of the Course

The course will be divided into two parts, with two different text books – Professional English In Use- Law and Professional English in Use – Finance. These explain the relevant infrastructure, terminology and workings of the worlds of finance and law, and students will come to understand how intertwined and interdependence the two are. Students will study the following :


LAW

•    Relationship between the three course elements, economics, finance and law
•    The role of and necessity of the law
•    The notions of legitimacy, authority and power
•    Constitutions – their role in limiting power and confering legitimacy
•    Different types of Law – private/public/civil/criminal
•    Sources of Law – primary, secondary, case, consolidated, European.
•    Common Law
•    The Court System
•    Criminal proceedings
•    Civil procedure
•    Tribunals and Administrative Law
•    European Law
•    Judges, barristers & solicitors
•    
FINANCE

•          Banking – all the different arms of …
•         Stocks, Shares, Bonds, Derivatives, Futures
•         Taxation
•         Accounting & Finance
•         Auditing & Amortization
•         Fiscal & Monetary policy
•         Exchange Rates



3.    Prerequisites

The course is aimed at a minimum of a B2 level of English and students will be presumed to have studied some economics and finance before starting the course. The course is aimed at students who may want to work in the international sectors of business and also to those who may want to take the B2/C1 BEC Vantage/Higher or the B2/C1 Cambridge exams of ILEC ( International Legal English Certificate) or ICFE ( International  Certificate of Financial English).

4.    Course Text
Professional English in Use – Law, by Gillian D. Brown & Sally Rice (This book is available in the library) and Professional English in Use – Finance, by Ian McKenzie (This book is available in the library)
Both published by CUP.

5.    Teachings Methods
The course is taught in English and is teacher centred as there is a lot of material that needs to be explained. However, student participation in discussion is in integral  part of the course and is actively encouraged .

6.    Examination

The exam will consist of one 2 hour written paper in which students will be invited to choose 2 questions  from a list of about 15. Each question will be divided into two parts:
Part A - which will carry 15 marks- will require a factual answer and will be taken from one of the two text books.
Part B - which will carry 25 marks- will be an essay question based on the same topic which will require a fully developed answer.
Students will be expected to write in good, clear English and to develop their answers in a coherent and clear way.
Marks will be given not only for  language competence but also content.
For CLEA students, the exam is ‘idoneo’.  There will be an oral only for those borderline CLEA students who have not passed the written exam. CLISGI  students are marked out of /30 and have the chance to better their written mark by doing an oral.

Students who have passed any external, internationally recognized English examination at C1 level or higher will be exempted from the written course but will have to sit an oral  based on the above syllabus. Only students who have passed either ILEC or ICFE are exempted completely.



International Certification.

This course is judged not only on language ability but also on content  and therefore international certification will not exempt anyone from doing the exam and neither will those who have done three months work experience abroad be exempt. (The only exceptions are ILEC and ICFE).

The Department positively encourages students to take external examinations (such as the Cambridge exams ,TOEFL and IELTS) for their own value. They play a vital role in a student’s armoury for future job opportunities. Advice and assistance in enroling and taking these exams is available at any time from me.
The relevant exams available to students are: B2 – First Certificate of English (FCE), Business English Course – Vantage.
C1 – Certificate of Advanced English (CAE), Business English Course (Higher).
B2/C1 - International Legal English Course (ILEC), International Certificate in Financial English (IFCE). International English Language Testing System ( IELTS ) and TOEFL.