ELTU 2012

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ELTU 2012

ELTU 2012

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION I
COURSE OUTLINE & ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

2023-2024 Term 2

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ELTU 2012

Course Description

This course is designed for second-year students in the Faculty of Business

Administration to enhance English oral and written communication skills
required for their major studies and in professional contexts. Specifically, it will
focus on helping students to develop their written and spoken communication
skills for networking, writing emails, and delivering a persuasive group
presentation. Coursework includes impromptu presentation and speaking,
writing a professional email and presentation outline, and delivering a group
business presentation.

Advisory: For Year 2 students of Faculty of Business Administration only.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. demonstrate confidence in impromptu speaking;

2. write a professional email using appropriate tone, style, vocabulary and
content;
3. create a presentation outline; and
4. present ideas convincingly to a professional audience in a group
presentation.

Course Teacher

Ms. Lucie Rogers

 lucie.rogers@cuhk.edu.hk

 +852 3943 5946

 Room 432, Li Dak Sum Building

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ELTU 2012

Learning Topics

Module 1: Networking Communication Skills

1A: Introduction to  Understand what networking is and how it
Networking helps to reach your professional goals
 Learn how to network in person and online
 Identify goals for networking
 Start a conversation and keep a conversation
going

1B: LinkedIn Profile  Identify your own unique skills and describe
(optional) them effectively
 Create or edit an existing LinkedIn profile
 Analyze profiles

1C: Self-Introduction  Introduce yourself in a less-than-one-minute

presentation and highlight your qualities
 Develop impromptu speaking skills
 Acquire storytelling skills that can be used in
speaking contexts

1D: Networking Interaction  Craft insightful, interesting and concise

questions, comments and responses in a
networking situation
 Demonstrate effective verbal and non-verbal
communication skills in different networking
situations

Module 2: Professional Communication

2A: Formality in  Understand formal and semi-formal writing
Communication  Analyze different forms of business
communication

2B: Principles of Business  Analyze sample business texts and language

Writing – The 5 C’s features (5 C’s)
 Compose and revise messages according to
the 5 C’s

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ELTU 2012

2C: Writing Professional  Apply the conventions and current practice in

Emails writing an effective email for work purposes
 Choose between the direct and indirect
approach appropriately for the audience
 Manage emotional expression through the
careful use of diction

2D: Summarizing, • Summarize a passage succinctly, paraphrase

Paraphrasing, and and synthesize information from various
Synthesizing sources
Module 3: Group Business Presentations
3A: Planning and Structure  Plan an oral presentation: situation, audience
and customer analysis
 Complete an outline for a presentation

3B: Storytelling in  Utilize storytelling structures and techniques

Presentations to enhance persuasion in group presentations

3C: Approach, Rhetoric,  Use transitional phrases and rhetoric to

Transitions, and Data create an effective presentation
Presentation  Describe figures and trends

3D: Visuals, Verbal and  Compose and edit visuals based on sound
Non-Verbal Delivery Skills design principles; cite visuals in a
presentation
 Deliver a persuasive presentation and handle
questions, using effective verbal and
nonverbal communication strategies

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Assignments and Assessments
Your grade will be based on your performance in the following
assessments/assignments:

1. Self-Introduction/Networking (#1) 20%

2. Professional Email (#2) 30%
3. Presentation Outline (#3) 10%
4. Business Presentation (#4) 40%
Total: 100%

Assessment Guidelines

Assessment 1: Self-Introduction/Networking (20%) (In-class, one double

lesson)

Situation:
A self-introduction is an opportunity to highlight your skills, experience,
education, and career interests to somebody you have just met. For this
assessment, in a small group, you will be given a random ‘situation’
(including the audience, place and purpose) and you will have to introduce
yourself in no more than one minute. You will then be required to ask
questions and respond to other participants’ questions. You will not know
exactly what the scenario is prior to the assessment day; however, it will
be a professional context (for example, introducing yourself during a job
interview).

Procedure:
1. You can prepare parts of your introduction in advance, but as this is
an impromptu speaking event, the aim is to try to make it sound as
natural as possible.
2. During the assessment, your teacher will give you a ‘situation’ with
an audience, place, and purpose to respond to.
3. Once your “situation” is distributed, you will have 30 seconds to
prepare for the self-introduction.
4. Your self-introduction, questions and responses will be conducted in
class and recorded for review and evaluation purposes.

Assessment 2: Professional Email (30%) (In-class, one double

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lesson)

Situation:
In this task, you will be asked to draft an email responding to a situation in
the workplace. You will be given 6 Data Files with useful information about
the task. Write no more than 300 words.
Procedure:
1. You will be given 75 minutes to complete and submit this
assessment in class.
2. Study the Data Files and make notes on the main themes and issues
conveyed.
3. Write a short email of no more than 300 words addressing the issue,
paraphrasing, summarizing and synthesizing the information from the
Data Files.
4. Use the appropriate tone and conventions of professional email
writing.
5. Upload the email in WORD format to VeriGuide and then to
Blackboard; filename format: ELTU2012xx_Your full
name_SID_Assessment2

Assessment 3: Presentation Outline (10%) (in approximately 400-500

words, group work)

Situation:
Presentation outlines can help you prepare for your presentation by
helping you structure ideas so they flow and appear in a logical order,
pulling out your ideas and highlighting them in a way that you can see if
you’re on the right track or not. In this task, you will work in a group of
four to create an outline of your presentation. Imagine that you are
consultants at ELTU Consultancy, helping your firm’s client promote their
organization. You can use the table from Task 5 (M3A) as a template for
your group outline.
Procedure:
1. Consider the purpose of your presentation.
2. Conduct a situation, audience, and customer analysis.
3. Plan and develop an outline.
4. Use bullet points and/or letters and numbers to arrange information
and convey points.
5. Upload the outline in WORD format to VeriGuide and then to
Blackboard (one submission per group); filename format:
ELTU2012xx_Your group members’ names_SIDs_Outline

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Assessment 4: Business Presentation (40%) (In-class, group work)

Situation:
Your group will now create a 20-minute persuasive presentation for the
management team/organization’s executive committee, detailing your plan and
pitching your solution. At the end of the presentation, be prepared to answer
questions from the audience.

Procedure:
1. In your group, use the ideas and research from Assessment 3 to
prepare a presentation to persuade your intended audience to accept
the proposal.
2. Each speaker should plan to present for around 5 minutes each.
3. Rehearse your presentation and collect feedback.
4. Be prepared to answer questions at the end of your presentation.
5. Your presentation will be recorded for review and evaluation
purposes.
6. Provide a copy of your presentation materials to your teacher for
review and evaluation purposes, according to your teacher’s
instructions.

Additional notes:
 Group of four: (5 minutes per speaker, followed by a 5-minute Q&A
session)
 If your group plans to use a PowerPoint file, each speaker should
create not more than 10 slides.

Situations for Assessments 3 & 4 (pick one)

Situation 1
Wing On Department Stores, a subsidiary of Wing On Company International
Limited, is one of the oldest Chinese owned department stores in Hong Kong.
Wing On Department Stores covers a wide selection of quality merchandise
sourced regionally and from overseas. Wing on is also proud of its friendly
customer service. Currently, it has three outlets in Sheung Wan, Tsim Sha Tsui
East, and Nathan Road, and an online shop (Wing on NETshop). In the first six
months of 2023, the revenue from the department stores had dropped by around
15% when compared to year 2022. In the coming year, Wing On would like to
focus on growing its online retail business on Wing On NETshop.

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As consultants, your team has been asked to propose a one-month campaign
that promotes the Wing On NETshop, with a view to expand its customer base,
specifically the under-40 demographic, so as to boost its profile amongst the
younger generation. The campaign could involve:
 social media advertising,
 partnering with complementary brands,
 in-store activities, and/or
 anything else (online or in-person) that will promote the NETshop

Your group will present your ideas to the management team of Wing On
Department Stores. Analyze the situation and justify the proposed actions with
clear objective(s) defined in each stage, wherever necessary. Highlight the
benefits, anticipated issues, and corresponding suggested solutions. Include a
brief description of a financial projection and your group’s qualifications in your
presentation. Convince the management team that the campaign is feasible and
beneficial to both Wing On NETshop and the customers.
Wing On NETshop website:
https://shop.wingon.hk/

Situation 2
Paws Hero is a social enterprise that aims to eliminate animal cruelty behaviour
including abuse, poisoning, and abandonment. The organization conducts public
education programmes to teach children in Hong Kong about the importance of
showing love and respect to animals and promote the idea of animal adoption.
Apart from its public education programme, Paws Hero has also held other
events, such as dog adoption, animal shelter volunteer work, and kindergarten
visits. Recently, the organization’s fundraising income has been affected by the
pandemic, and a financial loss was recorded in 2023.
As consultants, your group has been asked to propose a one-month
fundraising campaign that promotes Paws Hero and helps raise funds for the
organization. The goal is to make the public more aware of Paws Hero and its
mission and achievements. The fundraising campaign could involve:
 exhibition, lectures, talks,
 interactive activities,
 events to be held using social media platforms, and/or
 anything else that will help raise funds for the organization

Your group will present your ideas to the founder of Paws Hero, Dr. Lam Ho Yi,
and members of the organization’s executive committee. Analyze the situation
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and justify the proposed actions with clear objective(s) defined in each stage,
wherever necessary. Highlight the benefits, anticipated issues, and
corresponding suggested solutions. Include a brief description of a financial
projection and your group’s qualifications in your presentation. Convince the
audience that the campaign is feasible and beneficial to both Paws Hero and the
public.
Paws Hero website:
https://www.pawshero.org/

Academic Honesty
Please read this section and follow the guidelines on assignment
submission carefully.

What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is an attempt to pass off the work of others (in particular the
writing of others) as one's own. The most obvious and blatant type of
plagiarism is copying whole articles, sections, paragraphs or whole
sentences from other publications without acknowledgement. This is
clearly unacceptable.

However, even the use of a few words or paraphrasing (without actually

copying any words at all) may constitute plagiarism if the source is not
acknowledged. Students sometimes unintentionally plagiarize because
they are not aware of the very stringent rules that apply. If the material is
taken from a source, there should be proper quotes and
acknowledgements.

University Policy and Regulations

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in
academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures
applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details can be found
at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is

principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide (a system to check
similarities on documents from different sources to uphold academic
honesty), the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the
system upon students' uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.
Assignments without the receipt will not be graded by teachers. Only the
final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

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VeriGuide can be accessed at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/veriguide. A
template of the declaration of honesty can be found at
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-
14)/p10.htm.

Submitting ELTU 2012 written assignments through VeriGuide

When submitting each of your assignments to VeriGuide, the system will
require you to state the reference number for each assignment to be
checked. Please type in the number by following the list below.

Assignment to be Name the file as: Assignme

submitted: nt
number:
Professional Email ELTU2012xx_Your full 2
name_SID_Assessment2.doc
Presentation Outline ELTU2012xx_Your group members’ 3
(one submission per names_SIDs_Outline.doc
group)

Remember to sign the receipt generated by the system and upload it together
with your assignment onto Blackboard.

ELTU Policy on Student Matters (Updated on 25 September 2023)

Policy on Assignment Submission and Collection

 Assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is

principally text-based (e.g. essays, presentation outlines, etc.) should
be submitted via VeriGuide.
 By completing any assignment submission (whether via VeriGuide or
other channels) or in-class assessment tasks, students are assumed to
have declared originality of their submitted/completed coursework and
pledged to have upheld academic honesty*.
 At the teacher’s discretion, students could submit their assignments
electronically, place them in the teachers’ mailboxes (during office
hours) or the ELTU assignment drop box (outside office hours).
Teachers may also identify particular office hours when students could
submit assignments in person.
 Late submission without prior approval from the teacher will lead to a
deduction of 3 marks (out of 100) per day of lateness for the
assignment concerned. The teacher reserves the right not to accept
any assignments submitted 10 calendar days beyond the given
deadline.
 It is the responsibility of individual teachers to return graded
assignments to students either in class or through arrangements made
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 directly with students. In special circumstances when students need to
collect their assignments outside class time, teachers are advised to do
so by making special arrangements with the General Office staff. For
security and privacy reasons, teachers are advised not to leave any
graded or ungraded assignments unattended. Students should collect
the graded assignments within one month upon their availability,
unless otherwise agreed between the teachers and the students.
 As ELTU courses adopt continuous assessment, teachers are advised to
provide timely formative feedback on student work to support learning.
Students should attend consultation sessions arranged by the teacher
to receive feedback on their performance in assignments or
assessment tasks. In this connection, students should check with their
teachers promptly if there are concerns about the evaluation criteria as
soon as they receive the provisional grades with teacher feedback on
their work. Please note that, except for procedural issues, concerns
about grading will only be considered if presented within one week of
the date on which the graded assignment was made available to
students.

Policy on Class Attendance and Attendance at Course Assessments

 Students are required to observe all rules and regulations stipulated in

the University’s Student Handbook regarding class attendance and
procedures for applying for leave of absence as necessitated by
medical and non-medical reasons.
 Students who have been absent for 50% or more of the classes
throughout the term will be given a failure overall grade in the course
concerned.
 Students who have been absent for 30% or more of the classes
throughout the term will be downgraded by two sub-grades for the
overall grade in the course concerned.
 Students are expected to be punctual for class. Students who have
been late (absences inclusive) for 30% or more of the classes
throughout the term will be downgraded by one sub-grade for the
overall grade in the course concerned.
 Students who have been absent from in-class assessments without
prior approval from the teacher and are unable to present an
appropriate medical certificate in support of physician-recommended
sick leave will be given a mark of zero for the assessment concerned
and will not be allowed to sit for a make-up test (participating in
extracurricular activities or competitions organized by student bodies
is not considered a legitimate justification for absences from in-class
assessments). Students absent from an assessment must send any
medical documents to the teacher within five working days for the
teacher’s consideration. The teacher reserves the right not to grant
any make-up assessments.
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* Details regarding university policy and regulations on honesty in
academic work and the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable
to breaches of such policy and regulations can be found at:
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

This document is subject to revision at the discretion of the English Language

Teaching Unit. For the most updated version, students may refer to the “Useful
Information” section of the ELTU website at: https://eltu.cuhk.edu.hk/.

Recommended References

Abell, A. (2003). Business grammar, style & usage [electronic resource]: A desk
reference for articulate & polished business writing & speaking. Aspatore.
Barrett, B., & Sharma, P. (2010). Networking in English: Informal communication
in business. Macmillan.
Bennet, C. (2005). The elements of résumé style: Essential rules and eye-opening
advice for writing résumés and cover letters that work. Amacom.
Cooper, B., & Naatus, M. (2014). LinkedIn as a learning tool in business
education. American Journal of Business Education (Online), 7(4), 299.
Dolan, G., & Naidu, Y. (2013). Hooked [electronic resource]: How leaders
connect, engage and inspire with storytelling. Wiley.
FitzGerald, S. (1999). The manager's guide to business writing [electronic
resource]. McGraw-Hill.
Forman, J. (2013). Storytelling in business [electronic resource]: The authentic
and fluent organization. Stanford Business Books, an imprint of Stanford
University Press.
Freed, R. C., Freed, S., & Romano, J. D. (2011). Writing winning business
proposals (3rd ed.). McGraw Hill.
Gerson, S. J., & Gerson, S. M. (2014). Technical communication: Process and
product. (8th ed.). Pearson.
Guffey, M. E., & Du-Babcock, B. (2010). Essentials of business communication
(2nd ed.). Cengage Learning.
Harter, L., & Quinlan, M. (2008). Storying selves in conventional and creative
resumes. Communication Teacher,22(3), 76-79.
Hill, M., & Storey, A. (2000). Speakeasy!: Oral presentation skills in English for
academic and professional use. Hong Kong University Press.
Locker, K. O., & Kaczmarek, S. (2011). Business communication: Building critical
skills (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Morreale, S. P. (2010). The competent public speaker. Peter Lang.
Peterson, R., & Dover, H. (2014). Building student networks with LinkedIn: The
potential for connections, internships, and jobs. Marketing Education
Review, 24(1), 15-20.
Thill, J. V., & Bovee, C. L. (2013). Excellence in business communication (10th
ed.). Pearson.
Williams, K. S., Krizan, A. C., Logan, J. P., & Merrier, P. (2011). Communicating
in business (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.

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Course Materials Development Team
Module 1: Mr. Johnson Chan, Dr. Amy Dai, Dr. Christelle Davis, Mr. Ken
Grimes, Mr. Matthew Knowles, Ms. Sarah Ng, Ms. Cynthia
Wong

Module 2: Mr. Johnson Chan, Dr. Amy Dai, Dr. Christelle Davis, Ms. Ivy
Ho, Mr. Matthew Knowles, Dr. Jackie Militello, Dr. Kitty Szeto

Module 3: Mr. Johnson Chan, Mr. Kevin Goh, Ms. Ivy Ho, Dr. Jackie
Militello, Dr. Kitty Szeto, Dr. Alina Wan, Mr. Ivan Yung

Course Development Team 2023-24: Mr. Johnson Chan, Mr. Matthew Fung,
Mr. Jonathan Stoeckel, Dr. Kitty Szeto, Mr.
Ivan Yung

Course Coordinator
Dr. Alina Wan

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