Qualification Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of these qualifications are to enable students to develop:

• an understanding of a wide variety of complex texts for different purposes
• an understanding of standard spoken language, whether live or broadcast, on both unfamiliar and familiar topics normally encountered in personal, social, academic, or vocational contexts.
• the ability to write clear, well-structured texts using an appropriate style, highlighting relevant salient issues, providing points of view with supporting arguments (where relevant) and showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
• the ability to express themselves fluently, spontaneously and appropriately in a range of speaking contexts with little obvious searching for expressions or use of avoidance strategies.
• the skills necessary for further study or employment, either in German-speaking countries or where German is used as the main medium of communication for business and commerce.
• an understanding of the nature of language in different cultural contexts in order to build up competence in communication.

Approach

These qualifications will equip students with transferable skills such as autonomy, resourcefulness, creativity, critical and analytical thinking, and linguistic, cultural and cognitive flexibility that will enable them to proceed to further study or to employment.

The approach taken uses:

• Speaking communication skills that are assessed separately in Units 1 and 3.
• Skills of listening, reading and writing that are assessed in Units 2 and 4.
• General Topic Arears (GTAs) that relate to the interests of students studying German.
• Culturally sensitive and authentic texts that appear throughout the qualification.

Mandatory Units

• Unit 1: Spoken expression and response
• Unit 2: Understanding and written response
• Unit 3: Understanding and spoken response
• Unit 4: Research, understanding and written response

Prior learning and other requirements

There are no prior learning or other requirements for these qualifications.

Language of assessment

Assessment of these qualifications will be available in German only. All student work must be in German.

Assessment requirements

LMA German Language Intermediate Level consists of 6 externally- examined units.

English for Business Communication focuses on the candidate’s ability to perform in real business situations through the medium of English. This qualification evaluates the understanding and writing of business communications in English. Candidates need to understand a wider range of business communications, write letters and memos in response to a wide range of situations and prepare agenda and minutes, notices, speeches, advertisements, articles, press releases, mailshots, formal invitations and analytical reports. (equivalent to C1 EOP and C2 Mastery on the Common European Framework)

Who are the London Media Academy English for Business Communications qualifications intended for?

• Native or non-native speakers of English worldwide
• Young people or adults attending an English course either in the UK or overseas.
• Students learning English as part of their school or college curriculum.
• People needing English for their working life.
• Candidates who require externally recognised certification of their levels in English
• Those who are attending courses over a period and require a series of graded examinations which provide steps up in the ladder of proficiency.
• Candidates attending short courses in English.

Format and features of the LMA English for Business Communications examinations

The London Media Academy English for Business Communications examinations are a suite of qualifications in modern, written Business English. They are designed to meet the needs of present day organisations for fast and accurate communication in the international sphere. The test focuses on the candidate’s ability to perform in real business situations through the medium of English.

Each assessment takes the form of an in-tray simulation. The candidate is placed in the role of an administrative or personal assistant in a commercial company. The examination paper consists of a selection of realistic documents, eg quotations, invoices, emails, reports – which the candidate has to deal with by drafting appropriate replies or by writing similar documents, eg letters, memos etc, in accordance with instructions. These are assessed according to how effective they are as written communications, eg whether the candidate has interpreted the source documents correctly, whether the replies convey the right message and whether they would achieve the desired results. Correct language is important, but the emphasis is on successful communication.

• Minutes of a meeting
• Business letter
• Memorandum
• Article or press release or speech
• Circular letter or mailshot or advertisement or notice or formal invitation
• Informal, analytical report

The candidate is assessed on the degree of success with which he or she completes the tasks.

• Marks are awarded for Layout and Content against paper-specific marking schemes.
• Layout is assessed for two (only) of the written tasks, a memo and a letter. Tasks assessed for layout are specified on the examination paper.
• Legibility is taken into account.
• Language is marked against performance criteria aligned to the descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference . The candidate is judged on how well the performance in the test meets these criteria.