Communication for Global Players: A Department Profile

Communication for Global Players:A Department ProfileWU

Department of English Business Communication

cover 13.09.2004 13:15 Uhr Seite 3

Published in 2004 by: Department of English Business Communication (Institut für Engli-sche Wirtschaftskommunikation), Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU Wien),Nordbergstraße 15, 1090 Vienna, Austria;http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/inst/english

General Editor and Sub-Editor Research: Gerlinde Mautner

Sub-Editor Teaching: Chris Ross

Sub-Editor Administration and Statistics: Bärbl Frodl

Language editing: Lauren Landsmann, Margit Ozvalda,Chris Ross

Photos: WU Wien; Bärbl Frodl, Gerlinde Mautner, Margit Ozvalda, Robert Pichler

Coordination and administrative support: Bärbl Frodl,Doris Schleihs

Layout and graphic design: Renate Gruber, Graphikdesign & Printproduktion, Nestroyplatz 1/1, 1020 Vienna, Austria

Printing: Zimmerdruck, 1020 Vienna, Austria

INST.BROSCHÜRE_10.09.04 10.09.2004 13:20 Uhr Seite 2

Foreword

Communication is the lifeblood of organizations anda pivotal component of successful leadership. Inexecutives’ daily lives, text and talk are crucial formanaging information, motivating employees andliaising with external stakeholders.

In today’s globalized economy, managers are expected to perform all of these functions both intheir native language and in English, the linguafranca of international business.

Our Department addresses this need by providingfuture executives with advanced communicationskills that are business-relevant, up-to-date andfirmly grounded in our research and developmentwork.

This brochure is intended to offer you a brief intro-duction to what we do. We hope you will enjoy leafing through it, perhaps following up the occa-sional lead on our website (http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/inst/english).

If you have any questions or comments, or feel thatwe could help you with your organization’s commu-nications needs, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Richard Alexander Gerlinde Mautner

Wolfgang Obenaus

Mission Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Faculty and Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

International Links and Activities . . . . . . 29

Retirements and Departures . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Contents


Mission Statement

The Department’s mission is to make a full contri-bution to the excellence of research and teaching atthe Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU), based on theunderstanding of English business communication asan integral part of economic structures and businessprocesses.

We therefore aim to help students become versatile,confident users of English who are at home with specialized business terminology and command thewide range of communicative skills that executivesneed in today’s global business environment. At thesame time, we are committed to the production ofhigh-quality applied research into contemporary English, maintaining theoretical and methodologicaldiversity, but with a clear focus on the language ofbusiness and economics.

In order to achieve these goals:

• We provide advanced, up-to-date, research-basedteaching in English business communication.

• We liaise with international academic communitiesin linguistics, translation studies, management, economics and other relevant disciplines, and maintain an international presence in these commu-nities through publications and contributions to international conferences.

• We foster links with other departments of the WU,both in coordinating curriculum planning and exploring opportunities for interdisciplinary research.

Simultaneously, we are responsive to the demands of the corporate, public and nonprofit sectors for training and consultancy in business communication.In providing services to such outside clients, we willcombine practical relevance and efficient deliverywith scholarly independence and the highest academic standards.

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O brave new world, That has such people in’t!

(William Shakespeare, The Tempest)

Faculty and Staff


Full Professors

o.Univ.Prof.Dr. Richard AlexanderFull Professor

Studies, qualifications, and professional experience:

Jesus College, Cambridge University (BA in ModernLanguages and Linguistics in 1967; MA in 1971). University of London (Graduate Certificate in Education, English as a Foreign Language in 1969;BSc [Econ] in 1974). University of Bremen, Germany(Dr.phil. in English Linguistics in 1976).

University appointments in Finland, Italy, the UK andGermany, teaching English as a Foreign Language,Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Business English.Joined the Department in 1994 as Professor of Business English.

Research areas:

• Tertiary level Business English communication: syllabuses and course design

• Alignment of business language teaching with theCouncil of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference

• Economy, ecology and their linguistic framing• Business English phraseology: computer linguistic

investigations• English as a Lingua Franca – questions and implica-

tions for English business communication againstthe background of the Bologna process

Administrative functions:

• Vice-Dean for Teaching Evaluation (12/2000–09/2003)

• Member of Senate Finance Committee• Head of Department (since 2004)

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Univ.Prof.Dr. Gerlinde MautnerFull Professor


University of Vienna (Mag.phil. degree in English andHistory in 1987). Dr.phil. in English Linguistics awardedwith distinction (sub auspiciis praesidentis) in 1993.Habilitation in 1997. Professor of Business Englishsince 2000.

Visiting scholar at the universities of Birmingham(1989/90), Lancaster (1994/95), and Cardiff (2003/04).

Research areas:

• Corporate and managerial communication• The discourse of higher education • Discursive implications of commercialization in the

nonprofit sector• Critical Discourse Analysis and corpus linguistics • Marketing communications

Consultancy work:

• Customer-oriented communications design• English coaching


• Vice-Rector for International Relations (1998–2002)

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Univ.Prof.Dr. Wolfgang ObenausFull Professor


WU (Mag.rer.soc.oec. degree in 1976 andDr.rer.soc.oec. in 1979). Universitätsassistent at theDepartment (1976–1991). Professor of Business English since 1991.

Two six-month research periods at Georgetown University, in conjunction with the Export-Import Bank, Washington, DC (1978) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (1982); research onSchumpeter scholarships at Harvard Business School (1990 and 1998).

Research areas:

• Contrastive business terminology • Business communication, with a particular focus

on the language of presentations, meetings and negotiations

• Cross-cultural linguistics


• Head of Department (1992–2003)• Chairman of the Faculty of Foreign Language

Business Communication• Member of the University Senate and several other

faculty committees• Program Director for the degree program in

International Business Administration

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Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, and Research Assistants

ao.Univ.Prof.Mag.Dr. Alexander BeerAssociate ProfessorWU (Dr.rer.soc.oec. in 1995). University of Vienna: studies in translation and law. Assistant Professor atthe Department since 1991, Habilitation in 2004. Associate Professor since 2004.Deputy Head of Department (1997–2003). Research areas: Corporate communication; corpo-rate language; entertainment industry; US studies.

Assistenzprofessor Mag.Dr. Martin HerlesAssistant ProfessorWU (Dr.rer.soc.oec. in 1996). University of Vienna: studies in English and linguistics. Assistant Professorat the Department since 1991, with tenure since 2003.Responsible for the accreditation of courses taken atother universities.Research areas: Business English terminology; discourse analysis; sociolinguistics; language change;social security; British cultural studies.

Mag. Eva KerblerResearch AssistantUniversity of Vienna: studies in English and French(Mag.phil. in 2002). WU: studies in Commerce. Joined the Department in 2004.Research areas: Critical Discourse Analysis; discourse of globalization.

Mag.Dr. Veronika KollerAssistant ProfessorUniversity of Vienna: English and Arabic Studies (Dr.phil. in 2003). Assistant Professor at the Department (2000–2004).As of September 2004, lecturer in Critical DiscourseAnalysis at Lancaster University (UK), Department ofLinguistics and Modern English Language.Research areas: Critical Discourse Analysis; gender and language; metaphor.

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MMag. Erhard LickResearch AssistantWU (Mag.rer.soc.oec. in 1994). University of Vienna:French and American Studies (Mag.phil. in 1999). Extensive teaching and administrative experience inhigher education. Joined the Department in 2004.Research areas: Language of advertising; Canadian Studies.

Mag. Marlene MiglbauerResearch AssistantUniversity of Graz: studies in English and history(Mag.phil. in 2002). Research Assistant at LiverpoolUniversity, working on a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (04/2003–03/2004). Joined the Department in 2004.Research areas: Discourse and gender; health andcomputer-mediated communication.

Mag.Dr. Margit OzvaldaAssistant ProfessorUniversity of Vienna: English and Comparative Literature (Dr.phil. in 2003). Joined the Department inJune 1998, initially part-time; involved in benchmarkingof international Business English exams and adminis-tering the OIBEC exams. Assistant Professor since October 1999.Research areas: English as an International Languageand World Englishes; pragmatics; teaching/learningmaterials; academic writing in international contexts;Postcolonial Studies.

Mag.Dr. Robert Pichler, MBAAssistant ProfessorUniversity of Vienna: International Business Adminis-tration (Mag.rer.soc.oec. in 1996); Fulbright Scholar atthe University of Iowa (MBA in 1998); WU (Dr.rer.soc.oec.in 2003). Professional experience in the pharmaceuticaland insurance industries. Graduate Assistant at theUniversity of Iowa (1999–2000). Assistant Professor atthe Department (2000–2004).Research areas: Corporate leadership with a US focus; organizational behavior; cross-cultural studies.

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AlexanderBeer

Martin Herles

Eva Kerbler

Veronika Koller

Erhard Lick

MarleneMiglbauer


Mag.Dr. Irene PollachAssistant ProfessorWU (Dr.rer.soc.oec. in 2002); University of Vienna: studies in translation and linguistics. Internships at theAustrian Foreign Trade Commission, Warsaw (1999)and the UN General Secretariat, New York (2000).Assistant Professor at the Department since 2000. Responsible for maintaining Department web presence.Research areas: Corporate communication; WWW-mediated communication of companies, nonprofit organizations and individuals; ethical aspects of theInternet.

Mag. Ulrike ThorwartlAssistant Professor WU (Mag.rer.soc.oec. in 2000). Part-time Assistant Professor at the Department since 2001. Research areas: Financial markets terminology; capital markets communications.

Mag.Dr. Ruth TrinderAssistant ProfessorUniversity of Vienna: English and Communication Science (Dr.phil. in 2000). Teacher of German at the Manchester Business School (1986–1989). Assistant Professor at the Department since 1994,heading the Online English Mentor team since 2001(see pp. 26–27).Research areas: New Media in language teaching; Second Language Acquisition Theory; learning styles.

Teaching Faculty

Anthony Copnall, BA (Hons), PGCENative speaker, born in Lancashire (UK). Qualified secondary school teacher, with four years’ experiencein England. Exchange lecturer 2002–2004, subse-quently faculty member.

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Margit Ozvalda

Robert Pichler

Ulrike Thorwartl

Ruth Trinder

Anthony Copnall

Marjorie Fiebinger


Marjorie Fiebinger, BANative speaker, born in Maryland (USA). Extensive experience of teaching English as a second languageand as language editor and translator. Jointly respon-sible for development of teaching materials at theWU. Faculty member since 1986.

Mag. Werner GasserQualified translator and interpreter with extensive experience in business and legal fields. Previouslystudied business administration in London. Facultymember since 1987.

Mag.art. Barbara JacobeitExperienced teacher of Business English who hasbeen at the Department since 1988. Closely involvedin materials development at various levels.

Mag. Wernfried KriegerExperienced English teacher in the vocational secon-dary sector, with wide involvement in teacher training.External lecturer in 2002/03, faculty member since2003.

Lauren Landsmann, BA, MScNative speaker, born in Tennessee (USA), with post-graduate qualification in English-language teachingand six years’ experience in the field. Faculty membersince 2004.

Susan Norris, BA (Hons), MEdSpecialist in English communication training for pro-fessionals. Co-author of several English coursebooksand of the WU language learning package OnlineEnglish Mentor. Faculty member since 2003.

Mag. Michael Raab, MAFaculty member since 1986, with previous teachingexperience at a US college. Jointly responsible for design and development of the Department’s teachingprogram, and co-author of several Business Englishtextbooks.

Chris Ross, BA (Hons), MA (Hons), PhDNative speaker, born in Bulawayo (Zimbabwe). Quali-fied translator, with lengthy professional and teachingexperience in UK. External lecturer 1998–2000, sub-sequently faculty member.

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Werner Gasser

WernfriedKrieger

Lauren Landsmann

Susan Norris

MichaelRaab

Chris Ross


Mag. Andrea Steiner, BAProfessional communication skills trainer (with a focuson presentation skills, negotiating and writing skills).Co-author of the WU language learning package Online English Mentor. Faculty member since 2003.

Dipl.Dolm. Silvia StöcklöckerQualified and highly experienced translator, confe-rence interpreter and sworn court interpreter. Facultymember 1987–2003, currently external lecturer.

Mag. Beatrix Suppan-RaabExperienced English teacher at secondary level, withAustrian and UK professional qualifications. Externallecturer 1994–2002, subsequently faculty member.

Mag. Romana Zeilinger Qualified teacher of English, with experience at secondary and university level, involved in develop-ment of teaching materials. Joined the Department in 1997.

Former Faculty Members Affiliated to the Department in 2004

Oberrat Dr. Gernot NeuwirthJoined the Department in 1966. Director of the WULanguage Resource Center between 1975 and 2001.Currently examiner for final degree examinations.

Mag.Dr. Doris PrachnerAssistant Professor at the Department between 1989and 1994. University lecturer and examiner for finaldegree examinations until 2004.

tit.ao.Univ.Prof.Dr. Josef Weidacher, MAFaculty member between 1968 and 2000. Awardedthe title of professor in 1990. Currently external lecturer and examiner for final degree examinations.

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Silvia Stöcklöcker

Beatrix Suppan-Raab

Romana Zeilinger

Gernot Neuwirth

Josef Weidacher

Andrea Steiner


Chief Administrator

MMag.Dr. Barbara Frodl

University of Vienna, Institute of Translation and Inter-pretation (Mag.phil. in 1990). WU (Mag.rer.soc.oec. in1994 and Dr.rer.soc.oec. in 2004). Academy for Musicand Performing Arts, Vienna: studies in music (gradu-ation in 1989) and postgraduate university course inarts management (akademisch geprüfte Kulturmana-gerin in 1997). Assistant Professor at the Department (1992–2000).Chief Administrator and lecturer since October 2000.

Secretarial Staff

Elisabeth HeflerMonika Millecker, MADorothea Schleihs (Amtssekretärin)Irene SiedlKarin Wenschitz (Amtssekretärin)

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Barbara Frodl

Elisabeth Hefler

Monika Millecker

DorotheaSchleihs

Irene Siedl

Karin Wenschitz


Research

Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.

(William Shakespeare, Hamlet)


Research Profile Selected Publications & Conference Papers(2000–2004)

The two cornerstones of the Department’s researchprofile are:(a) Unity in terms of its focus on research questions

relevant to business communication.(b) Diversity in terms of the theories and methodol-

ogies employed.

Our research encompasses the following areas:

• Organizational and managerial communication• Marketing communication

• Intercultural communication• English as an international lingua franca

• Ecological linguistics

• Business English teaching• Business English terminology• Business English phraseology

• Critical Discourse Analysis

Below you will find brief descriptions of each of the Department’s main areas of research activity, together with a selection of publications producedand papers given by our faculty. These are intendedas examples only; for a full list of publications and papers please consult the WU’s Research Data Base(http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/forschung/fides).

• Organizational and Managerial Communication,focusing on corporate ethics, customer-orientation,branding, the discourse of the public and nonprofitsectors, electronic communication, and the lan-guage of the World Wide Web.

BEER, Alexander, 2004: The Impact of ElectronicMail on Business Processes. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

MAUTNER, Gerlinde, 2002: Universitäten online –Die Kommerzialisierung des Diskurses in der tertiären Bildung am Beispiel von BusinessSchools. In: Thimm, C. (ed.), Unternehmenskom-munikation On- und Offline. Wandelprozesse interner und externer Kommunikation durch neueMedien. Wien / New York: Peter Lang, 209–229.

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MAUTNER, Gerlinde, 2003: Education for Sale.Managerialism in Educational Discourse. Paper at the Annual Meeting of the British Associationfor Applied Linguistics, University of Leeds, September 2003.

PICHLER, Robert, 2003: The Impact of Culture on Leadership and Communication – Comparing Austrian and US American Corporate Leadership.Doctoral dissertation (WU).

POLLACH, Irene, 2001: Ethics Statements as aStrategic Tool in Corporate Reputation Manage-ment. Paper at the 5th International Conferenceon Corporate Reputation, Identity & Competitive-ness, Pre-Conference Consortium.

POLLACH, Irene, 2003: Communicating Corpo-rate Ethics on the World Wide Web. A DiscourseAnalysis of Selected Web Sites. Frankfurt: PeterLang.

POLLACH, Irene, 2004 (& A. SCHARL, M. PIEBER & H. TREIBLMAIER): EnvironmentalInvestment Sites: Sector Analysis and Develop-ment of GreenMoney.at. In: Scharl, A. (ed.): Environmental Online Communication. London:Springer, 161–172.

• Marketing Communications, exploring how semiotic resources, both text and pictures, are used strategically to attract attention, inform, and persuade.

MAUTNER, Gerlinde, 2002: Von der Forschungzum sinnlichen Vergnügen: On Multimodality inAdverts for Beauty Products. Paper at the Inter-national Symposium on Multi-Modal Discourse,University of Salzburg, 25–26 January 2002.

MAUTNER, Gerlinde (forthcoming): For-Profit Discourse in the Not-for-Profit Sector: The Marriage of Mission and Management. In: Erreygers, Guido & Geert Jacobs (eds): Discourse and Economics.

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• Intercultural Communication, with special reference to the specifics of the Anglo-Saxon cultural cluster.

FRODL, Barbara, 2004: Das Medienbild Öster-reichs in englischsprachigen Tageszeitungen desostasiatisch-japanischen Kulturkreises. Ein inter-kultureller Vergleich. Doctoral dissertation (WU).

OBENAUS, Wolfgang, 2003 (& John BENNETT):Evaluating Presentation Skills in an InterculturalContext Using the Common European Frame-work. Paper at the Annual Conference of The Association for Business Communication (Europe),Lugano, Switzerland, 29–31 May 2003.

PICHLER, Robert, 2002: American Leader Be-havior – A European Perspective. Paper at theABC Southeast Conference in Savannah, USA.

• English as an international lingua franca, dealingwith structural characteristics and communicativechallenges.

ALEXANDER, Richard, 2003: G.lobal L.anguagesO.ppress B.ut A.re L.iberating, too: the Dialecticsof English. In: Mair, C. (ed.): The Politics of English as a World Language. New Horizons inPostcolonial Cultural Studies. Amsterdam / NewYork: Rodopi, 87–95.

OZVALDA, Margit, 2002: From Textual to DidacticAuthenticity: Business English Textbooks andEnglish as an International Language. Paper atBAAL Conference, University of Wales, Cardiff,UK, September 2002.

• Ecological linguistics, analyzing the linguistic framing of ecology, the economy, and their inter-relationship.

ALEXANDER, Richard, 2002: Everyone is talkingabout “sustainable development”. Can they allmean the same thing? Computer discourse analy-sis of ecological texts. In: Fill, A., H. Penz & W.Trampe (eds): Colourful Green Ideas. Bern, etc.:Peter Lang, 239–254.

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NEUWIRTH, Gernot, 2002: Eco-linguistics –going beyond the text. In: Fill, A., H. Penz & W. Trampe (eds): Colourful Green Ideas.Bern, etc.: Peter Lang, 361–371.

• Business English teaching, comprising textbookanalysis and evaluation, error analysis, secondlanguage acquisition theory and learning styles,computer-assisted language learning, as well as syllabus and course design.

ALEXANDER, Richard, 2003: How effectively andoperationally proficient are your students of busi-ness English at tertiary level? Paper at 15th ENCoDE Conference, HTW Chur, Switzerland,25–27 September 2003.

HERLES, Martin & Ruth TRINDER, 2001: Can wehave more customised CD-ROMs, please? In:Cameron, K. (ed.), CALL – The Challenge ofChange. Exeter: Elm Bank Publications, 233–240.

OZVALDA, Margit, 2002: “The Audio, the Visualand the Text”: Multimodality in Business EnglishTextbooks – in Pursuit of Promoting English as an International Language? Paper at the Interna-tional Symposium on Multi-Modal Discourse,University of Salzburg, 25–26 January 2002.

OZVALDA, Margit, 2003: Business English Text-books and English as an International Language:Issues of Authenticity. An Analysis of Selected Listening Materials. Doctoral dissertation (Univer-sity of Vienna).

TRINDER, Ruth, 2000: A Critical Evaluation of the New Media in Language Learning and Teaching with Special Reference to MultimediaCD-ROMs for Business English. Doctoral disser-tation (University of Vienna).

TRINDER, Ruth, 2003: Conceptualisation and development of multimedia courseware in a tertiary educational context: juxtaposing approach,content, and technology considerations. In: ReCALL 15(1), 79–93.

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TRINDER, Ruth & Erika LADURNER, 2003: Integration of e-learning into a tertiary educa-tional context. Paper at the 6th International Conference on Languages for Specific Purposes, Vilanova i la Geltrud (Barcelona).

• Business English terminology, with special reference to international trade and finance.

THORWARTL, Ulrike (forthcoming): Drivers of Stock Exchange Mergers and Alliances in Europe. Doctoral dissertation (WU).

• Business English phraseology, using the methods of computer-assisted corpus linguistics.

ALEXANDER, Richard, 2002: Concordancing and the teaching of vocabulary and phraseologyof Business English. In: Koskela, M. et al. (eds.),Porta Scientiae. Lingua specialis I–II. Vaasa: University of Vaasa, 597–609.

• Critical discourse analysis, with particular regardto theory, methodology, and applications to busi-ness texts.

KOLLER, Veronika, 2004: Metaphor and Genderin Business Media Discourse: a Critical CognitiveStudy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

KOLLER, Veronika, 2004: Businesswomen andwar metaphors: “Possessive, jealous and pugna-cious”? In: Journal of Sociolinguistics, 8(1), 3–22.

KOLLER, Veronika (forthcoming): CDA and socialcognition: Evidence from business media dis-course. In: Discourse & Society.

KOLLER, Veronika & Gerlinde MAUTNER, 2004:Computer applications in Critical Discourse Analy-sis. In: Coffin, C., A. Hewings & K. O’Halloran(eds), Applying English Grammar: Functional andCorpus Approaches. London: Hodder Arnold,216–228.

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In 2004, as this brochure is going to print, facultymembers are engaged in a range of research projects.Again, for reasons of space only a selection can bementioned here.

Three faculty members are currently working on theirpost-doctoral theses (Habilitationen):

• Martin HERLES: The Discourse of BusinessNewspaper Articles: A Multilevel Contrastive Analysis and Its Application in Teaching Practice

• Irene POLLACH: Communicating Trust in ElectronicCommerce

• Ruth TRINDER: Learner Internal and External Factors Influencing Attitude Towards and Use ofMultimedia Language Learning Materials in a University Context

Richard ALEXANDER is writing two books, entitledStudies in Tertiary Level Business English: Syllabusesand Course Design and Economy, Ecology and TheirLinguistic Framing.

Gerlinde MAUTNER is continuing her work on the external communications of higher education institu-tions, preparing a journal article dealing with the discourse of the ‘entrepreneurial university’. Returning to her earlier work on methodological issues in CriticalDiscourse Analysis (CDA), she is also finishing an article on the opportunities and challenges involved in using Web-based textual data in CDA.

Wolfgang OBENAUS is pursuing his interest in Busi-ness English terminology and intercultural businesscommunication, preparing a joint publication with JohnBennett (St. Gallen University) which will deal with theevaluation of Business English presentation skills.

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Work in Progress


A major focus of the Department’s work consists inpublishing teaching materials founded on our ongoingresearch and tailored to the needs of today’s businessstudents:

ALEXANDER, Richard, 2000 (& Leo JONES): New International Business English. Communica-tion skills in English for business purposes.Updated Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press. (Teacher’s Book, Student’s Book,Workbook, audio CD sets).

MAUTNER, Gerlinde, 2001: Englische Grammatikfür die Wirtschaftskommunikation.Frankfurt / Wien: Ueberreuter.

OBENAUS, Wolfgang & Josef WEIDACHER(forthcoming): The New Handbook of BusinessEnglish. Keywords in Context. Ueberreuter, Wien,5th Edition (enlarged & updated).

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Research-Based Teaching Materials: Textbooks (2000–2004)


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Membership in Professional Organizations

OZVALDA, Margit, Michael RAAB, & Romana ZEILINGER, 2002: Englische Wirtschaftskommu-nikation I (WIKO I). Coursebook. 3rd edition. Management Book Service.

FIEBINGER, Marjorie, Werner GASSER, BarbaraJACOBEIT, & Silvia STÖCKLÖCKER, 2003: Englische Wirtschaftskommunikation II (WIKO II).Coursebook. 2nd edition. Management BookService.

All of our faculty are active members of a variety of professional organizations, including:

• Association for Business Communication (ABC)• Austrian-American Educational Commission

(Fulbright Commission)• British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) • European Association for Computer Assisted

Language Learning (EUROCALL)• European Association for International Education• European Network for Communication Development

in Business and Education (ENCoDe)• Gesellschaft für Angewandte Linguistik e.V. (GAL)• IATEFL Business English Special Interest Group

(BESIG)• Information Resources Management Association (IRMA)• Interdisciplinary Research Network on Environmental

Online Communication (ECOresearch.net)• International Association for the Development of the

Information Society (IADIS)• International Association of Cross-Cultural Compe-

tence and Management• International Association of Teachers of English as a

Foreign Language (IATEFL) • Verband für Angewandte Linguistik Österreichs

(VERBAL)


Teaching: Statistics

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Numbers of classes offered and students registered (2000–2004)

Classes offered Students registered (figures rounded)

2000/01 (WS) 139 5,000

2001 (SS) 132 4,800

2001/02 (WS) 143 5,400

2002 (SS) 137 5,300

2002/03 (WS) 140 6,800

2003 (SS) 132 5,000

2003/04 (WS) 133 6,100

2004 (SS) 120 4,800

WS = Winter Semester; SS = Summer Semester

Numbers of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations (2000–2003)

Master’s theses Doctoral dissertations

2000 2001 2002 2003 2000 2001 2002 2003

TOTAL 54 26 20 23 1 21 2 1

1 co-supervised


Teaching

You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse.

(William Shakespeare, The Tempest)


Our goal

The Department’s teaching program is designed toenable students to communicate effectively in English,in their studies and subsequent professional careers.Accordingly, the emphasis of our syllabus is on under-standing, interpreting and applying the terminologyand modes of expression typically used to discussbusiness and economics topics.

Our students

The Business English program is followed, in whole or in part, by the vast majority of WU undergraduatestudents. As its starting point, it takes the level of theAustrian school-leaving certificate (Matura). For stu-dents who have yet to attain that, separate bridgingcourses are provided. Those who complete the fullprogram reach an advanced level of competence inEnglish, both written and spoken, and have an excel-lent command of specialist business language.

Our program

The Department’s courses are organized in seven stages, the first four of which constitute the base program taken by most students. The remaining threeare significantly more specialized, and are taken bythose who wish to give their studies a distinctively international flavor. Given the large numbers of studentsand the need to keep group sizes manageable, thesecourses involve very large numbers of individual classes (see p. 22). To cope with this load, we call onthe services not only of our permanent research and teaching staff, but also of a team of experienced external lecturers.

As regards the types of classes involved, our coursesfall into three categories:

• Practical classes in business communication (WIKO, for short)

• Lectures• Seminars

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WIKO – a content-based approach to businesscommunication

The program’s first stage, WIKO I, enables students to make the transition from secondary-school study of English. It consolidates their existing knowledge,imparts the new skills they will need at the WU, and provides them with an introduction to selectedaspects of Business English.

WIKO II and III build on this base. In these courses,students study in more detail the language of varioussub-fields within business and economics, carefullygraded according to their accessibility. Thus, whileWIKO II deals with the general features of businessorganizations, personnel management and marketing,WIKO III covers the language associated with termino-logically more challenging topics such as mergers andacquisitions, financial management and accounting,and international payment, as well as the basic prin-ciples of macroeconomics.

WIKO IV is the starting point of the program’s secondpart. It is designed primarily to give students a deeper

understanding of the English used in specialist busi-ness publications – English, that is, which is distin-guished not only by technical terminology but also by other linguistic features, including certain types of advanced general vocabulary, idioms and structures.In terms of expression, the main focus is on devel-oping students’ ability to provide professional busi-ness advice in English, at various levels of formality.

Communication skills

In all the WIKO classes, students also develop theircapacity for expression. On the one hand, they engage in a range of language-training tasks, both in- and outside the classroom; these include textcomprehension, structured oral exercises (e.g. nego-tiating in pairs or groups), and general discussion. Onthe other hand, they study the features of particular, business-relevant text types (e.g. letters and e-mailsrelated to the various stages of a typical businesstransaction; descriptions of tables and charts; simplebusiness reports), before themselves producing examples of such texts.

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The Online English Mentor:

High-End Computer-Assisted Learning

The very large numbers of students following the Department’s courses have provided a particular in-centive for us to develop new, innovative ways of sup-porting students in their learning of Business English. The result has been a software package known as theOnline English Mentor (OEM). Accessible by all WUstudents on the University’s interactive learning plat-form, the OEM complements and supports the writtenmaterials and face-to-face teaching provided in thevarious courses on business communication.

In designing the OEM, great attention was paid tomaking it as user-friendly as possible. In particular, the package is intended to serve learners with widelydiffering needs and starting levels. This is achieved byoffering not only explanations and learning tasks, butalso a host of optional support facilities such as defi-nitions of particular words, hints to help users answerthe questions posed, and detailed feedback on theanswers provided. In addition, extensive referencesare made to further information on the topics covered.

The OEM Project Team:Project Leader: Dr. Ruth Trinder (see p. 9)Content Developers: Susan Norris, BA (Hons), MEd(see p. 10) and Mag. Andrea Steiner, BA (see p. 11)Technical Development: Dr. Erika Ladurner (language-learning software developer and project coordinator)and James Riley, BA (Hons) (multimedia and Internetdeveloper), supported 2001–2003 by Christopher Anderson, BA, and Parwinder Sivia Singh.

Ruth Trinder, Erika Ladurner, and James Riley

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Lectures on specialized Business English topics

In both parts of the teaching program, students take one of several alternative lecture courses provi-ding in-depth treatment of selected areas of Business English. Fields covered in recent semesters have included the following:

• At level 1: marketing communications, the languageof international trade, and of financial markets andinvestment.

• At level 2: the English of international marketing, ofinternational trade policy, and of the US economy.

Professional writing and presentation skills

Finally, students who complete the full Business English program take a seminar class in which theyapply the skills and knowledge they have acquired to a research-related task. As well as writing an aca-demic research paper, this involves giving a 20-minutepresentation of their main findings, answering relatedquestions, and participating in the ensuing discussion.

Master’s theses (Diplomarbeiten)

In addition to their other teaching, faculty members also supervise Master’s theses in their areas of researchinterest. Two recent examples of the topics coveredare the communication strategies used in marketingShakespeare venues and events, and the status ofEnglish as a lingua franca in European tertiary manage-ment education.


International Links and Activities

Why then, the world’s mine oyster...

(William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor)


Faculty Exchange

Outgoing

• Gerlinde Mautner: Centre for Language and Communication Research, University of Cardiff(08/2003–02/2004; 08/2004–02/2005).

• Wolfgang Obenaus: ESADE (School of Languages),Barcelona (05/2000); Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (04/2001; 04/2003; 03–04/2004);Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen (09/2002).

• Irene Pollach: Bentley College (08/2001); Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (07–09/2003); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (07–08/2004).

Incoming

• Prof. John Bennett / University of St. Gallen

• Prof. Judy Delin / University of Leeds

• Prof. Åge Lind / Norwegian School of Economicsand Business Administration, Bergen

• Karen Mishra / Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC

• Prof. Patricia Smith / ESADE, Barcelona

Professors Mishra and Delin taught at the Departmentin the summer semesters of 2001 and 2004, respec-tively. Professors Bennett, Lind, and Smith are regularvisitors to the Department, teaching classes in busi-ness presentations, the language of advertising & PR,and legal English.

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Academic advisors (Kooperationsbeauftragte) for joint study programs between the WU and foreign partner universities

• Axel Beer: University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Wolfgang Obenaus: Haskayne School of Business(Calgary), Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta), andNanyang Business School (Singapore)

• Irene Pollach: University College Cork and AIM Manila

MINERVA Project

Ruth Trinder and Margit Ozvalda are the WU represen-tatives in the three-year MINERVA project on “OpenDevelopment of Language Competencies” (ODLAC)submitted to the European Commission and focusingon e-learning and tandem learning.

CEMS (Community of European ManagementSchools) and ASEAN-European Academic University Network

Wolfgang Obenaus is the WU representative in theCEMS Interfaculty Group “Foreign Languages” as well as in the ASEAN-European Academic UniversityNetwork. He has also acted as CEMS examiner, ashave Anne Leaf, Marjorie Fiebinger, and Chris Ross.

Corporate Social Responsibility

For several years, the Department has supported the Fair Trade movement, with Josef Weidacher organizing PR events and helping to bring fairly tradedcoffee to the vending machines at the WU.

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Further International Activities


Retirements and Departures (2000–2003)

In memoriam

Prof. Ciarán Cassidy, MA (Econ), MSc (Econ), PhDMag. Klaus Dieter Haidacher, MBADr. Silvia JexenflickerMag. Robert KastlSandra Lang, BAAnne Leaf, MA, MBA Judith LebicGerard McDonnell, BA (Hons), MBAOberrätin Dkfm.Dr. Ingrid MarkwitzDaniela PumMag. Craig Thorpe, BA

o.Univ.Prof.Mag.Dr.Hugh Dominic Purcell (1932–2003)

When Hugh Purcell came to the WU as a Full Professor in 1976, he had already had a rich and varied career in universities from Northern Ireland to Nepal. His interests ranged equally wide, encom-passing not only the various aspects of business,economics, and finance which he taught while at theDepartment, but also such topics as English poetry(on which he lectured at the University of Vienna) and Basque anthropology. He was the Department’sHead from 1988 to 1992 and remained actively involved in its affairs until shortly before his death. He is sadly missed.

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External Lecturers and Exchange Lecturers (2000–2004)

Christopher Anderson, BAMag. Gottfried BacherMag. Brigitte BojkowszkyEudes Brophy, MAMag. Wolf-Dieter BruzekJohn Buczak, MARuth Donaldson, BA (Hons), PGCEMag. Artur EckertMag. Karin Johanna Grigar, MAMag. Elisabeth Hambrusch Elizabeth Hull, BA, MBADr. Manfred HückelDr. Silvia JexenflickerDr. Gunter Kaltenböck, MAMag. Barbara KapekKatherine Loewenstein, BA (Hons)Merran Loewenthal, LLBDr. Christian MeyerDipl.Dolm.Mag. Peter MoravecJonathan O’Shea, BA (Hons)Dr. Hans PlatzerRowena Catherine Prewett-Schrempf, BA (Hons)Nigel Reynard, BA (Hons)Rupert Sage, BA (Hons)

Dr. Heinz SchwarzHannah Jane Shepherd, BA (Hons)Linda Slattery, MAPatrizia Spella, BA (Hons)Elizabeth Louise Tanguay, BA (Hons), MA Mag. Barbara WeinandMag. Gunhild WidhalmChantal Wright, BA (Hons)Dr. Susanne WurmMag. Barbara Zehetmayr


Department of English Business Communication (Institut für Englische Wirtschaftskommunikation)Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU Wien)

Nordbergstraße 155th floor, Sectors A and B1090 Vienna Austria

Tel. (+43 1) 31336 / 4985Fax (+43 1) 31336 / 747http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/inst/english

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Communication for Global Players: A Department Profile

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