Oral business communication strategies in French

Teacher(s)

François Thomas;

Language

French

Prerequisites

Prerequisite : B2 level of listening and reading in french (Common European Framework of Reference)

Main themes

The course studies different oral communication situations specific to a company: press conferences, video conferences, trade shows, recruitment interviews, evaluation meetings, working meetings, etc.
Each of these examples is considered using three approaches:
- Situational analysis (constraints and means available)
- Discourse analysis (discursive strategies and various discourse methods)
- Semiolinguistic analysis. The communication techniques specific to a particular work situation (for oneself and work colleagues) are demonstrated and put into practice.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of this course, students should be able to: - Analyze and thoroughly understand oral communication techniques in French in a business environment. - Understand the effect of oral communication techniques in a company (including in a multilingual business environment). - Understand and practice oral communication skills in the workplace (both for oneself and for francophone and non-francophone colleagues).

Content

Case studies and theoretical presentations will be made. Real life oral communication in companies will be analyzed using actual work documents (company films, excerpts from television programs on economic news, observations on the ground and meeting with professionals, etc.)
The method adopted during the course is articulated in theoretical presentations and analyses of concrete situations of interactions within companies, in particular in the context of a final project. The oral communication situations analyzed include authentic documents (ads, promotional capsules or movies), but also pedagogical documents, observations in the field and meetings with professionals. These analyses are structured by the notion of genre analysis, which allows the integration of many perspectives from discourse studies and interactional analysis.
Professionals in the field of oral business communication are likely to be invited in accordance with the proposed contents.
Exercises will focus on practical application and improve oral skills specific to professional contexts and give students the tools to develop these skills.

Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Alternate lectures and supervised exercises.

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

The assessment of learning outcomes will be carried out as follows:

• Continuous assessment (30%): This includes intermediate assignments, participation in certain activities and evaluative activities in the TP.
• Final evaluation (70%) :
  • Presentation by group of the final project (40%)
  • Theoretical exam (30%)

For the September session, the grading scheme will be as follows:
    Final evaluation (100%) :
        Collaborative project: 50%.
        Theoretical exam: 50%.

Other information

Support (available on Moodle) :

• slides;
• articles ou book chapters;

Bibliography

Communication :

• AIMONETTI, Jean-Marc. (2006). Comment ne pas endormir son auditoire en 30 secondes. Bruxelles, De Boeck.
• CHARLES, René, WILLIAME, Christine, GROSSEMY, Anne-Sophie. (2015). La communication orale. Paris, Nathan.
• DEMONT-LUGOL Liliane, KEMPF Alain, RAPIDEL Martine, SCIBETTA Charles (2006), Communication des entreprises. Stratégies et pratiques (2 e édition), Paris, Armand Colin (coll. Cursus économie).
• MEUNIER, Jean-Pierre, Peraya, Daniel (2010). Introduction aux théories de la comunication. 3e édition. Bruxelles, De Boeck.
• WESTPHALEN Marie-Hélène, LIBAERT Thierry. (2009). Communicator. Toute la communication d'entreprise, 5e édition, Paris, Dunod.

Discourse Analysis :

• CHARTRAND, S.-G., ÉMERY-BRUNEAU, J. et SÉNÉCHAL, K. (2015). Caractéristiques de 50 genres pour développer les compétences langagières en français. Québec : Didactica.
• CHARAUDEAU Patrick, MAINGUENEAU Dominique, s.dir. (2002), Dictionnaire d'analyse du discours, Paris, Editions du Seuil.
• MAINGUENEAU Dominique (2009), Les termes clés de l'analyse du discours, nouvelle édition revue et augmentée, Paris, Editions du Seuil (coll. Points)

Faculty or entity

ELAL