The overall aim of the course is to lay the conceptual and methodological groundwork for the Spezialisierung. Having attended and successfully passed the course, students will be able to:

• Appreciate the key role played by language and communication in management and organisational life.
• Recognise the relevance of linguistic choices for attaining communicative goals in international settings.
• Explain what adopting a critical stance towards language and communication means in the context of management and organisation.
• Distinguish between popular and scholarly approaches to language and communication.
• Reflect and present on published research
• Refine their communicative competence in an academic setting

The course combines input-oriented lectures with critical thinking exercises and hands-on analysis. During input sessions on linguistic devices, critical and academic thinking students will actively participate and critically reflect on the concepts introduced. Furthermore, in groups of three to four people, students will analyse, reflect on and present a study in the field of international corporate communication. This way students will be able to apply what they internalised about academic and critical thinking and will become experts in one of the “focus” topics of the course (identity, persuasion and power).