SUBJECT: Change in Question Pattern for Business Communication in English & Communicative English

Students and faculty at institutions affiliated to BPUT are hereby informed that with effect from 2006 there will be a change in the nature of the questions set for the “Communicative English” and “Business Communication in English” examinations.

As before, the paper will have 8 questions, including one compulsory question (Question 1). Students will be required to answer 6 questions in all.

Questions will conform to the syllabus. However, there will be no questions requiring recall of information from memory. Questions of the following type will not be set:

‘What are the functions of language?’

Instead, the questions will require application of theoretical principles. Students might, for example, be asked to produce an application in response to a hypothetical advertisement. Or, they could be given a sample of written or spoken discourse and asked to improve upon it, making it more ‘communicative’.

The intention behind this change is to make the teaching of Communicative Skills more relevant to the practical needs of students of BPUT.