Read about Abacus Communications Ltd. and what we do under the headings below:
- company profile
- our unique learning approach - the corpus method
- six reasons to choose Let's Do Business
Company Profile
Abacus
Communications designs, produces and sells computer-based language training
programmes. The software programmes are aimed at learners who want to
improve their level of language proficiency using a highly motivating
medium.
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Unique
pedagogical approach - the corpus method
Using concordancer technology, Abacus develops corpora
(libraries of words) related to the 6 main business activities - making
and receiving telephone
calls, making or attending presentations,
participating in meetings
and negotiations,
socialising
and reading or writing reports.
Abacus uses these word collections to identify the most frequently used
words and phrases in each business activity and incorporates this language
into its learning materials.
The result: you do not waste time learning language that you will never
use in the workplace.
Abacus
is the only software publisher of language materials using "the corpus
method". This pedagogical method ensures that learners focus on relevant
business topics and study the language most relevant to their daily business
needs. The content team have taken resources from management training
experts and designed an exciting learning programme based on research
into theories of language and how people learn.
The corpus method is based on authentic spoken and written data collected
from video, audio and written texts. Concordancer tools analyse the texts
according to a number of criteria, the most important being the frequency
of occurrence of the language items. The patterns that emerge determine
the syllabus of each course. The syllabus focuses on only the most frequently
occurring grammatical, lexical and phonetic patterns.
For example, the Language
of Telephoning syllabus is determined by the spoken language
data collected from a range of video and audio sources that focus on language
used by native speakers in authentic telephone situations.
To summarise, Abacus materials only focus on the language necessary
to fulfil the specific jobs tasks that the busy business person needs.
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Six
reasons to choose the Let's Do Business' software series
Save time and save money, buy quality, work smarter
and make money.
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Our
superior products
Our relevant content
Abacus products are more focused on business people's
needs than any other product in the market. No other series offers intensive
practice in the 6 main business skills, that is, making and receiving
telephone
calls, attending meetings,
giving presentations
and participating in negotiations.
Our learning management system
The learner is guided through the learning experience.
Our glossary of over 6,000 business English terms
Our glossary includes 1,000s of phrasal verbs, idioms
and compound words.
Our management training videos
Materials are sourced from a large number of management
training specialists including BBC Training, Gower Training, Melrose training
and VC Media.
Our unique pedagogical approach
Using concordancer technology, Abacus develops corpora
(libraries of words) related to the 6 main business activities. Abacus
uses these word collections to identify the most frequently used words
and phrases in each business activity and incorporates this language into
its learning materials.
The result: you do not waste time learning language that you will never
use in the workplace.
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Our
experienced team of content experts
Editor
J. Stephen Byrne, MPhil. (App. Ling.), HDip. in Ed., Dip. TEFLA, MIITD,
has studied and worked in Asia, continental Europe and the British Isles.
He gained invaluable experience teaching at a number of multinational
companies and plays an active part in the development of Flexible Learning
Programmes. He has presented papers on the effectiveness of computer-assisted
language learning (CALL) to audiences world-wide. A number of his
papers and articles have been published in national and international
journals and magazines. He is currently on the committee of IRAAL
(Irish Association of Applied Linguistics). Byrne is chief editor of all
Abacus product development.
Fiona Fay MA (Linguistics) TEFL Cert. is the senior Content Designer
for the Let's Do Business series. Fiona has been a teacher of English
as a Foreign Language for over eight years, teaching in schools in Dublin
and Paris. Her areas of interest include testing and corpus linguistics.
She has played a major part in the development and implementation of the
Test of Interactive English (TIE) and is responsible for training examiners
to undertake this examination. She was responsible for the data collection
of the spoken Irish English contribution to the CANCODE corpus.
Nuala Roche has extensive experience teaching in a number of T.E.F.L.
schools in Dublin. In addition to her teaching experience, she has a degree
in Music and French and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Arts Administration.
She has been responsible for the development and up-keep of Self-Access
Centres and has acted as an Information Technology adviser to a number
of language centres.
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Our
technically-sound software
Abacus software does not require any special plug-ins and is easy to use.
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Our
high levels of technical support
Visit our Technical
Support page if you
have any difficulty using our products or for
further information, click HERE to
contact us:
by phone:
+ 3531 6219550
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Our
1 month product warranty.
Our Guarantee
All the products purchased from Abacus Communications
come with a 30-day guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied,
simply return the product in good condition and a full refund will
be made.
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Our
ability to customise the course to your requirements.
For
details on how we can deliver customised solutions to meet your requirements,
click HERE to
contact us:
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©
Copyright Abacus Communications 1996-2004.