Overview

This topic provides an introduction to academic English while developing students’ underlying English skills. Students are exposed to a variety of general and academic texts and to spoken English in both a lecture and conversational context. Students engage in discussions on a range of general topics and from within their … For more content click the Read More button below.

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Tuition pattern

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Aims

In the listening component, students work on listening comprehension with different kinds of one-way listening: listening to short monologues in the form of excerpts of academic lectures and listening to short two- or multi-person dialogues, including interviews and conversations. As part of lecture listening, students are introduced to notetaking while listening to lectures or other listening texts.

In the communication component, students take part in discussions on topics introduced in class and through listening material and give individual impromptu responses to speaking tasks based on familiar and everyday topics with an academic focus. Students begin to develop their discussion skills, with a focus not only on explaining ideas clearly and coherently but also on beginning skills for effective interaction, such as turn-taking, asking questions, responding to others, and active listening. Individual impromptu speaking tasks are designed to be answered with little preparation required and will cover familiar, everyday topics and topics covered in class. Students will begin to learn to refer to visual information while speaking.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:
1.
Follow most speech in short lectures and other listening material when listening more than once without losing track of the flow
2.
Identify the main ideas in a listening text
3.
Identify key or specific information in listening texts such as quantities, cause or effect, or for and against, reason or result arguments
4.
Distinguish between the main and supporting ideas in listening material
5.
Arrange basic information in sequential/chronological or process order
6.
Understand spoken definitions
7.
Understand simple signposting language
8.
Demonstrate an understanding of vocabulary for academic purposes appropriate for this level (matched to the CEFR B1 level vocabulary)
9.
Participate appropriately in discussions by expressing ideas and using appropriate turn taking techniques
10.
Complete the speaking task with expansion and development of relevant ideas that are clear enough to be followed without major difficulty and in which the main points are explained with reasonable precision
11.
Articulate mostly clear reasons and explanations for opinions
12.
Ask for repetition or clarification when necessary
13.
Accurately use a range of grammar up to and including CEFR B1 level to express ideas appropriate to the topic and task
14.
Start again using a different tactic when communication breaks down
15.
Demonstrate mostly appropriate choice of vocabulary, including word classes, at CEFR B1 level to express ideas suitable to the topic and task
16.
Avoid excessive repetition despite lexical limitations and difficulty with formulation
17.
Produce understandable speech despite regular mispronunciation or strong influence on sounds, stress, intonation and/or rhythm and hesitation or pausing for planning and repair

Assessments

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Requisites information

Pre-requisites: