Foregrounding the productive skills, "English: Speaking and Writing" is a suite of three courses enabling learners from different academic backgrounds to gain accuracy, range, confidence and fluency in written and spoken English, primarily for study purposes.
Drawing on a broad spectrum of academically oriented source material, "Speaking and Writing III" aims to engage your interest in a variety of contexts which will allow you to hone your productive skills. During the course you will work in pairs and groups, discussing source material, analysing and practising targeted language features, thereby enabling you to produce a succession of short texts. Following on from "Speaking and Writing I and II", this course builds on the previous two courses by extending the range and complexity of the areas addressed, including among others: applying and consolidating degrees of academic formality; conceding points and counter-arguing; situating and outlining a process; exploring cause and effect relationships; identifying goals; discerning and employing emphatic language; highlighting a problem; proposing and evaluating solutions; defining and classifying; making a presentation.
The course gives you the opportunity to:
- compose a short series of task-focused written assignments which allow you to bring general, as well as your own research perspectives into play,
- participate in pair and group discussions which encourage you to reflect on your own and others' research experience,
- practise your pronunciation and intonation,
- improve your language control,
- enrich your academic vocabulary,
- exercise scope and ambition in your grammatical and lexical choices,
- strengthen your grasp of academic register,
- develop aspects of coherence and cohesion: paragraphing, punctuation, linking,
- prepare and give a short presentation to your peers.
Prospective participants are advised to contact the Language Center for consultation about suitable intensive courses during the semester break that will prepare them for this course.
Should the progression of the pandemic allow it, classes will again be offered on site.