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2020/2021

Professional and Academic Uses of English

Code: 103582 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500798 Primary Education OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Sonia Oliver del Olmo
Email:
Sonia.Oliver@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

To take this course students must demonstrate a C1 level in English. This is a requirement for all the courses that make up the specialization (menció) in English language teaching. Students in 3rd year will have to provide evidence that they comply with this requirement by the date indicated on the Faculty of Education webpage in order to be able to take any course in the specialization in the fourth year, including this one. Students who are taking this course as an elective but not enrolled in the specialization (menció) must also document a C1 by that indicated date in order to enrol. Further consultations can be made at the academic management office of the Faculty of Education Sciences, UAB.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The aim of this subject is:

-to produce quality oral and written productions within the academic and professional fields.

-to show proficiency in producing coherent and cohesive contents in specialized discourses.

-to be familiar with self-assessment and peer-assessment and be able to work with language registers and textual typologies.

-to work efficiently both individually and in groups and deal with theory and practice equally (searching the best strategies and available resources)

-to use virtual tools and ICTs in the design, development and self-assessment activities.

-to show communicative proficiency in English in international and multilingual settings (oral and written)

-to critically analyze professional and academic discourses (formal register of the English language)

-to apply the theoretical framework into the communicative practice (oral and written) from a contrastive and multilingual approach.

-to show linguistic and communicative skills in English equivalent or superior to a B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

 

Competences

  • Be familiar with the languages and literature curriculum.
  • Critically analyse personal work and use resources for professional development.
  • Develop and evaluate contents of the curriculum by means of appropriate didactic resources and promote the corresponding skills in pupils.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and understand how to communicate effectively both in one’s own languages and in a foreign language.
  • Effectively address language learning situations in multicultural and multilingual contexts.
  • Express oneself orally and in writing in a foreign language.
  • Foster reading and critical analysis of the texts in different scientific fields and cultural contents in the school curriculum.
  • Foster reading and encourage writing.
  • Incorporate information and communications technology to learn, communicate and share in educational contexts.
  • Respect the diversity and the plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Understand the basic principles of the sciences of language and communication.
  • Work in teams and with teams (in the same field or interdisciplinary).

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse and identify education and communication needs to design strategies for teaching and learning of the English language that are supported by the development of communication skills through ICT and technologies for learning and knowledge.
  2. Analyse communication needs and control the process of learning the English language.
  3. Analyse, individually and with fellow teachers, the practice of teaching, identify areas for professional improvement, and implement strategies to achieve that improvement.
  4. Apply the theoretical framework on effective communicative both on a written and oral level, and from a multilingual and contrastive perspective.
  5. Assessing the value of Spanish language learning strategies and techniques appropriate to primary education.
  6. Critically analyse and discuss theoretical texts from different fields of linguistics.
  7. Critically understand and analyse, from a formal register of the English language, professional and academic discourse in English.
  8. Demonstrate effective communication skills of at least level B2 of CEFR in situations of multilingual interaction and international contexts both orally and in writing.
  9. Demonstrate language and communication skills in English that are equivalent to or higher than B2 of the CEFR.
  10. Develop criteria and make proposals for permanent self-training (lifelong) as teachers and in a foreign language.
  11. Develop critical thinking applied to the selection of appropriate digital tools and resources as instruments of learning aimed at primary school pupils.
  12. Develop linguistic and literary competence using the English language in a fun and creative way.
  13. Develop reading skills in English to be able to analyse the practical implications of carrying out theoretical proposals in the field of language teaching.
  14. Establish relations between the language curriculum of primary education and that of other curricular areas.
  15. Establish relations between the nursery and primary foreign language curriculum and that of the first language.
  16. Incorporating appropriate CMO activities for the development of CLIL units in the context of national and international programmes (Comenius, etc.).
  17. Knowing how to self-assess the level of knowledge of the English language and establish an improvement plan designed to obtain results aimed at excellence in communicative capability.
  18. Present products (teaching units, class analyses, etc.) produced in teams with people from different degree courses and levels of expertise.
  19. Produce didactic sequences for teaching and learning English in primary education.
  20. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school’s languages and the development of digital learning and intercultural skills.
  21. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school’s languages and the development of llinguistic, audiovisual and digital skills.
  22. Producing quality written and oral speech (not lower than Level B2 of the CEFR) in academic and professional fields. Knowing how to present an argument coherently, and unite the contents of the specialised speech appropriately or for academic purposes.
  23. Recognising languages as a set of varieties that are all equally respectable, and demonstrating the theoretical knowledge needed to describe and explain the variations in the English language and the processes of standardisation.
  24. Self-assess and evaluate among peers written and oral productions in English in reasoned and consistent manner with a fluency equivalent to at least level B2 of the CEFR and with different language registers and text types.
  25. Self-assess one’s own level of knowledge of English and analyse one’s own communication needs and establish improvement plans.
  26. Using ICTs in the design, development and self-evaluation of self-learning activities in English.
  27. Using texts from children's literature in Spanish in order to develop English language learning activities in primary education.
  28. Using the most cutting-edge resources and the most advanced consultation tools in the English language.
  29. Using virtual environments as a source and resource to promote critical reading of multimodal texts.
  30. Using virtual environments as tools for written communication that respond to a variety of functions (recreational, academic, transactional, etc.) among learners.
  31. Using virtual platforms as a communication and management tool for directed and supervised activities.
  32. Working efficiently as part of a team and individually, both in theoretical and practical activities, seeking resources and strategies that are appropriate for each situation.

Content

1. Discourse genres and textual typologies applied to professional and academic settings.

2. Objectivity and subjectivity in the text. The author's visibility in discourse.

3. Critical discourse analysis in English.

4. Organization and presentation techniques for effective oral and written productions in English.

5. English language use for specific purposes:

(ESP) English for Specific Purposes and for academic purposes (EAP) English for Academic Purposes

Methodology

This subject assessment will consist of 4 parts:

 

a)      Continuous assessment/assigments (15%) Students need a minimum of 70% continuous assessment.

b)      Cover Letter Project (35%)

c)      Power point presentation (35%) If a student hands in 30% of the exercises (continuous assessment) he/she will have the corresponding mark in the academic records not a Non Presented.

d)      Plagiarism will be considered a great offence and treated accordingly.

 

In this subject there will be presential classes (unless COVID-19 pandemics does not allow it) besides from on-line and presential tutorials. Moreover, students will be asked to carry out team projects and do exercises inside and outside the classroom.

 

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Project 10 0.4 22, 32, 28
Workshop 25 1 4, 24, 7, 8, 9, 22, 17
power point presentation 10 0.4 8, 9, 22, 32, 28
Type: Supervised      
Presential Tutorials (unless otherwise by COVID-19 context) 10 0.4 4, 7, 8, 9, 22
Virtual Tutorials 20 0.8 4, 8, 9, 22, 17, 32, 28
Type: Autonomous      
Readings/ Specialized Text Analysis 35 1.4 7, 28
Virtual Tutorials 40 1.6 4, 7, 8, 9, 32, 28

Assessment

This subject assessment with 80% of compulsory attendance will consist of 4 parts:

a)      Individual CV (15%) March 2021

b)      Oral presentation in group (35%) April 2021

c)       Individual abstract (15%) May 2021

d)      Professional cover letter project (35%) June 2021

If a student hands in 30% of the exercises (continuous assessment) he/she will have the corresponding mark in the academic records not a Non Presented.

Students need a minimum of 70% continuous assessment to opt for reassessment. The final exam cannot be reassessed. The rest of assignments can be re-assessed during the month of May 2021.

e)      Plagiarism will be considered a great offence and treated accordingly.

 

Our teaching approach and assessment procedures may be altered if public health authorities impose new restrictions on public gatherings for COVID-19

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Individual CV 15% 0 0 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 25, 24, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 12, 11, 19, 20, 21, 15, 14, 16, 18, 22, 23, 17, 32, 30, 29, 28, 26, 31, 5
Power point (teamwork) 35% 0 0 3, 6, 4, 7, 8, 10, 13, 11, 18, 22, 17, 29, 28, 31, 27
abstract (individual) 15% 0 0 6, 2, 4, 24, 7, 8, 9, 13, 11, 14, 22, 17, 32, 30, 29, 28, 27
professional cover letter project 35% 0 0 1, 2, 4, 24, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 12, 11, 15, 22, 17, 32, 30, 28, 26, 31, 5

Bibliography

Dröschel, Yvonne (2011) Lingua Franca English.The role of Simplification and Transfer. Linguistic Insights. Studies in Language and Communication. Volume 119. Peter Lang, Bern, Switzerland.

Fortanet, Inmaulada; Palmer, Juan Carlos & Posteguillo, Santiago (eds.).(2003) Linguistic studies in academic and professional English. Col.lecció"Estudis Filològics" Núm.17. Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana.

Pecorari, Diane. (2008) Academic Writing and Plagiarism. A Linguistic Analysis. Continuum, London/New York.

Swales, John. (1990). Genre Analysis. Michigan University Press (Ann Arbor), USA.