Writing and Reading for Academic Purposes I
Code: 106287 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2504212 English Studies | FB | 1 | 1 |
| 2504380 English and Catalan Studies | FB | 1 | 1 |
| 2504386 English and Spanish Studies | FB | 1 | 1 |
| 2504393 English and French Studies | FB | 1 | 1 |
| 2504394 English and Classics Studies | FB | 1 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Irene Tort Cots
- Email:
- irene.tort@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
Teachers
- Clara Román Vanden Berghe
- Olena Vasylets
- Jennifer Rose Ament
- Elena Markina
Prerequisites
A CEFR C1 level of general English is required to be able to optimally follow the course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main purpose of this course is to furnish students entering the BA in English Studies with the linguistic and communicative tools to successfully follow their university studies. This is a foundational course, focused on boosting the students' written formal and academic register. A C1 level of English (CEFR) is assumed.
Specific course objectives: at the end of the course students should be able to:
-Produce argumentative texts of around 300-500 words that are formally well structured, linguistically correct, and have a depth of content appropriate to higher education.
-Understand authentic written materials from the fields of the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Reading for gist. Reading in detail. Identifying author's stance.
Competences
- English Studies
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in teams to fulfil the planned objectives.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
- Use written and spoken English for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, the philosophy of language, history, English culture and literature.
- English and Catalan Studies
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
- Make correct use of written and spoken English for academic or professional purposes, related to the study of language, history, culture and literature.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
- English and Spanish Studies
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Correctly use written and oral English and Spanish for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, history, culture and literature.
- Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams in order to achieve the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
- English and French Studies
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
- Use spoken English and French correctly for academic and professional purposes related to the study of linguistics, history, culture and literature.
- English and Classics Studies
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams in order to achieve the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
- Use written and spoken English correctly for academic and professional purposes related to the study of English linguistics, history, culture, and literature.
Learning Outcomes
- Express oneself in English orally and in writing in a formal register and using the appropriate terminology in relation to the characterisation of academic discourse.
- Modulate written and oral discourse in order to express oneself respectfully and ethically in a context of academic interaction.
- Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
- Produce academic written and oral speeches at an advanced proficient-user level (C1) and adapting them to the conventions of the different genders.
- Produce written and oral academic discourses with a fluency and accuracy appropriate at an advanced proficient-user level (C1) and adapting these to the conventions of distinct genres.
- Produce written and oral academic discourses with a fluency and accuracy appropriate to Advanced User level (C1) and adapt them to the conventions of distinct genres.
- Produce written and oral academic discourses with a fluency and accuracy appropriate to proficient-user level (C1) and higher-proficient-user level (C2) and adapting these to the conventions of distinct genres.
- Produce written and oral academic discourses with a fluency in English at an advanced proficient-user level (C1) and adapting these to the conventions of distinct genres.
- Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of human and social sciences at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
- Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of humanities and social sciences at Advanced User level (C1).
- Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of humanities and social sciences at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
- Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of humanities and social sciences at proficient-user level (C1) and higher-proficient-user level (C2).
- Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of humanities and social sciences in English at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
- Use appropriate metalanguage to describe the knowledge acquired in relation to the subject.
Content
The focus of this course is on written skills (reading and writing). In addition, relevant grammatical structures and lexis of a C1 level belonging to the formal and academic registers will be examined and discussed, either in class or independently, through assigned self-study materials.
- Characteristics of written academic discourse. Differences between formal and informal registers. Writing in English. Main differences in relation to Catalan/Spanish writing.
- The writing process. Brainstorming and generating ideas. The paragraph. Types of paragraphs. The argumentative essay.
- Coherence and cohesion in discourse. Sentence fragments. Run-on sentences. Parallel structures. Agreement. Punctuation.
- Reading academic texts. Main and secondary ideas. Reading forgist and reading for detail. Identifying writer's stance. Hedging. Textual analysis.
- Citing and referencing. Plagiarism.
- Gender-neutral language.
Methodology
The methodology will be based on the following activities:
- Directed activities (33%)
- Supervised activities (10%)
- Autonomous activities (40%)
- Assessment activities (17%)
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Guided exercises | 50 | 2 | 1, 2, 3, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Supervised work | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 2, 3, 14 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Self-study. Exercises and assignments. Use of ICTs | 60 | 2.4 | 1, 2, 3, 14 |
Assessment
The following criteria must be taken into account:
- Any non-submitted assignments will be graded with a 0.
- Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
- Since this is a course that assesses students' level of English, students will have to obtain 60% in each of the exams: written exam 1 and written exam 2 in order to pass the course.
- Only if/when students pass exams will continuous assessment marks and other evaluation activities be taken into account.
- To pass the course students need to:
- pass exams with a 60% in each of them.
- a course average of 60%.
Re-assessment
- Only the two exams can be re-assessed, provided that the mark in each is ≥ 35% and < 60%.
- If the average of either is lower than 35%, the student will not be allowed to re-assess that exam and will therefore fail the course.
- It is only possible to re-assess exams in the event of having a 30% of the continuous assessment tasks done.
- It is only possible to re-assess failed items.
- The maximum grade obtainable after reassessment is PASS (5 after the conversion).
Evaluation activities excluded from re-assessment
The following continuous assessment activities are not eligible for reassessment:
- written exercises
It is also not possible to reassess the self-study activities and the active contribution.
Procedure for reviewing grades awarded
On carryingout each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students(on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
IMPORTANT:
- In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active contribution | 5% | 3.5 | 0.14 | 12, 10, 13, 1, 2, 3, 8, 7, 6, 14 |
| Continuous assessment | 30% | 12 | 0.48 | 12, 10, 9, 11, 13, 1, 2, 3, 8, 7, 6, 14 |
| Self-study | 5% | 3.5 | 0.14 | 1, 3, 14 |
| Written exam 1 | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 12, 10, 9, 11, 13, 1, 8, 4, 7, 6, 5, 14 |
| Written exam 2 | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 2, 3, 8, 7, 6, 14 |
Bibliography
Course textbooks
Kennedy-Scanlon, Michael, Juli Cebrian & John Bradbury (2009) Guided Error Correction: Exercises for Spanish-Speaking Students of English. C1 Level, Book 1. Bellaterrra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Servei de Publicacions.
McCarthy, Michael & Felicity O’Dell (2016) Academic Vocabulary in Use (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Warwick, Lindsay & Louis Rogers (2018) Skillful 4: Reading and Writing (2nd ed). London: Macmillan Education.
Recommended references
Hewings, Martin (2017) Advanced Grammar in use (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hewings, Martin & Craig Thaine (2012) Cambridge Academic English. An Integrated Skills Course for EAP. C1 level. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kennedy-Scanlon, Michael, Elisabet Pladevall & Juli Cebrian (2012) Guided Error Correction: Exercises for Spanish-Speaking Students of English. B2 Level. Bellaterrra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Servei de Publicacions.
Swan, Michael (2016) Practical English Usage (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Complementary references
Baker, Lida, Robyn Brinks Lockwood & Kristin Donnalley Sherman (2018) Grammar for Great Writing. Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning.
Hancock, Mark (2017) English Pronunciation in Use. Intermediate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pathare, Emma & Gary Pathare (2018) Skillful 4: Listening and Speaking (2nd ed). London: Macmillan Education.
Dictionaries
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, OUP.
Collins Cobuild English Dictionary,Harper Collins Publishers.
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, CUP.
Collins English-Spanish/Spanish-English Dictionary, 6th ed., Grijalbo.
Longman Language Activator. Longman.
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman.
Recommended websites
English for Academic Purposes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/gothedistance/studyskills
https://www.academic-englishuk.com/
https://www.eapfoundation.com/
Online dictionaries
https://www.ldoceonline.com (Longman Dictionary of Contemporay English)
https://www.merriam-webster.com(Merrian-Webster dictionaries on line)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/(Cambridge dictionaries on line)
http://www.freecollocation.com/ (Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English)
https://www.lexilogos.com/english/dictionary.htm (A comprehensive set of resources for the study of the English Language)
Pronunciation
English Phonetics at UAB: https://blogs.uab.cat/englishphoneticsuab/
Department of Phonetics and Linguistics UCL - Identify the symbol:http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/flash/findrp.htm
The InternationalPhonetic Association: http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/ipachart.html
Sheep or ship? (vowels): http://www.shiporsheep.com/
Phonetics: The sounds ofspoken language (English and Spanish),University of Iowa: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# (consonant profiles)
TypeIPA phonetic symbols: http://ipa.typeit.org/
Others
www.flo-joe.co.uk (Cambridge official examination practice)
www.pbs.org (American public television. Documentaries. American English)
Software
There is no specific program required.