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2022/2023

Speaking and Listening for Academic Purposes II

Code: 106288 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2504212 English Studies OB 2 2
2504380 English and Catalan Studies OB 2 2
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OB 2 2
2504393 English and French Studies OB 2 2
2504394 English and Classics Studies OB 2 2

Contact

Name:
Arnau Roig Mora
Email:
arnau.roig@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

Nicholas John Edwards
Andrea Huerta Bon
Laura Jane Styles

Prerequisites

Students enrolling in this subject are expected to have passed the subject 106286 - Speaking and Listening for Academic Purposes I.

The entry level for the subject is the C2.1 level (proficiency) in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. At the C2 level, the student can (i) understand with no effort prctically everything they hear or read; they can summarize information from various sources, oral or written, reconstruct facts an arguments, present them in a coherent way; they can express themselves fluently and precisely, distinguishing nuances and ubtle meanings even in the most complex situations.

Objectives and Contextualisation

 

"Speaking and Listening for Academic Purposes II" is part of the overall course "Academic Skills in English" which includes "Speaking and Listening for Academic Purposes I", "Writing and Reading for Academic Purposes I and II" and "Seminar on Advanced Oral and Written Expression in English" 

Objectives:

  • To strengthen and build the students’ instrumental and academic oral and written use of the English language to a C2.1 level in order to later be able to succeed in attaining the core knowledge which constitutes the curriculum of the “Use of the Language” module.
  • To strengthen one's  pronunciation and intonation taking formal and academic register into account.
  • To fully understand real English texts, specialised and non-specialised. 
  • To speak and argue fluently and naturally about a non-specialised topic without making basic grammatical mistakes, with accurate pronunciation, and with a relatively wide range of vocabulary.
  • To understand audiovisual materials of a variety of specialised and non-specialised topics, and of a variety of English accents.
  • To write a wide range of formal text types observing the structural and stylistic conventions of the genre and using a variety of relatively sophisticated vocabulary and structures. 

 

Competences

    English Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values. 
  • Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2).
  • 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.
  • 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 be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • 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.
  • Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • 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.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • 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. 
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • 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

  1. Express oneself fluently, correctly, appropriately and effectively, both orally and in writing, in an academic environment.
  2. 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.
  3. Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
  4. Modulate written and oral discourse in order to express oneself respectfully and ethically in a context of academic interaction.
  5. Produce academic written and oral speeches at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2) and adapting them to the conventions of the different genders.
  6. Produce academic written and oral speeches at higher-proficient-user level (C2) and adapting them to the conventions of the different genders.
  7. Produce written and oral academic discourse with a fluency and accuracy appropriate to a higher-proficient-user level (C2) and adapting them to the conventions of the different genders.
  8. Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of human and social sciences at higher-proficient-user level (C2).
  9. Understand written and oral academic discourse in the field of humanities and social sciences at higher-proficient-user level (C2).

Content

Grammar and vocabulary:

  • Advanced grammatical structures in English.
  • Error correction exercises.
  • Vocabulary exercises based on texts and audio-visual materials.
  • Exercises on English collocations and idioms.

Listening comprehension:

  •  Comprehension activities of authentic audiovisual materials.
  • Note-taking and summary-writing of the core points of a recorded discourse or oral presentation. 

Oral production:

  • In-class oral practice activities.
  • Oral practice sessions.

Methodology

The teaching methodology used is based on:

  • Teacher-led activities (30%, 1.8 cr)
  • Supervised activities (15%, 0.9 cr)
  • Self-study and student-led activities (50%, 3 cr)
  • Assessment tasks (5%, 0.3 cr)

Teacher-led activities (Theoretical and practical classes)

  • Lectures using ICTs.
  • Class debates and discussions.
  • Practical activities in groups or pairs.
  • In-class receptive and productive skills practice.

Supervised activities  (tutorials)

  • Oral practice sessions in groups.

Self-study and student-led activities

  • Language practice with the course books and other reference books.
  • Writing argumentative essays, opinion articles, letters, reports and reviews.
  • Completing a course portfolio.
  • Practice with ICTs and Moodle.

 Assessment tasks

  • In-class précis (i.e. written summaries based on audio-video input) and a final achievement exam (written and oral)

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      
In-class oral practice 15 0.6 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7
Theory and practice classes 30 1.2 8, 9, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Type: Supervised      
Tutorial Sessions 22 0.88 8, 9, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and Studying 76.5 3.06 8, 9, 3

Assessment

  • Continuous assessment (20%)
  • Final oral exam (30%) 
  • Final written exam (50%)  

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IMPORTANT:

      1. To pass the course, students need to pass 60% of the content of the final written and oral exam, and the average of the course must be 60% or more. Students will only gain access to the written exam if they have passed the final oral exam.

      2. To pass the final exam (written and oral), students need an average of 60%.

      3. In order to obtain an average of the final exam, students need to obtain a minimum of 55% in each of the 3 parts of the final exam. Otherwise, they will have to reassess one part in which they have obtained less than 55%.

      4. Only if/when students pass the final written exam and the oral exam with a 60% will continuous assessment marks and other evaluation activities be taken into account. 

Procedure for Reviewing Grades Awarded
 
On carrying out 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. 

Reassessment

(i) To qualify for re-assessment, students need to have completed all the continuous assessment tasks and the two final exams -written and oral, except for duly justified absences.

(ii) Students will only qualify for re-assessment if the mark in their final written and oral exam average reaches a 35%. If they reach less than a 35%, students won’t be eligible for reassessment.

If a student sits reassessment exams, they will get a maximum of 5 on SIGMA as a final grade.

No avaluable

Only available for those who have submitted less than a 30% of the course tasks/exams.

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VERY 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
Continuous Assessment 20% 1.5 0.06 8, 9, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Final Oral Exam 30% 1 0.04 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7
Final Written Exam 50% 4 0.16 8, 9, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7

Bibliography

Basic Bibliography

  • Malcolm Mann & Steve Taylore-Knowles. Destination C1 & C2. Grammar and Vocabulary. Macmillan. 2007

 Recommended reference books:

  • Michael McCarthy & Felicity O’Dell. English Vocabulary in Use: Advanced (with answers and CD) Third Edition. Cambridge University Press, 2012
  • Work on your Vocabulary. Hundreds of Words to Learn and Remember. Advanced. Collins, 2013.
  • Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary or Oxford Dictionary English
  • Michael Swan. (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Recommended links:

  • General practice

www. ejerciciodeingles.com

  • Listening comprehension practice

https://www.ted.com/talks

BBC One Minute World News

  • Pronunciation

http://www.howjsay.com/ (American English)

  • Dictionaries

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/ (includes pronunciation files, British English)

http://www.ozdic.com/ (collocations)

the British National Corpus: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

Software

No specific software will be used.