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Speaking and Listening for Academic Purposes II

Code: 106288 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
English Studies OB 2
English and Catalan Studies OB 2
English and Spanish Studies OB 2
English and French Studies OB 2
English and Classics Studies OB 2

Contact

Name:
Sonia Mas Alcolea
Email:
sonia.mas.alcolea@uab.cat

Teachers

Nicholas John Edwards
Olena Vasylets
Laura Jane Styles
Gayle Marie Dalton
Shelagh Mary Vanderpool

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


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 and speak 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 audiovisual materials.
  • Exercises on English collocations and idioms.

Listening comprehension:

  • Comprehension activities, particularly academic English
  • Note-taking and summary-writing of the key points of a recorded discourse or oral presentation.
  • Debate: listening to classmates to be able to summarize and reply. 

Oral production:

  • In-class oral practice activities.
  • Debating skills

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
In-class oral practice 15 0.6 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 6
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

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.

Self-study and student-led activities

  • Language practice with the course books and other reference books.
  • Practice with ICTs and Moodle.

 Assessment tasks

  • A diagnostic speaking task
  • In-class précis (i.e. written summaries based on audio-video input)
  • Oral exam
  • Written exam (précis, listening, use of English

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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Continuous Assessment 20% 1.5 0.06 8, 9, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6
Final Oral Exam 30% 1 0.04 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 6
Final Written Exam 50% 4 0.16 8, 9, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7

  • Continuous assessment (30%)
  • Final oral exam (30%) 
  • Final written exam (40%)  

Single-Assessment Option

This subject/module does not incorporate the single-assessment option.

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IMPORTANT:

Due to the practical nature of this subject, students are required to attend and participate in at least 80% of all in-class activities (text commentaries, tests, activities, presentations and oral debates, participation in class, etc.) in order to be evaluated for the 30% of the grade related to assessable practical activities that directly correspond to tasks carried out in class.

The following must be taken into account:

  • The exact dates of the assessment activities will be announced at the beginning of the course on Moodle.

  • Any assigned work that is not submitted will be graded with a 0.

  • The student will receive the grade "No avaluable" if they have submitted less than 30% of the assessment activities.

  • To pass the course, students must pass both the oral and written final exams.

  • The written exam can only be taken if the student has passed the oral exam.

  • In order to calculate the average grade of the written exam, students must obtain a minimum mark of 4.5 in each part of the written final exam.

  • The final average (including continuous assessment grades) will only be calculated if the student passes the oral exam, the written exam, and has attended and actively participated in at least 80% of the classes and classroom activities.

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 final exams ((précis, listening, use of English), except for duly justified absences.

(ii) Students will only qualify for re-assessment if the mark for their final exam average is 35% or higher. If students achieve less than 35%, they won’t be eligible for reassessment.

It is not possible to reassess an exam which has been passed.

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

Continuous assessment activities cannot be reassessed.

(Only if both the written and oral final exams are passed will the continuous assessment be taken into account for the final course 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.

Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.

In this course, the use of AI technologies is not permitted at any stage. Any work that includes content generated or modified using AI will be considered a violation of academic integrity, will be graded with a 0 and cannot be re-assessed. In severe cases, additional sanctions may apply.

 


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:

  • 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.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 English second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 2 English second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 3 English second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 4 English second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 5 English second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 6 English second semester morning-mixed