The module aims to support students in the development of English language and academic skills specific for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The main emphasis of the module is for students to utilise English language skills to produce, evaluate, reflect on and present ideas through products in various oral and written forms relevant to their degree programmes. Linguistic proficiency will be developed to approximate CEFR B2+ through close-alignment with the content and skills taught on the degree programmes. These abilities will enable students to function more effectively in their disciplinary studies, as well as in their future academic and professional career.
A. Employ listening strategies to enable general, detailed, and/or critical understanding of level-appropriate spoken texts and verbal interactions. B. Employ reading strategies to enable general, detailed, and/or critical understanding of level-appropriate written texts. C. Demonstrate speaking abilities with level-appropriate fluency and linguistic proficiency. D. Demonstrate writing abilities with level-appropriate style and linguistic proficiency. E. Demonstrate a range of academic skills (e.g. critique, reflection, adherence to academic integrity requirements, collaboration, problem-solving, digital literacy, etc.).
Students will attend 2 x 2 hour seminars per week. During the seminars, students will be given guidance on, and opportunities to practice the various skills mentioned in the learning outcomes. The self-study activities will be extensions and/or consolidation of work carried out in the seminars. Lessons are content based and student centred. There is a focus on encouraging students to find and evaluate their own source material. For example, researching information to include in their coursework, with support from the teacher. Classroom delivery – Tasks are introduced in class in order to help students build up their understanding. Key vocabulary, concepts and learning outcomes are communicated in class. Students then augment this with relevant reading, listening, speaking and writing exercises that allow formative practice for summative exams. Supplementary materials and academic readings will also be used by the tutor where appropriate.