• Schaller-Schwaner Iris

• Schaller-Schwaner Iris

Audiences: For participants from across the university and other local HE institutions, undergraduate & graduate students, academic staff; ‘knowledge workers’.

Communicative oral English & seminar skills for academic speaking formats & tasks: This content-driven, interactive workshop-like class aims to improve your English in and for spontaneous & prepared speaking tasks with a view to what your studies and/or academic speech events require. Reading, listening and some writing will be involved as much as visual literacy. You take charge of your own learning but also cooperate with others in communicating academic topics and interests. You must be willing to speak English aloud to contribute actively to class discussions and give oral presentations in university settings.

CEFR levels: B2+ - C1, which does NOT mean that the course leads from B2+ to C1. Instead, it signals the range of levels at which one can participate in this English for academic purposes course on the basis of one’s online placement test result and oral performance in class. It is worth remembering that from B2 upwards, each level covers a range of abilities in several areas. Individual learners’ profiles, needs, purposes and skills may therefore vary considerably.

Attendance policy and assessment: Contribute actively and regularly. No more than two absences. You must complete four assessment tasks prepared at home and delivered in class, including a researched oral presentation that draws on peer-reviewed published research on a topic related to your studies. You need to participate in and pass all four tasks to pass the course and earn credits.

Philosophy: The main objective is for you to dynamize, expand and refine your English, from your mind to your mouth and back again, while being supported in exercising an academic voice and take.

Activate & improve your oral capacities; Gain experience as independent, intelligible users of English. Respond to & initiate questions and co-construct discussions. Develop capacity for critical thinking & knowledge construction through the medium of English. Build academic literacy and explicitly draw on research (e.g. selecting, evaluating & synthesizing information, citing sources).