• Schaller-Schwaner Iris

This topic-driven, interactive course is aimed at students from across the university who need Academic English as a communicative and educational tool and who can take responsibility for their own learning. It offers a range of activities: close reading and listening, text analysis and critical thinking, thematic explorations, pronunciation practice, vocabulary building, discussion work, spontaneous and prepared speaking tasks (and some communicative grammar and writing) with the goal of exploring and developing academic language use. As independent users of English in your individual or collaborative learning tasks you develop generic skills such as asking & answering questions; sharing perspectives and interpretations; perusing, selecting and evaluating information; acknowledging your sources; exploring alternatives; synthesizing information; co-constructing discussions; initiating discourse contributions; giving an oral presentation drawing on a published research article (or similar). In this course, speaking is an integrative tool for thinking and learning, cooperating across disciplines as well as for pronunciation.

Please note that the CEFR levels in the course title do NOT mean that the course leads from B2 to C1. Instead, they signal the levels at which students can participate in this English for academic purposes course on the basis of their online placement test result and oral placement interview. It is worth remembering that each individual CEFR level, particularly from B2 upwards, covers a range of abilities in several areas and that individual learner profiles, needs, purposes and skills will vary considerably. Recommended self-study resources include Moore, Julie (2017) Oxford Academic Vocabulary Practice Upper-Intermediate B2-C1 with Key. Oxford University Press

Attendance policy and assessment: Please attend and contribute actively and regularly. You must not miss more than two sessions. Assessment will comprise four assessment tasks prepared at home and delivered in class or shared online, 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. Keep a record of all your language learning work for this course, for example in the form of a language learning log.