Description

English Language Skills for Undergraduate Studies

Description - summary of the module content

Module description

This module is designed to enable you to improve your language proficiency and study skills within the context of business studies, in order to develop your ability to read complex academic texts and to extract and evaluate the relevant information; to produce written assignments in an appropriate format following academic conventions; to develop fluency and confidence in seminar discussions and the delivery of presentations, and to enhance your ability to extract relevant information from lectures.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to provide students who already have a degree of proficiency in spoken and written language skills to develop and strengthen the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking in an academic context.

During seminar skills classes the aim is to develop confidence, fluency, and accuracy when participating in discussion, giving presentations, and listening actively to other speakers. In terms of academic writing skills, the core aim is to develop awareness and proficiency in the essential skills needed when undertaking written assignments. These include extensive research, reading, note-taking, drafting and editing of work.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Express yourself with a degree of fluency and accuracy that enables effective spoken and written communication in an academic setting
• 2. Present information and written text in a structured way that engages the audience and facilitates understanding
• 3. Extract and use key information from a range of written and / or spoken sources
• 4. Demonstrate your understanding of good academic practice
• 5. Engage actively in discussion and show awareness of the communicative needs of others
• 6. Organize and present ideas logically, following academic conventions

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Carry-out discipline-specific research through selection and use of appropriate source material

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Critically review your academic skills and performance by engaging with tutor and peer feedback
• 9. Demonstrate analytical and evaluative thinking in subject related areas

Syllabus plan

Syllabus plan

Skills are integrated and are developed throughout the module:

• Skills and strategies for listening: comprehension skills and using linguistic knowledge to understand meaning and purpose
• Listening and note-taking in a variety of contexts including lectures
• Giving presentations: producing effective slides, engaging the audience, delivering information effectively and persuasively and dealing with questions
• Participating in seminars: turn-taking, using evidence to support contributions, building on the contributions of others and responding to feedback
• Communication skills: accuracy, register, fluency and intelligibility
• Skills and strategies for reading: comprehension skills and using linguistic knowledge to understand text structure and purpose
• Academic language: sentence structure, register and vocabulary
• The writing process: analysing writing task titles, brainstorming ideas, planning, drafting, and responding to feedback
• Using sources: note-taking, summarising, paraphrasing, quotation
• Research skills: finding and evaluating appropriate sources and using University of Exeter library resources
• Referencing: in-text citation, writing a reference list, avoiding plagiarism, using Turnitin and adhering to academic conventions
• Reflecting critically on feedback from teacher and peers and taking steps to improve

Learning and teaching

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Re-assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for reasons judged legitimate by the Mitigation Committee, the applicable assessment will normally be deferred. See ‘Details of reassessment’ for the form that assessment usually takes. When deferral occurs there is ordinarily no change to the overall weighting of that assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to take a re-sit exam. Only your performance in this exam will count towards your final module grade. A grade of 40% will be awarded if the examination is passed.

Resources

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Bailey, S, 2017. Academic Writing A Handbook for International Students (5^th edition), Routledge, Abingdon

De Chazal, E. & S. McCarter, 2020. Oxford EAP Upper-Intermediate/B2, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Module has an active ELE page

Key words search

Language; discussion; skills; communication; presentation; research; clarity; coherence; listening; comprehension; written; reading; structure; ideas; complex; unsimplified; text; analytical; vocabulary; academic; assignment; sources; notetaking