Overview

An integrated skills course designed to develop structural academic skills in all four core areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening in an academic context

Topics may include:

Decoding academic language

Speaking – (fluency/accuracy focus, expressing ideas, engaging effectively)

Efficient reading strategies – mapping text, taking notes, summarising

Essay structures, logical flow, organising information, providing support

Paraphrase and summary

Paragraph structure

Presentation skills: organising ideas, logical flow and structure, body language

Assessment Strategy

threshold -40% A student has achieved the minimum acceptable standard of competence in coursework and examination relating to the learning outcomes above. A student has a basic awareness of academic structure although there may be some errors of usage when s/he uses unfamiliar vocabulary in writing and speaking. A student shows some improvement in her/his general and subject specific English competence.

-good -60% A student has achieved a good standard of competence in coursework and examination relating to the learning outcomes above. A student has a good awareness of academic structure although there may be occasional errors of usage when s/he used unfamiliar vocabulary in writing and speaking. A student shows a good level of general and subject-specific English competence.

-excellent -70% A student has achieved an exceptional standard of competence in coursework and examination relating to the learning outcomes above. A student has an excellent awareness of academic structure with very few errors of usage when s/he uses unfamiliar vocabulary in writing and speaking. A student shows excellent general and subject-specific English competence

Learning Outcomes

• Critically analyse and respond to an essay question, demonstrating an understanding and command of the academic discourse structures required.

• Develop and deliver an oral presentation as part of a team on a given topic, demonstrating an understanding of expressing ideas logically and coherently.

• Develop and demonstrate the ability to navigate, extract and synthesise relevant information from academic journals.