Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This course aims to develop students' general and academic English language skills in the context of an Engineering undergraduate programme. Using an integrated approach to language skills development, students will focus on texts and events of a social and subject-specific academic nature. They will focus on all four language skills, developing their ability to work as independent and reflective learners. This course also aims to develop students' academic English skills to an overall level equivalent to IELTS 5.5 minimum.

10 hours per week over 17 weeks

None

None

None

Written exam: writing, reading 30%

Project output: written project 20%

Group discussion: 15%

Oral presentation: 15%

Set exercise: in-class test of listening and writing 20%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

Due to the nature of the group discussion assessment, this component cannot be reassessed. The initial grade for the group discussion will be used when calculating the resit grade.

This course aims to:

■ develop students' understanding of engineering study practices and their knowledge of typical written and spoken academic discourses within this discipline

■ develop group discussion and general interactional skills in engineering and informal contexts

■ develop key skills for formal academic presentations of a technical nature

■ build students' sub-technical and core engineering vocabulary range.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ use a number of strategies to engage with talks and lectures of a technical nature

■ summarize, paraphrase and take notes on engineering-related spoken and written texts

■ participate actively in academic group discussions and independent study tasks on technical and general subjects using appropriate listening and speaking skills

■ apply a range of skills and sub-skills to interact with engineering-related and more general texts

■ give formal presentations on technical topics, incorporating appropriate sub-technical and core engineering vocabulary

■ write reports and documents of a technical nature, incorporating appropriate sub-technical and core engineering vocabulary

■ reflect on their learning and set independent learning goals.

Students must submit or attend all the scheduled summative assessment components (written project, group discussion, class test of listening and writing, oral presentation, and written exam) to ensure that all language skills are assessed. Due to the interactive nature of this course students must be present at 90% of timetabled seminars and tutorials, at which attendance is recorded.