Online Summer Pre-Sessional, June Entry

A full-time intensive, online general pre-sessional course for students in all disciplines. The course develops predominately postgraduate (but also undergraduate) students’ ability to use English for academic purposes and raise performance typically to a level equivalent to IELTS 6.0 to 6.5 in reading, writing, speaking and listening, or higher.

Timetable

ActivityMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
Pre-recorded lecture 60 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes
Guided independent study tasks 5 hours 5 hours 5 hours 5 hours 6 hours
Interaction 90 minute seminar 90 minute seminar 90 minute seminar 90 minute seminar 15 minute tutorial

Entry requirements

Overall IELTS 6.0 with 6.0 in writing & no less than 5.5 in any other skill OR 5.5 in Writing with no less than 6.0 in any other skill

Assessment

  • Listening: monitored discussion forum and guided independent listening tasks (60%) and listening exam: written summary of audio text produced under timed conditions (40%)
  • Reading: guided independent reading tasks (60%) and reading exam: written summary of extended text produced under timed conditions (40%)
  • Writing: a 1200 word subject specific essay and guided independent writing tasks (60%) and a writing exam: written commentary on listening and reading texts produced under timed conditions (40%)
  • Speaking: monitored discussion tasks (60%) and viva (40%)

Course aims

This course aims to develop your ability to communicate effectively and engage critically in a range of academic-related contexts to an overall level of 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any skill.

Learning outcomes

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

  • Read a variety of academic texts, in particular journal articles, making use of genre knowledge and a variety of pre-, during- and post-reading strategies in order to identify relevant content for use in academic spoken interactions/ discussions or writing tasks.
  • Follow one-to-one academic exchanges, text-based groups discussions and extended lectures on academic themes, making use of a variety of pre-, during- and post-listening strategies to check and develop meaning.
  • Write an academic essay of 1200 words which has an appropriate structure, appropriate integration of source materials, accurate use of a citation system and a variety of key academic features at sentence and paragraph level; write a coherent summary and commentary of spoken and written input under timed conditions.
  • Speak effectively using a register appropriate to academic contexts in order to convey meaning in 1-1 exchanges, small text-based group discussions and during extended turns in a seminar context.

Learning and teaching

Teaching is integrative with strong elements of genre, process and communicative approaches to learning.

It will be delivered wholly online via Moodle. The course includes:

  • pre-recorded lectures - approximately 1 hour per day
  • guided independent study tasks - approximately 5 hours per day
  • interactive online seminars - approximately 90 mins per day Monday to Thursday (the average group size is 9 students per instructor)
  • three 15-minute individual consultations over the five-week course.

Course material

We will provide you with all course material.

Minimum Requirement for Progression 

An ideal score of 6.5 overall (although a variety of other target outcomes may apply) will allow for progression to Block C.