Spoken Academic English (HS),

Andrew Brown, andrew.brown@fhnw.ch

Students can:

• understand talks given by native English speakers, even when speaking rapidly.
• discuss a presentation critically and summarise key ideas
• plan & deliver clear, effective, audience-focused presentations
• express themselves fluently, spontaneously and accurately using a wide range of vocabulary
• use language flexibly and effectively for academic and professional purposes.

Focus on speaking and oral comprehension. Students improve their ability to speak fluently and with clear, natural pronunciation, in both a formal and informal register; they learn elements of phonetics and the concept of English as a stressed-timed language. Oral comprehension is tested and developed with audio and video material from native speakers in academic and scientific contexts. Students are evaluated with listening comprehension exercises and a course-related scientific presentation in front of their peers. Functions

• Expressing concepts precisely
• Synthesizing and evaluating information
• Hypothesising about causes, consequences etc.
• Expressing shades of opinion and certainty
• Criticising and reviewing
• Developing an systematic argument
• Emphasis
• Defending a point of view persuasively
• Responding to counterarguments
• Discourse markers

Grammar structures

• Revision of all tenses
• Phrasal Verbs
• Passive forms
• Adverbs
• Inversion

Vocabulary

• Collocations
• Approximating
• Differentiated use of vocabulary
• Formal and informal registers
• Idiomatic expressions

Students must have:

• successfully completed Basic English or
• achieved a B2 level qualification in the previous two years or
• achieved at least B2 level on the HLS English placement test

Students are expected to have a solid knowledge of:

• all tenses (present/past/perfect/future)
• Connecting words for cause and effect, contrast etc.
• Passive forms
• Reported speech
• Relative clauses
• Modals
• Adjectives and adverbs
• Vocabulary for summarising ideas and giving opinions

Students are expected to be able to:

• understand the main ideas of complex texts from life-science fields
• discuss relevant topics with peers fluently and spontaneously
• justify their opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of ideas
• follow talks given by native English speakers and grasp complex arguments in a subject related to their studies.

Module Preparation

• Listening to factual/scientific radio programmes such as In Our Time on the BBC, e.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0435jyv#play
• Watching scientific presentations e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdEGkJXE6QU&feature=youtu.be

Course Material

• Lecture materials & homework given out in class and available on Moodle
• Authentic audio and video material as basis for class activities
• Additional materials and exercises as necessary

• Interactive lectures with focus on listening & speaking activities.
• Significant out of class preparation for group exercises.
• Significant homework practice for listening exam.

according to the module index in the current StuPO

IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

3 Lektionen / Woche KW 8 bis 22 (14 Wochen im Frühjahr-Semester) 3 Lektionen / Woche KW 38 bis 51 (14 Wochen im Herbst- Semester) 1 x 4 Lektionen / Woche KW 8 bis 18 (10 Wochen im Frühjahr-Semester) 1 x 4 Lektionen / Woche KW 38 bis 47 (10 Wochen im Herbst-Semester) 3 Lektionen / Woche KW 8 bis 22 (14 Wochen im Frühjahr-Semester) 3 Lektionen / Woche KW 38 bis 51 (14 Wochen im Herbst- Semester)