2024/2025
English for General Communication Purposes. Upper-Intermediate Course - 1
Type:
Optional course
Delivered by:
School of Foreign Languages
When:
1, 2 module
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Букина Анна Викторовна,
Nataliya Valentinovna Guskova,
Alexander Vladimirovich Kalashnikov,
Konstantin Khomutskii,
Alla Vladimirovna Loseva,
Yana Makarova,
Ekaterina Vladimirovna Razbaeva,
Liliya Vasilevna Zhilina,
Егорова Ирина Сергеевна
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The discipline refers to the variable educational tracks offered to students of the curricula for Bachelor's and Specialist's degrees of choice while mastering the optional course of English in accordance with the Concept of the Development of English-language Communicative Competence of HSE Students. «English for General Communication Purposes. Upper-Intermediate Course-1» is a course that is aimed at building students’ confidence in using English in different life situations and contexts, i.e. home, university, work, tourism and developing students’ language skills and communicative competences to the B2 level (HSE Scale 50-59). The course is designed to assist students in achieving the level of independent users through developing reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills, attaining excellence in vocabulary management and grammatical accuracy. The course offers a variety of authentic materials that familiarize students with real-life English expressions and scenarios, provides an array of contemporary topics for discussion and develops 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, text analysis, and digital literacy. The course develops a solid general English base for further success in learning English for academic or special purposes, taking international examinations, as well as future academic studies and research. Within the course, students are supposed to complete home assignments and take tests of various formats, which may include but are not limited to lexical-grammar tests, reading tests, listening tests, writing tests, speaking tests.
Learning Objectives
- This course helps students advance to the level of independent users of English for general communicative purposes and boost their language skills to B2 level (HSE Scale 50-59) via enhancing reading and listening comprehension, increasing effectiveness in spoken and written production, improving spoken interaction, promoting communicative language competences (vocabulary range and grammatical accuracy), and raising sociocultural awareness.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- To develop skills of using basic listening techniques (predicting, understanding main ideas and details)
- To develop skills of using basic reading techniques skimming and scanning (predicting, understanding main ideas, understanding details)
- To develop understanding of articles, reports, straightforward and specialised texts concerned with contemporary problems at the threshold/vantage/effective operational proficiency level
- To form skills of note-taking
- To develop understanding of lectures and learning context
- To improve understanding of dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics
- To form understanding of text structure
- to produce monologues (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)
- to develop writing skills (email&summary)
- to participate in dialogues on general, academic and professional topics. (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing, discussion strategies)
Assessment Elements
- Written AssessmentWritten assessment includes: min 1 reading test, min 1 listening test, min 1 vocabulary and grammar test, min 2 written works (email and summary).
- Oral AssessmentOral assessment includes a monologue on a given topic and a discussion. Oral assessment elements cannot be retaken.
- Independent Work AssessmentIndependent work includes activities that students do at home, activities that students do in the classroom and online work. The elements of independent work cannot be retaken.
- Final AssessmentFinal assessment equals to the interim exam which is held in the form of a written test. The exam aims to check whether the student demonstrates the acquisition of the set learning objectives. The exam includes two parts: Listening and Writing. Listening (L): Max. 10 points (1 point for every correct answer). Time: 20 min. Duration of audio file: 5-7 minutes. Writing (W): Max. 10 points. Time: 50 min. Task: Write a summary of the following text (text range: BE, AE, GE, ESP). Recommended word count: 10-30% of the total word count of the text. Grading formula: L* 0.5 + W*0.5 = 10. Period of FA: 10 days prior to the second module’s session.
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 2nd module0.3 * Final Assessment + 0.25 * Independent Work Assessment + 0.2 * Oral Assessment + 0.25 * Written Assessment
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- New language leader: upper intermediate : coursebook, Cotton, D., 2019
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Downing, A. (2015). English Grammar : A University Course (Vol. Third edition). London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=929043
- Wyatt, R. (2012). Check Your English Vocabulary for IELTS : Essential Words and Phrases to Help You Maximise Your IELTS Score (Vol. 3rd ed). London: A&C Black Business Information and Development. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=435132