The course is included in these curricula and study modules

Level/category

General studies

Teaching language

English

Type of course

Compulsory

Recommended year of study

2

Total number of ECTS

5 cr

Competency aims

The aim of the course is to provide a foundation in those aspects of English usage that can facilitate the conduct of professional duties.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is expected to be better able to communicate with fellow professionals on matters of common interest and to understand how common English sentence patterns are used to convey information in different professional contexts.

In the written language the student is expected to
- better understand more difficult professional literature through an enhanced command of special terminology and by using reading skills such as determining meaning from context, recognising links within a text, retrieving information, and making inferences
- be better able to produce clear prose for professional purposes ranging from describing the configuation of a piece of equipment or the stages of a technical process to writing a letter of application and related CV.

In the spoken language the student is expected to be better able to
- use English in social situations and to transfer information in one-to-one situations as well as to organise and deliver a presentation to a wider audience
- listen to an English discourse in order to more effectively identify the general ideas expressed or to extract specific information.

Course contents

A review of grammatical structures that are important in technical English such as language forms required for process description, the relationship between cause and effect, probability, location and degrees of freedom of a body in movement, dimensions and specifications. The study of selected literature in order to illustrate the use of such language forms in context as well as to enrich vocabulary and generate discussion. Introduction to business English, including reading a company publication such as an annual report, profiling a company and the documentation related to job applications.

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Skill level B1.1. (Common European Framework)

Additional information

compulsory attendance

Recommended or required reading

Brieger et al.: Technical Contacts, Prentice Hall Jones, L and Alexander, R: International Business English, Cambridge University Press
Newspaper articles and books in general English

Study activities

  • Lectures - 45 hours
  • Exercise based learning - 15 hours
  • Tuition managed by students but supervised by the teacher - 15 hours
  • Individual studies - 45 hours
  • - 10 hours

Workload

  • Total workload of the course: 130 hours
  • Of which autonomous studies: 55 hours
  • Of which scheduled studies: 75 hours

Mode of Delivery

Participation in tuition

Assessment methods

  • Exams
  • Demonstrations and presentations
  • Essays

Teacher

Hendy Graham

Examiner

Hendy Graham

Group size

No limit

Assignments valid until

Until further notice

Assessment methods

  • 2009-01-27 - Exams
  • Date will be announced later - Demonstrations and presentations
  • Date will be announced later - Essays

Course and curriculum search