2020/2021

English for Specific Purposes. Urban Studies - 1

Type: Optional course

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 1, 2 module

Instructors: Irina Pelevina

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 56

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The discipline refers to the variable educational tracks offered to students of the curricula for bachelor's and master's degree at choice while mastering the optional course of English in accordance with the Concept of developing English-speaking communicative competence of students of Higher School of Economics — National Research University https://www.hse.ru/docs/381549301.html The course is designed to introduce students to the basics of professional and business communication and develop their language skills for interacting on wide range of business matters with multiple stakeholders in general business and professional settings, specifically in urban planning. The used material contains a certain amount of authentic texts on technology, sustainable development and historical background because the issues which urban planning focuses on are largely ones that political, social, demographic, and economic changes bring to the forefront. Thus, the first part of the course focuses on making students acquire the whole range of language, functional business and professional skills such as presentations, debates, location and project description meeting facilitation, and brainstorming, allowing for personalization of the learning experience with a structured modular approach that gives the flexibility to focus on specific needs and learning outcomes. In particular, emphasis is placed on building professional vocabulary through reading authentic texts on the theory and practices of urban planning and listening to expert talks.

Learning Objectives

• To acquire vocabulary skills (general business and professional vocabulary in the field of urban planning)
• To acquire writing skills (text summary writing, e-mailing, place/site/location description)
• To master listening skills (listening to professional talks and discussions, Ted talks, note-taking)
• To master speaking in public agility skills through informative presentations on urban planning topics, meetings, discussions
• To develop reading skills (read texts in the field of business and student’s specialisation)
• To apply the set of skills to the professional subject area, from simple ones to complex, like presentation skills (individual/group work)

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Reading: 1. To make inferences or predictions about the content of newspaper and magazine articles from headings, titles or headlines.
• Listening 1. To write a list of key points after listening to a professional talk or discussion (ex.:TED talks)
• Writing 1. To use appropriate outlines to organise ideas
• Speaking 1. To give a short, rehearsed talk on a familiar topic.
• Reading 1. To make inferences or predictions about the content of newspaper and magazine articles from headings, titles or headlines.
• Listening 1. To write a list of key points after listening to a professional talk or discussion (ex.:TED talks)
• Reading 1. To develop understanding of articles, reports, straightforward and specialised texts concerned with contemporary problems at the threshold/vantage/effective operational proficiency level; to form an understanding of text structure; to develop skills of using basic reading techniques skimming and scanning (predicting, understanding main ideas, understanding details)
• Speaking 1. To improve strategies of a dialogue on general, academic and professional topics (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing, discussion strategies) and Monologue (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech); to enhance Presentation skills (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)
• Writing 1. To develop the understanding of how to Summarize the information; to enhance Essay-writing strategies (opinion/ discussion essay); to form an understanding of E-mail structure
• Listening 1. To improve understanding of dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics; to develop understanding of lectures and learning context; to develop skills of using basic listening techniques (predicting, understanding main ideas and details); to form skills of note-taking

Course Contents

• Corporate culture.
  Communication skills. Team communication. Introducing basics of Speaking in public/ Global Urban News. Approaches to urban/city planning.
• Training and Development.
  Team communication. Urban planner, - what is he? What do urban planners do?
• Cities. Megacities.
  History. Global role of the cities. Urban Data. Mapping the city. Description of a location.

Assessment Elements

• Written assessment
  ESSAY ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (max 10 points) Recommended word count – 250 words Structure (max 0.5 points) 0.5 points – the student uses paragraphing appropriately; there is an introduction, main body and conclusion 0 points – the student does not write in paragraphs; paragraphing is inadequate, or some of the parts are missing Introduction (max 1 point) 1 point – the task has been effectively rephrased and the thesis statement is clearly focused 0.5 point – the task has been only partly rephrased and the thesis statement lacks focus 0 points – the task hasn’t been rephrased or there is no introduction and there is no thesis statement in the introduction and the introduction is not relevant to the given topic Topic sentences in the main body (max 1 point) 1 point – each paragraph contains a valid topic sentence which clearly focuses on the main idea/problem 0.5 point – not all the paragraphs contain a relevant topic sentence / not all the topic sentences are clearly focused
• Oral assessment
• Independent work assessment
• Final assessment

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.3 * Final assessment + 0.25 * Independent work assessment + 0.2 * Oral assessment + 0.25 * Written assessment

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Business class : course book, Cotton, D., 2003

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Booth, T. (2018). English for Everyone : English Vocabulary Builder (Vol. First American edition). New York, New York: DK. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1636939
• Business vocabulary in use, Mascull, B., 2002
• Dynamic presentations, Powell, M., 2010