English for General Communication Purposes. Foundation Course

2021/2022

Type: Optional course

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 1-4 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Yuliya Suvorova

Language: English

ECTS credits: 16

Contact hours: 256

Full 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 English for General Communication Purposes (Elementary) takes an intelligent approach to building the confidence and skills students need to succeed in academic study and use English in a globalised world. The course stretches students' ability to understand real English and develops students’ language skills, communicative competences to the B1 level in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (HSE Scale 30-39). The course is designed to assist students in achieving the level of independent users through enhancing reading, listening, writing and speaking skills, attaining excellence in vocabulary management and grammatical accuracy. A variety of authentic materials, contemporary topics and issues, real English expressions and scenarios stimulate students' minds and develop critical thinking skills as well as digital literacies. The course develops a solid general English base for further success in learning English for academic or special purposes, taking international examinations, future academic studies and research. English for General Communication Purposes (Elementary) is available to the first-year students if there is not a mark in English course in their high school diploma.

Learning Objectives

To improve interpersonal and intercultural communication in English
To develop the listening, reading, writing and speaking skills in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), B1 level (HSE Scale 30-39)
To promote communicative language competences (vocabulary range and grammatical accuracy)
To raise sociocultural awareness
To develop digital literacy

Expected Learning Outcomes

To develop understanding of articles, reports, straightforward texts concerned with contemporary problems at the threshold level
To develop understanding of lectures and learning context
To form understanding of text structure
To improve understanding of dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics
Applies the range of vocabulary for places in a city
Asks for and gives opinions; does an opinion survey
Defines an important component of academic writing
Discusses past travel experiences
Gets specific information from listening for gist
Practises comparative adjectives to compare different forms of transport
Practises listening for specific details and note-taking
Practises writing a paragraph
Realises an 'abstract' at the start of an academic article
Scans and skims different texts
Speaks about ancient cities and civilisations
Speaks about preparing for and taking an examination
Speaks about shopping habits
Talks about a film in general, types of film and express personal tastes in film
Talks about the tastes in food and healthy/unhealthy diet
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 writing skills (email / summary / essay/CV)
To form skills of note-taking
To participate in dialogues on general and academic topics (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing, discussion strategies)
To produce monologues (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)
To produce presentations (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)
Uses words and phrases for jobs and places for work
Writes a paragraph about the most important invention

Course Contents

Cities
Work and Study
Nature
Leisure time
Transport
Food
Shopping
History and culture
Inventions
Money
Homes
Travel
Human planet
People
The media
Health
Natural World
Society and family
Science
The night
Work and Industry
Global affairs
The environment
Sport

Assessment Elements

Written assessment
PARAGRAPH ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (max 10 points) Recommended word count 100 – 120 Task Response (max 3 points) 3 points – the student fully addresses all parts of the task: the topic sentence is relevant to the text; the student uses 3 extended and well supported major arguments relevant to the topic sentence; the text is paraphrased; the concluding sentence summarises the content of the paragraph and paraphrases the topic sentence adequately; 2 points – the student addresses all parts of the task although some parts may be more fully covered than others: the topic sentence narrows the idea of the text considerably; the student uses 3 arguments but one argument is not fully detailed; the concluding sentence summarises the content of the paragraph; 1 point – the student responds to the task only in a minimal way or the answer is tangential, the format may be inappropriate: the topic sentence is not relevant to the text or not paraphrased; the student uses 3 arguments but two arguments are not fully detailed; the concluding sentence does not summarise the content of the paragraph; 0 points – the student does not adequately address any part of the task: there is no topic sentence at all, the supporting arguments are inadequately developed or unclear, there is a personal opinion as an argument, there are numerous quotations from the original text, there is no concluding sentence at all. Coherence and Cohesion (max 2 points) 2 points – the text is logically organised; the student uses a wide range of cohesive devices appropriately; the text is not divided into paragraphs; 1 point – the text is logically organised; 1-2 cohesive devices are used inappropriately; the text is not divided into paragraphs; 0 points – the text is not logically organised; the student does not use cohesive devices at all; the text is divided into paragraphs. Lexical Resource and Register (max 2 points) 2 points – the student uses a wide range of vocabulary without repetitions, lexical and spelling mistakes; the register is appropriate; 1 point – the student uses a limited range of vocabulary, makes 1 lexical or spelling mistake; the register is appropriate; 0 points – the student uses basic vocabulary, makes 2 or more lexical/spelling mistakes; the register is inappropriate. Grammatical Range and Accuracy (max 2 points) 2 points – the student uses a variety of complex grammar structures without mistakes; 1 point – the student uses basic grammar structures and makes 1 grammar mistake; 0 points – the student makes more than 1 grammar mistake which impedes understanding. Level/track specific criteria (max 1 point) 1 point – the word count is 100-120; 0 points – the word count is 99 words or less / 121 words or more.
Oral assessment
PRESENTATION ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (max 10 points) If the content of the presentation does not relate to the topic, a student receives “0” for the whole presentation. Task Response (max 3 points): Language Use (max 3 points): Manner of Delivery (max 2 points): Visual Aids (max 2 points) DISCUSSION ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (max 10 points) Task Response (max 3 points) Coherence and Cohesion (max 2 points) Lexical Resource and Register (max 2 points) Grammatical Range and Accuracy (max 2 points) Fluency, pronunciation (max 1 point)
Independent work assessment
Final assessment
Written assessment
SUMMARY ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (max 10 points) Recommended word count – 150 Task Response (max 3 points) 3 points – the student fully addresses all parts of the task: writes a summary which covers all the key points and contains a valid topic sentence in each paragraph, clearly focuses on the main idea/problem of the text, includes crucial supporting information, all the main points are summarised; presents a relevant conclusion; the main points are effectively paraphrased; the reader has been fully informed about the content and the purpose of the original source; 2 points – the student addresses all parts of the task although some parts may be more fully covered than others: the student writes a summary which covers most of the key points; little supporting information is provided; all the main points are summarised; the student presents relevant main ideas but some may be inadequately developed/unclear (the author’s ideas are partially reflected); sufficiently paraphrases the main points; 1 point – the student responds to the task only in a minimal way or the answer is tangential; the format may be inappropriate: the student writes a summary which covers very few key points; the supporting information is incomplete; the topic sentence is insufficient; a personal opinion is included; the main points are inadequately paraphrased; the student uses some words from the text to express the main idea; 0 points – the student does not adequately address any part of the task: there is no topic sentence and/or no supporting information, and/or the author’s ideas are not reflected; the student repeats the word combinations from the text to express the ideas; a personal opinion is included; there is no conclusion at all or not all the main points are summarised. Coherence and Cohesion (max 2 points) 2 points – the student writes a clearly structured summary on a given text, uses a variety of linking devices which connect the ideas appropriately, uses paragraphing sufficiently; the ideas are logically organised; the student relays the information; 1 point – the student writes a poorly structured summary, uses a limited number of linking devices, does not use paragraphing sufficiently; the ideas are not always logically organised; cohesive devices are inadequate and/or repetitive; the student analyses the information; 0 points – the student does not organise information and ideas logically, fails to use linking devices appropriately or repeats them; cohesive devices do not indicate a logical relationship between the ideas. Lexical Resource and Register (max 2 points) 2 points – the student uses a wide range of vocabulary, including some advanced lexical items, uses synonyms, changes the word class and the word order; there may be one inaccuracy in spelling, word formation or word choice; 1 point – the student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary, but may make 1 mistake in spelling, word formation or word choice; 0 points - the student only uses basic vocabulary, with very limited control of spelling, word formation or word choice, errors are numerous and impede understanding, the original expressions are copied from the text. Grammatical Range and Accuracy (max 2 points) 2 points – the student uses a wide range of grammar structures without mistakes; 1 point – the student uses a variety of grammar structures but may make 1 mistake; 0 points – the student uses basic grammar structures or a limited range of structures and/or makes more than 2 grammar mistakes, some of which impede understanding. Level/track specific criteria (max 1 point) 1 point – the student uses the active vocabulary specific to the topic; 0 points – the student does not use the active vocabulary specific to the topic.
Oral assessment
Independent work assessment
Final assessment

Interim Assessment

2021/2022 2nd module
The final grade for the course is calculated as a weighted total of the assessment elements. Written assessment x 0.25 + oral assessment x 0.2 + self-study activities x 0.25 + final test x 0.3
2021/2022 4th module
The final grade for the course is calculated as a weighted total of the assessment elements. Written assessment x 0.25 + oral assessment x 0.2 + self-study activities x 0.25 + final test x 0.3

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Grammar for IELTS with answers : self-study grammar reference and practice, Hopkins, D., 2010

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Essential grammar in use : a self-study reference and practice book for elementary students of English: with answers, Murphy, R., 2001
Grammar: pre-intermediate, Bourke, K., 2006

Course Syllabus