2021/2022

English for General Communication Purposes. Intermediate Course – 1

Type: Optional course

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 1, 2 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Петрова Елена Николаевна, Шендерович Мария Филипповна, Кузина Екатерина Андреевна, Шендерович Мария Филипповна, Петрова Елена Николаевна, Савицкая Наталия Александровна, Леонов Тимофей Витальевич, Victoria Kosheleva, Elena Olegovna Muravyeva, Lidia Shvets, Elena Suvorova, Valeriy Uvarov Valeriy Igorevich, Anna Zhuravleva, Ананьева Елена Петровна, Егорова Ирина Сергеевна, Ананьева Елена Петровна, Егорова Ирина Сергеевна

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 48

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 Development of English-language Communicative Competence of HSE Students. “English for General Communication Purposes. Intermediate Course -1”is a basic course on developing English skills for general communication purposes. Throughout the course, you will have multiple opportunities to work on the four major skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking, through in-person interaction as well as online work. The course will boost students’ English-speaking skills by giving them a chance to take part in numerous discussions, presentations and other forms of spoken interaction and by expanding their vocabulary and grammar range. Students will learn how to write a variety of texts including CVs, emails, summaries, and essays. Students will also hone their reading and listening skills by reading extensively both authentic and adapted texts and listening to a variety of audiovisual resources that may include, but not limited to, podcasts, TED Talks, and everyday conversations. By the end of the course students will gain the skills and confidence to communicate effectively in English at B1 level (HSE Scale 30-39).

Learning Objectives

• This course will help students improve their command of English for interpersonal and intercultural communication and develop their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills consistent with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), B1 level (HSE Scale 30-39). Students will practice different listening and reading strategies and will be equipped with the tools to properly compose written and oral texts common to communication for general purposes.

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 lectures and learning context
• To develop understanding of specialised complex longer texts/articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems (CEFR)
• To develop writing skills: summary; essay (opinion, discussion); email (business correspondence); CV
• To form skills of note-taking
• To form understanding of text structure
• To improve understanding of dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics
• To participate in dialogues on general topics. (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing)
• To produce monologues (informative/descriptive/reasoning)
• To produce presentations (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)

Course Contents

• Personality
• Travel
• Work
• Advertising

Assessment Elements

• Final Assessment
  The final assessment is held within 10 days before the exam period. The final assessment includes one listening test and one written work (summary). The assessment tasks can be of different types. The final written assessment may be conducted in Zoom/MsTeams/other platform. Students connect to the videoconference 10 minutes before the exam begins; the teacher sends a task, creates separate sessions and assigns the participants of the meeting to these breakout rooms if necessary. During the exam, it is prohibited to: communicate (using social media, with people in the room), cheat, give the exam variant to others to have it done, listen to the audio file more than twice, pause the audio, use dictionaries, translators or other sources. During the exam, the student is allowed to: use blank sheets of paper for drafts, open the audios in other web-browsers or download the audio to the computer and open it there. A short-term communication failure during the Exam is considered to be a loss of a network connection for up to 5 minutes. A long-term communication failure during the Exam is the loss of a network connection for more than 5 minutes. It is not possible to complete the Exam in case of a long-term communication failure.
• Independent Work Assessment
  Independent 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.
• Oral Assessment
  Oral assessment includes minimum 1 monologue on a given topic and minimum 1 discussion.in the format of a Q&A session.
• Written Assessment
  Written assessment includes: minimum 1 reading test, minimum 1 listening test, minimum 2 vocabulary and grammar tests, minimum 1 email, and minimum 1 summary. The elements of written assessment can be retaken if missed for a valid reason. The absence must be documented (e.g. doctor’s confirmation). The elements of written assessment must be retaken within 10 working days after the day a student returns to classes.

Interim Assessment

• 2021/2022 2nd module
  0.2 * Oral Assessment + 0.25 * Independent Work Assessment + 0.3 * Final Assessment + 0.25 * Written Assessment

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• New language leader: intermediate : coursebook, Cotton, D., 2015

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Berry, R. (2018). English Grammar : A Resource Book for Students (Vol. 2nd edition). [Place of publication not identified]: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1753147
• Качалова, К.Н. Практическая грамматика английского языка с упражнениями и ключами : учебник / К. Н. Качалова, Е. Е. Израилевич. — Санкт-Петербург : КАРО, 2018. - 608 с. - ISBN 978-5-9925-0716-4. - Режим доступа: https://new.znanium.com/catalog/product/1047576