UCL - English : reading and listening comprehension of scientific texts

[ANG1861]

[10h] 2 credits

This course is taught in the 2d semester.

Teacher(s): Ahmed Adrioueche(coord.), Annick Sonck

Language: English

Level: First

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

After completion of the course, the students will have acquired the necessary skills to read the scientific texts written in English that form the basis of a certain number of their courses in Science, as well as other texts of the same type and level of difficulty (B1).
As for listening comprehension, students should be able to :
- understand the general meaning as well as important details of a conference, talk or television documentary (A2-B1).

Main themes

Students who get less than 10/20 for the placement test (October) will attend five 2-hour classes organised as reading and usage seminars. The other students will have to work on their own.
- The students will be able to apply a range of reading techniques in order to approach the texts in a systematic and efficient manner.
- As regards grammar, the major themes will be the verb system and the various verbal forms, modal verbs, nominal phrases and conversion (e.g. 'up': N,V, Adv, Adj, Prep).
- Students will be able to understand the vocabulary necessary to read the texts in the different BAC1 courses, as well as the vocabulary of certain important categories such as link words and deceptive cognates.

Content and teaching methods

The main themes dealt with in the texts are closely related to Bac 1 general science courses.
The teaching methods used will encourage the active and interactive participation of the students.
The first step, which is crucial, is the preparation of activities which will be dealt with more fully in the following lesson: students receive precise instructions on how to work either individually or in groups, on a series of problems which will enable them to discover, for instance, certain lexical or grammatical aspects of texts. Afterwards, during the lesson, the students are expected to comment on the different problems they encountered, and the conclusions they came to.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Pre-requisites:
It is essential that students possess at least basic skills and knowledge of English.

Assessment:
The examination will test whether the objectives concerning reading and listening comprehension, including vocabulary and grammar, have been achieved.
The level of the examination and the placement test at the beginning of the year correspond to Level B1 (reading and listening comprehension) of the Common European language reference framework' of the Council of Europe standards.

Teaching aids:
- course notes, on sale at the ILV, with CAA (self-tuition centre) access card
- exercises handed out in class
- the CAA and multi-media room at the ILV
- teacher reception hours