English: reading and listening comprehension of scientific texts

Teacher(s)

Toubeau Anne-Julie ; Meirlaen Sandrine ; Adrioueche Ahmed (coordinator) ; Sonck Annick ; Druant Isabelle ; Avery Catherine ;

Language

Anglais

Online resources

• Biol/Chim 12BA: > https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=113
• Geog/Math/Phys 12BA: > https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=461
• Vete 12BA: > https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=371
   

Prerequisites

To have passed LANG1861 or reached the B1 level of the « Common European Framework of References for Languages ».

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Main themes

The main themes dealt with in the texts and videos are closely related to Bac 2 courses of the students' majors (biology, chemistry, geography, mathematics, physics and veterinary science).

Aims

At the end of the course, the students should have developed the following skills:

Reading comprehension

• A reading comprehension course aimed at equipping students with the receptive skills necessary for writing their dissertation and other academic work. Students should be able to understand in detail both descriptive and argumentative texts concerning general scientific topics. 

Level B2-C1 of the « Common European Framework of References for Languages »

Listening comprehension

• A listening comprehension course aimed at equipping students with the receptive skills necessary for understanding television programmes (talks, lectures,') on scientific subjects.

Level B1-B2 of the « Common European Framework of References for Languages »

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Evaluation methods

The level of the examination and the exemption test at the beginning of the year correspond to Level B2-C1 (reading and listening comprehension) of the 'Common European language reference framework'.

1. Exemption test at the start of the term:12/20 exempts students from course and exam, provided the student validates it at the faculty in due time.
2. Continuous assessment: vocabulary and reading tests during the term and Moodle (e-learning platform) exercises.
3. Pronunciation test of frequent scientific and academic terms
4. Written exam on reading and listening skills

Teaching methods

• 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 (Flipped classes). Afterwards, during the lesson, the students are expected to comment on the different problems they encountered, and the conclusions they came to.
• -Systematic development of  reading strategies.
• Discourse cohesion, recurrent grammatical structures and additional lexical and grammatical difficulties
• Listening comprehension: various language laboratory exercises to ensure a thorough understanding of the message.
• Short oral presentations in groups.

Content

• Portfolio of articles and abstracts from the New Scientist, Nature, textbooks,' oriented towards the students' fields of study (biology, chemistry, geography, mathematics, physics and veterinary science).
• Set of television programmes on scientific subjects ( cosmology, Vets in Practice, the human genome, earthquakes,')

Bibliography

> Course notes

Faculty or entity<

> ILV