English Communication Skills for Bioengineers

Teacher(s)

Adrioueche Ahmed; Meyers Lucille; Neyt Philippe; Peters Charlotte; Pham Adrien (coordinator); Simon Florence; Toubeau Anne-Julie;

Language

English
> French-friendly

Prerequisites

The LANGL1882 course or any other equivalent course (reading skills roughly corresponding to Level C1 (lower) of « the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages » and listening skills corresponding to Level B2 (lower).

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

To reach these objectives, teaching activities will focus on the following topics:

• socializing ( introducing oneself, greeting, inviting, small talk, ')
• meetings and negotiating: taking part in and chairing a meeting, debating, agreeing and disagreeing, convincing, concluding,'
•  presentation skills: presenting and defending a project:, facts and figures, processes and cycles, graphs,'
• giving/receiving a phone call
•  applying for a job: writing a CV and cover letter, leading up the job interview.
   

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

By the end of this course students will be able to use general and field-related English in interactive communication situations such as those they will encounter in their future professional lives as bioengineers. A more short-term objective is to prepare them for the presentation of their final year dissertation in Master 2.

Speaking: level B2+ (upper intermediate) Listening: level B2+ (upper intermediate), building on BAC1+2 courses Reading: level C1 (upper intermediate to advanced), building on BAC1+2 courses Writing: level B1-B2 (lower intermediate to intermediate)

Content

• Interaction in general and professional situations.
  
• Participation in and management of debates and meetings.
  
• Negotiation skills.
  
• Objective description of projects, processes, cycles, graphs, facts and figures, etc.
  
• Scientific presentations: subject is chosen by the student
  
• Writing: e-mail, CV, letter of motivation
  
• Job interview practice
  
• Vocabulary and grammar mastery (general and specific vocabulary, grammar related to French-speaking students’ difficulties).
  
• Language functions: expression one’s opinion, agreement, disagreement, interrupting, diplomatic language, etc.
  
• Pronunciation: general and specific vocabulary
  

Teaching methods

• Interactive communication through classroom activities: debates, meetings, job interview,...
  
• Exposure to a variety of real-life situations (scientific presentation, CV and cover letter, job interviews) requiring specific language functions.
  
• Consolidation and improvement of grammar use, vocabulary accuracy as well as pronunciation.
  
• Regular feedback to students.
  
• Pairwork and small groups (conversation tables)
  

Evaluation methods

Assessment in June
a) Participation (warm-up discussions, debates,…)    20%
b) Presentation  20%
c) CV  5%
d) Cover letter  5%
e) Meeting (group exam):   25%
f) Job interview (individual exam): 25%
Assessment in September
a) Written report   20%
b) Presentation      20%
c) Cover letter        10%
d) CV  10%
e) Meeting    20%
f) Job interview      20%

Other information

This course aims to promote the Transition and sustainable development.

Online resources

https://moodle.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=605

Teaching materials

• Syllabus: LANGL2480 English Communication Skills for Bioengineers

Faculty or entity

ILV