English communication skills

Teacher(s)

Simon Florence (coordinator);

Language

English

Prerequisites

The student should have followed a course corresponding to the B1 level of the "Common European Framework " (Council of Europe) or equivalent.

Main themes

The student will be asked to engage in extended conversation activities and to develop his (mainly oral) communication skills and his accuracy in such situations as socializing, travelling abroad, taking part in / chairing a meeting, negotiating, building up an argument, exchanging information, telephoning, applying for a job (including writing a motivation letter and a CV), making an oral presentation.
 

Learning outcomes

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

The main objective of the course is the development of skills that will enable the students in the communication business (public relations, journalism') to function in the daily situations of their future professional activities.

By the end of the course (at the end of BAC 3), the student should have reached the B2 level of the "Common European Framework " (Council of Europe) for the following skills : reading comprehension listening comprehension oral expression written expression

Content

The student will take part in activities that allow him/her to exercise and develop his/her communicative skills (mainly oral expression) and his/her mastery of the language used in professional situations, such as networking, different types of professional communication, presentations, meetings.

Teaching methods

Each part of the course will include language exploration and activation activities, to be completed alone or in groups, based on materials present in the course notes and/or to be provided by students after doing some research, and ends with an assessed application activity. Some parts also include time for self-reflection and peer feedback. 
Students are always provided with a clear description of the final product to be delivered, as well as the evaluation criteria.
The course is given in person and in English.

Evaluation methods

June session
The evaluation for this course is based exclusively on continuous assessment:  
- a telephone conversation: 10% of the final grade
- a presentation: 40%
- a meeting: 30% 
- participation throughout the semester (including class attendance, 3 quizzes on Moodle, preparation of warm-up discussions, etc.): 20 
Vocabulary quizzes are evaluated on a pass/fail basis rather than by a grade, but the student must obtain at least 50% of the score for the test to count as passed.  
In accordance with article 72 of the General Regulations for Studies and Examinations, the course coordinator may propose to the jury to refuse the registration of a student who has not completed one of the following evaluation activities: the telephone conversation, the presentation, the meeting, the warm-up discussion, the 3 vocabulary quizzes.  
August session 
If the average obtained according to the above weighting is less than 10/20 in June, the student who registers for the second exam session will retake in August the activities for which he/she had obtained less than 10/20 during the semester. 
They will also agree in June on a personal project to be produced in the summer in order to progress, based on the difficulties identified during the semester. This project will be presented in 10 minutes during an informal oral presentation in August (nature of the project, illustrations, progress made, possible future activities).  

Other information

More detailed information can be found in the general introduction to the course (see course notes), as well as on the Moodle platform. Owing to the evolution of the Covid-19 crisis, some of the above information may have to be modified. Students will then of course be notified of the possible modifications.

Online resources

The MoodleUCLouvain page "LANGL2432 - Interactive course"

Bibliography

- le syllabus (disponible sur Moodle et chez UnifCopy)
- la page MoodleUCLouvain du cours

Faculty or entity

ILV