Aims

Reading and listening comprehension in scientific English for students in biological, agronomical and environmental sciences.

Main themes

Reading comprehension: intensive study of authentic material (i.e. scientific articles related to the biological, agronomical and environmental engineering field) by analysing the lexical and structural difficulties that might hinder true understanding.

Listening comprehension: understanding authentic television broadcasts or lectures by means of video programs in the language laboratory.

Content and teaching methods

Each language session is devoted to developing reading strategies for one hour followed by some listening comprehension in the language laboratory. The reading texts compiled have been selected from science magazines such as The New Scientist, Scientific American or textbooks. Vocabulary lists help the student prepare the articles before attending the class. The class as such focuses on lexical and grammatical difficulties (false friends and link words) among other things.
In the language laboratory, students practise their global and intensive understanding of television broadcasts. They are provided with full transcripts, vocabulary lists and exercises.
The self-tuition centre of the Institut des Langues Vivantes gives students the opportunity to watch the films again and complete the exercises, should they wish to.
Finally, students will be regularly assessed on the study of a self-tuition CD-ROM on English grammar and vocabulary for academis purposes (MULTITEST educational software of the ILV).

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

Precursory courses : basic English grammar (sentence structure, English verbal system, tenses, active and passive voice)




Evaluation : continuous assesment: CD-ROM test, vocabulary tests, mid-year exemption test.
final exam: written paper on reading and listening comprehension; reading aloud of common scientific terms.
Support : Compiled course notes, self-tuition CD-ROM, self-tuition centre, multimedia room, audio cassettes.

Framing : Two teachers

Miscellaneous : exemption test organised during the first week of classes only.

Other credits in programs