Aims

Progressively develop advanced communicative skills in both speaking and listening (individual and interactive)
After completing the course the student will be able to
- understand and take part in complex interactive communication situations, in which several views tend to overlap and are not necessarily well-structured; achieve a sufficient level of fluency for the interaction to progress smoothly
-express his/her opinion on topics relating to current affairs (politics, society, culture, etc.) or connected with his/her own interests with a high degree of precision and accuracy;
-understand radio and television broadcasts in which several participants take part using spontaneous and at times substandard language.

Main themes

1. vocabulary expansion: quantitative and qualitative expansion of vocabulary, mastery of word formation processes, thematic approach (lexical fields)
2. improvement of writing skills,
3. improvement of speaking skills: language laboratory classes

Content and teaching methods

(i) Thematic contents: newspaper articles, interviews, documentaries, talk shows, film extracts, etc., dealing with non-specialized topics connected with society, politics, culture in a broad sense
(ii) Method:
-15h of lecturing (all students are grouped together for this part of the course; 1h/week /30 weeks) during which (i) newspaper articles and (ii) audiovisual materials (recordings, videos, film extracts, documentaries, talk shows, etc) are presented by the lecturer.
Particular attention will be paid to pronunciation (phonetic accuracy, accentuation, intonation)
-15h of conversation and listening comprehension tutorials (1h/week/30 weeks in groups of maximum 20 students) on the topics dealt with in the lectures; other authentic documents (in particular audio recordings) connected with these topics can also be used to elicit students' reactions.
These sessions will be complemented with specific exercises which aim to improve phonetic accuracy, accentuation and intonation.
-X hours of individual work, in particular:
-systematic and personal study of higher intermediate vocabulary: quantitative and qualitative development, mastery of word formation processes, thematic approach (lexical fields)

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

Evaluation : The formal assessment (speaking skills) will take place during the January exam session and will be followed by detailed feedback.
The assessment will consist of 2 parts, in line with the objectives outlined above
-Assessment of listening comprehension (both global and detailed): 50% of the mark
-Assessment of oral skills (individual and/or interactive): 50% of the mark
The assessment of the linguistic code will be integrated in the assessment of the listening and oral skills.

Course Supervision/Course Holder :
The coordination of the course is entrusted to one (or two) academic member(s) of the GERM department.

Tutorials will be given by at least one assistant who will be in charge of the January assessment and who will also take part in the in the final assessment (in June and/or August).

Other credits in programs