English Speaking Skills for Academic Purposes – ZIP

ogólnouniwersyteckie

English Speaking Skills for Academic Purposes – ZIP

zdalnie

The course aims at improving participants’ speaking skills in the academic context. Participants will learn about the principles and techniques that they can use when speaking publicly, for example, in international conferences. This also includes responding to the questions from the public. To complete the course, participants will give two presentations on topics related to their field of studies.

Classes are offered as part of the Integrated Action Program for the Development of the University of Warsaw, co-financed from the European Social Fund under POWER 3.5. The rules for the use of general university courses for PhD students within the ZIP framework (UW PhD Students' Regulations) are available at: www.zip.uw.edu.pl.

Public speaking can be challenging, especially in an additional language. Not only one needs to have good general language skills, but also they need to speak convincingly and according to the pragmatics of the given language. In this course, participants will learn about the principles and techniques of public speaking in English. More specifically, they will learn about how to connect with the audience, how to structure a presentation and use visual aids effectively, what language and grammar to use, how to present statistical data, and how to answer questions from the audience. The general aim of the course is to prepare participants to speak publicly in international conferences.

In the practice part of the course, participants will give two presentations on topics related to their field of study. After each presentation, they will receive constructive feedback.

Dates of synchronous online Zoom meetings: 1) 17/11/2020 2) 24/11/2020; 3) 1/12/2020; 4) 8/12/2020; 5) 15/12/2021; 6) 22/12/2021; 7) 12/1/2021; 8) 19/1/2021; 9) 26/1/2021; 10) 2/2/2021.

Agnieszka Kałdonek-Crnjaković is an assistant professor at the Institute of English Studies of the University of Warsaw, where she teaches courses on academic writing and speaking skills to MA students. She also coordinates courses on English for legal purposes, special educational needs, learning strategies, and differentiation in the context of the second language classroom. Before joining academia, she worked as an English language and special needs teacher in Croatia, Poland, and the UK. Her educational background includes English language teaching and applied linguistics, special education needs, political science, and legal studies.

E. J. Williams (2008) ‘Presentations in English’. Macmillan

Authentic resources (Youtube)

The tutor’s own resources

Knowledge

The participant will know:

- about fundamental principles and techniques of public speaking in English;

- about the effective structure of the presentation;

- about useful language and grammatical expressions used when speaking publicly;

- how to present a topic of their field of study in a way that it is accessible for a wider audience;

- how to present data effectively;

- how to answer questions from the audience;

- how to ask questions about a presentation;

- how to use visual aid effectively.

Skills

The participants will be able to:

- present a topic of their field of study in a clear and logical way, using the recommended structure as well as language and grammatical expressions;

- present in PowerPoint;

- speak correctly and understandably;

- ask questions to create a positive atmosphere and opportunities for discussions;

- answer questions from the audience in a correct manner

Pass/fail (zal. / n.zal)

Participants will give two presentations (a mock presentation of 5 minutes and a final one of approx. 15 minutes)

English language skills – strong intermediate (B1+ CEFR)

Pass

Success criteria:

- give two presentations according to the principles of public speaking in the English language;

- the correct structure of the presentation;

- use correct language expressions and grammar;

- persuasive techniques;

- use visual aids effectively;

- time limits;

- answer questions from the audience in a correct manner.