Second Language Teaching - Practical English

obligatory courses

Classroom

Goals and assumptions:

• To make students aware of the specifics of passive and active language skills for both academic and general purposes.

• Enabling students to understand and create a variety of oral expressions on their own.

• Enriching and organizing functional vocabulary in use.

• Developing brevity and consistency of oral and written statements by using appropriate discourse markers, conjunctions and phrases.

• Attaching proper importance to the correctness of pronunciation, accent and intonation.

• Working on various varieties of English pronunciation and providing students with practical exercises on selected issues in this field.

• Taking care of the correctness of spelling, punctuation and grammar in written work

• Encouraging students to use the internet and the university library as sources of preparation for written or oral classes.

Goals and assumptions:

To make students aware of the specifics of passive and active language skills for both academic and general purposes.

• Enabling students to understand and create a variety of oral expressions on their own.

• Enriching and organizing functional vocabulary in use.

• Developing brevity and consistency of oral and written statements by using appropriate discourse markers, conjunctions and phrases.

• Attaching proper importance to the correctness of pronunciation, accent and intonation.

• Working on various varieties of English pronunciation and providing students with practical exercises on selected issues in this field.

• Taking care of the correctness of spelling, punctuation and grammar in written work

• Encouraging students to use the internet and the university library as sources of preparation for written or oral classes.

• Implementing to use and appreciate the role of independent or mutual work in pairs to improve the text.

Course content:

Semester I

The following issues will be included:

• Asking questions in class

• Expressing tastes and preferences and their hierarchy

• Asking for information and providing it

• Identification or expression of opinions and verbal response to it

• Agreeing or disagreeing with justification

• Expressing varying degrees of certainty

• Proposing and accepting or rejecting a proposal

• Exposition in oral and written communication (description, narration, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, classification)

• 2-3 graded essays in a semester

• Short oral presentation

• Semester revision of material /mock examination tasks

Semester II

The following issues will be included:

• Expressing commitment or coercion or lack thereof

• Asking for permission or refusal

• Asking for advice, giving advice

• Suggesting or recommending actions, warnings, threats

• Written letter of complaint. Ways to apologize and accept apologies.

• Polemics and persuasion in oral and written communication

• Expressing numerical data / Language of charts and statistical surveys

• Advertising

• Word formation, gerund & infinitive constructions, false friends

• 2-3 graded essays in a semester

• Short oral presentations

• Semester revision of material / mock examination tasks

Implementation and evaluation

• It is very important that the teacher often conducts listening comprehension exercises at C1 level

• Attaching importance to pronunciation in class is also crucial. The teacher should encourage the use of phonetic transcription.

Main aids:

Hadfield, J., Advanced Communication Games. Harlow: Longman, 2003.

Stanton, Alan, and Susan Morris. Fast Track to CAE. Harlow: Longman, 1999.

Wellman, G., Wordbuilder. London: Heinemann, 1989.

Vince, Michael. Advanced Language Practice. London: Macmillan Heinemann, 1994.

Cambridge CAE Practice Tests. Cambridge: CUP,Black, V, McNorton, M., Maldrez, A. & Parker, S., Speaking Advanced, OUP, Oxford, 1992.

Briggs, D. & Dummet, P., Listening and Speaking Advanced, Heineman, Oxford, 1995.

Gude, K., Advanced Listening and Speaking, CAE. OUP, Oxford, 1999.

Harmer, J. & Rossner, R., More Than Words, Longman, Harlow, 1991.

Jones, L., New Cambridge Advanced English, CUP, Cambridge, 1998.

Lynch, T. & Anderson, K., Study Speaking, CUP, Cambridge, 1992.

Porter Ladouse, G., Speaking Personally, CUP, Cambridge, 1983.

Preiss, S., Focus on Listening and Speaking Advanced, Longman, Harlow, 1998.

Ponsonby, M., How Now Brown Cow? A course in the pronunciation of English, Prentice Hall

Stanton, A. & Morris, S., CAE Practice Tests Plus (1+2), Pearson Education, Harlow, 2000.

Soars, J. & Soars, L., Headway Advanced, OUP, Oxford, 1989.

Norris, R., Straightforward Advanced, Macmillan, 2017.

Ur, P., Discussions that work, CUP, Cambridge, 1996

CAE practice tests – various sources

The student is able to:

S_U11 conduct an argument using the views of other authors and formulate conclusions in English

S_U12 communicate in a foreign language, using a variety of channels and techniques, with all participants in the teaching-learning process as well as experts in those academic disciplines and subjects that are relevant to their field of studies

S_U13 prepare written work in a foreign language, relevant to the field of studies, on specific issues, using basic theoretical approaches and a variety of sources

S_U14 prepare, and deliver in public, oral presentations in a foreign language, on specific issues, using basic theoretical approaches, as well as a variety of sources

S_U17 use language skills at CEFR level C1 in English, including the specificity of academic language and that of classroom communication

The grade is based on active participation in classes, grades from two tests of the same value, 2-3 written homeworks and one short oral presentation in a semester (each with 25% of the final grade). The basis for getting credit is 75%. The attendance in accordance with the rules of the University of Warsaw is obligatory.