Foreign Language II - English
Instance: 2006/2007 - 2S
Cycles of Study/Courses
Objectives
1. To develop students’ confidence in approaching texts written in English and in using the English language to communicate their opinions on themes within their main study area; that is, teaching Portuguese as a foreign language.
2. To deepen students’ intercultural awareness and enhance communicative competence in the use of the English language.
3. To analyse and develop receptive (reading and listening) and productive (speaking and writing) particularly at the level of communicative interaction.
4. To review and develop an accurate knowledge and understanding of English grammar in context.
5. To extend students’ lexical resource and develop their ability to use this appropriately in communicative contexts.
6. To introduce students to the International Phonetic Alphabet and to enable them to be able to recognise and discriminate between different vowel and consonant sounds.
7. To use the English language in the exploration of themes of general and academic interest.
8. To provide learner-training in study skills in order to help students understand and develop appropriate strategies for learning.
APPROACH TO TEACHING AND LEARNING
Active learning and participation will be encouraged at all times.
Program
Programa
Course content - grammar, vocabulary, and skills work (reading, writing, listening and
speaking) will be integrated into the following themes:
1st Semester – Student-centred learning
2nd Semester – The teacher's role today
Grammar & Vocabulary
Students will revise basic grammar and identify appropriate grammatical forms, which express functions within texts. They will analyse texts for specific features – grammatical devices (anaphoric/cataphoric referencing, ellipsis and substitution) and logical cohesive devices (‘linkers’ and ‘connectors’). Further, they will develop non-specialist vocabulary - word formation and word relationships - and develop dictionary and corpus skills.
Reading & Listening
Students will be provided with opportunities to develop receptive fluency by recognising semantic markers and intonation as a conveyor of attitude; develop strategies such as prediction of content by creating anticipation questions; analyse the organisation of texts – the layout, thematic patterns and main ideas; practise various reading modes – skimming for gist/scanning for specific information/thorough reading for detailed understanding and use of a variety of authentic texts related to the students’ areas of study.
Note-taking and Summarising
Students will develop note-taking skills via mind-mapping, brainstorming and the
use of abbreviations. They will learn to listen and note the main points of lectures by distinguishing between the former, subsidiary points and digression so that they can expand their notes into short summaries.
Main Bibliography
Language
SWAN, Michael and WALTER, Catherine – How English Works, Oxford University Press, 1998
A monolingual English dictionary. Eg: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary – latest edition
Study Skills
WALLACE, Michael, J – Study Skills in English, Cambridge University Press, 1996
On-line resources provided by leading educational publishers such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and the BBC, besides data collection systems like Wikipedia, etc.
Complementary Bibliography
Crystal, David (2001) English as a Global Language, Canto, Cambridge University Press
Jandt, Fred. E (2004) An Introduction to Intercultural Communication, Fourth Edition, Sage
Kramsch, Claire (2000) Language and Culture, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Teaching methods and learning activities
Active learning and participation will be encouraged at all times.
Software
Students should regularly consult the class web page for information about the course and useful links.
Evaluation Type
Eligibility for exams
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Students enrolled in continuous assessment are expected to attend 75% of classes.
Calculation formula of final grade
50% written paper and 50% oral
Examinations or Special Assignments
Not applicable
Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)
Not applicable
Classification improvement
According to Faculty norms
Observations
Language of instruction: English.