2023-2024 / LANG8035-1

Advanced practical English for political science

Duration

45h Th

Number of credits

 Bachelor in political sciences : general3 crédits 

Lecturer

Pascale Drianne

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course has a B2+-C1 CEFRL level. The aim of the course is to consolidate and extend the students' general language understanding and use and the specific features of the language related to politics. This is done in the four language skills, i.e.reading, listening, speaking and writing. Concretely students will deal with:
-selected articles
-books
-discussions and oral presentations
-IELTS or TOEFL type writing exercises
-videos

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The purpose of the course is

  • to consolidate and extend the students' general language and the use of the language related to politics.
  • to develop and consolidate students' mastery of active skills (speaking and writing)
  • to develop students' ability to describe graphs
  • to improve students'skills in "essay writing" and Academic English

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

  • Intermediate level, B2 CEFRL level
  • First year English courses (LANG8030-1 and LANG8031-1): these courses must be fully validated (10/20 minimum)
  • Second year courses (LANG8032-1 et LANG8033): students should have scored a mean of 8/20 for these courses in order to be allowed to take the third year English courses LANG8034 and LANG8035.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

In addition to regular preparation work, students will have to:



  • give 2 oral presentations 
  • read 2 books
  • hand in 1 written task (Essay) 
  • give short presentations on the news
These will be taken into account in the final grade.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Additional information:

The course is taught in one 2-hour session weekly from September to May.

Weekly preparation work is expected, the work load this represents is variable and depends on the students' level of competence.

Students are expected to participate actively in class as the course will focus on taking their active skills to a higher level (speaking-writing)

Participation + the written task and the oral presentations will make up 25% of the final grade.

Recommended or required readings

  • Course notes available on eCampus
  • Books: 
- Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Amy Chua (Penguin Press, 2018 or Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019)
-1 book  of your choice (to be submitted for approval)

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire, open-ended questions ) AND oral exam

Written work / report

Continuous assessment

Other : Oral presentations


Additional information:

Additional information:


The written exam in June makes up 45% of the final grade and will include reading (15%) and listening (15%) comprehension tests as well as vocabulary exercises (15%)

The oral exam in June represents 30% of the final grade and will deal with articles from a readings file (available in April) and the book Political Tribes: Group instinct and the Fate of Nations

Continuous assessment of progress (class participation and assignments) accounts for 25% of the final grade and consist of

-an oral presentation in Q1 (5%)

-an oral presentation in Q2 (7,5%)

-an essay (7,5%)

-active and regular attendance attendance at and preparation of classes (5%)


Work done during the year will be assessed according to a number of criteria including their content and internal cohesion, the accuracy of grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation, and the range of vocabulary and structure.

The classwork mark (25%) is always taken into account (both June and September sessions)

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Students are required to prepare some activities and exercises at home beforehand. Regular attendance is strongly advised.
The course is based on discussing the contents of articles or audio/video documents, it is thus essential that students should have read or heard or seen the documents BEFORE coming to class.

Contacts

Pascale Drianne - p.drianne@uliege.be ISLV

Association of one or more MOOCs