• Bos Shane

“… because of the interactive nature of talk, teachers need to be highly skilled speakers in order to develop the oral competence of their students”.                               - David Didau (2)

An English language teacher, in particular, has to demonstrate excellent speaking and listening (oracy) skills in English for their students. This course focuses on some of the most important kinds of oral/aural communication (e.g. presentations, pair-, small- and whole-group discussions), including key principles (e.g. audience, purpose, context, repetition, clarity, simplicity), specific language (e.g. question formation, verbal signposting, defining language), and skills (e.g. introducing yourself, describing a photo, talking about people and various familiar and unfamiliar topics, using and presenting visuals, asking and answering questions, explaining concepts and complex ideas), as well as learning strategies (e.g. giving and receiving feedback, observing how others use the language and learning from them, recording new language), that BAS1 students need to master in order to thrive as future teaching professionals, and as university students. 

To be a successful participant, it is important to increase the current amount of contact you have with the English language, particularly in terms of the variety, complexity, and frequency of speaking and listening you do outside of the classroom. Careful and critical out-of-class listening, often to long-format interviews or presentations on more complex topics, not necessarily related to your area of study or interests, will help to expose you to new language and ideas to bring into the classroom activities and assignments. Combining challenging and interesting English-language input with a live audience (your classmates and lecturer), in a low stakes rehearsal space (the English language classroom), is an excellent way to improve your speaking and listening skills, the primary aim of the course.    

Evaluation is based on attendance of, preparation for, and active and substantive contribution to every class, as well as completion of all portfolio tasks (GAS). In addition, a number of formal assignments will be evaluated by your lecturer, your peers and/or yourself, according to clearly-stated criteria and standards. You will receive a final grade for the course based on all of the above. 

(1) This is a required English language course for first-year BAS1 students who have English as one of their subjects. It is taken with R022.0217 Guided Autonomous Study: Year One-Part One (Autumn 2019). It constitutes the first part of the Advanced English Programme, which is taken over a two-year period.

(2) From David Didau’s blog The Learning Spy. The blogpost was called: “Developing oracy: it’s talkin’ time!” and was downloaded from: http://www.learningspy.co.uk/ on 10.02.2017.

The course starts on Friday, 20 September 2019.

The learning outcomes for Autumn Semester, 2019 are:

- understanding the importance of audience, purpose, context, repetition, clarity, and simplicity and building all of these features into your speech

- appreciating the close relationship between speaking, listening, reading, and writing (the 4 skills) as a way to improve your English

- expressing ideas more clearly and precisely in an appropriate style (formal, informal) to suit the context

- speaking more fluently with less hesitation while searching for language

- developing a better understanding of natural spoken English in general, professional and academic contexts

- introducing yourself confidently and topics with clarity and purpose

- planning and delivering professional oral presentations to an audience

- understanding the key principles of what makes a presentation successful

- maintaining eye contact and using positive body language and gesture in order to fully engage your audience and maintain interest throughout a presentation or talk

- participating more actively in and leading (when appropriate or necessary) group discussions

- asking and answering different types of questions for information, clarification, interruption, etc., using correct word order and appropriate intonation

- using signposting language during oral presentations such as, ‘OK, let’s move on and …’, ‘Now, I’d like to …’, etc.

- using and presenting visual aids with effect, pointing with words and/or gesture where appropriate to clarify points and aid understanding

- identifying and clearing up trouble spots in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

- developing a richer, more flexible, and more precise vocabulary and grammar for speaking

- developing better pronunciation with natural pausing, appropriate word and sentence stress, and intonation

- expressing, supporting, and analysing arguments in an academic way, e.g. by referring to sources/others’ ideas

- receiving and giving feedback to promote awareness and to encourage self-reflection

- sharing thoughts, feelings, and experiences in order to enhance the learning process

See course description under 'Documents'.

See course description under 'Documents'.

See course description under 'Documents'.

See course description under 'Documents'.