Información del Plan Docente

1. General information

2. Learning goals

3. Assessment (1st and 2nd call)

4. Methodology, learning tasks, syllabus and resources

4.1. Methodological overview

This course introduces several examples of texts within the field of Humanities where academic English is used for critical and argumentative purposes. It provides representative models of these oral and written genres (with a special emphasis on the process of writing and defending a dissertation) and proposes practical exercises and activities meant to develop the students' skills in understanding this type of texts, analysing their main features and eventually producing them.

4.2. Learning tasks

This is a 6 ECTS (150 hours) course organized as follows:

• Theory sessions (0.4 ECTS: 10 hours). Critical reading and writing skills. Seminars and discussions. Advanced ICTs for academic research (see 4.3 Syllabus).
• Practice sessions (2.0 ECTS: 50 hours). These sessions are mainly geared towards encouraging students to participate in class discussions (expressing their opinions and giving arguments) as well as fostering their critical thinking (e.g. finding reliable sources of information, distinguishing facts from opinions, identifying biased language, etc.) .
• Individual or group tutorials (0.4 ECTS: 10 hours). Ongoing assessment of tasks mainly in small groups. Oral presentations. Basic steps for writing more specialized academic essays (Undergraduate dissertation).
• Autonomous work:
  1. Autonomous study (1.2 ECTS: 30 hours). Problem solving skills. Lifelong learning strategies.
  2. Other activities (1.8 ECTS: 45 hours). Reading and viewing of compulsory texts and films related to the subject. Remedial work and additional materials to be found in Moodle.
• Assessment tasks (0.2 ECTS: 5 hours). 5-part exam assessing the students' oral and written academic competence. All assessment tasks will be graded according to a B2.2 CEFR level.

4.3. Syllabus

The course will address the following topics:

• Topic 0. Academic English
  • Context, identifying features and main academic genres (Revision).
• Topic 1. Academic Spoken English
  • Seminars and discussions. Types of seminar. The language of seminars. Group work, participation and turn-taking.
• Topic 2. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Academic Research
  • Advanced ICTs for academic research.
  • Sources of information and research. Scholarly vs popular sources. Printed and online sources. Evaluation and reliability of information sources.
• Topic 3. Academic Written English
  • Introduction to critical genres: Review, Literature review and argumentative essay.
  • Advanced critical reading skills. Critical analysis of texts. Arguments and supporting evidence. Facts and opinions. Denotative and connotative language. Interpreting images. Identifying biased language and stance.
  • Advanced critical writing skills. Different textual structures. Working with other people's ideas. Intertextuality. Expressing one's own voice.
  • Specialized academic production: correcting, proofreading and editing. Referencing styles (Revision).

4.4. Course planning and calendar

Further information concerning the timetable, classroom, office hours, assessment dates and other details regarding this course, will be provided on the first day of class or please refer to the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts website (academic calendar: http://academico.unizar.es/calendario-academico/calendario, timetable: https://fyl.unizar.es/horario-de-clases#overlay-context=horario-de-clases; assessment dates: https://fyl.unizar.es/calendario-de-examenes#overlay-context=)