Academic Year/course:
2023/24
571 - Degree in Environmental Sciences
25269 -
Syllabus Information
Academic year:
2023/24
Subject:
25269 -
Faculty / School:
201 - Escuela Politécnica Superior
Degree:
571 - Degree in Environmental Sciences
ECTS:
6.0
Year:
3 and 4
Semester:
Second Four-month period
Subject type:
Optional
Module:
---
1. General information
The main objective of this subject is for students to improve their oral and written communication skills in English language, reaching at least level B1 of the EFCR (European Framework of Reference for Languages). The contents of the subject are specific to the thematic areas of environmental sciences, from which the particularities of academic and professional English will be introduced.
These approaches and objectives are aligned with some of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/) and certain specific targets. Specifically, the learning results of the subject will contribute to some extent to the achievement of Objectives 4.4. and 4.7. of SDG 4.
2. Learning results
1. Understands both general ideas and details of spoken discourse (especially lectures and master classes) and interacts in English on the topics worked on during the term with the correctness and efficiency that corresponds to this level.
2. -Presents to the class with fluency, clarity and grammatical and terminological precision some aspect of their specialty itinerary that they has prepared in advance.
3. -Comprehends globally and in detail different types of informative or argumentative documents written in general English́, as well as in scientific-technical English, on topics related to the degree, being able to locate or deduce relevant information from them.
4. -Writes messages and texts about their specialty in English with acceptable degrees of correctness and textual and terminological coherence at an intermediate level, using appropriately the conventions of each type of text and the most recurrent grammatical structures of technical communication.
As indicated above, these learning results are aligned with objectives 4.4. and 4.7. of SDG 4.
3. Syllabus
1. The Earth: essentials of geography and geology.
2. Climate, weather and climate change.
3. Biology basics and ecosystems.
4. Main concepts of chemistry: cycles in nature.
5. Endangered ecosystems.
6. Pollution.
7. Waste and recycling.
8. Energy sources and sustainability.
In the different units we will deepen in aspects related to English morphosyntax, scientific-technical and professional discourse, and specialized lexicon.
4. Academic activities
- Theoretical and interactive activities to introduce each aspect of the program (forms, meanings and uses of grammatical structures, terminology, and rhetorical-textual elements) through exercises based on observation , reflection, inference or classification (1.2 ECTS).
- Practical activities, individual or in groups (1.8 ETCS). Here it is worth mentioning tasks related to intensive reading of texts, linguistic and discursive analysis, reformulation of contents, listening and viewing with comprehension and analysis tasks , mini-debates, oral presentations and group interaction.
- Practical sessions aimed at the individual exercise of communicative skills (3 ECTS).
These activities will contribute to achieving SDG Objectives 4.4 and 4.7.
5. Assessment system
The evaluation will be global and will consist of two activities:
-Final written exam (80%) with the following sections:
a)Reading comprehension: 20%
b)Listening comprehension 20%
c) Morphosyntax and vocabulary (Use of English): 20%
d)Written production (Writing): 20%-
--Oral production/interaction test 20%.
To evaluate the tests, lexical-grammatical, phonetic-phonological, pragmatic-discursive, sociolinguistic and strategic aspects appropriate to the level of the subject will be taken into account. Thus, all sections contribute to the evaluation of the Objectives SDG4.4. and 4.7.
To pass the subject, the student must obtain a final grade equal to or higher than 60% of the total grade and a grade of no lower than 50% in each of the subsections (a-d), as well as in the oral exam. If the grades obtained by a student do not meet these requirements, they will not have reached the minimum level of demand and will not pass the subject. If the final grade is equal to or higher than 5 but lower than 6 out of 10, the record will reflect a grade of 4.5 (fail).
The detailed definition of the evaluation system will be explained in the presentation of the subject.
Success rates in previous years
2019/2020: 100%
2020/2021: 90,91%
2021/2022: 100,00%