ILMAL1B: Academic Language Skills 1

Module code: ILMAL1B

Module provider: International Study and Language Institute

Credits: 0

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Professor Liz Wilding, email: e.a.wilding@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to help students develop their academic language skills for successful engagement with their master's degree programme study. It prepares students for the second semester of English study in Year 1: ILMAL2B / Academic Language Skills 2.

Students are expected to fully attend and engage with the module, and satisfactorily complete all the formative coursework.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Write a source-based academic cause and effect essay, demonstrating clear and logical organisation of ideas into paragraphs and sections
2. Draw on a wide range of grammatical structures and vocabulary to express complex ideas with reasonable fluency and accuracy
3. Give a clear, logically structured presentation, expanding and supporting ideas with relevant examples, and effectively handling questions from the audience.
4. Explain and develop ideas about academic issues and texts through effective participation in an organised discussion about a specific topic
5. Write sections of a research report (the introduction, methods, results and discussion), using language appropriate to the task, and demonstrating clear and logical organisation of ideas into paragraphs and sections 

Module content

The module will help students to acquire the skills and knowledge to engage effectively with spoken and written tasks common to university study through:

• Analysing the purpose, stages and key features of the spoken and written coursework genres.
• Extracting information from spoken and written texts relevant to the purpose of the tasks.
• Developing research and reading-to-write skills for successful completion of an academic essay.
• Developing research and reading-to-speak skills for successful delivery of an academic oral presentation.
• Engaging in a small scale simulation of the research process with the design of a data collection instrument to investigate the given topic with peers.
• Producing sections of the tasks with guided supported practice i.e. improving the response through tutor or peer feedback on draft work.
• Constructing or co-constructing the final response to the tasks independently [of the tutor] for final assessment.
• Practice of language to achieve a good control of grammatical forms, appropriate use of vocabulary for the context of the genre and topic, and a generally appropriate level of intelligibility.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will take a task-based, contextualised approach which integrates practice and development of receptive (listening, reading) and productive (speaking, writing) academic English communication skills around accessible themes.

The module will adopt an overall ‘genre’ approach, taking the social purpose of texts as the starting point to explicate organisation/structure and key language features.

The module consists of daily interactive classes and guided independent study tasks. Guided Independent tasks are completed without a teacher. The tasks include preparation for the next class, or a review of material taught.

Study hours

At least 128 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

There is no assessment on this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

There is no assessment on this module.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

There are four formative assessments:

• Essay (individual)
• Presentation (individual)
• Mini-research report (group)
• Discussion task (group)

Reassessment

Additional costs