FF:AJ11501 Spoken Fluency Practice - Course Information

AJ11501 Spoken Fluency Practice

Extent and Intensity

0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Peter Docherty (lecturer)
John Christopher Fennelly, B.A. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts

Timetable of Seminar Groups

AJ11501/02: Tue 12:00–13:40 K32, J. Fennelly
AJ11501/03: Wed 10:00–11:40 L42, J. Fennelly
AJ11501/04: Wed 8:00–9:40 L42, J. Fennelly
AJ11501/05: No timetable has been entered into IS. P. Docherty
AJ11501/06: No timetable has been entered into IS. P. Docherty

Prerequisites (in Czech)

( AJ09999 Qualifying Examination || AJ01002 Practical English II ) && !NOW( AJ13001 Academic Writing )

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 11 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

The aim of the course is to improve L2 students’ spoken fluency in English, especially in an academic context. Students will be provided with a forum to develop spoken fluency through group activities such as conversation, debates, and presentations based around their own areas of academic interest and material introduced by the lecturers. The course helps prepare students for the oral defence of their Bachelor thesis and thus the differences between written and spoken EAP are highlighted throughout. Note: the course is not appropriate for native speakers of English. The objective is for the students to acquire better speaking skills and take hints for further work.

Learning outcomes

Improved spoken fluency, improved public speaking skills, improved confidence in academic discussions in English

Syllabus

• Weeks 1-3 Academic vocabulary
• Weeks 4-5 Word combinations
• Week 6 Sources, facts, numbers & statistics
• Week 7 graphs, time, cause and effect
• Week 8 opinions and ideas Week
• Week 9 Presenting an argument

Literature

• Individual, according to presentation topic

Teaching methods

Each lesson consists of a short lecture on an aspect of spoken fluency followed by practise work in groups. Each student is expected to contribute equally with their peers. The onus is on the student to demonstrate their spoken ability to the lecturers throughout the course. During the in-class discussions, students are encouraged to experiment with new vocabulary, lexico-grammatical structures, and pronunciation etc. Students are in no way penalised for mistakes and inaccuracies during these discussions but are expected to learn from corrections. In the oral exam which concludes the course, students are assessed for accuracy, lexis, and overall fluency.

Assessment methods

In-class participation (30 points), oral exam (70 points). The course concludes with an oral exam lasting approximately 10 minutes. Each student will be required to discuss their particular area of academic interest and/or their Bachelor thesis topic and argument. Course grades (the CEFR levels shown in parentheses are indicative of the spoken standard required to achieve each grade): E - 60% (B2 minus), D – 65% (B2), C – 75% (B2 plus), B – 85% (C1), A – 95% (C2). There will be an opportunity for students to resit the oral exam in the exam period if required.

Language of instruction

English

Further Comments

Study Materials

• Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/AJ11501