AJ11501 Spoken Fluency Practice

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
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
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
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999, Spring 2000, Autumn 2000, Spring 2001, Autumn 2006, Spring 2007, Autumn 2007, Spring 2008, Autumn 2008, Spring 2009, Autumn 2009, Spring 2010, Autumn 2010, Spring 2011, Autumn 2011, Spring 2012, Autumn 2012, Spring 2013, Autumn 2013, Spring 2014, Autumn 2014, Spring 2015, Autumn 2015, Spring 2016, Autumn 2016, Spring 2017, Autumn 2017, Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019, Autumn 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/AJ11501