Study Guide

Objective

The aim of the course is to activate and develop the students’ field-relevant English language and communication skills. The students will gain professional skills in various spoken and written communicative situations encountered in studies, working life and society. In addition, they will learn to utilize tools and techniques to further develop their skills in authentic, field-specific contexts.
Upon completing the course, the students should have acquired skills to communicate at level B2 according to European Framework of Reference for Languages, which states that at B2-level students should be able to produce clear, coherent and well-structured texts, present detailed descriptions related to one’s field of interest, express and exchange opinions using fluent language, follow complex arguments, and read longer articles and reports.

Content

- Writing academic and professional texts
- Presenting and discussing field-specific topics in academic and professional contexts
- Reading field-specific texts and utilizing the information in academic and professional contexts
- Learning and using key terminology of their field
- Becoming professional, autonomous language users in working life

Materials

The course learning material consists of versatile and field-specific materials supporting learning which can be found on the course's itslearning platform. The material will be discussed in more detail during the course.

Teaching methods

Learning methods are based on active learning and application of knowledge by the student, both independently and in groups.

Learning methods include for example problem-based learning, flipped learning, work life-based learning, peer-assessment, self-assessment, reflection and discussion.

International connections

Pedagogical approaches encourage students to actively learn and apply knowledge through a variety of methods and field-specific assignments.

Student workload

The learning tasks consist of assignments, in-class activities and homework tasks. The assignments are part of the approved completion of the course. The assignments are assessed on the scale 0-5. The assignments are as follows:
- Video CV
- Formal email
- Company presentation
- Learning report

Detailed instructions for the assignments will be given during the course.

Content scheduling

Practising the oral and written skills of English with field-specific and varied assignments.
Writing and reading texts, giving a presentation, discussing, practising vocabulary.

The extent of the course is 5 credits, corresponding to 135 hours of student work. The exact lecture dates can be found in the schedule. In addition, the course includes independent work alongside the lectures.

Evaluation scale

H-5

Assessment methods and criteria

The assessment is based on presence in the lectures (75 % presence is required) as well as approved completion of assignments and submission of assignments by the deadline.

The final grade for the course is based on the assessment scale of 0-5.

The assessment methods include teacher assessment, student's self-assessment and peer-assessment. The assessment criteria are gone through during the course and these are also found on the itslearning platform.

Assessment criteria, fail (0)

The student does not complete the required tasks during the course. The oral and written production and understanding is scarce. The absences exceed the limitation, the student quits the course.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

The student succeeds satisfactorily in the oral and written production. The student is able to communicate even though the communication is inaccurate at times. The lack and inconsistency of the vocabulary repertoire limits the communication. There are deficiencies in the structures of the language

Assessment criteria, good (3-4)

The student succeeds well in varied oral and written production situations. The student masters a varied vocabulary repertoire of the field and uses it well but there may be some inaccuracies in the language production. The student demonstrates skills to use structures in a versatile and correct manner but there might appear some mistakes in more demanding structures.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

The student demonstrates excellent skills in varied and demanding oral and written production situations. The student knows how to communicate in a context-appropriate manner. The student masters to a versatile and excellent extent the vocabulary of the field and in other contexts as well. The student is able to use multiple structures and shows how to use them in an almost impeccable manner.