Academic Speaking (Pre-sessional Course B - Business)

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• prepare and deliver an effective presentation
• identify ways in which to improve your pronunciation
• communicate confidently with your University staff and fellow students
• participate in class discussions
• prepare and participate in academic discussions

The speaking syllabus helps you develop strategies for improving your academic speaking skills, and focuses in particular, on how to develop your speaking skills during group work, academic discussions, and presentations. Three main skill areas are taught and practised in the speaking module: pronunciation skills, presentation skills, and academic discussion skills.

A. PRONUNCIATION

The areas you will cover include work to improve:

• individual sounds
• pausing and chunking
• sentence stress
• intonation
• fluency
• word stress.

B. PRESENTATION SKILLS

The areas you will cover include how to:

• select presentation content
• structure a presentation
• open and close a presentation
• organise the body of a presentation
• use signposting language
• deal with questions
• prepare and use visual aids and notecards
• engage audience through body language.

C. SEMINAR SKILLS:

• The areas you will cover include how to:
• research and prepare for a seminar
• refer to your research in the seminar
• listen and participate actively
• exchange opinions
• agree and disagree
• explain and support your points
• ask for and give clarification
• show your understanding of others’ points
• interrupt politely
• make suggestions
• summarise a discussion and report back
• lead/chair a discussion

Teaching and learning methods

You will experience a wide variety of teaching and learning methods including: full class teaching; seminar discussions; individual and group presentations; individual, pair and group work in class; set tasks to be completed outside class; self-directed independent study and group tutorials.

Resources & Reading list

Internet Resources

BBC Learning English.

Ship or Sheep.

University of Warwick.

International Debate Education Association.

UEFAP Speaking.

British Council phonemic chart.

English Club.

Textbooks

S Cottrell (2008). The Study Skills Handbook. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

A McNair and F Gooch (2013). Language for Study level 3.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

E Williams (2008). Presentations in English. Oxford: Macmillan.

C Thaine (2012). Cambridge Academic English Intermediate Student’s book: An integrated skills Course for EAP. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

K Anderson, J Maclean and T Lynch (2004). Study Speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

J Smith and A Margolis (2012). English for Academic Study: Pronunciation. Reading: University of Reading.

M Hewings (2010). English Pronunciation in Use Advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

D Bell (2008). Passport to Academic Presentations. Reading: Garnet Education.

C Fletcher (2013). Skills for Study level 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

A Baker (2006). Ship or Sheep: An Intermediate Pronunciation Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

J Van Emden and L Becker (2010). Presentation Skills for Students. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

R Lowes, H Peters and M Turner (2004). International Students Study Guide. London: Sage Publications.

M Hancock (2008). English Pronunciation in Use Intermediate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

J McCormack and S Watkins (2012). English for Academic Study: Speaking. Reading: University of Reading.

Assessment strategy

Informal tasks designed to provide formative feedback on:

• pronunciation
• oral presentations
• discussion participation
• speaking skills in general.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.