The primary aims of this course are to: develop learners’ speaking and discussion skills, strengthen discussion leadership abilities, develop Internet research skills, increase vocabulary knowledge, improve reading and listening comprehension, develop learner autonomy, & build confidence to use English for oral communicative purposes.
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to do the following:
Goal 1: Participate in a small group discussion for an extended time (25 minutes)
Objective 1.1: | Develop and improve discussion skills. - Respond with extra information - Ask follow-up questions - Ask for clarification - Ask for examples - Evaluate ideas - Reference and attribute sources - Return to a previous point |
Objective 1.2: | Reflect and critically evaluate individual and peer effort and performance. |
Goal 2: Develop discussion leadership abilities.
Objective 2.1: | Facilitate a small group discussion. - Introduce and change topics - Manage timing of discussions - Keep the group on topic and in English - Ask discussion questions |
Objective 2.2: | Provide discussion support. - Check for comprehension - Ask for repetition - Encourage participation - Summarize what others have said |
Goal 3: Comprehend, engage with, and respond to simple academic and journalistic texts.
Objective 3.1: | Identify and comprehend main ideas, supporting ideas, and details. |
Objective 3.2: | Demonstrate the ability to perform close and critical readings. |
Objective 3.3: | Develop and respond to meaningful discussion questions based on texts. |
Objective 3.4: | Engage in tasks and discussions related to text topics. |
Goal 4: Use new and high frequency academic vocabulary to clearly express ideas.
Objective 4.1: | Demonstrate an understanding of topic-specific and general academic vocabulary. |
Objective 4.2: | Use new, topic-related vocabulary successfully in communication activities and discussions. |
Goal 5: Demonstrate progress towards information literacy.
Objective 5.1: | Perform a basic internet search strategy to fulfill an information need. |
Objective 5.2: | Attribute information to its source/author. |
Objective 5.3: | Develop and present opinions based on selected materials. |
Updated 2018.02.15