English for academic purposes B2/C1

Contenus

Reading and writing in an English-speaking academic context demands a range of skills that go beyond, though they also comprise, accuracy and range of grammar and vocabulary.

This course covers a range of strategies and rhetorical moves meant to enable you to participate in meaningful academic conversations, by honing your ability to read, discuss and write critically on a diverse range of topics.

Drawing on a selection of contemporary written and audio material (news items, interviews, essays), this course should enable you to gain confidence in outlining arguments, summarizing them, and developing a response of your own in cogent, lucid prose.

Objectifs

• Efficient use of academic journals & book reviews: Acknowledging and making good use of the institutional tools available in your discipline and beyond.
• Summarizing : Conveying someone else’s argument reliably while developing your own line of argument.
• Quoting : Mastering the conventions and strategies necessary to support your writing in eloquent, analytically cogent ways.
• Paragraphing: Negotiating your argument at various levels of abstraction – moving towards concrete examples and back to a broader point.
• Argument: Build up a set of rhetorical moves to operate transitions, link sections, connect the threads, and make sure your readers follow your claim(s).
• Footnotes and endnotes: Manage the information you render available to your readers with a concern for fluency.
• Finding your own voice: The culmination of the above, paired with a fine sensitivity to the use of diction and syntax.

Matériel

All material will be supplied during classes and available on Moodle. Various websites, news sources and documents will be used in the class.

Evaluation et attestation

Modalité : contrôle continu.

Attestation d'assiduité (sans mention de crédits ECTS) : 80% de présence ainsi qu'une participation active au cours sont requis.

Attestation de réussite (avec mention de crédits ECTS) : 80% de présence ainsi qu'une participation active au cours sont requis et obtention d'une moyenne globale de 4 points sur 6 au contrôle continu

Crédits ECTS : l’estimation de la charge de travail pour ce cours correspond à 3 crédits ECTS pour un semestre et à 6 crédits ECTS pour deux semestres. La reconnaissance de ces crédits relève du domaine de chaque Faculté (étudiant-es UNIGE) ou de l’Université d’origine (étudiant-es d’échange)