Course Catalogue

Module Code and Title:       EAP102 Upper-Intermediate English for Academic Purposes

Programme:                          BA in English Studies (borrowed)

Credit Value:                         12

Module Tutor:                       Dechen Pelden (coordinator), Sangay C. Wangchuk, Palden Wangmo, Mohan Rai and Ruma Tamang

General objective: EAP102 is the second part of a two-semester series that aims to develop abilities in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in an academic context to support students’ learning through their degree studies. The second part builds on the skills learned in EAP101 and focuses on further helping students to improve their proficiency in English Language and communication. 

Learning outcomes – On completion of the module, students will be able to:

Reading skills

  1. Research texts for essays and apply skimming and scanning while doing so.
  2. Identify the progression of ideas in a text.
  3. Predict the content of a text and infer the meanings of words.
  4. Read for detail, collect information for an essay and take notes for essay-writing and summarise what they have read.
  5. Recognize and verify the detection of plagiarized text.

Writing skills

  1. Write using discipline-specific language.
  2. Defend claims by using evidence, paraphrase information and use quotations in their writing.
  3. Identify language for academic writing.
  4. Examine the structure and content of reports.
  5. Take a stance and express disagreement.
  6. Write text using and citing sources appropriately, incorporating summarization, paraphrasing, quotation, and synthesis as appropriate.

Listening and Speaking skills

  1. Make and respond to suggestions in a group work.
  2. Collaborate with peers to generate ideas.
  3. Participate in tutorials and discussions to ask for and give information.
  4. Deliver a well-structured formal oral presentation.

Grammar and Vocabulary

  1. Explain targeted grammatical structures in both spoken and written forms.
  2. Apply targeted grammatical structures appropriately in both written and oral production.
  3. Self-correct while using targeted grammatical structures.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

Type

Approach

Hours per Week

Total Credit Hours

Contact

Lecture, discussions, and practice (2 x 2 hr). In-class time in each block is used in a workshop style with a review of prior topics and introduction to a new topic, at least one hour on practice, and debrief / reflection / assessment time at the end. Each major unit includes some assessment involving approximately 30 min of in-class time per week on average. Students are expected to use a significant portion of the total in-class time on practice with selected exercises.

4

60

Independent study

Writing assignments, Learning journal, VLE discussions

2

30

Reading and review of class materials

2

30

Total

120

Assessment Approach:

  1. Note-Taking Exercise 5%

Each student has to maintain class notes containing series of exercises from both within and outside the class. It will be assessed before the mid-semester.

‘Note-Taking Exercise’ will be assessed using the following rubric: 

Relevance and Completeness: 10 marks

Coherence and Organisation: 10 marks

Language and clarity: 10 marks

  1. VLE Discussion 10% 

Students will participate in two VLE discussions (5%+5%) on topics assigned by the tutor. It will be conducted one before mid-semester and one after mid semester for 5% each. 

The task will be assessed based on the following rubric: 

Quality of Discussion: 12 marks

Interaction with peers: 4 marks

Language and Grammar: 4 marks

  1. Essay Writing Portfolio: 20% 

Students will write a persuasive essay and an argumentative essay of 350-500 words each. These essays will be on discipline-specific topics, each submitted as first and final drafts. The two first drafts will be assessed out of 3% each and the final submission will be out of 7% each. 

The first draft of the persuasive essay will be assessed on the following rubric:

Quality of persuasion: 60 marks

Organisation and Structure: 20 marks

Language and Grammar: 20 marks

The first draft of the argumentative essay will be assessed on the following rubric:

Quality of arguments: 60 marks

Organisation and Structure: 20 marks

Language and Grammar: 20 marks

The final drafts for both the (persuasive & argumentative) essays will be assessed on the following rubric:

Quality of persuasion/ arguments: 50 marks

Organisation and Structure: 15 marks

Language and Grammar: 20 marks

Improvement made on the first draft: 15 marks

  1. Presentation: 20%

Each student will make a 7–10-minute presentation. with clear, systematically developed, detailed descriptions on a subject of their interest, expanding and supporting ideas with subsidiary points and relevant examples, and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion The student can choose one presentation topic of their interest. 

The presentations will be assessed based on the following criteria:

Content: 15 marks

Structure: 25 marks

Use of sources and citation: 10 marks

Use of visual aids: 5 marks

Language: 15 marks

Delivery: 25 marks

Time Management: 5 marks

  1. Written assignment: 25%

Students will write a 1000-1250 word researched assignment in an academic style, incorporating at least 3 reference sources. The assignment will consist of an outline with an annotated bibliography, followed by the first and final drafts of the essay. The annotated bibliography will be worth 5%. The first draft will be worth 5%; improvement on the first draft will be 5%; and the final draft will be worth 10%. 

The annotated bibliography will be assessed based on the following rubric:

Quality and reliability of sources: 15 marks

Quality of summary and evaluation: 20 marks

Citation: 5 marks

Language: 10 marks

The first and final drafts of the essay will be assessed using the following criteria:

Depth of reflection: 25 marks

Critical thinking: 25 marks

Use of sources: 20 marks

Language and Grammar: 20 marks

Use of annotated bibliography: 10 marks

Improvement on feedback will be evaluated using the following rubric:

Marginal improvement: 0 – 49 marks

Satisfactory improvement: 50 – 59 marks

Significant and appropriate improvement: 60 – 74 marks

Significant improvement beyond feedback given: 75 – 100 marks

  1. Class Tests: 20% 

Two class tests (10%+10%) of 45-50 minutes will be held within class hours, each covering approximately 3-4 weeks of subject matter. These tests should be based on the four skills. These will be marked out of 10 each.

Overview of assessment approaches and weighting

Areas of assignments

Quantity

Weighting

A. Note-Taking Exercise

1

5%

B. VLE Discussion 

2

10%
  1. Essay Writing

2

20%
  1. Written assignment

1

25%

E. Presentation

1

20%

F. Class tests

2

20%

Total Continuous Assessment (CA)

 

100%

Pre-requisites: EAP101 Intermediate English for Academic Purposes

Subject matter:

  1. Unit I: Academic orientation
    1. Assessing one’s academic skills
    2. Thinking about academic culture
    3. Thinking critically
    4. Avoiding plagiarism
    5. Recognising variation across academic subjects
    6. Focusing on academic vocabulary 
  2. Unit II: Topic/context: Choices and implications
    1. Reading: Researching texts for essays; Skimming and scanning; Identifying the sequence of ideas; Understanding implicit meanings; Inferring the meaning of words; Vocabulary building: adjectives
    2. Listening and speaking: Introducing your presentation; Clarifying key terms
    3. Writing: Understanding how essay types are organised; Drafting the introduction to an essay; Language for writing: common knowledge
    4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Avoiding repetition: that (of) and those (of); Word families: linking parts of texts; Verb-noun collocations
  3. Unit III: Topic/context: Language and communication
    1. Reading: Predicting the content of a text; Reading for detail; Scanning for information; Understanding implicit meanings; Vocabulary building: adjectives; Thinking about ways of taking notes
    2. Listening and speaking: Making suggestions in group work; Pronunciation: stress in adjectives ending in -ic and -ical
    3. Writing: Referring to other people's work; Using in-text references (particular focus on APA style); Language for writing: reporting verbs
    4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Impersonal it-clauses: saying that something is important, interesting, etc.; Word families; Nouns with related adjectives ending in -ic and -ical; Reporting verbs
  4. Unit IV: Lecture Skills I 

(Lecture Skills A)

  1. Preparing for lectures: Lecturing styles; Revising basic information
  2. Listening: Understanding lecture aims; Understanding outlines; Identifying main and secondary points; Taking notes: annotating slides 1
  3. Language focus: Repetition and rephrasing
  4. Follow-up: Taking notes: annotating slides 2; Reviewing your notes

 

(Lecture Skills B)

  1. Preparing for lectures: Using preparation strategies; Making predictions before a lecture starts
  2. Listening: Making predictions during a lecture; Identifying topic change; Following an argument
  3. Taking notes: using symbols and abbreviation in notes
  4. Language focus: Organising questions and topic changes
  5. Follow-up: Expanding your vocabulary
  1. Unit V: Topic/context: Difference and diversity
  1. Reading: Thinking about what you already know; Reading in detail; Taking notes; Vocabulary building 1: word families; Vocabulary building 2: adjective-noun collocations; Collecting information for an essay; Taking notes for essay writing
  2. Listening and speaking: Working with colleagues: generating ideas and reporting; Pronunciation: dividing speech into units
  3. Writing: Language for writing 1: the grammar of reporting verbs; Language for writing 2: comparing and contrasting; Reporting from a reading
  4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Linking parts of a text: conjunctions and sentence connectors; Single-word verbs and multi-word verbs; Word families
  1. Unit VI: Topic/context: The world we live in
  1. Reading: Recognising plagiarism; Getting started; Identifying the main ideas in a text; Summarising what you have read; Vocabulary building: single-word verbs and multi-word verbs; Vocabulary in context: hedging adverbs
  2. Listening and speaking: Reaching a consensus in group work; Pronunciation: contrasts
  3. Writing: Using paraphrases; Including quotations in writing
  4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Articles: zero article and the; Complex prepositions; Person, people, peoples

Unit VII: Topic/context: Bringing about change

  1.  
  1. Reading: Reading critically; Finding information and taking notes; Vocabulary in context 1: inferring the meaning of words; Vocabulary in context 2: hedges; Retelling what you have read
  2. Listening and speaking: Concluding your presentation; Pronunciation: linking words in speech units
  3. Writing: Using an academic style
  4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Adding information about nouns: relative clauses; It-clauses: expressing personal opinions impersonally; Abstract nouns + of + -ing/to-infinitive

Unit VIII: Topic/context: Work and equality

  1.  
  1. Reading: Understanding figures and tables; Scanning for information; Taking notes; Understanding the significance of references; Vocabulary in context: avoiding repetition
  2. Listening and speaking: Taking part in tutorials and joining in discussions; Pronunciation: stress in compound nouns 1
  3. Writing: Looking at the structure and content of reports; Language for writing 1: describing events in a time sequence; Language for writing 2: cause and effect
  4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Passive voice; Past perfect; -ing nouns

Unit IX: Topic/context: Controversies

  1.  
  1. Reading: Understanding the writer's opinion; Identifying main ideas and supporting information; Recognising general nouns; Understanding hedges; Vocabulary building 1: formal and informal verbs; Vocabulary building 2: opposites
  2. Listening and speaking: Tutorials: asking for and giving more information; Pronunciation: intonation in wh-clefts
  3. Writing: Describing information in figures and tables; Language for writing 1: referring to figures and tables; Language for writing 2: referring backwards and forwards; Writing practice
  4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Verbs followed by a noun phrase or that-clause; Non-finite relative clauses; Adverbials used to comment

Unit X: Topic/context: Health

  1.  
  1. Reading: Reading for evidence; Thinking about what you already know; Preparing for essay writing; Vocabulary in context: inferring the meaning of words; Understanding connections in texts: this/these; Developing hedging skills
  2. Listening and speaking: Summarising what has been said; Evaluating visual aids; Pronunciation: stress in compound nouns 2
  3. Writing: Contrasting information; Taking a stance: expressing disagreement; Writing practice
  4. Grammar and vocabulary practice: Referring to quantities; Evaluative adjectives and adverbs; Phrases connecting sentences: this/these; Non-finite relative clauses

Unit XI: Lecture Skills II

(Lecture Skills C)

  1.  
  1. Preparing for lectures: Thinking about the purposes of lectures
  2. Listening: Understanding evaluations; Understanding lists
  3. Language focus: Noticing differences in the language of lectures and academic writing; Noticing prominent words
  4. Follow-up: Taking notes: annotating; Reconstructing your notes

(Lecture Skills D)

  1. Preparing for lectures: Building basic information
  2. Listening: Understanding the relationship between parts of the lecture; Understanding descriptions of processes
  3. Language focus: Understanding vague language
  4. Follow-up: Listening for a lecture summary; Comparing notes

(Lecture Skills E)

  1. Preparing for lectures: Overcoming problems in listening to lectures
  2. Listening: Understanding specialised terms; Understanding reasons
  3. Language focus: Understanding signals of incomplete information; Understanding forward and backward reference
  4. Follow-up: Listening and annotating slides; Writing up your notes; Overcoming problems

Reading List:

Essential reading

Hewings, M. and McCarthy, M. (2014). Cambridge academic English – An integrated skills course for EAP: B2 (Upper Intermediate) Student’s Book. Cambridge University Press.

Paterson, K. and Wedge, R. (2013). Oxford grammar for EAP. Oxford University Press.

Additional reading

Hacker, D. (2021). A writer’s reference (10th ed.). Bedford/St. Martin's.

Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes. Routledge.

Date: June 2022
Royal Thimphu College