Listening & Speaking2

This is an advanced listening and speaking course for college students.  The purpose of this course is to help students to speak and understand English well enough to succeed in college courses in any subject.  In this course you will practice listening to college lectures, giving short oral presentations, and participating in class discussions.

The textbook for the course is English for Academic Success: College Oral Communication 4.  In addition, you will see and listen to audiotaped or computer-based material in class or in the listening lab.

Course activities

Speaking activities include:

1. participating in small group and large group discussions on academic topics; participating in communication and pronunciation practice in class;

2. preparing voice notes or other recordings, to be handed in as homework assignments; these talks will be on topics discussed in class.  These voice notes will be returned to you with oral or written comments on content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation;

3. making short oral reports to the class about work done in class;

4. Attending at least one office meeting with me, either near the middle of the semester or near the end of the semester, in which you report on discussion activities in class; you will receive written comments on content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation of your report;

Listening activities include

1. practicing the skills that are necessary to participate in group discussions, lectures, and other academic speech, including work on pronunciation, academic vocabulary, grammar related to oral language;

2. listening to lectures given "live" in class and preparing for tests on the contents of these lectures;

3. listening to oral presentations by classmates;

    

    

Skills

The activities in this course are designed to help you learn more about the following speaking and listening skills:

1. pronunciation skills, including:

2. knowledge of the individual sounds in the English sound system,

3. recognizing and using correct stress on syllables; “If possible”

4. recognizing and correctly using changes in sounds and stress in various forms of academic vocabulary

1. using the right speaking style for different social situations;

2. participating in an academic conversation, including expressing opinions, asking for clarification, respectfully disagreeing;

3. making a group decision or recommendation;

4. making an oral presentation to an audience, with notes;

    

Course schedule and assignments

General.

The material for the course is divided into six chapters.  We will spend about two weeks doing the work for each chapter.  For each chapter, you will have a similar set of basic jobs to do:

• Discuss the content of the material related to a college course.  Sometimes, this discussion will be based on reading that you will be asked to do.

   

• Study the meaning and form of academic vocabulary that you are likely to meet in college courses.

   

• Study material that describes listening and speaking strategies that successful students use in academic courses. Sometimes this includes classroom activities in listening and speaking.

   

• Listen to longer examples of lectures, conversations, or discussions that are like the ones you will hear in an academic course, and then take notes or do other activities that are designed to help you understand and remember what you have heard.

   

• Participate in speaking activities that include group discussions, oral presentations to the whole class, etc.

   

• Take tests, including tests in listening, in which you take notes and answer questions about what you have heard, and in speaking, in which you make voice notes about the topics related to the chapter.

   

  More specifically.

   

  In addition to the general types of activities for each chapter, which are listed above, here are some of the specific goals connected to activities in the various chapters.  The schedule for these chapters is flexible, and will change according to the needs of the class.

   

  Week 1-2.   Chapter 1.  History.

   

  Recognize syllable stress in academic vocabulary

  Recognize advanced time expressions

  Work as a member of a group on an academic task

  Summarize the main points of a lecture

   

  Week 3-4.  Chapter 2. Psychology.

   

  Recognize and take notes on cause and effect expressions

  Recognize and understand past participles used as adjectives

  Compare and clarify lecture notes with classmates

  Speak with cause and effect expressions

  Ask questions for clarification during a lecture

  Prepare for a lecture test

  Prepare a short oral summary

   

  Week 5-6, Chapter 3.  E-commerce.

   

  Recognize examples in a lecture

  Understand information about class assignments

  Summarize information from a chart

  Summarize a case study

   

  Week 7.  Midterm listening & Speaking exam.

   

  Midterm Break

   

  Week 8-9 Chapter 4. Sociology.

   

  Recognize and producing word forms in a word family

  Summarize quantitative information from a chart

  Use academic social rules for politeness

   

   

   

  Week 10-11.  Chapter 5.  Science.

   

  Recognize and understanding passive voice

  Summarize a laboratory investigation: describing steps in a process

  Summarize data from a chart

   

  Week 12-13.  Chapter 6.  Literature.

   

  Take notes on a class handout

  Understand paraphrases

  Respond to arguments: agreeing and disagreeing

  Persuade an audience about issues, claims, and evidence

   

Week 14.  Review

IMPORTANT NOTE TO STUDENTS:

1. Textbooks are required for this course. You also need to have a good monolingual dictionary.

2.  Attendance is required. After 6 consecutive absences without notification, the instructor may drop you from the class.

3. Punctuality is required. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late to class, you can attend the class, but you will be marked absent.

4.  Homework is required. Instructors reserve the right to require graded or non-graded supplementary work in class or as homework.

5.  Dropping, adding, or withdrawing from a class is the student’s responsibility. Instructor may also initiate drops for no-shows and non-attendance.

6. QUIZZES and EXAMS: There will be no make-ups for quizzes. The instructor may choose to drop the lowest grade. Make-ups for final exams are given ONLY with an official excuse giving the exact date and time.

7. If a student is absent, she must contact another student in the class, or the instructor, to find out the work done and the homework. She must come prepared for the next class.

8. Assignments and copies of presentations must be emailed to the instructor. Deadline time is 12:00 a.m. before the class (for assignments).

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Course Grading System:

Listening Midterm Exam: ...................20%

Speaking Midterm Exam: ...................10%

Presentation: ........................................10%

Quizzez: ...............................................10%

Class Participation: ..............................10%

Final Exam: ..........................................40%