Pre-sessional English (13 weeks)

Students on the courses will need to complete the equivalent of 23 hours per week plus homework. Teachers will be available online to support students through activities on Blackboard which will take the form of lectures, presentations and other learning activities, such as guest lectures. The course will be a mixture of teaching and tutorial support and classes will generally have 12-15 students for every teacher.

The aim of the course is to develop and improve:

• confidence and ability to communicate effectively in academic English • performance in all four language skills within the context of studies (reading, writing, listening and speaking) • independence as learners as well as critical and analytical skills, which are key to succeeding at university in the UK • essay and report writing skills through ongoing practice (including summarising and paraphrasing, avoiding plagiarism, use of citations) • listening and note-taking skills necessary to benefit from university lectures (including recognising signposting language and dealing with unknown vocabulary) • ability and confidence to participate in group discussions and seminars on academic topics (including structuring arguments) • presentation skills in a range of academic activities (as well as pronunciation and intonation) • strategies for reading academic books, journal articles and case studies, and for carrying out research (including identifying genre, structure of journal articles, text cohesion and writer’s stance)