FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES

DEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS Y CULTURA

SPEAKING FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
(ENGLISH 10B)

COURSE CODE - SECTION: LENG-1162 – 6

TYPE OF COURSE LANGUAGE X
COURSE LEVEL UNDERGRADUATE
CREDITS 2
YEAR - SEMESTER 2020-2A
PROFESSOR: Thomas McCormack
CLASS SCHEDULE 5pm to 6:15
E-MAIL: [email protected]
OFFICE: na
OFFICE HOURS 4pm to 5pm on Mondays

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Program Description
The English Academic Skills Cycle  program provides undergraduate students at Los
Andes with the English instruction they need to complete academic tasks in English
within the university, as well as to use English effectively in academic and professional
situations outside the university. It is also designed to help students acquire the
strategies they need to continue learning English independently beyond the classroom.
The English Academic Skills Cycle  program has eleven levels and two cycles: basic and
intermediate/advanced. The purpose of the basic cycle is to prepare students for an
English-language academic environment and to be able to read academic texts, which
are required in their university classes. Successful completion of the basic cycle fulfills
the university’s English reading requirement, and prepares students to take cursos I. The
purpose of the intermediate/advanced cycle is to provide students with specific focused
instruction in oral and written communication, including aspects of both fluency and
accuracy. Successful completion of the intermediate/advanced cycle fulfills the
university’s second language requirement.

Basic English Fundamentals LENG 1150

English 1 LENG 1151
English 2 LENG 1152
Integrated Academic Skills
English 3 LENG 1153
English 4 LENG 1154
English 5 LENG 1155
 English 6 LENG 1156
Intermediate Intermediate Academic
English 7 LENG 1157
Speaking
The Basics of Writing
English 8 LENG 1158
Academic English
Advanced Writing for Science and
English 9A Students LENG 1159 Engineering
Choose
One Writing for Humanities and
English 9B LENG 1160
Social Sciences
Speaking for Academic
English 10A Students LENG 1161 Purposes
Choose
One Speaking for Professional
English 10B LENG 1162
Purposes

Course Description
Each course in the English Academic Skills Cycle program focuses on a particular
topic. This course is the last course in the skills cycle and its topic focuses on applying
the two central principles of the PAL program (English for Professional Purposes)
towards improving student abilities in oral communication. The course allows students
to both develop and present on content related to linguistic aspects relevant to learners
of English as a second language as well as professional language specifically related to
students’ future professional goals related and possibly unrelated to their fields of
study.  
Prior to this course, students received specific instruction on phonetics, organization of
ideas and autonomy; thus, this course extends prior learning about pronunciation and
autonomy by teaching students prosodic features (such as intonation, thought groups
and reductions) through a blended learning approach. This will permit them to make
their speech more natural, meaningful, interesting and comprehensible in a
professional setting.  
English 10B focuses on several key aspects of public speaking and assignments in
different genres (storytelling, formal presentations, resume building, interviews).
Special emphasis is placed on communicative strategies, preparation strategies,
developing confidence and fluency, establishing connection with the audience, as well
as the importance of organization and concision with respect to expressing ideas. The
course is also based on the idea that being a strong public speaker requires focused
practice, so ‘learning by doing’ is emphasized.
In sum, students completing this 48-hour course display improved clarity, fluency and
precision in prepared talks. Public speaking skills are enhanced due to improvements
in organization, concision and confidence, leading students to realize that it is not only
what one says, but how one says it. This concept is emphasized not only with respect
to the aforementioned techniques but through related academic readings on linguistics
and critical discussion about sociocultural themes surrounding language learning and
use.
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Skill CEFR Entry CEFR Exit

Reading B2 B2+
Writing B2 B2+
Speaking B2- B2
Listening B2- B2
Grammar/ B2- B2
Vocabulary

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

● Identify the difference between content and delivery (what you say vs. how you
say it).
● Apply self-observations and feedback regarding common speaking errors
(mispronunciation, stress, pausing, false cognates, key vocabulary).
● Use a range of narrative tenses effectively when telling stories.
● Use different techniques to enhance oral storytelling.
● Tell a story using elements of voice and delivery as well as the use of
storytelling signposts to convey different intentions and attitudes.
● Clearly convey ideas in well-formed thought groups.
● Understand overarching themes and specific details in textbook readings.
● Understand main ideas and specific details in listening tasks related to stories,
academic presentations and interviews.
● Follow a straightforward and clearly structured lecture or talk in his/her own
field provided that the subject matter is familiar.
● Enhance the content of their message using effective body language.
● Deliver a problem-solution speech using strategies and language associated with
this genre.
● Use effective techniques to open and close a presentation.
● Design and interact with an appropriate slide deck in front of an audience.
● Use intonation, tone, stress and rhythm to communicate different ideas and
attitudes in an intelligible manner.
● Write scripts to prepare content and delivery in a formal talk.
● Give feedback to peers and self-evaluate organization, content, and delivery in
formal speech.
● Use signal words (discourse markers) to mark changes in direction and
important moments in oral discourse.
● Identify and analyze elements of formal talks (Problem-Solution speeches)
including word choice, content, organization, audience engagement and
delivery.
● Understand common interview questions and their variations.
● Give concise and coherent information related to educational and professional
experience, personal characteristics, skills and goals in an interview.
● Use key phrases to ask for confirmation, repetition and clarification.
● Use interview techniques to produce animated, interesting responses in
interviews.
● Analyze the features of model resumes and write an effective resume in English
using the proper style, formatting and conventions.
● Understand and correctly use technical and professional vocabulary with
attention to false cognates and high frequency words in academia and
professional settings.
● Use common reductions to improve overall fluency.
 METHODOLOGY
DESCRIPCIÓN GENE
Listen, Analyze, Record: To achieve the course objectives, the Listen, Analyze,
Record model students learned in English 1157 is utilized to promote learner autonomy
in developing oral communication abilities. After listening to and analyzing models
from a variety of speakers for features of content, organization and linguistic element
(e.g. vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation), students create video or voice recordings to
prepare for speaking tasks and approximate models.

Task-Based Language Teaching: The underlying methodological approach to

teaching on this course is Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT), a stronger version of
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which promotes real-world communication
and interaction by focussing on tasks that provide learners with a genuine and
meaningful reason to complete them. Students are presented with linguistically and
cognitively challenging tasks that will help them to develop their competencies in
different spoken genres. These tasks may be completed in-class, online or as part of
their independent communicative tasks.

The version of TBLT adopted for this course distinguishes between target tasks- tasks
learners complete beyond the classroom in the real world-and pedagogical tasks (or sub-
tasks), which are those simpler component pieces of a target task that form the core of
the classroom activity and gradually increase in complexity until they reach the full
complexity level of the climactic target task.

Focus on Form: While the main emphasis of this course is primarily on meaning,
classroom data and academic research studies support the view that an overt-focus on
form in communicative ELT programmes is effective at promoting second language
learning. Therefore, the course teachers are encouraged to draw attention to language
form and form-meaning connections when there is a communication difficulty during a
lesson in which the primary focus is on meaning. In addition, explicit instruction and
practice in certain grammar structures and new pronunciation features (prosody) are
taught.

Peer and Self Evaluation: Self-evaluation is an important part of the learning process
because it enables students to effectively monitor their own progress and reflect on how
they can improve their speaking skills in the future. In this course, students will develop
the ability to reflect on their own spoken performance and incorporate feedback from
the teacher and their peers. As such, students will carry out a number of self-evaluation
tasks to reflect critically on their own performance and practise giving and receiving
feedback on different types of spoken tasks.

Computer Assisted Language Learning: The Blackboard Learning Platform

(SICUA+) will be used to promote autonomous practice of pronunciation in computer
laboratory sessions, preparation of speeches and for other tasks. Computer laboratory
sessions and online classes occur once a week.

Blended Courses: This is a blended course. This means that students will complete
coursework both in class and online (Sicua), and the teacher will take attendance for
both. Each week, students have 4.5 hours in class, and 1.5 hours online. Online work is
important to successful completion of the course, and classroom activities will often
depend on doing online tasks first. The course teacher may set deadlines and assign
grades for this work. On Sicua, the blended tasks for this course are found in the
"Speaking laboratory" section of the course page. Note that this is NOT 'homework'. It
is classwork that you complete in your own time, separate from any homework that may
be assigned.
Content / Objectives
**Specific schedule of course readings, content, and project dates will be
determined by the professor and distributed to the students in each section.

EVALUATION

Assessment
Students’ work is marked on a scale of 0 to 5. 5.0 is the highest possible grade, and 3.0
is the lowest passing grade. The final official grade is reported as either A
(aprobrado/pass) for grades of 3.0 and above or R (reprobado/fail) for grades below 3.0.
Projects and coursework have the following values:

NOTE: Please keep in mind that THERE IS NO LOS ANDES POLICY FOR
AUTOMATICALLY ROUNDING COURSE GRADES. The lowest passing grade is
3.0; any grade lower than 3.0 WILL NOT BE a passing grade.

In the event that you wish to dispute a grade, please refer to the procedure explained in
articles 62 and 63 of the undergraduate student handbook (reglamento de estudiantes de
pregrado).

Grades for this course are distributed in the following manner:

Unit Assignments Dates* Value

Classwork / Online 10%
Includes tasks such as:
Listening
Storytelling Reading Weeks 1 to 3
Prosody

Oral Presentation: Short Story Week 3 20%

Classwork / Online 10%
Includes tasks such as:
Listening
Problem Solution Reading Weeks 3 to 6
Prosody

Oral Presentation: Problem Solution Week 5 to 6 25%

Classwork / Online 10%
Includes tasks such as:
Interview Listening Weeks 6 to 8
Reading
Prosody

Oral Presentation: Interview + Resume Week 8 25%

Total 100%

*Dates subject to change

Attendance
From the undergraduate student handbook (Reglamento de estudiantes de pregrado):
Artículo 42: Es facultativo de cada profesor controlar la asistencia de sus alumnos
y determinar las consecuencias de la inasistencia, si ésta es superior al 20%.

Artículo 43: Los parámetros para controlar la asistencia serán informados a los
estudiantes el primer día de clases, junto con el programa del curso, con el fin de
que se comprometan a respetarlos desde ese momento.

Parágrafo. El estudiante que desee justificar su ausencia deberá hacerlo ante el

profesor dentro de un término no superior a ocho (8) días hábiles siguientes a la
fecha de ésta. Serán excusas válidas las siguientes:
a) Incapacidades médicas.
b) Incapacidades expedidas por la Decanatura de Estudiantes.
c)Muerte del cónyuge o de un familiar hasta del segundo grado de consanguinidad.
d)Autorización para participar en eventos deportivos, expedida por la Decanatura de
Estudiantes.
e) Autorización para asistir a actividades académicas y culturales, expedida por la
respectiva dependencia académica.
f) Citación a diligencias judiciales, debidamente respaldada por el documento
respectivo.
(Véansela Reglamentación de las incapacidades estudiantiles y el acuerdo 126 del
Consejo Académico, sobre participación estudiantil en eventos académicos y
deportivos.)

All courses in the program will follow these regulations. Students who miss more than
20% of classes will fail the course and will receive a grade of R (reprobado/fail).
Instructors will inform students of the procedure for checking and counting attendance
on the first day of class. Students are responsible for keeping track of their own
attendance.
DESCRIPCION GENERDIPGENERDESCIP
COURSE STRUCTURE

Virtual Learning:
Since this course is completely virtual, there are a few things to remember. Your teacher
will have at least 1 (one) synchronous (in real time) class each week which you will
need to connect to using the online learning platform your teacher chooses (Zoom,
Teams or Blackboard Collaborate). All other work will be asynchronous and assigned
by your teacher. Your teacher will also have virtual office hours where you can talk
about your work and receive feedback. We recommend that you take advantage of these
office hours. Your teacher will set deadlines for your work and tasks. If you have
problems meeting these deadlines, communicate with your teacher as soon as possible.

Weeks 1 and 3
Theme: Storytelling

Weeks 3 to 6
Theme: Problem-Solution Presentation

Weeks 6 to 8
Theme: Interview and Resume

REFERENCES
Powel, Mark. (2011). Dynamic Presentations. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 
Powel, Mark. (2011). Presenting in English: How to Give Successful
Presentations. Boston, Massachusetts Heinle Cengage Learning. 
Appleby, Rachel. (2013) International Express Third Edition Upper Intermediate
Student Book Pack. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.