Saint-Louis University - Bruxelles
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GERM1219 - English: Linguistics II: Practical Exercises



ECTS - Credits : 2

Lecturer :
Mode of delivery :
Face-to-face , first and second term, 30 hours of exercises.

Language of instruction :
English

Learning outcomes :
To lead students to a more extensive oral and written mastery of written English (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: C1 level). Students must be able to recognize, use and implement - in an autonomous, precise and rigorous manner - the syntactic and lexical particularities of the English language covered in BAC 2, thus implying a richer and more subtle level of vocabulary and more complex grammatical structures.
The student is led to master these new elements or aspects that prove to be difficult for native French speakers, as well as to enhance their mastery of English registers through a contrastive approach and with the help of a variety of exercises. The latter's purpose is to enable students to align their speech with the context of expression, to provide them with the tools needed to draft a scholarly text and to develop their translation skills.

Prerequisites and co-requisites / Recommended optional programme components :
To have completed the first-year course.


Course contents :
This course builds upon the foundations acquired during the course followed in BAC 1 (see D. de Froidmoint - Practical Exercises 1) and is based on the acquisition and implementation of more advanced vocabulary and grammatical structures: idiomatic language, metaphors, euphemisms, homonyms, synonyms, phrasal verbs, complex structures, etc. It is focuses more on the finer aspects of English expression (mainly written).

The topics covered are, among others:
- oral language and written language (different registers: formal, neutral, informal);
- the different types of texts: narrative, descriptive, argumentative, research reports, tales, fables, etc., as well as the appropriate expressions and structures;
- the lexical, structural and grammatical particularities of the English language.

Exercises will enable us to approach problems through observation and practice. For each class session, students will be expected to prepare exercises made available to them by the lecturer. The latter will propose different types of exercises: for example, students may be asked to analyse the handling of a given theme in different contexts so as to highlight the stylistic particularities; later in the course, students will be asked to write such texts themselves to demonstrate their knowledge of the distinct stylistic registers.

In addition to these preparatory exercises for class sessions, students are to carry out individual work to enrich their vocabulary and enhance their receptive (listening) skills. They will have to systematically study all vocabulary covered in the book “Oxford Word Skills - Intermediate, OUP” and do the listening exercises based on the “Log In II (Plantyn)” method. For the latter, students must be capable of transcribing passages from novels or of answering questions in English.

Regular practice in reading (newspapers, magazines, on-line or not, etc.) and listening (radio and television news broadcasts, films, entertainment programmes, etc.) on English-language channels is strongly recommended.


Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Exercise seminar with active participation of students.

Assessment methods and criteria :
On the one hand, assessment is formative: the various texts written by the students during the year are corrected and commented (organisation of the discourse, stylistic coherence).

It is also summative: at the end of the year, students will be assessed on translation and composition exercises. The examination assessment criteria will include, among others, the knowledge and implementation of the subject material covered in class as well as on homework assignments.

The grades achieved for assignments carried out during the year will also count for part of the final grade.

Recommended or required reading :
Course and documents prepared by the lecturer and made available to students in printed format or on-line. The bibliography is indicated on these documents.


Other information :
Course and documents prepared by the lecturer