Part of the challenge of studying abroad is often understanding academic content in a foreign language
Our Language Programme helps students acquire the competencies required to thrive as English learners and users at university, in the workplace, and as global citizens in the twenty-first century.
The Problem
When students have reached a certain level of intermediate English, many find themselves at a 'plateau', as they are able to get their meaning across in most basic, real-world situations and there is aless of a pressing need to improve their language. Yet when studying other academic subjects in English, an intermediate level of proficiency means that students often struggle to understand and communicate complex academic subject matter in English, which can be detrimental to their academic study.
The Solution
Centre for Tutorial Teaching has designed a unique online programme that brings together tutorial-based teaching together with the tools and techniques of teaching English as a foreign language to prepare young people for academic and professional fluency in English. The Programme is intended for a diverse, global cohort of young people aged 15-18.
Through the English for Academic Learning Programme, students will:
Be able to upgrade their own language to engage in academic conversations with greater depth and complexity, allowing them to communicate more fluently and accurately.
Be able to use more complex structures in their writing and to create better flow in their writing when working at a university level
Be more autonomous in identifying their own strengths and areas for growth as users of English in order to improve more efficiently.
Language learners on the programme will leave having honed skills that will allow them to flourish in their post-school destinations in English environments be it in apprenticeships, higher education, or the workplace. After the Foundational English: Academic English for Tutorials course, they will be more autonomous learners able to independently upgrade their language systems & skills outside the classroom.
Programme Structure
The English for Academic Learning Programme has a three-part structure, with two core modules and one additional optional module. Over the course of the six-week programme, students will attend two core sessions and one OPTIONAL add-on skills session every week:
1. English Language Tutorial: A 60 minute session that will take the form of a discussion around a key language and language learning related question. The discussion will both allow them to deepen their understanding of the concept, whilst also gaining crucial experience in discussing their ideas in English in a style similar to an Oxford tutorial. The topics of these sessions are explicitly centred around learner training in order to help empower learners in their language learning outside of class.
True to tutorial-based learning, ahead of the language tutorial students will be given a pre-tutorial language learning pack that will include both the theoretical building blocks of the language concept of focus for that week and exercises for students to work on and bring to their tutorial The tutorial will then enable students to share their reflections and deepen their understanding of the concepts studied in the language pack in class, thereby honing their independent study skills.
2. Systems Class: A 90-minute, communicative language systems lesson. Students will study grammar, vocabulary, discourse or pronunciation, with grammar and vocabulary being given the larger focus for this course. These sessions will focus in closely on a particular aspect of one of these language systems as it relates to the core topic and learner training area of the week:
3. Optional Add-on Skills Session: A 2-hour, task-based skills lesson. By ‘skill,’ we refer to listening, reading, writing or speaking, with speaking and writing being prioritised for this course. For these sessions, learners will be guided through developing a skill by completing a speaking or writing ‘task’ that learners are expected to encounter in the real world. By honing their ability to complete tasks in the classroom, learners will be better equipped to handle it in their everyday lives. Learners will be able to use the knowledge they learned in the systems lesson, and their deepened understanding through their work in the learner training session to help them complete this practical task.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the programme, our Global Language learners will be able to:
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Engage with written and spoken texts designed for native speakers more effectively and use these to learn language
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Recognise key features of spoken conversation to bolster confidence as speakers of English
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Analyse grammar in terms of function and ‘reasons’ in order to use it more easily and effectively when speaking and writing in natural contexts.
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Identify and use natural phrases beyond single words in spoken and written discourse
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Engage in unplanned discussions with others and use strategies to manage the flow of conversation and keep communication going.
The English for Academic Learning Programme runs every 6 weeks starting September 2023. To find out more about how you can join the programme, register your interest below, and a member of our team will get in touch.