SYLLABUS

GENERAL COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this course are to ensure that students acquire the following skills and are able to perform the following tasks in the language areas included in the table below, corresponding to Level C2.2, as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Cambridge English Proficiency (CPE)
At this level, the student is approaching the linguistic competence of an educated native speaker, and is able to use the language in a range of culturally appropriate ways. The Cambridge English Proficiency provides proof of this very high level of competence and is recognised throughout the world by universities, institutes of higher education, professional bodies and in industry and commerce. In taking this course students will become familiar with this examination and develop skills and strategies needed to complete the examination tasks successfully.

READING: Read with ease virtually all forms of the written language, including abstract, structurally or linguistically complex texts such as manuals, specialised articles and literary works, appreciating distinctions of style.
LISTENING: Understand with no difficulty any kind of spoken language, whether live or broadcast, even when delivered at fast native speed, provided there is time to get familiar with the accent.
WRITING: Write clear, smoothly flowing, well-structured texts, expressing points of view at some length. Use appropriate style. Write about complex subjects highlighting salient issues or presenting a case with an effective logical structure. Write summaries and reviews of professional or literary works.
SPOKEN INTERACTION: Take part effortlessly in any conversation or discussion. Have a good familiarity with idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms. Express and convey finer shades of meaning precisely and fluently. Backtrack and restructure around any difficulty so smoothly that other people are hardly aware of it.
SPOKEN PRODUCTION: Present a clear, smoothly flowing description or argument in a style appropriate to the context and with an effective logical structure which helps the recipient to notice and remember significant points. Give detailed descriptions of complex subjects integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion.

SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES

Listening
Perfecting skills of
Identifying main points and selecting relevant details.
Understanding overall function and message.
Inferring underlying meaning, attitude, feelings and opinions.
Recognising relationship between speakers and detecting agreement and disagreement.

Reading
Sources and Genres
Books (fiction and non-fiction), non-specialist articles from journals, magazines and newspapers, including editorials, reports and correspondence and other informational materials.
Enhancing awareness of
Idioms, collocations, fixed phrases, complementation, phrasal verbs and semantic precision.
Detail, opinion, attitude, tone, purpose, main idea, supporting detail implication, text organisation features (exemplification, comparison, reference).
Cohesion, coherence, structure, development, and global meaning of a text.

Speaking
Type
Interviews
Discussions
Conversations
Talks
Lectures
Documentaries
Instructions
News Programmes
Activities
Description
Narration
Comparison and Contrast
Commentary
Exposition
Explanation
Persuasion
Refining usage of
- Discourse structuring: Opening and closing gambits, turn-taking, thematic development, planning moves, co-operating.
- Expression:
Factual - agreement, disagreement
Knowledge - certainty, probability
Modality - necessity, obligations
Volition - intentions, preferences
Emotions - interest, likes
- Pronunciation and intonation

Use of English
Grammar
Noun phrases: determiners, pre-modifiers (adjective phrase, and participles), post-modifiers (non-finite clauses and complementation).
Verb phrases: mood, tense, modality, aspect, voice. Focus on inverted conditional patterns and reported speech.
Sentence patterns: Clause subordination - relative and adverbial clauses. Cleft sentences and negative inversion.
Vocabulary
Academic fields of study (in line with interests of course participants)
Architecture
Biology
Business
Education
Entertainment
Health
History Language
Lifestyles
Psychology
Relationships
Science and Technology
Social development
Society
The Arts
The Media
The Natural World and the environment
Travel / tourism
Work

Writing
Type
Transactional letters
Articles
Reports
Essays
Proposals
Reviews
Perfecting skills of
Presenting and developing arguments, expressing and supporting opinions, evaluating ideas.
Describing, persuading, narrating, evaluating, making recommendations, giving information, summarising from different sources.
Formatting texts in different genres, using different registers, demonstrating awareness of audience.
Using cohesive devices appropriately, organising texts at sentence, paragraph and text level.

MATERIALS

Course book: Your teacher will tell you which course book you will be using.



Supplementary materials:

A good ENGLISH dictionary: Oxford Advanced Learners, Cambridge International Dictionary of English, or Collins Cobuild.
A Spanish/Catalan-English; English-Spanish/Catalan Dictionary: for example, the Diccionario Oxford or the Enciclopèdia Catalana

ASSESSMENT

(a) Continuous Assessment - 40%
10% based on participation in class and other work done during the course.
20% based on written work done during the course.
10% based on Oral level shown during the course.

(b) FINAL EXAM - 60%
(c) PASS MARK:

In order to pass the course, it is necessary to achieve a minimum mark of 50% in the written and oral examinations and 60% in the overall combination of examination and continuous assessment.