| Faculty of Science
Courses offered
English Skills for Science I (ES1301)
English Skills for Science II (ES2301)
English Skills for Science III (ES3301)
English Skills for Science I (ES1301)
Objectives
This course aims to help students build language skills to achieve academic success and language competence to interact with
people confidently.
Specifically, students learn to do the following:
§ write well organized essays and summaries;
§ speak confidently and clearly during tutorials;
§ read critically to interpret ideas and to distinguish main and supporting ideas;
§ reinforce basic grammar usage; and
§ build a larger vocabulary.
Format
The course focuses on integrating speaking, writing and reading skills. Materials used in the course are mainly expository in
nature. These are generally related to science and current issues. Speaking activities include mini oral presentations, oral reports
and pronunciation exercises. Writing assignments include responses to comprehension questions, summaries and essays.
Relevant grammar points are taught, reviewed and reinforced through appropriate activities. The teacher reviews the students’
writing and speaking exercises and then holds individual conferences with them to discuss his/her evaluation.
Evaluation in this course comprises continual assessment and a final examination.
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English Skills for Science II
(ES2301)
Objectives
This course helps students argue more effectively in articles, letters, reports and memos. Students are taught to
§ discriminate between fact, inference and prediction;
§ use appropriate tone, structure of information, discourse links and format conventions; and
§ acquire and produce new words effectively and correctly.
Format
The course proceeds from the following assumption. If students are to learn to write effectively, they need to own their texts
and the information in them. Course activities promote student ownership by
§ using real communication tasks as far as possible;
§ providing students a choice of theme, role, audience and venue for publishing;
§ having students work together to generate and gather information; and
§ adopting the portfolio approach to letter and memo writing, which lets students choose examples of their work for
grading.
Grammar and vocabulary activities are initiated and monitored by teachers and run by students.
Evaluation consists of continual assessment and a final examination
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English Skills for Science III (ES3301)
Objectives
This course aims to
§ teach students to provide recommendations which can be used in their workplace as well as in their everyday lives;
and
§ teach students to give oral presentations.
Format
Students are taught the rationale behind recommendations. They are taught to meet the four elements of report writing, namely,
feasibility, logic, practical application, and workable solutions. A discourse analysis method with speech act techniques is used
in this course. The theories of oral presentation are given in a weekly lecture.
A detailed ten-point scale covering the dynamics of speech, content depth, topic choice and parameters of limitation, use of
appropriate devices to promote better understanding of the topic and correct grammar usage is given for both peer and teacher
evaluation of the speaker.
Evaluation in this course comprises continual assessment and a final examination.
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