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CAES9722 Academic English for Biomedical Sciences Students

Coordinator: Dr. Letty CHAN

Course Description:

This six credit English-in-the-Discipline course is offered to second year students studying Biomedical Sciences. It helps students develop the necessary skills to use both written and spoken English within their studies and beyond. Students will learn to better communicate and discuss scientific concepts with other biomedical scientists as well as to a wider audience. In the writing component, students will learn how to disseminate recent scientific research in the form of a popular science article as well as a wiki article for a novice scientist audience. In the speaking component, students will present information from their research in an oral presentation format.

Learning Outcomes:

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

  • Identify, critically analyze and summarize disciplinary sources related to a biomedical sciences topic
  • Communicate disciplinary/ specialist knowledge in writing for a specialist and non-specialist audience
  • Evaluate the writing of their peers and respond appropriately to feedback given on their work
  • Orally present research clearly using presentation skills, effective visuals and appropriate language

Strategies:

  • Working collaboratively with a partner to research a recent development in Biomedical Science using academic sources
  • Repackaging specialist scientific knowledge for the non-specialist audience
  • Learning genre features of popular science writing which are used to engage the audience. Developing skills in creating and editing a Wikipedia article to disseminate scientific information to a global audience.
  • Working on presenting scientific knowledge orally in an informative and engaging manner to a non-specialist audience.

Assessment Methods:

(with breakdown of percentage weighting of the various methods)

  • Other genres of writing (70%)
  • Oral Presentations (30%)