CAES24S0009: Essential English Skills for University Studies

This course consists of 5 workshops aimed to develop students’ English writing and speaking skills for their university studies.

Workshop 1: Arguing effectively in academic writing

This workshop introduces typical language features (e.g., hedges, boosters and attitude markers) for constructing arguments in academic writing. Students will learn how to argue effectively in fulfilment of the writing purposes and the target readers’ expectations.

Workshop 2: Writing a first-rate report

This workshop serves as an introduction to professional report writing with a focus on technical communication. Students will learn about the structure and format of a professional report and its constituent components. This workshop is especially useful to those who are about to start their final year project, which often involves independent research. 

Workshop 3: Giving effective and impactful academic presentations

This workshop introduces key strategies that are essential to delivering presentations for strong audience engagement. Through a series of practical tasks, students will learn how to present powerfully by utilising stress and intonation, visual aids, signposting techniques, cohesive devices as well as audience-friendly academic spoken language. 

Workshop 4: Participating and actively contributing in tutorial discussions 

This workshop introduces ways to make sure your voice is heard during a tutorial discussion. Through a series of in-class activities, students will learn how to interact with classmates while contributing meaningfully to a verbal academic discussion.

Workshop 5: Achieving cohesion and coherence in expressing ideas

This workshop, informed by basic linguistics concepts, aims to introduce different techniques for achieving cohesion and coherence in expressing ideas. Through a series of activities, students will learn how to build connection across ideas in an audience-friendly way.