SUMMARY / ABSTRACT

This course is intended for university lecturers who are either teaching their courses in English or intend to do so in the future. The main aim of this activity is to help lecturers who are non-native speakers of English to deliver their content courses in English to both local and international students.

The activity consists of some general sessions devoted to introducing the main challenges posed by English-medium Instruction (EMI). In particular, the course focuses on pronunciation, signalling expressions, lexis and functions among others. Participants will be provided with materials and resources in order to develop their English speaking skills and strategies for effective communication in lectures and are expected to actively participate in a variety of skill-based activities in English. At the end of the course participants should deliver a mini-lecture (5-7 minutes) that they will have prepared in advance and in which they are expected to apply the skills and strategies practised during the course. Each-mini lecture will be followed by a short discussion session with the trainers and the rest of the participants.

After the mini-lecture, trainers will provide individualised feedback and coaching with each participant via videoconference (on a mutually agreed day and time), focusing on strengths and weaknesses as well as suggestions for making classes more accessible for students with varied levels of proficiency.

TARGET

Non-native lecturers at UPC with above B2 level in English who are already teaching in English or plan to do so in the near future. Participants should be aware that one course cannot provide lecturers with the necessary proficiency and skills to impart lectures in English and it is therefore assumed that participants wishing to take part in this course have already achieved a suitable level. Note that it is usually considered that the level of English needed to carry out academic tasks is around C1 (according to the Common European Framework).

OBJECTIVES

- To practice communication skills, especially speaking and listening in English in an academic setting, focusing on functional language and classroom interaction.

- To raise participants’ awareness of their strengths and weaknesses in English for the purpose of improving their ability and confidence to give lectures in English to a multilingual classroom.

- To help participants be able to work autonomously on improving in their areas of need through locating digital resources available for independent study.

- To identify and address areas of weakness in lecturers’ English and provide practical coaching to help with improvement in these areas.

COURSE OUTLINE / TIMETABLE

- Sessions 1 to 5: videoconference sessions with all participants together which will combine short presentations of material by the trainer with in-class participatory activities, discussion/reflection, and role-plays/small group work.

- Autonomous online work by participants (each participant will prepare a a short mini-lecture to be delivered in session 6 or 7). Guidelines will be given on how to prepare the activity.

- Sessions 6 and 7: mini-lectures and discussion.

- Individual feedback and coaching session. One-to-one session in which the trainer will give feedback to each participant as well as suggestions for EMI lectures.

CONTENTS / SYLLABUS

- General sessions to address main challenges in EMI ( lecturing style, signalling expressions, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, communication strategies for interacting with students).

- Observation of a mini-lecture given by the lecturer.

- Identification of areas of strength and weakness in the delivery of the lecture (fluency, pronunciation and intonation, use of discourse markers and other signalling expressions, promotion of interaction, vocabulary accuracy, grammatical accuracy).

METHODOLOGY

General sessions on issues identified as important in English-medium Instruction, like interactive lecturing style, signposting, guidelines for improving pronunciation or intercultural competence, mainly through task-based activities. Participants will later proceed to deliver a mini-lecture. Through classroom observation, identification and recommendations for improvement, individual coaching and provision of independent practice will be given. All sessions will be communicative and will involve active participation. Some out of class activities may also be required.

REFERENCES / RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aguilar, M. & Arnó, E. (2002) Metadiscourse in Lecture Comprehension: Does it Really Help Foreign Language Learners? Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Americanos, 24 (1), 7-22. http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/759776.pdf

Aguilar-Pérez. M.. & Arnó-Macià. E. (2020). “He's a Good Lecturer in Any Language”: Shifting From L1 to English and Implications for EMI Training. In Teacher Training for English-Medium Instruction in Higher Education (pp. 153-178). IGI Global.

The TEA Project, ‘Teaching in English for Academics’ https://teaproject.ulb.be/

ACADEMIC WORD LIST: http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/AWL/index.htm

MICASE (Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/c/corpus/corpus?page=home;c=micase;cc=micase

CLILSTORE (Repository of content-based materials at different levels): http://multidict.net/clilstore/?mode=0

+ Materials posted on UPC Intranet (Atenea)

La certificació a les persones participants estarà supeditada a la prèvia inscripció i acceptació pel mitjà establert (electrònicament a través del web) i a l'assistència a un mínim del 80% de les hores totals de l'activitat. El personal docent i investigador de la UPC que participi a l’activitat, uns dies després de la finalització, disposarà de manera automàtica de la informació a DRAC.

Aquesta activitat està finançada pel Fons de Formació Contínua 21/22 (Acuerdo de Formación para el Empleo de las Administraciones Públicas –AFEDAP) que es gestiona mitjançant l’Escola d’Administració Pública de Catalunya (EAP).