Academic English Courses for PhD students – A.A. 2022/23 - University of Padova Language Centre

38th cohort and 37th cohort (PON scholarships only)

The courses listed on this page are free and priority will be given to PhD students of the 38th cohort (first year) and to those of the 37th cohort who started their PhD in January 2022 (PON scholarships only).

Purpose of the Courses: to review and develop English language competence in academic speaking and writing contexts with a view to identifying and resolving areas of individual concern. To explore a variety of formal academic speaking situations and more informal academic occasions. Tasks will also focus on raising individual awareness of abilities and on strategies for further developing skills. Course attendance: over zoom.

Compulsory ENTRY test – Registration to the entry test (and the courses) is open from 12 to 23 October (deadline).

Course type and content

Each type of course has a minimum entry level of English. It is not possible to attend a course without having first taken the entry test.

INTRO TO ACADEMIC ENGLISH (30 academic hours course) – Level: B1 – Basic structures of Academic English: nominalization, recognizing sentence structure e.g. the use of noun phrases, recognising tense usage and appropriacy of lexis and register. Argumentation. Focus on pronunciation and conversation in certain contexts (confidence building). Promotion of passive skills to develop understanding and lexis. Addressing typical issues in language and pronunciation which may impede comprehension.

ACADEMIC ENGLISH (30 academic hours course) – Level: from B1+ to B2 or higher. The courses are divided into upper and lower groups. The same topics are covered in different ways and at different speeds according to the level. WRITING: writing emails to academic peers; introduction to writing abstracts, structuring research papers, describing data e.g. from graphs or tables; rhetorical moves, coherence and cohesion, stance. SPEAKING: presenting research papers at seminars/conferences, dealing with questions and strategies for interrupting politely, active listening and turn taking.

MINI COURSES on specific topics (10 hour mini courses) – Level: from B1+ to B2 or higher. The same topics are covered in different ways and at different speeds according to the level.

ACADEMIC WRITING: Conference abstracts and research article abstracts (exploring the differences between conference and research article abstracts, analysis of structure and language use).
ACADEMIC SPEAKING/PRESENTATION: Aspects of formal/professional vs. informal/friendly language; language for debate and discussion, interaction between the presenter and audience, dealing with questions appropriately; organization of the presentation, signposting language; typical pronunciation issues e.g. key vowel sounds; each student will have the opportunity to give a presentation with the aim of improving their delivery and pronunciation as well as building confidence.

Course duration and dates

Course type	Duration	Entry level required	Course dates	Attendance	Entry test
Intro to Academic English	30 academic hours, twice a week for 6-7 weeks	B1	Nov/Dec 2023 - Jan/Feb 2024	Twice a week/Online over zoom	Obligatory, 19, 20 or 27 October
Academic English (writing and speaking)	30 academic hours, twice a week for 6-7 weeks	from B1+ to B2 or higher	Nov/Dec 2023, - Jan/Feb 2024	Twice a week/Online over zoom	Obligatory, 19, 20 or 27 October
Mini courses on specific topics	10 academic hours (intensive, one week)	from B1+ to B2 or higher	From end of March to July 2024	Twice a week/Online over zoom	Obligatory, 19, 20 or 27 October

Which and how many courses can a person attend?

Entry test and registration

The entry test is necessary in order to evaluate whether each participant’s language level is adequate to attend the courses and to ensure each participant attends the class which is most suited to their level. It will be held at the Language Centre. Based on the test results the Language Centre will split the participants into 3 groups: “Intro”, “Lower” and “Upper”. It is not possible to attend a course without having taken the entry test.

TEST STRUCTURE: The test comprises a written and oral component. The written test, which lasts 60 minutes, requires participants to write an email (semi-formal) and a summary/report (formal/academic) based on a diagram. The oral test, which lasts 10 minutes in total, requires participants to record and upload a 2-minute monologue in response to a prompt. The recording for the oral test will take place via Moodle. In order to familiarise yourself with the process, please refer to the “Audio/Microphone Trial”. The whole entry test (written and oral) lasts about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Registration to the test (and the course) is open from 12 to 23 October(deadline).

TEST	DATE AND TIME	WHERE	REGISTRATION
WRITTEN and SPOKEN PRODUCTION	19-20 or 27 October, different time slots, depending on the date. ONLY for international students who are NOT in Padova yet and for students who are abroad for research purposes/conference and will not be in Padova in October: another test date will be organized by the end of November. In this case you must register by the 15th of October anyway, filling in the form and indicating the reason for your absence from Padova (in the notes field). We will contact you with the new date after the registration deadline.	IN PERSON LAB. 2E, CLA Via Venezia 16 (2nd floor).	Registration open from 4 to 15 October. REGISTER FOR THE TEST If this is your first access to moodle CLA, a bug could occur just after the Single Sign On. You may be asked to update your personal data. In this case you have to log out from moodle and then log in again using the same link.
WRITTEN and SPOKEN PRODUCTION	14th December. this session is ONLY addressed to 39th Cohort students who started on 1st November and to those International students who were not yet in Padova in October.	IN PERSON LAB. 2E, CLA Via Venezia 16 (2nd floor).	Registration open from 29 November to 10 December (the opening has been POSTPONED due to a moodle update). REGISTER FOR THE TEST If this is your first access to moodle CLA, a bug could occur just after the Single Sign On. You may be asked to update your personal data. In this case you have to log out from moodle and then log in again using the same link.

Attendance and certificates

Results/Classes

Contacts