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
The first 30-hour courses will take place from November to December 2022. The remaining 30-hour courses will take place between January and March 2023 and possibly in the 2nd semester (depending on the request). Mini courses will be held from March to July 2023. Preference will be given to the 8.30-10.30 and 16.30-18.30 time slots when scheduling. When registering, participants can indicate a preference regarding course type and period. The CLA will attempt to satisfy requests but the final decision will also be based on the entry test results and on organisational factors.
Which and how many courses can a person attend?
Depending on the level attained during the entry test, it will be possible to attend more than one course.
Participant with a level lower than a B1+: 1 INTRO to Academic English course + 1 Academic English course (The INTRO course is preparatory to the AE course).
Participant with a B2 level (lower): 1 Academic English course + 1 mini course (the Academic English course must be taken before the mini course).
Participant with a B2 level (upper) or higher : 2 mini courses or 1 Academic English course + 1 mini course.
Based on the results of the test, the Language Centre will inform each participant of the course which is most suitable to their level (which may not coincide with that given as a preference in the registration form).
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.
Attendance and certificates
PhD students who would like to receive a certificate of attendance will need to attend at least 70% of the lessons (21 hours)
Results/Classes
The test results will be made available by 4th November on Moodle, the link to which will be published here. Based on the results of the entry test, participants will be split into three groups (Intro, lower, upper). In the same Moodle course, participants will be able to see the results and confirm/register for one of the available courses. Each participant will only be able to see and access the courses (or course) allotted to him/her.
Contacts
For further information you can contact didattica.cla@unipd.it or elisabetta.divenere@unipd.it, tel. 0498276277 – 6185 (09:30 – 13.00).
