The courses listed on this page are free and priority will be given to PhD students of the 41st Cohort and to those of the 40th cohort who started their PhD in January/February 2025.
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 (see the specific section below).
Course type and content
Each type of course requires 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: Not lower than 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. Students with a level lower than B1 may be addressed to general english courses (
basic courses – A2)
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 (B2+). The same topics are covered in different ways and at different speeds according to the level.
- ACADEMIC WRITING/ABSTRACT: 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.
Which and how many courses can a person attend?
Based on the test results the Language Centre will split the participants into 4 groups: “Intro”, “Lower”, “Upper” and “Upper+”. It will be possible to attend more than one course. 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).
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 or upper): 1 Academic English course + 1 mini course (the Academic English course must be taken before the mini course).
Participant with a level higher than B2 (upper +) : 2 mini courses ore 1 Academic English course + 1 mini course.
(which may not coincide with that given as a preference in the registration form).
Course duration and dates
The 30-hour courses will be held from the in January/February 2026 and in the 2nd semester 25/26. Mini courses will be held from April to July 2026. 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.
| 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 over zoom | B1 | Jan/Feb 2026 | Twice a week/Online over zoom | Obligatory |
| Academic English (writing and speaking) | 30 academic hours, twice a week for 6-7 weeks over zoom | from B1+ to B2 or higher | Jan/Feb 2026 and 2nd semester 2025/26 | Twice a week/Online over zoom | Obligatory |
| Mini courses on specific topics | 10 academic hours (intensive) 5 days in one or two weeks over zoom | from B1+ to B2 or higher | From April to July 2026 | Intensive, 5 days in one week or two weeks/Online over zoom | Obligatory |
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. 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. The whole entry test (written and oral) lasts about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
TEST – DATE AND TIME
(WHEN) | TEST TAKERS
(WHO can apply) | WHERE | REGISTRATION DEADLINE | Publication and Confirmation of the Classes | COURSES START |
| 21-27-28 November and 3 December – several time/slots | 41st Cohort students and 40th Cohort students, who started their PhD in January or February 2025. | IN PERSON
LAB. 2E, CLA Via Venezia 16 (2nd floor).
| Registration will be open from 4 to 17th November 2025 | 16 December 2025 in Moodle | 8 January 2026 or
March 2026 according to your choice. |
29 January 2026
Students must in any case register by the stated deadline in November. | 41st Cohort: this session is ONLY addressed to International students not yet in Padova or for students who are abroad for research purposes and cannot attend the sessions in November/December | IN PERSON
LAB. 2E, CLA Via Venezia 16 (2nd floor).
| Registration will be open from 4 to 17th November 2025. | 10 February 2026 in moodle. | March 2026 (8 weeks in the 2nd Semester) |
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). As far as the CLA is concerned, these courses are not mandatory and do not provide credits. However, the CLA is not in a position to know what each School’s Phd study plan includes or requires as mandatory – some schools may require an academic English course as obligatory. Each student should make sure that they are fully informed about this by contacting their specific school/phd student office.
Results/Classes
The test results will be made available on moodle by 16th December 2025, the link to which will be published here. Based on the results of the entry test, participants will be split into 4 groups (Intro, lower, upper or 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).
As far as the CLA is concerned, these courses are not mandatory and do not provide credits. However, the CLA is not in a position to know what each School’s Phd study plan includes or requires as mandatory – some schools may require an academic English course as obligatory. Each student should make sure that they are fully informed about this by contacting their specific school/phd student office.
While registering, 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.
