BDIC2015J

BDIC2015J (‘Academic Writing and Communication Skills’) is designed for Stage 2 students who are undertaking a dual undergraduate degree programme at Beijing-Dublin International College (BDIC). The module aims to help students develop their general academic English language, and particularly the skills of textual analysis, note-taking from lectures, spoken interaction, and writing in response to sources. The module encourages them to become effective independent learners.

The content introduces topics specific to the students’ own academic disciplines. Students explore these topics from different perspectives.

Classroom tasks and activities allow students to replicate the processes they go through in their academic studies. More specifically, students develop their spoken interaction skills through active participation in seminar discussions and their spoken production by taking extended turns. Meanwhile, the academic writing classes are designed to take students through the different stages involved in the process of producing written academic assignments. These classes will focus specifically on writing comparison and contrast essays. As well as helping students to develop their writing skills incrementally from sentence, to paragraph, to the larger discourse patterns of a full essay, students learn to use appropriate language and structures for key academic functions (especially comparison, argumentation, and evaluation). They also learn how to integrate sources into their own writing and to use reporting language effectively. Students also concentrate on effective note-taking from sources. Through extended reading, they learn how to read long and complex texts expeditiously, to respond critically, and to annotate, paraphrase, and summarize texts. Through their reading, students also have the opportunity to expand the range and improve the accuracy of the academic language they use in written and spoken texts.

In addition to language-related skills, academic competence and critical thinking are integral parts of the course. Classroom activities support students’ development of: (a) academic study competences (e.g. conveying meaning successfully in speaking and writing, etc.) and (b) independent language learning strategies (e.g. finding, analyzing and recording useful language, creating key word lists, etc.). Critical thinking is practised in relation to all aspects of learning (e.g. evaluating information, making conceptual links and supporting ideas with relevant evidence, etc.).

Materials and assessments for the module are designed with reference to B2 and C1 descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and The British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP)’s ‘can-do’ framework for EAP syllabus design and assessment.