Pre-sessional Course D

Course Content

The main emphasis for Pre-sessional Course D is on academic English.

Whilst students are expected to read and conduct research on their subject area for their coursework, the pre-sessional course covers English for academic purposes that can be applied to any discipline.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, successful students should be better able to:

• deliver effective oral presentations;
• function within a variety of speaking situations in an academic context, including seminar discussions and tutorials;
• identify key points in a lecture and take effective notes;
• plan, structure, write and review extended pieces of writing;
• demonstrate an understanding of academic writing conventions, to include in-text citation, referencing, direct quotation and bibliographies;
• summarise and paraphrase effectively from written and spoken sources;
• write reflectively on their academic development and independent learning;
• use a range of reading strategies for different purposes;
• critically read, analyse and evaluate academic texts;
• locate, research and take effective notes from written sources;
• work independently and collaboratively.

Teaching and Learning

In a typical week, students will receive approximately 19.5 hours of tuition and are expected to prepare for tests and complete assignments and independent learning tasks for a further 20 hours per week.

Tutors give one-to-one tutorials during the course to report on and discuss progress made and to give advice on areas needing further improvement.