SUBJECT
English for geoscientists
practical
master
2
Semester 1
Autumn semester
The course provides practical training to develop professional English language skills in all four main areas (reading, writing, listening and speaking), emphasizing both informal and formal modes of communicating geoscience, including technical writing and scientific presentations.
Topics covered in classes include the following:
Reading skills: reading for meaning, how to read scientific papers, web browsing, use of vocabularies.
Writing skills: how to write reports, formal letters, proposals, CV, abstracts, papers, dissertation; Issues of style, organization, writing drafts, editing; Exercises focus on vocabulary building, problem words, useful phrases, verb use, verb tenses, grammatical pitfalls.
Listening skills: coping with fast speech, coping with accents and dialects, making sense of heavily technical speech.
Speaking and presenting skills: informal situations, formal scientific contacts, formal conference talks, presentation techniques, how to overcome anxiety, pronouncing difficult words, how to get rid of a heavy accent, talking to laymen/general public.
- Copeland, P. (2010): Communicating Rocks: Writing, Speaking, and Thinking About Geology. Prentice Hall, 160 p.
- Sources of recommended reading and listening items provided during the course.