English 4 is designed to improve students’ English language skills for academic purposes and provide them with knowledge in relevant areas. The materials include topics such as international and intercultural issues as well as current topics of science and technology. Expectations require students to practice: reading academic articles, listening to lectures in English, speaking in front of an audience, and writing paragraphs and short essays.
There are two types of classes in English 4. RW classes focus on reading comprehension and skill in written composition, and LS classes focus on listening and oral expression.
Each student is assigned to a class and instructors for each class conduct the course using “Course description and aims”, “Student learning outcomes”, and “Keywords” as the basic framework.
By the end of this course, students will:
・ Have improved their English skills required for learning at university and for research activities
・ Be able to understand written and spoken materials correctly in diverse areas including international and intercultural issues, science, and technology
・ Be able to write paragraphs and short essays with unity and coherence
・ Have gained confidence in using English to state their opinions and improved their oral expression skills.
Four language skills, fostering international awareness, communication skills, studying abroad, TOEFL
Specialist skills | ✔ Intercultural skills | ✔ Communication skills | Critical thinking skills | Practical and/or problem-solving skills |
Students will read a newspaper article or a magazine article each week. They are required to read the article, answer questions about it and submit the answers to the instructor before each class. The instructor will explain the key points of the article, key expressions, grammar, and answers to the assignment questions in class. Students are required to do the additional assignment (writing, summarizing etc.) on the article after each class.
Course schedule | Required learning | |
---|---|---|
Class 1 | Introduction / common grammatical errors in English | to read the article (1) and answer questions about it |
Class 2 | to explain the key points of the article (1), key expressions, grammar, and answers to the assignment questions | to do the assignment on the article (1), and to read the article (2) and answer questions about it |
Class 3 | to explain the key points of the article (2), key expressions, grammar, and answers to the assignment questions | to do the assignment on the article (2), and to read the article (3) and answer questions about it |
Class 4 | to explain the key points of the article (3), key expressions, grammar, and answers to the assignment questions | to do the assignment on the article (3), and to read the article (4) and answer questions about it |
Class 5 | to explain the key points of the article (4), key expressions, grammar, and answers to the assignment questions | to do the assignment on the article (4), and to read the article (5) and answer questions about it |
Class 6 | to explain the key points of the article (5), key expressions, grammar, and answers to the assignment questions | to do the assignment on the article (5) |
Class 7 | Review | term paper |
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Handouts will be distributed through OCW-i.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Oxford Advanced Lerner's Dictionary
Assignments 80% Term paper 20%
None