Please choose a maximum of three from the following courses and indicate your priority.
Group 1 Gibbels / LA: Language and Cultural Studies
The course discusses key concepts in Cultural Studies and uses them in writing contexts. Focus on academic writing conventions and formal register.
Group 2 Ball / OS: The Public Interview: Political, Personal & Popular
The public interview has become one of the defining features of public life. Examining the art and practice of interviewing, this course looks at examples of live, television, and online interviews with specialists, politicians, and celebrities. Students will explore levels of formality in dialogic discourse, standard question-and-answer phrases, subject-specific vocabulary, and grammatical forms used in hedging and hypothesising. Students will also develop their critical writing skills in order to analyse the interview as a discursive and cultural event.
Group 3 Ball / OS: Talking about the News
This course takes a closer look at the news, both in terms of its content and as a media phenomenon. Focussing on news stories as they are reported in the English-speaking world, students will develop their ability to speak critically about politics, society, culture, the environment, local and world news, economics, or celebrity gossip. In addition to stories currently appearing in the news, themes such as journalistic neutrality and bias, the news cycle, and legacy versus new media will also be explored, leading to a more nuanced and critical understanding of English-language news media. Students will also develop their presentation skills, by researching and speaking about their own particular interests.
Group 4 spray / OS: Delivering Academic Papers
This course hones skills for giving academic presentations such as conference papers. Topics include academic style in oral presentations, forming successful abstracts, editing presentations, and examples of successful contemporary academic papers. Assessment will be via a presentation on a topic of the participant’s choice.
Group 5 Spray / LA: Academic Vocabulary in Use
This course uses an analysis of academic texts to improve participants’ writing skills. We will examine writing conventions, how to put texts together, and the vocabulary required for academic works such as papers, monographs, or dissertations. Students will be asked to write subject-specific texts, alongside a graded essay at the end of the course.
Group 6 Spray / LA: Academic Vocabulary in Use
This course uses an analysis of academic texts to improve participants’ writing skills. We will examine writing conventions, how to put texts together, and the vocabulary required for academic works such as papers, monographs, or dissertations. Students will be asked to write subject-specific texts, alongside a graded essay at the end of the course.
Group 7 Fausser / OS: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Discussions
This course explores topics and discussions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Course discussions are a hybrid of dialogue and academic discourse. This course can be taken in either category or two or three. The course focuses on the development of academic vocabulary, linguistic complexity, and employing strategies for more effective oral communication as well as argumentation. Specific course topics and discussion format will be determined by course participants and instructor.
Group 8 Fausser / OS: Culture and Society in the USA
This course provides explores current culturally relevant issues in the United States. Course topics address entertainment, the fine and performing arts, free and hate speech, race/ethnicity, national identity, cultural appropriation, intersectionality, privilege, and income disparity. This course can be taken in either category two or three. The course focuses on the development of academic vocabulary, linguistic complexity, and employing strategies for more effective oral communication as well as presentation language. Students will hold argumentative presentations in this course. |
