SUBJECT INFORMATION

Code - Name 204025C - English for General and Academic Purposes I

204355M - English for General and Academic Purposes I

Credits 204025C- 2 credits

204355M -3 credits

Working hours In-person: 4 hours per week (64 semester hours)

Independent: 2 hours per week (128 semester hours)

Academic Unit(s) Faculty of Humanities - School of Language Sciences

Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures

Section of Languages for General and Academic Purposes (LEFGA)

Academic Program(s) All undergraduate programs

Prerequisites NO

Validable YEAH

Enableable NO

Type of Subject Basic

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Communicative competence in foreign languages is becoming increasingly necessary for today's university students and professionals. Today's knowledge society and globalized world require the d

This course is part of the curricular component for teaching and learning foreign languages in the basic training cycle, which comprises three stages, each consisting of two levels.

The first phase, with two basic levels (courses I and II), is based on an approach that integrates general communication skills and general academic skills, emphasizing oral and

interpersonal communication competence. In the second phase, with two pre-intermediate levels (courses III and IV), general academic skills are addressed with an emphasis on

written communicative competence. Finally, the third phase includes in-depth courses (V and VI), dedicated to written and oral academic communication.

The course English for General and Academic Purposes I focuses on the development of basic communication skills related to personal information, description of habits,

personal and professional projects and description of local problems. The subject is designed for students with level A1 and seeks to develop skills to reach level A2.1 according to

the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning and teaching (Council of Europe, 2002). Likewise, the course also seeks to develop skills of interaction and

intercultural understanding that foster spaces for approach and reflection on one's own culture and other cultures from academic, social and local contexts. In this sense, the

vision of culture as a multidimensional phenomenon that is transversal to learning processes is adopted as a key element for language teaching (Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 1998;

Liddicoat, 2008). Consequently, it is expected to promote intercultural communication skills, critical learning and global awareness (Wagner & Byram, 2018).

1
 Minutes 1, 05-11-2021 at the
Version No: No. and date of the minutes
V4 meeting of the Section of
of the academic unit where it
Languages for General and
was approved:
Update date: Academic Purposes
November 2021

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 COURSE DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING OUTCOME ACHIEVEMENT INDICATORS CONTENT

1. Interact in classroom situations in the Participation in asynchronous activities and Classroom English:

foreign language to communicate needs and opinions. technology-assisted synchronous sessions. https://www.engvid.com/classroom-english/

Oral interaction with classmates and teacher based

on the activities proposed in the course. http://www.elllo.org/english/levels/level3-beginners-

high.htm

https://continuingstudies.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/200/

2. Communicates in situations related to Participation in simple dialogues and conversations Greetings:

personal, family and academic information at a basic about personal, family and academic information and https://worldwithtj.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/ways-of-

level of the language, using common vocabulary and greeting-in-different-countries/

experiences.
clear and simple messages. https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/mar/
Descriptions of living beings, places, symbols, jobs,
04/footshakes-and-elbow-bumps-new-greetings-amid-the-
professions and objects produced in different
covid-19-outbreak-video
cultures. Introductions:

Identification of predictable and specific information https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYYLe06dJjE

https://youtu.be/NeEJhW0_gqA
in simple oral and written texts on everyday and
Physical descriptions:
academic topics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n2ma_4sy_8

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/

listening/beginner-a1-listening/describing-people

https://www.vocabulary.cl/Lists/Physical_Descriptions.htm

Likes and dislikes:

https://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/likes-dislikes-english

3. Explains daily routines of oneself and of Oral and written narratives about routines. Daily routines:

other people in different sociocultural contexts at a Oral presentation on personal routine, with emphasis Undergrad blog

basic level of the language on academic activities associated with the program https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/undergraduate/

being studied. tag/uni-daily-routine/

Daily routines for college students at home

https://www.sagu.edu/prepu/10-daily-routines-for-

college-students-at-home

A daily life of a student in Canada

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/blogs/

day-life-student-canada

4. Narratively reconstructs past situations and Oral and written narratives about past events. Talking about the past

the lives of people who have contributed to the Poster or presentation exhibition on the lives of http://www.elllo.org/english/Mixers/T117-Yesterday.htm

disciplinary field or to the development of the country people who have contributed to the disciplinary field http://www.elllo.org/english/Games/G048DayRecap.htm

and the region. or to the development of the country and the region Biographies:

Biography online:

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 https://www.biographyonline.net

Biography:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/

UCiCPv2sV_D3FqMRzzUFA2Fg

Famous people lessons

https://famouspeoplelessons.com

5. Use strategies for independent language Registration and reflection document on participation Building a Better Vocabulary:

learning. in CAAL Network activities and independent work. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

vocabulary.htm

Technology in the development of autonomy:

- Clarity English

https://sites.google.com/correounivalle.edu.co/

licenciasysoftwareunivalle/clarity-english?authuser=0

- Supplementary material on the Universidad del Valle

platform

- Duolingo for Schools:

https://schools.duolingo.com

4
DETAILED CONTENT

Unity and Task Discourse functions Skills Formal aspects of Intercultural

language component
Oral production Listening Reading Production

comprehension Comprehension written

Unit 1: My life, Greeting and saying Preparing to Following Use reading Write simple Personal Attitudes

my preferences goodbye in general make an oral instructions in the strategies: sentences pronouns Active and

respectful
and alternatives and academic presentation classroom prediction, Ask and answer Present simple
participation in
contexts Identify and use Identify the topic scanning or questions Present
discussions and
Task: A day in skimming Produce short
Describe living beings, expressions of short oral continuous activities focused
the life of a information, texts about daily
places and objects specific to oral documents (key on aspects of one's
Interrogative
Univalle student routine and
presentations words, theme, selective reading own culture and
Exchange personal sentences
family aspects foreign cultures.
information Use vocabulary general idea)
8 weeks Taking notes while Verbs
Knowledge
Describe personal and related to the Formulate Spelling:
reading like/hate/love
Identification of
disciplinary areas hypotheses about signs of
academic habits and +ing knowledge, visions,
Identify cognates, punctuation,
routines in different Pronounce the content of the
Adverbs of beliefs, and
keywords, capitalization
cultures intelligibly: third oral document customs of other
frequency
compound words,
Identify and person singular Follow the cultures in the work
Possessive
present, vowel parts of speech, material.
discuss practices of timeline of events
adjectives and
sounds, minimal referents, meaning Recognition and
intolerance associated and activities
pronouns incorporation of
pairs, final by context
with routines of
consonants, the Prepositions of cultural elements in
groups from different
work material and
initial S in words, place and time
cultures. academic
Sh/s and /th/ (in, on, at)
productions.
Describe personal and /t/,/d, a
Basic connectors Analysis of the
academic routines of contraction
of sequence, social and
important people in
Produce chronology and communicative
my career processes of one's
appropriate addition
Talk about your own culture and of
intonation in Indefinite and
general and academic other cultures.
questions and definite articles
Relationship and
preferences and
affirmative (a, an, the)
interpretation skills
tastes
sentences Identification and

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 Unit 2: Provide information Prepare a Identify events Identify the Writing short Simple past reflection of events,

on the academic presentation for and facts in short structure of the biographies (regular and documents and
Recognized
irregular verbs) perceptions of
career of recognized unit 2 oral documents narrative
people in my Write short texts
Used to different cultures
individuals (key words, topic, paragraph
professional about past
Formulate with one's own in
Past progressive
field general idea) events
Identify the topic the academic
questions from
Prayers
Understanding and main idea of a context.
short Interrogatives
Assignment: dates/years short text Recognition of
presentations and negatives
“Great minds of cultural
Following the Logical
all time” Ask for Identify the manifestations in
chronological connectors of
clarifications structure of local and global
order in oral chronology,
academic narrative academic practices.
8 weeks Pronunciation:
speeches sequence,
genres Discovery and
regular and
addition, contrast interaction skills
Identify the
irregular verbs in
and cause Discussion based on
general idea and
the past tense the Identification of
the topic of the
information about
oral speech
other cultures.

Taking notes Using available

while listening information about

other cultures to

discover new

perspectives in

texts and oral

documents on the

academic context.

METHODOLOGY

The pedagogical approach to language training is based on a conception of language that involves the development of communicative competence (Canale and Swain, 1980),

which includes the linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic sub-competences (Council of Europe, 2002). Learning a foreign language involves a high level of exposure to authentic

models of communication, which are made understandable through different strategies in teacher-student, student-student interaction and in authentic interaction with other

speakers of the language. The construction and consolidation of communicative competence thus involves the possibility of constructing and producing pertinent meaning, which

is derived from interactive negotiation with the interlocutor, both in oral and written interaction.

An intercultural view of language teaching is also adopted. This vision is based on the intrinsic relationship between language and culture (Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 1998; Liddicoat,

2008). Consequently, learning a language goes beyond the communicative dimension in its linguistic and functional areas, and therefore, the intercultural dimension must be

addressed in the foreign language classroom (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013). In this sense, the course is approached taking into account the perspective of intercultural

communicative competence (Byram, 1997) which aims at the development of intercultural speakers who are aware of the nuances in communicative interactions and with the

ability to establish dialogues through the foreign language as a vehicle of communication. The Byram (1997) model of Intercultural Communicative Competence is then adopted,

which includes five areas of knowledge: 1. know (knowledge), 2. knowing how to be (attitudes), 3. knowing how to understand (relationship and interpretation skills), 4. knowing

how to learn (discovery and interaction skills) and 5. knowing how to commit (critical cultural awareness).

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On the other hand, language training approaches the teaching of English from the integration of the Language for General Purposes (LGP) approach, according to which learning

focuses on the use of language in situations of social interaction, and the Language for General Academic Purposes (LGAP) approach, which emphasizes the study skills necessary

for academic and professional performance in higher education (Jordan, 2005). Furthermore, the integration and interrelation of skills in language teaching is proposed, since it

favors the construction of meanings (Mayora, 2009). It involves addressing texts from oral and written discourse and putting them at the service of a single, meaningful task for

the person performing it.

In addition, the English for General and Academic Purposes I course is based on the task-based language teaching methodology. Tasks, according to Ellis (2009), focus on

meaning (pragmatic and semantic), present the need to communicate something and require students to use their own linguistic and non-linguistic resources to achieve a

product that goes beyond the practice of the language itself. Tasks for general language use and tasks focused on some specific elements of the language are included.

Finally, this course adopts the student-centered approach to teaching and learning, closely related to autonomous learning. Learning autonomy is understood as the ability that

students develop to organize their own learning process intentionally and consciously, assuming responsibility in decision-making. For the development of autonomy, the course

promotes guided independent work that could be considered as the first phase of autonomous learning. It is guided by the fact that these are activities offered by the Network of

Support Centers for Language Learning (Red CAAL), which complement face-to-face classes; on the other hand, it is independent since the student carries them out outside the

classroom, on a regular basis throughout the semester.

In this sense, self-regulated learning is assumed in this proposal since it indicates a series of challenges for the student such as the process of setting goals for learning; the

effective use of strategies in order to organize, codify and practice the information learned; the effective use of resources, monitoring performance, applying corrective measures,

evaluating the process and the final product and proper time management, among others (Oxford, 2011). Through independent work and the human, physical and virtual

resources available at the University, the aim is for the teacher and the student to create an environment that leads to the development of self-regulated learning in order to

succeed not only in the acquisition of the foreign language, but also in other learning aspects of university education. As part of the development of independent work, the

program proposes: i) academic-cultural activities of the support centers (telecollaboration, film club, talks, conversation club, song and reading club) that are articulated with

classroom activities; ii) complementary activities assisted by technology (ACAT) with audiovisual content, interactive and dynamic activities for a wide range of disciplines

according to the academic focus, available on the University's virtual campus by levels; iii) activities through academic software such as Clarity.

SUPPORT RESOURCES

Computer, internet connection, headphones, computer video camera, Virtual Campus, Clarity software, Duolingo for Schools application.

COURSE EVALUATION

The course will be evaluated through group and individual activities corresponding to progress and product evaluation: the purpose of progress evaluation is to demonstrate

progress in the language learning process, provide feedback to students, allow learners to recognize their progress and aspects to improve and seek strategies for the aspects to

improve. This assessment is made up of activities that integrate the four skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking), activities linked to aspects of the language (grammar,

vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.), presentations, quizzes, etc., both individual and group. These activities correspond to continuous work and have a percentage of 40%. The

teacher will propose 10 activities throughout the semester.

The second component corresponding to the progress evaluation is related to the activities of directed independent work, which consists of attendance and participation in the

activities proposed by the CAAL Network (clubs, talks, film forums, cultural activities) and in working with the platforms (Clarity, Duolingo School, EAP ACAT Material on the

Univalle Virtual Campus).

Activities on the Clarity and Duolingo platforms will account for 10% and EAP ACAT Material activities on the Virtual Campus will account for another 10% for a total of 20% of

work on the platforms. Students will work 1 hour per week and can alternate working on different platforms throughout the semester.

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This semester, attendance at clubs, talks, cultural activities and film forums will be voluntary. For each attendance and active participation in the activities the student will have 1
1
point. The accumulated attendance of 5 times at clubs, talks or film forums will be converted into a) a grade of (five) 5.0 which will be part of the continuous monitoring.

The product evaluation will be done through an intermediate evaluation and a final evaluation that corresponds to oral and written production tasks that collect the contents

seen in each of the units. The percentage of the partial evaluation and the final evaluation will be 20% each for a total of 40%.

The total value of the task is 50 points (grade 5.0).

For the oral assignment, both midterm and final, the course professor will socialize with the students and send them the guide to prepare for their oral presentation. Since the

emphasis of this course is on oral production, the oral assignment will be worth 35 points, of which the prepared presentation is worth 25 points and the spontaneous oral

production 10 points; the latter by means of two or three questions related to the presentation, formulated by the teacher. Students will be able to receive advice from CAAL

Network instructors to prepare their presentations.

The written assignment is worth 15 points. Teachers will provide instructions on midterm and final written assignments in due course.

The aspects presented can be seen in a synthetic way in the following table:

Type of assessment Purpose Tools Percentage value

● Continuous monitoring: integrated skills activities,

40%
quizzes, grammar and vocabulary, presentations, voluntary

attendance at clubs, etc. (10 grades per semester)

● Demonstrate progress in
● Freelance work 20% distributed as follows:
learning

● Provide timely feedback

(1 h/week / 10 weeks)
Progress evaluation
● Making decisions on the fly
Clarity and Duolingo
about different aspects of the learning
(number of activities completed and related quizzes) 10%
process

ACAT material on Virtual Campus

10%
(activities on campus)

Partial Evaluation*
20%
(Oral assignment: “A day in the life of a Univalle student” + Written
Demonstrate progress in learning assignment)
Product evaluation
Making decisions about student promotion
Final evaluation*
20%
(Oral task: “Great minds of all time” + Written task)

REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY
● http://www.merriam-webster.com/
● http://www.thesaurus.com/
● Howjsay: https://howjsay.com (pronunciation)

1 Likewise, if a student accumulates 4 attendances, this will be equivalent to a grade of 4.0 and will be included in the continuous monitoring grades.
.

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● English Page: www.englishpage.com
● ESL Independent Study Lab: http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/reading.html
● VOA Learning English https://learningenglish.voanews.com
● www.voanews.com
● BBC Learning English (archived, no longer updated but still useful)
● http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/
● TED Ideas worth spreading: http://www.ted.com/
● Scientific American Magazine: http://www.scientificamerican.com/
● New Scientist Magazine: www.newscientist.com

Note: Electronic devices used during synchronous sessions will be for academic purposes only.

GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW:

• This course seeks to develop the four communication skills.

• This level emphasizes the development of oral comprehension and expression, with description and narration as thematic axes.

• This course will have a general academic English component, meaning that in addition to content related to everyday English communication, academic English content is

included in which students have the opportunity to address social, economic, political, etc. issues, as well as aspects related to their academic programs.

• For students interested in attending CAAL Network activities, it is essential to have a participatory attitude. These are spaces for language practice that complement the

content seen in class.

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ACADEMIC CALENDAR

10
Freelance work at Clarity

CLARITY Software

Week Clarity Content Topics

3 Tense buster: Elementary The whole unit

9 •
Simple present

10
•
Present continuous
Tense buster: Lower intermediate
11
•
Comparisons
12
•
Prepositions
13
•
Simple past
14

Clear pronunciation Module 1 (distribute during class weeks)

Active reading Elementary

11