What are you looking for?
B1_That students have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field of study that is based on general secondary education, and is accustomed to finding at a level that, although with the support of advanced textbooks, also include some aspects that involve knowledge from the forefront of your field of study
B4_That students can convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialized and non-specialized audiences
T1_That students know a third language, which will be preferably English, with an adequate level of oral and written form, according to the needs of the graduates in each degree
Since most of the specialized technical literature students will come across is in English, this course aims at familiarizing them with the typical structures, lexicon and style of Technical English. Students will learn to interpret and translate technical texts related to their subject matters and to produce basic technical writings. They will also acquire basic writing skills in order to produce formal and informal letters, application letters, electronic mails, and specialized reports.
A strong focus will also be given to listening and speaking skills so that they can overcome everyday situations facilitating their integration into an English-speaking environment.
This module contains methodological and digital online resources in case it is necessary due to Covid-19. That way the achievement of the required knowledge and skills gathered in this course content will be guaranteed.
In general terms, this subject contributes to the learning outcomes (LO) specific of the subject matter it belongs to (English) .At the end of the course, students must be able to:
The classroom work will be based on a theoretical explanation of the syllabus items. These explanations will find practical support for the proposed exercises to be done both in the classroom and outside the classroom. These exercises will be done individually or in small groups according to cooperative learning methodologies.
Pieces of work, exercises, activities, assignments, etc., which form part of the evaluation will have to be delivered just after completing each one of the contents and never after having been returned to students as corrected by the lecturer.
The exercises and tasks leading to achieve oral skills will be done in the classroom in groups of two or more students.
Other tasks of autonomous learning will be taken into account such as reading selected articles and texts, deliverables, and exam preparation.
Due to COVID-19, some of the group sessions might have to change into a hybrid format: contact lessons and online lessons (via streaming). That way students might alternately attend contact lessons, thus respecting the maximum amount of students per classroom established by social distancing measures. Those students who could not attend contact lessons would be able to follow them online from home.
Content 1: Grammatical, syntactic and lexical aspects of technical register in the field of Computing Engineering:
Related Activities:
Content 2: Technical register and technical translation. Reading comprehension of technical texts in the field of Computing Engineering:
Related activities:
Content 3: Writing Skills:
Related Activities:
Content 4: Functions / Oral Skills:
Related Activities:
Aiming to gather evidence of the achievement of learning outcomes (LO), the following activities will be carried out:
activity 1: Analysis of grammatical, syntactical and lexical features of technical register in the field of engineering (Content 1) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO1 and LO7). Individual activity
Making different exercises on 's structures, participles in –ing and –ed, shortening of relative clauses, and complex noun phrases.
Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on general competence CB1 and on crosscurricular competence CT1
This is 10% of the final mark
Specific goals:
At the end of the activity, students must be able to:
Activity 2: Technical register and technical translation. Reading comprehension of technical literature in the field of computing engineering (Content 2) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO2, LO3 and LO7). Individual activity
Turning non-technical register into technical register. Direct translation into Catalan or Spanish of technical passages previously selected from authentic technical literature (specialized magazines, books, technical magazines, Internet, …) Reading comprehension of technical passages and articles selected from bibliography sources in the field of engineering
Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on general competence CB1 and on crosscurricular competence CT1
This is 10% of the final mark
Specific goals:
At the end of the activity, students must be able to:
Activity 3: Writing Skills (Content 3) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO4 and LO7). Individual activity
The student will practice writing texts and reports according to an academic style and will have to know the essential features to produce a summary or an abstract.
Taking the professional environment into account, the student will have to write formal letters to make orders, claims, information requests, and will also have to produce formal electronic mails.
Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on general competencies CB1 and CB4 and on crosscurricular competency CT1
This is 20% of the final mark
Specific Objectives:
At the end of the activity, students must be able to:
Activity 4: Oral Skills (content 4) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO5, LO6 and LO7) Group activity
Students will practice certain situations in the daily professional life of a computing engineer, such as testing information, making orders, participating in discussions on specific topics.
They will work on the most important aspects of a good oral presentation on a topic related to their subject matter.
They will have to foster group discussion on the topics presented
Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on general competencies CB1 and CB4 and on crosscurricular competency CT1
This is 30% of the final mark. This activity has to be passed in order to comply with the learning outcomes
Specific Objectives:
Activity 5: Exam (Content 1, 2 and 3) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, and LO7) Individual activity
This is a written paper with exercises on the points studied in contents 1, 2 and 3 of the module.
Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on general competencies CB1 and CB4 and on crosscurricular competency CT1
30% of the final mark. A minimum mark of 4 (out of 10) is required in this activity
Specific Objectives:
In case of partial or total lockdown, the learning activities will remain the same.
Assessment Methodology:
Homework and classroom exercises will be collected on all the items of the course according to the following assessment criteria:
If necessary, there will be a resit test of points 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the assessment (see above): 70% of the final mark. The remaining 30% corresponds to activity 4 above (Oral Skills)
Rules for Doing the Activities
If one of the activities, tests or exercises is not delivered in two time by the student, it will be considered as not assessed.
The student will not be allowed to use notes, dossier, or dictionaries in the exam (s)
VERY IMPORTANT:
Total or partial PLAGIARISM of any of the assignments will be automatically qualified as FAIL (0). And, if plagiarism is repeated, it may mean that the module has a definitive qualification of FAIL (0).
PLAGIARISM consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources, whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text, which is intended as the student's own text. It includes cutting and pasting from Internet sources, presented unmodified in the student's own text. PLAGIARISM IS A SERIOUS OFFENSE. Students must respect authors' intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use. They must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.
Handouts. J. Garcia. 2020
English for Science and Technology, Trimble, L. Cambridge 1985
The Essence of Technical Communication. Herbert L. Hirsch. IEEE Press. 2000
Technical Writing and Professional Communication for Nonnative Speakers of English, Huckin and Olsen. McGraw-Hill, 1991
Essential Grammar in Use. Murphy, R. Cambridge 2003
Polytechnic Dictionary of Spanish and English Languages. F. Beigbeder Atienza. Diaz de Santos, SA
Dictionary of Computer Science and Related Technologies. Michel Ginguay. Ed. Masson
McGraw-Hill Computer Dictionary
Dictionary of Information Technology. Peter Collin Publishing
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish
Test Your Professional English: Business: General. Flinders, Steve, and Steve Flinders. Harlow, Essex, Eng: Pearson Education, 2002. Print.