English for Doctoral Degree Study (FSI-9AJ)

The goal of English for Doctoral Degree Study is to provide students with language skills suitable for academic and professional areas, and prepare them for practical output of the acquired academic skills in the form of independent oral and written discourse at the C1 level of CEFR.

Skills: The skill to comprehend a scientific text, to reproduce it, and to compile a discipline-specific glossary. The skill to properly use the acquired grammar and academic style in both oral and written professional discourse. The ability of critical thinking, independent communication, and argumentation prevalent in the academia.
Output: independent written and oral performance.

Minimum necessary CEFR level of English is lower B2.

English for Doctoral Degree Study focuses on a complex development of language skills in academic and scientific areas. It is divided into three courses (Academic Skills 1, 2, 3), which lead up to the C1 level of English. The courses concentrate on acquiring general academic and discipline-specific vocabulary, reading academic texts, presentation skills, and independent writing of publishable research papers.

Instruction is composed of three voluntary courses in the form of seminars. Instruction is supplemented by a self-study e-learning course.

The exam has a written and an oral part.

Written part:
1 Submission of glossary of discipline-specific and academic vocabulary selected from at least three impact-journal articles with a minimum extent of 50 items. Assessment criteria: ability to study a foreign language independently.
2 Submission of research paper (minimum 9,000 characters) based on the student's master's or doctoral thesis. Assessment criteria: compliance with pre-set article structure, stylistic and grammatical correctness, use of discipline-specific vocabulary.
3 Short written assignment (150--200 words) on a general academic topic. Assessment criteria: general academic vocabulary and writing used in every-day academic contexts.

Oral part:
1 Presentation of conference contribution and follow-up discussion. Assessment criteria: compliance with pre-set structure of presentation, level of language skills, follow-up discussion.
2 Interview on doctoral study (research, teaching, participation in conferences including international ones, mobilities in abroad). Assessment criteria: fluency and interaction.

Students must pass all parts of the exam.

Students' participation in seminars is voluntary and the extent of instruction (one to three semesters) may be assessed by students themselves by taking a placement test in the e-learning.

Academic Skills 1

Week 1: Introduction, Appearance and success (Listening and speaking)
Week 2: Extended definitions (Reading and writing)
Week 3: Laws of science (Listening and speaking)
Week 4: Review of verb tenses (Grammar)
Week 5: Describing visual information I (Writing)
Week 6: Describing visual information II (Presenting)
Week 7: Accidental discoveries (Listening and speaking)
Week 8: Passive constructions (Grammar)
Week 9: Inspiring innovation (Listening and speaking)
Week 10: Effective teaching

Academic Skills 2

Week 1: Adulting school (Listening and speaking)
Week 2: Process description (Reading and writing)
Week 3: Modern cities (Listening and speaking)
Week 4: Modals (Grammar)
Week 5: Science and food (Listening and speaking)
Week 6: Comparison and contrast (Writing and grammar)
Week 7: Work and fun (Listening and speaking)
Week 8: Conditionals (Grammar)
Week 9: Consequences of progress (Listening and speaking)
Week 10: Pronunciation


Academic Skills 3

Week 1: The writing process: heuristics, evaluating sources, references
Week 2: Compiling glossary, General, academic and technical vocabulary
Week 3: Introduction to rhetoric; Title, abstract, key words
Week 4: Introductions and body paragraphs
Week 5: Methods, Results and discussion
Week 6: Cohesion, thematic progression, referencing
Week 7: Conclusions
Week 8: Articles and punctuation
Week 9: Giving conference papers
Week 10: Giving conference papers