סילבוס מתקדמים ב

Course Goals & Objectives – Advanced B 2023

Course purpose and overview:

The main objective of the Mitkadmim B course is to improve students’ reading comprehension of academic texts. To this end, a variety of reading and language skills are taught and practiced throughout the course (see below). In addition to intensive reading, global reading techniques are emphasized to enable students to deal efficiently with large quantities of academic material. In addition, speaking, listening, and writing are integrated into the class sessions and assignments to develop effective communication skills.

Learning Outcomes (CEFR/CV-based):

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to do the following:

Reception

Listening

  • Can follow the essentials of lectures, talks and reports and other forms of academic/professional presentation which are propositionally and linguistically complex.
  • Can distinguish main themes from sub-themes, provided that the lecture or talk is delivered in standard spoken language.
  • Can recognize the speaker’s point of view and distinguish this from facts that he/she is reporting.
  • Can understand spoken announcements, instructions and messages.

 

Reading

  • Can read articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems in which the writers adopt particular stances or viewpoints.
  • Can read with a large degree of independence, adapting style and speed of reading to different texts and purposes, and using appropriate reference sources selectively.
  • Can recognize when a text provides factual information and when it seeks to convince readers of something.
  • Can recognize different structures in discursive text: contrasting arguments, problem-solution presentation and cause-effect relationships.
  • Can read and comprehend advanced authentic academic English texts
  • Can skim a long text to understand its main idea, purpose and conclusion
  • Can understand the structure of various types of academic texts
  • Can navigate authentic empirical research articles to extract relevant information
  • Can extrapolate the meaning of a section of a text by taking into account the text as a whole.
  • Can make basic inferences or predictions about text content from headings, titles or headlines.

 

Interaction

Spoken

  • Can take an active part in discussion in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining views.
  • Can explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
  • Can give a clear, systematically developed presentation, with highlighting of significant points, and relevant supporting detail.
  • Can utilize oral and aural skills to effectively participate in class sessions and activities
  • Can interact with a degree of fluency with native speakers

 

Written

  • Can write a text that develops an argument systematically with appropriate highlighting of significant points and relevant supporting detail.
  • Can synthesize information and arguments from a number of sources.
  • Can write short answers in English to demonstrate text comprehension
  • Can write structured paragraphs in English summarizing or responding to texts
  • Develop a clear argument, expanding and supporting his/her points of view with relevant examples

 

Production

Spoken

  • Can outline an issue or a problem clearly, speculating about causes or consequences, and weighing advantages and disadvantages of different approaches.
  • Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction, and sustained relationships with speakers of the target language quite possible without imposing strain on either party.

Written

  • Can express news and views effectively in writing, and relate to those of others.
  • Can participate actively in an online discussion, stating and responding to opinions on topics of interest at some length, provided contributors avoid unusual or complex language and allow time for responses.
  • Produce clear, detailed texts on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint

 

Mediation

  • Can summarize the important points made in longer, spoken and written complex texts on subjects of current interest, including his/her fields of special interest.
  • Can synthesize and report information and arguments from a number of spoken and/or written sources
  • Can give a clear presentation of his/her reactions to a work, developing his/her ideas and supporting them with examples and arguments.
  • Can consider two different sides of an issue, giving arguments for and against, and propose a solution or compromise.
  • Can work collaboratively with people who have different cultural orientations, discussing similarities and differences in views and perspectives.

 

Linguistic, vocabulary, grammar and orthographic control

  • Can express him/herself clearly and without much sign of having to restrict what he/she wants to say.
  • Have a sufficient range of language to be able to give clear descriptions, express viewpoints and develop arguments without much conspicuous searching for words, using some complex sentence forms to do so.
  • Can produce the appropriate collocations of many words in most contexts fairly systematically.
  • Show a relatively high degree of grammatical control. Does not make mistakes which lead to misunderstanding.
  • Have spelling and punctuation that are reasonably accurate but may show signs of mother tongue influence.
  • Can use a variety of linking words efficiently to mark clearly the relationships between ideas.
  • Can produce text that is generally well-organized and coherent, using a range of linking words and cohesive devices.

Course Description, Course Overview

Teaching techniques, technology use, guest speakers:

  • Frontal lectures
  • Pair/group work
  • Class discussions
  • Moodle assignments (e.g. forum discussions, recordings, online quizzes, videos)
  • Internet use: videos, supplementary material (in class/homework)
  • Interactive class activities using mobile technologies

 

Language Skills and Strategies:

 

Below is a list of the reading and language skills and strategies practiced and taught in the course. The various components are taught and applied alone and in combination as needed (i.e. a skill/strategy may be taught in a focused lesson by itself, and then applied to various readings).

 

  • Identifying various types of academic articles
  • Pre-reading / Surveying / Predicting
  • Reading introductions and conclusions to extract main idea, purpose, question and/or conclusion of texts
  • Skimming long texts to search for information and/or to get the gist
  • Paragraph structure (identifying main ideas and supporting details)
  • Empirical research articles: structure and contents
  • Summary and response writing
  • Drawing inferences based on textual information and background knowledge
  • Distinguishing between facts and opinions
  • Meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies and processes
  • Reading fluency and speed
  • Academic vocabulary
  • Speaking and listening practice
  • Writing answers, responses, and summaries

 

In addition, relevant skills from Mitkadmim A are briefly reviewed and practiced throughout the course as needed. These may include:

 

  • Vocabulary skills (e.g. guessing meanings from context, affixes)
  • Sentence structure (nominal phrases, simple, compound, and complex sentences)
  • References and ellipsis
  • Transitions and organizational markers

 

Reading selections are chosen from a collection of authentic academic texts taken from a variety of sources, including college textbooks and academic journals.

Prerequisites

Course Requirements/Assignments

Course requirements:

  • Attendance and active participation in class sessions
  • Successful completion of class assignments, quizzes and homework
  • Oral presentation
  • Writing exam
  • Final exam

 

Components of the course grade

Components of the course grade:

 

The course grade is composed of a class grade (60%) and a final exam grade (40%).

 

The class grade includes:

  • Reading comprehension: quizzes on vocabulary and reading strategies, sample "unseen" tests, homework, online assignments
  • Listening and speaking: answering questions based on a video, recording short oral responses to reading, giving an oral presentation
  • Writing: writing forum responses, summaries, short essays

 

READING 60%

1)

Various strategy-based reading assignments

40%

2)

Empirical research article assignment(s)

3)

One sample unseen test

20%

LISTENING and SPEAKING

1)

Oral presentation 

20%

2)

Other speaking and listening assignments

WRITING

1)

Writing exam: at least 200 words long 

20%

2)

Other writing assignments

 

Final Exam: The final exam is a 2-hour exam that includes 2 parts: a global reading part (a text with a set of global reading and skimming questions) and a close reading part (a research abstract with a set of research-based questions). Students are allowed to use a dictionary during the test.

 

Bibliography; Reading Selections

Authentic academic articles compiled by each lecturer posted on the Moodle platform

Articles chosen by individual students based on their individual disciplines or requirements