English for Academic Studies
Currently offered in Trinity Term 2013:
Academic Writing / Advanced Communication Skills / Editing your Thesis with Corpora (for DPhil Students) / Advanced Communication Skills (Academic Visitors) / English for Spouses and Partners of University Members
Summer courses:
English for Academic Visitors and Post-doctoral Researchers / Pre-Sessional Course
Am I entitled to take your courses?
When can I register?
Language Centre Library and Independent Study Resources
Am I entitled to take your courses?
Are you a postgraduate or Chevening Scholar for whom English is a foreign or additional language?
If so, you may take courses in English and you have priority. There is a registration fee of £20 per course, per term.
Are you an undergraduate?
If so, you may take courses with a registration fee of £20 per term.
Are you a post-doctoral fellow, or member of University staff for whom English is a foreign or additional language?
If so, you may take courses with a registration fee of £40 per term.
Are you an academic visitor or visiting student in a University department or a college?
If so, you can take the Advanced Communication Skills (Academic Visitor) course, where you will have priority, for a fee of £120 a term. You can only attend another English course (for the same price) if places are available.
Are you the partner of any one of the above?
If so, you can join a special course organised for spouses and partners of University Members for a fee of £120 a term.
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When can I register?
You can register online or in person at the Language Centre. E-mails offering places in the course for Trinity Term will be sent in 0th week of Trinity Term (week of 15th April)
You can join the waiting list for courses at any time during the academic year and will be contacted by email as soon as a place becomes available. You should only register for a class when you know that you will be able to attend the class regularly, so check your departmental timetables first.
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Courses for members of Oxford University
Academic Writing
It is a three-term course, with a syllabus for each term. Michaelmas term focuses on Key Issues in Academic Writing, Hilary term on Writing a Thesis or Dissertation, and Trinity term on Using Corpora to Investigate Grammar and Rhetorical Functions. Each term there is provision for dealing with your own academic writing through workshops on self-monitoring, and revising and editing.
Using Corpora to Investigate Grammar and Rhetorical Functions
Group 1: Tuesdays 13:00 - 15:00 (Room 301) Tutor: George Taylor
Group 2: Wednesdays 14:00 - 16:00 (Language Lab) Tutor: Maggie Charles
Group 3: Wednesdays 16:00 - 18:00 (Language Lab) Tutor: Maggie Charles
Group 4: Thursdays 9:00 - 11:00 (Room 301) Tutor: George Taylor
Group 5: Fridays 9:00 - 11:00 (Room 301) Tutor: George Taylor
Writing a Thesis or Dissertation
Group 6: Wednesdays 10:00 - 12:00 (Room 301) Tutor: George Taylor
Registration fee (per term): £20 students, £40 staff
Click here to see the syllabus
Coursebook: There will be no coursebook. The tutor will provide photocopied materials.
Advanced Communication Skills
This course is intended to help you improve your social and academic communication within the university setting. Do you already have a reasonably good knowledge of all the major areas of grammar and an extensive vocabulary? If you can operate confidently and efficiently in a wide range of situations, but would like to improve even further, this is the course for you.
In this course you can extend your vocabulary, increase your fluency in speaking, develop a more natural command of spoken English, work on improving your pronunciation and grammar, and improve your ability to listen with understanding to spoken texts. This is a one-year (three-term) course, but students can join at any point.
Group 1: Mondays 14:00 -16:00 (Room 202) Tutor: Deborah Mason
Group 2: Thursdays 14:00 - 16:00 (Room 201) Tutor: Amanda Jeffries
Group 3: Thursdays 16:00 - 18:00 (Room 301) Tutor: Amanda Jeffries
Group 4: Fridays 14:00 - 16:00 (Room 202) Tutor: George Taylor
Registration fee (per term): £20 students, £40 staff
Click here to see the syllabus
Coursebook: There will be no coursebook. The tutor will provide photocopied materials.
Editing your Thesis with Corpora (for DPhil Students)
Edit your Thesis with Corpora is a short (12-hour) course designed for doctoral students who are at the transfer stage and have chapters of their thesis ready for editing. In this course you will make an electronic collection of texts from research articles in your field. You will use software to compare this corpus of expert writing with the language you use in your thesis. This will help to identify problems and edit your text according to the usage in your field.
This course is NOT suitable for first year DPhil students, who are advised to register for the Academic Writing Course.
Only students who have already written at least one substantial draft chapter will be accepted.
Fridays (from week 3) 14:00 - 16:00 (Language Lab) Tutor: Maggie Charles
click here to see the syllabus
Registration fee (per term): £20
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Special courses for Academic Visitors, Spouses and Partners
Advanced Communication Skills (Academic Visitors)
This course follows the same syllabus as the other Advanced Communication Skills courses, but participants are likely to change each term.
Thursdays 14:00 - 16:00 (Room 202)
Tutor: Deborah Mason
Registration fee (per term): £120
Click here to see the syllabus
Coursebook: There will be no coursebook. The tutor will provide photocopied materials.
English for Spouses and Partners of University Members
This course is intended for any spouses or partners (male or female) of an intermediate level or above. In order to benefit from the course, you should be able to express opinions on a variety of topics and understand standard spoken English reasonably well, although every encouragement will be given to those who are not accustomed to participating in discussions in English. The class concentrates on improving fluency through discussion of social issues. Participants are welcome to use the library to supplement work in the class.
Group 1 (Intermediate): Thursdays 11:00 - 13:00 (Room 301)
Click here to see the syllabus
Coursebook: No Coursebook - Tutor will provide materials
Tutor: Amanda Jeffries
Fee (per term): £120
Group 2 (Upper Intermediate/Advanced): Fridays 11:00 - 13:00 (Room 201)
Click here to see the syllabus
Coursebook: No Coursebook - Tutor will provide materials
Tutor: Amanda Jeffries
Fee (per term): £120
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Summer courses
English for Academic Visitors and Post-doctoral Researchers
In July every year, the Language Centre offers a three-week course in English for Academic Visitors and Post-doctoral Researchers, with teaching on four mornings a week. Further details are available here.
Pre-Sessional Course
This intensive eight-week course (composed of two different four-week courses) starts at the end of July and finishes in mid to late September every year. Further details are available on the pre-sessional page.
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Language Centre Library and Independent Study Resources
Access to the Language Centre's library and independent study area is free of charge to undergraduates, postgraduates, post-doctoral fellows, members of staff (including staff of the colleges, teaching hospitals and Oxford University Press), and visiting students. Academic visitors, spouses and partners of university members can make use of the library facilities for £50 per term or summer vacation, or £125 for the academic year. Those who are paying for an English course can use the library without further charge.
The English section of the library includes textbooks and tapes, CDs and DVDs. There is material on listening, speaking (including pronunciation and intonation practice), reading and writing. There is a good selection of examination preparation material for IELTS, TOEFL and the Cambridge suite of examinations, and also books on English for specific purposes, such as medicine, computers and economics. The self-study computers have a number of useful CALL programs for students of English. There are also English videos and DVDs (some subtitled in English) available for viewing in the media booths. These booths can be used for private study whenever the library is open and material can be borrowed by anyone with an Oxford University card.
For further information on the Language Centre Library, including induction times and opening hours, see the Language Centre library web pages and the Independent Study Area Guide on the ground floor.
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