2025/2026

English for General Communication Purposes. Foundation Course

Type: Optional course

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 1-4 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Yuliya Suvorova

Language: English

Course Syllabus

Abstract

"English for General Communication Purposes. Foundation Course" refers to the variable educational tracks offered to students of the curricula for Bachelor's and Specialist's degrees of choice while mastering the optional course of English in accordance with the Concept of the Development of English-language Communicative Competence of HSE Students. "English for General Communication Purposes. Foundation Course" is a course that is aimed at building students’ confidence in using English in different life situations and contexts, i.e. home, university, work, tourism and developing students’ language skills and communicative competences to the B1 level (HSE Scale 30-39). The course is designed to assist students in achieving the level of independent users through developing reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills, attaining excellence in vocabulary management and grammatical accuracy. The course offers a variety of authentic materials that familiarize students with real-life English expressions and scenarios, provides an array of contemporary topics for discussion and develops 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, and text analysis. The course develops a solid general English base for further success in learning English for academic or special purposes, taking international examinations, as well as future academic studies and research. Within the course, students are supposed to complete home assignments and take tests of various formats, which may include but are not limited to lexical-grammar tests, reading tests, listening tests, writing tests, speaking tests. "English for General Communication Purposes. Foundation Course" is available to the first-year students if there is not a mark for an English course in their high school diploma.