2026/2027
English for Specific Academic Purposes. Linguistics - 3
Type:
Optional course
Delivered by:
School of Foreign Languages
Where:
Faculty of Humanities
When:
1-3 module
Open to:
students of one campus
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Contact hours:
48
Course Syllabus
Abstract
“English for Specific Academic Purposes. General Linguistics -3” is an elective course intended for second-year students training for linguistics majors. The aims of the course are (1) to develop academic English competence through familiarizing students with academic written and oral production in English, and (2) to advance HSE students’ research skills in the area of their specialization, i.e. linguistics. The course focuses on core tasks relevant to basic professional purposes, such as working out the main points of an academic text or lecture; presenting the summary of the information received, taking into consideration the positions of all contributors to the area in focus; and extending one’s own scope of English communicative competence and professional vocabulary in the area of linguistics and linguistic studies as a means to develop academic writing and listening skills. Students will be expected to produce critical, analytical or evaluative texts in speech and writing throughout the course. The syllabus covers concepts and key vocabulary necessary for discussing linguistics as well as words and phrases commonly used in academic English. Finally, the course highlights the skills and academic norms required for participation in linguistic seminars and tutorials in the English language, on the one hand, and in international academic events, on the other. As a result, students are expected to present their group and individual projects orally and in writing throughout the course. There are no blocking points of assessment. The final grade consists of the following elements: 0,1 – Attendance, 0,1 – English Grammar and Vocabulary Test, 0,1 – Home Assignment , 0,2 – Written Assessment, 0,2 – Oral Assessment, 0,3- Final Assessment.
Learning Objectives
- The course is aimed at developing BA Theoretical and Computational Linguistics students’ professional intercultural communicative competence (PICC) that is referred to as the “integrative ability of solving professional tasks with the help of foreign language” . Development of the PICC, as an integrative goal of this course, 1) ensures plunging students as active participants into the process of solving a variety of professionally-oriented tasks with the help of the English language that model a broad diverse social and (quasi-) professional context of their future career paths; 2) provides an opportunity to discover various genres, formats, strategies, purposes and means of learning and narrating about the Theoretical and Computational Linguistics, as well as describing and interpreting art works of different styles and periods, creating and presenting linguistic projects in English using Information and Communications technology (ICT); 3) gives a chance to work with different sources and types of information for finding new solutions to the existing problems and designing innovative creative and personally meaningful research, educational and professional projects related to their future professional field; 4) practices analytical and critical thinking skills.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Understand dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics; understand lectures; use basic listening techniques (predicting, understanding main ideas and details); take notes.
- Understand specialised complex longer texts/articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems; understand text structure; use basic reading techniques, skimming, scanning (predicting, understanding main ideas, understanding details); use a dictionary occasionally to confirm his/her interpretation of terminology.
- Produce dialogues on general topics (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing); monologues: descriptive/informative/reasoning.
- Formulate and express the ideas based on the analysis of the facts / concepts / ideas / opinions etc. about linguistics in oral and written form.
- Work with ideas and concepts related to the field of linguistics individually and in a team using the brainstorming, formulating, refining, adapting, arguing, debating, supporting, transforming etc. strategies.
- Write a summary; an essay (opinion, discussion); an e-mail (business correspondence); CV.
Course Contents
- 1) The Big To-Do-List: Identifying Challenges for 21st Century Linguistics
- 2) Basic concepts of language
- 3) Is linguistics a science?
- 4) Building Complex Knowledge with Language and Imagination
- 5) What is language? Human language vs. animal communication systems
Assessment Elements
- Oral AssessmentOA consists of minimum 3 tasks of different types, including interim ones (for example, dialogues and presentations) that students do in class.
- Final assessment
- Home assignmentHA includes oral and/or written tasks that are assigned to students for independent completion and submission. Students do the tasks at home and either turn them in to their teachers or submit them via Smart LMS for grading.
- Written assessmentWA consists of minimum 4 tasks of different types, including interim ones (for example, essays, graph descriptions, reviews, reports). WA can also include annotations, emails, listening and reading tasks, grammar and vocabulary tasks at the end of a section or topic. WA refers to written tasks that students complete in class.
- Attendance
- English Grammar and Vocabulary TestStudents take English Grammar and Vocabulary Test in class.
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 3rd module0.2 * Oral Assessment + 0.1 * Home assignment + 0.1 * Attendance + 0.1 * English Grammar and Vocabulary Test + 0.2 * Written assessment + 0.3 * Final assessment
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Barón Birchenall, L. (2016). Animal Communication and Human Language: An overview.
- Thibodeau, P., Gehring, K., Tesny, E., Flusberg, S., Fausey, C., & Boroditsky, L. (2014). Metaphor and Causal Reasoning.
- Английский язык для лингвистов. Продвинутый уровень : учебник, Васильева, Е. А., 2022
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Barnes, H. (2017). Linguistics : Past, Present and Future Perspectives. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1530916
- Christelle Gillioz, & Sandrine Zufferey. (2020). Introduction to Experimental Linguistics. Wiley-ISTE.
- Pika, S., Wilkinson, R., Kendrick, K., & Vernes, S. (2018). Taking turns: Bridging the gap between human and animal communication.
- Toskos Dils, A., & Boroditsky, L. (2013). The visual motion aftereffect from mental imagery depends on speed.