GRADO

GUA DE ESTUDIO DE LA ASIGNATURA

2 PARTE | PLAN DE TRABAJO Y ORIENTACIONES PARA SU DESARROLLO

2010-2011

|Ingls Instrumental II. Primer curso.

GRADO EN ESTUDIOS INGLESES: LENGUA, LITERATURA Y CULTURA
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INGLS INSTRUMENTAL II
1.- PLAN DE TRABAJO/ WORK PLAN
This subject is divided into six main units, which make up six European Credit Transfer and Accumulation
System (ECTS). Each credit corresponds to 25 hours of work on the part of the student. Thus the total
number of hours the student will have to devote to this subject is 150. The students should bear in mind that
this is one more of a series of six subjects that are specifically oriented towards the development of their
instrumental skills in using the English language, so a great part of the hours will have to be invested in doing
tasks related to varied language skills. The units are organized around a given topic and different language
abilities, specified broadly as follows:

UNIT 1: MARRIAGE AND LOVE AFFAIRS

I CREDIT ECTS 25 hours

of study/practice

Oral competence: describing events

Written production: narrating personal experiences

UNIT

2:

ALTERNATIVE ENERGIES

I CREDIT ECTS 25 hours of

study/practice

Oral competence: comparing opinions

Written production: for and against; argumentation

UNIT

3:

SHRINKS AND PSYCHOANALYSIS

I CREDIT ECTS 25

hours of study/practice

Oral competence: interviews

Written production: newspaper articles and reports

UNIT 4: HEALTHY DIETS

Oral competence: a debate

Written production: formal and informal letters

UNIT

5:

I CREDIT ECTS 25 hours of study/practice

BUGS, PESTICIDES AND THE FOOD CHAIN

I CREDIT

ECTS 25 hours of study/practice

Oral competence: presentations

Creative Writing: describing graphs and pictures

UNIT

6:

URSULA AND OTHER INSPIRING WOMEN

I CREDIT

ECTS 25 hours of study/practice

Oral competence: telling stories

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Creative Writing: biography

These obligatory units will be available to the students on the book (Strands of Language II, Edited by Ramn
Areces, 2011) for them to read, study and do the corresponding activities in the indicated time and manner
(See Table 2 and section 3). Each unit is structured in a similar way, containing the following sections and
types of activities, which the student should distribute according to the following schedule:
SECTIONS IN
EACH ONE OF
THE SIX UNITS

ACTIVITIES IN EACH
SECTION

CREDITS/TIME
DEVOTE D TO EACH
SECTION IN THE
COURSE (APROX.)

A) WARMING UP

Preparatory questions for the

dialogue in B)

0.2 cr. 5 hours

B) ORAL COMPETENCE:
DIALOGUE

Listening to a dialogue

1 cr. 25 hours

Questions and discussion related to

the dialogue

C) MULTI-TASKING
ACTIVITIES

Working with a text

Studying grammar in the grammar

capsules of the unit.

Activities oriented towards developing

various skills simultaneously: look,
listen, read, study, write, summarize,
etc.

D) TACKLING
VOCABULARY

Activities related to the study and

mastering of vocabulary

0.5 cr. 12.5 hours

E) NOW, HOWS YOUR

SPELLING?

Activities oriented towards the

mastering of English spelling

0.3 cr. 7.5 hours

F) ANDHOWS YOUR
FORMATION OF
WORDS?

Activities focused on the formation of

words: prefixes, suffixes, roots,
inflectional and derivational
morphemes, etc.

0.5 cr. 12.5 hours

G) USING ENGLISH
APPROPRIATELY AND
PUTTING IT INTO
MOTION

Working with different grammar and

language points.

2 cr. 50 hours

Studying the content of the grammar

capsules in the units

H) CONTINUOUS
EVALUATION/SELF
ASSESSMENT

Multiple-choice exercises for selfassessment

Oral and written assignments

Working with the units for evaluation

with the Tutor in the Centro Asociado

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1 cr 25 hours

0.5 cr 12.5 hours

Total: 6 cr. 150 hs.

INGLS INSTRUMENTAL II
2.- ORIENTACIONES PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LOS CONTENIDOS/
ORIENTATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE COURSE CONTENTS
Each one of the six units includes diverse language points and intends to develop different can dos
(=resultados de aprendizaje), which the students should try to cover in a certain period of time. The following
table provides the main contents, can dos and time schedule for each unit. The audio files and videos of
these units can be found in the virtual course (Alf), to which you could access using your user ID and
password provided when enrolling in this course. Since there will be presented in pdf format1, you will be free
to download all of them in your computer, print them out or even work with them in the screen.
UNI T

CAN DOS

Catch the main

points in a TV
programme on
familiar topics

Conditional
constructions

Follow a film in
which visuals
and action carry
much of the
storyline

Preposition + Gerund
construction

Reported Speech

Past Perfect Simple

Pragmatic markers
(vocatives)

Understand a
large part of a
TV talk show

Turn taking in the

structure of American
and British talk shows.

Understand a
large part of a
TV interview and
a TV news
report.

Compound nouns

Time adverbs

Position of adverbs in
the sentence.

Quantity and distribution

determiners.

Subject and object

questions.

Used to/would

Question/answer
adjacency pairs in
interviews

Comparison of a British
and an American TV
news report.

Noun and verb

formation

Marriage and
love affairs

2
Alternative
energies today

3
Shrinks and

LANGUAGE/GRAMMA
R/CUL T URAL POI NT S

Recognize
significant points
in straightforward

DUE DAT E
FOR FI NAL
SELFEVALUAT I ON

March 5th

March 21st

Please be sure your have installed in your computer Acrobat Reader Version 9 (at least)

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Ibez, A.; Jordano, M.; Talavn, N.

psychoanalysis

newspaper
articles on
familiar subjects

Identify the
main
conclusions in
clearly signalled
argumentative
texts.

find and
understand
relevant
information in
brochures and
short official
documents

Modal verbs

Thematization of
important points in
newspaper headlines

Information structure
of newspaper articles.

Polysemic words

Noun formation

Verbs taking a gerund

or an infinitive

Phrasal verbs

Reported speech

Past
obligation/permission;

wish/if only; -ing/-ed

Gather
information from
different parts of
a text or from
different texts

Adjectives

Advertising language
strategies in English.

Take follow
up questions

Review of present and

past tenses

Ask for
repetition if
necessary

Use of gerunds

Phrasal verbs

Adjective formation

Review of prepositions

Review of
comparatives and
superlatives

Features of
argumentative prose

Words of Greek origin.

Bugs,
pesticides and
the food chain

Articles

Healthy diets

Recognize
the line of
argument in the
treatment of an
issue in a
newspaper
article

Scan longer
texts in order to
locate desired
information

Give a
prepared
straightforward
presentation on
a familiar topic
Explain the
main points of a
presentation
with reasonable
precision

April 5st
(DEADLINE FOR
TASK 1)

April 19th

May 3rd

Solving a
crossword

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INGLS INSTRUMENTAL II
puzzle
6

Ursula and
other inspiring
women

Identify
unfamiliar words
from the
contexts on
topics related to
a field of interest
Extrapolate the
meaning of
occasional
unknown words
from the context
Deduce
sentence
meaning
provided the
topic discussed
is familiar

Modals of ability

Past and present

Conditional
constructions

Adjectives (attributive,
compound, etc.)

Revision of prepositions
and articles

so/such constructions

Adverbs

Reading and
commenting on literary
works where identifying
cues and inferring are
strategies used by the
characters.

May 19th
(DEADLINE FOR
TASK 2)2

2.1 Extra/Optional work and activities// Mock oral exams

Apart from the work and information included in each of the units of the course book, there will be
optional and extra activities available in the virtual course, for those students who need or wish to
devote more time and effort to the subject.
There will also be mock oral exams in the virtual course for the students to practise along the year.
It is of utmost importance that they do these model exams for them to be prepared for the final oral
exam in May.

3.- ORIENTACIONES PARA LA REALIZACIN DEL PLAN DE

ACTIVIDADES/ ORIENTATIONS FOR CARRYING OUT THE
ACTIVITIES
3.1 Steps to follow when working with the learning units
Since all the units are structured in the same manner, we recommend the students to take the following steps
when studying each and all of them:
1. Read the Warming up questions at the beginning of the unit and try to answer them. Discuss your
answers with your Tutor or in the virtual course3 with your workmates.
Task means that they are the two activities that you can send to your tutor in order for him/her to assess them. They count up to
0.40 points of the final mark, that is, 4% each (8% together). This does not mean that they are obligatory for you to take the final
exams.
2

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2. Read the main can dos of the unit carefully. These will guide you along the different activities by
letting you know what skills you have to develop and what the expected results of your learning will
be by the time you are done with the unit.
3. Listen to the Dialogues you will find in the CD that comes with the course book. You can listen to
them as many times as you want. You can read it at the same time, or try to understand it without
resorting to this option the first time you listen to it.
4. In order to be able to do the Multitasking activities, read the introductory text carefully and look up all
the words you do not know in a good English-English dictionary (See recommended dictionaries in
Part I of the Study Guide). Then do the different activities based on the text, and check them with
your Tutor.
5. Study all the grammar points by reading the Grammar Capsules provided in the units. Do all the
Tackling Vocabulary tasks. If there are still some items of unknown vocabulary, look them up in an
English-English dictionary. Check your results in the book key.
6. Do all the Now, hows your spelling exercises. Again, use a dictionary if necessary. Check your
results in the book with your Tutor.
7. Do all the And.. hows your formation of words exercises. Again, use a dictionary if necessary. Check
your results in the book key.
8. Now, using all the knowledge you have about the text, the grammar points, and the word formation
and spelling points, you are ready to combine them all in order to carry out the activities included in
the section entitled Using English appropriately and putting it into motion. Here you will have to focus
on some other grammar points, whose explanations will be available to you through new grammar
capsules.
9. Once youve completed all the activities of the unit, you can check your results in the PRACTICE
KEY section of the course book.
10. Now you are ready to take the final self-evaluation of the unit, which you will have at your disposal in
the Evaluation section of the virtual class. There will also be self-evaluations in the section Time to
relax of the course book, where you will also find some links videos, for you to practice your listening
abilities.
11. The due dates for the completion of the activities and final self-evaluation of the virtual class are
provided in Table 2 above and they are announced in the virtual course in due time.
3.2 Evaluation types and criteria
The final exam (=prueba presencial final + examen oral) as well as the continuous evaluation (which includes
the completion of the tasks after units 3 and 6, as well as the self-evaluation included at the end of each unit)
will be designed to measure the students successful achievement of the can dos for which they are trained
along the course.
3.2.1 Continuous evaluation
The so-called continuous evaluation (=evaluacin continua = 20% of the final grade) will be carried out by
means of the following procedures:

Written/oral assignments to be handed in at the end of unit 3 and at the end of unit 6. The Tutor will
correct these assignments to provide feedback (4% each, 8% of the final mark altogether).

Completion of the SELF-EVALUATION TEST at the end of each unit. This test consists of
multiple choice questions that are automatically corrected by the system in the virtual course, so that

You will find threads and forums ready for you to do this kind of activities.

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INGLS INSTRUMENTAL II
the student receives instant feedback about his/her performance (12%, that is, each one counts up to
2% of the final mark)
The criteria used to assess this type of evaluation will be the same as those indicated for the final evaluation
(See 3.2.2.)
3.2.2 Final evaluation
The final evaluation consists of two main parts: a) Written Exam (=Examen final presencial), and b) Oral
Exam. Both account for 80% of the final mark.
IMPORTANT: After the exams, a review period of seven days is available for students who want to comment,
change or confirm their final mark. In order to do this, they will have to fill in a questionnaire in ALF that will be
accessible for a specific period of time (just after the public provisional announcement of the marks). Even
when you do not get one of your marks summed, you have to fill in the form. This is the only way for the
teaching team to keep a formal track on the requests and requirements made by students on this matter.
a) WRITTEN EXAM (40%): The final written exam will contain the following kind of exercises:

Multiple choice exercises to test items of vocabulary (verbs, adjectives, nouns, etc.) and the
formation of words
Multiple choice exercises to test different grammar and language points
A reading comprehension (Multiple choice or True/False) exercise based on a given text.
A composition related to the topics studied and discussed in the different units of study.

These exams will be graded according to the following criteria, which will have to be fulfilled by the students
up to at least a medium degree (in agreement with the B1 level of the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages):

Successful accomplishment of the can dos of the total course.

Adequate use of the vocabulary and expressions studied in the course.
Adequate use of the grammar rules learned in the course.
Appropriateness to the text/discourse situation.
Discourse cohesion (use of connectors and other cohesive devices).
Discourse coherence.

b) ORAL EXAM (40%): Students will take the oral exam by getting into the e-Oral application in the virtual
class (the link to the oral exam will appear in the virtual course). This exam will be subsequently corrected
and graded by the Tutor in the corresponding Centro Asociado. In case the student does not have access to
the application, s/he will have to take the exam in a face-to-face encounter with the Tutor.
The questions in the oral exam will be related to the following aspects:

The content of the dialogues in each of the units.

The content of the reading comprehension texts in each of the units.
The students personal opinion or experience in relation to the topic of the dialogues/texts.
Other aspects of the students personal life or experience

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Ibez, A.; Jordano, M.; Talavn, N.

The criteria that the tutors must follow for grading the oral exam are the following:
Item
Pronunciation
Fluency
Grammatical accuracy
Vocabulary
Comprehenshion
Total

Explanation
Adequate pronunciation, stress and
intonation
Spontaneity, Discourse cohesion
Adequate use of the grammar rules
learned in the course
Adequate use of the vocabulary and
expressions studied in the course
Comprehension of the content and
main topic of the dialogues
Successful accomplishment of the
can dos (related to oral skills)
required in the course

Score
(max. 2)
(max. 2)
(max. 2)
(max. 2)
(max. 2)
(max. 10)

3.2.3 Levels of adequacy expected at the B1 level that will be used to assess
the students performance in relation to the above criteria
Following the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the general level of adequacy
(translated into can dos) expected for a B1 level for Reading, Writing, Listening and Spoken production are
the following:
Reading:

Can understand texts that consist mainly of high frequency everyday or job-related language.
Can understand the description of events, feelings and wishes in personal letters.

Writing:

Can write simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest.
Can write personal letters describing experiences and impressions.

Listening:

Can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters regularly encountered
in work, school, leisure, etc.
Can understand the main point of many radio or TV programmes on current affairs or topics of
personal or professional interest when the delivery is relatively slow and clear.

Spoken production:

Can connect phrases in a simple way in order to describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes
and ambitions.
Can briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
Can narrate a story or relate the plot of a book or film and describe my reactions.

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INGLS INSTRUMENTAL II
4.- GLOSARIO/ GLOSSARY
We do not include a glossary in this guide, given the nature of the subject. The items of vocabulary the
student needs to work with are already included in the Course Units, and in many cases it is the task of the
student to look them up in the (English-English) dictionary, on the grounds that this is a very important
practice they need to be trained on if they are to use the English language in an instrumental way.

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