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Professional English II

Course developer

Prior knowledge

ValoB010, Professional English I

Course abstract

The course aims to improve students' knowledge and skills in the foreign language (English), with a focus on terminology related to information technologies, which are necessary for reading, interpreting, and evaluating professional and scientific literature, explaining and comparing processes, presenting information, participating in a discussion in an international professional and academic environment, as well as for communicating with foreign students, professionals, and lecturers.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

Knowledge: students have acquired computer science terminology and use of abbreviations. Students have acquired terms in the following fields:
 social networking, software, programming, e-commerce, web design, artificial intelligence, humanoid robots (Test on terminology);
 video games, internet safety, cyber-attacks, research paper structure, academic writing (Final examination).
Skills: 1) able to use the foreign language to search for information and present results of independent work; 2) able to translate and analyse technical and professional text
- practical work, oral presentations, independent work.
Competence – informative, communicative, professional.
Students are able to use professional terminology and communicative skills: in writing (essay, translation, academic writing) and orally (participating in discussions, creating dialogues, giving a presentation) - practical work, independent work, oral presentations, teamwork.
Assessment takes place in each lesson, regularly checking the completed tasks.

Course Content(Calendar)

1. Study course requirements. Using ICT in everyday life. Text analysis and translation. 2h
2. Motivation in studies. Developing grammar skills: questioning. Effective communication. 2h
3. Social networking and information exchange. Text analysis, discussion. Effective communication. 2h
4. Software: terminology. Text analysis, discussion. Creating a glossary of terms for each topic. 2h
5. Programming: text analysis, terminology. Text translation. 2h
6. E-commerce. Web design and web page evaluation: analysis, presentation in pairs. 2h
7. Artificial Intelligence. Smart home. Group discussions. 2h
8. Humanoid robots. Argumentative essay. 2h
9. Test on terminology. 2h
10. Video games. Group presentations. 2h
11. Internet safety. Cyber attacks. Group discussion. 2h.
12. Science and research in ICT. Group discussion. 2h
13. Structure of a scientific article. Academic writing. Text analysis, translation. 2h
14 Individual presentations on the scientific article read. Discussion. 2h
15. Individual presentations on a read scientific article. Discussion. 2h
16. Final examination (reading, listening, terminology, speaking). 2h

Requirements for awarding credit points

Evaluation type: examination. It is made up of cumulative assessments. The examination consists of:
• a terminology test,
• reading tasks,
• listening tasks,
• question for discussion.
Students may take the examination if they have:
successful completion of the terminology test, semester group and individual work (group presentations, translation and analysis of professional texts, individual presentation of a read scientific article 10 A4 pages). The number of absences is limited to 20%.

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

Independent work and tasks:
• independent work includes an essay, translation and analysis of professional texts. The independent work aims to develop students' skills in using the foreign language to search for information and to analyse professional texts, as well as to evaluate knowledge of terminology and abbreviations used in computer science, translation of technical and professional texts, and academic plagiarism.
• group work presentations aim to develop skills in using the foreign language for searching information, oral presentations, and teamwork, as well as to evaluate the knowledge of terminology used in computer science.
• individual presentation of a scientific article involves an independently selected professional text (10 A4 pages) on a topic related to the field of study and the analysis of this scientific article with a brief outline of the text and answers to questions. The individual presentation aims to develop informative, communicative, and professional competence and to evaluate knowledge of terminology used in computer science.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

Cumulative assessment: terminology test (20%) + essay (10%) + group work presentations (20%) + individual presentation on scientific article (30%) + exam (20%)
The assessment is according to the 10-point scale.

Compulsory reading

1. Ellederova E. English for Information Technologies. Masaryk university press, 2020. 198 p. ISBN: 9788021458369
2. Olejniczak M. English for Information Technology. Pearson Longman, 2011. 79 p. ISBN: 9781408269961
3. Hill D. English for Information Technology: Level 2. Pearson Education ESL, 2013. 80 p. ISBN: 9781408269909
4. Glendinning E., McEwan J. Oxford English for Information Technologies. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2014. 222 p. ISBN: 9780194574921

Further reading

1. Esteras S.R. Infotech: English for computer users. 4th Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 168 p. ISBN: 9780521702997
2. McNair A., Smallwood F.G.I. Language for Study: Level 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 186 p. ISBN 9781107681101

Periodicals and other sources

1. Downing D. et al. Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms. Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 2012. 592 p. ISBN: 9780764147555
2. English for Information Technology [Tiešsaiste] [Skatīts 13.02.2024.] Pieejams: http://www.english4it.com/
3. Butterfield A., Ngondi, G. A Dictionary of Computer Science 7th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. 326 p. ISBN: 9780199688975

Notes

The course is included in the compulsory part of the study program "Computer Control and Computer Science".