Professional EnglishLaajuus (3 ECTS)

Objective

The students communicate fluently and effectively in English in their studies and in the professional discourse of their own field. They can also apply their English skills to the development of their professional competence. They communicate naturally in multicultural contexts, taking into account the special demands of different communication situations and the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the participants.

The students can acquire, process, and convey information necessary in their own field both orally and in writing, using different sources.

The students form a realistic view of their linguistic and communicative competence and a positive attitude to developing this competence as a part of their professional expertise. Their oral and written communication skills correspond to the skill level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Content

The contents of the course focus on the following themes with field-specific emphasis:

• key interactive communication situations: individual and group communication
• key concepts and terminology
• textual conventions and documents
• acquisition, processing, application and conveyance of information
• organisations, working environments, tasks, processes and tools
• education and career planning
• self-assessing one’s language and communication skills and developing learning strategies

The course content will be tailored according to each Degree Programme or specialization option.

Qualifications

The acquisition of professional English language and communication competence requires the starting level B2 as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

In communication situations related to his/her field the student

• trusts his/her communication skills to manage professional communication events using inquiries and relatively short speech acts
• understands the communication partner enough to be able to act and verbalize in accordance with the task in question
• expresses his/her thoughts simply, mainly coherently, and relatively understandably, even if there may be deficiencies in professional terminology and structural inaccuracies, which may interfere with full understanding
• draws up simple, formatted texts independently and extensive texts using linguistic aids

Assessment criteria, good (3)

In communication situations related to his/her field the student

• trusts his/her communication skills to manage in the professional context in line with the objectives set for the task
• exchanges ideas as an equal partner with an independent language user
• takes the initiative in professional discourse and can, to some degree, take into account participants’ cultural and language backgrounds and the demands of the context
• expresses him/herself promptly in a clear and detailed manner
• uses professional terminology to the point
• pronounces English clearly with matching stress and intonation
• produces genres for different purposes, where linguistic inaccuracy does not interfere with understanding

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

In communication situations related to their field the students

• trust their communications skills to allow them to take initiative in communication events following the discourse practice of the field
• interact clearly and fluently as equal partners with a proficient speaker
• take initiative also in demanding professional communications where participants’ cultural and language backgrounds need to be taken into account
• express themselves effectively and accurately
• use professional terminology to the point
• pronounce English clearly, with stress and rhythm matching the total message
• have the ability to produce several genres, which are clear, well structured, and effective

Further information

The description of the detailed course contents can be found in the course implementation plan.