Study Guide

Objective

- Student can use Swedish both in conservation studies and conservation profession.
- The students acquire the written and oral language skills in the second domestic language that are necessary in their professional field, as required by national legislation (352/2003 8§).
- The students are able to communicate in Swedish in professional contexts both in Finland and in the other Nordic countries, taking into account the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the communication partners.
- The students acquire oral and written language and communication skills that are at least at the B1 level as defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. They learn to seek information related to their own professional field in various sources and convey information both orally and in writing.
- During their studies, the students form a positive and realistic view of their language and communicative competence as well as skills and motivation to develop it further.

Content

- Self-assessing one’s language and communication skills and developing learning strategies
- Education and career planning
- Organisations, working environments, tasks, processes and tools
- Field-related texts; increasing and activating the knowledge of technical terminology
- Key interactive communication situations: individual and group communication
- Oral and written exercises relevant to the field of study
- More detailed content is described in the implementation plan of the course

Prerequisites

The acquisition of professional language and communication competence in the second domestic language (Swedish) requires the starting level B1.1 as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

The student has a lot of absences from the teaching sessions. Activity during the teaching sessions and learning assignments is unsatisfactory. The student should improve her/his group working skills.

In communication situations related to his/her field the student:

• Manages in the most common general and specialised professional communication situations.
• Composes simple, partly incoherent texts. Language errors may impair understanding but do not prevent the delivery of the message.
• Participates in simple spoken interaction but often needs help from the conversation partner.
• Uses basic general and technical terminology of his/her own field; inaccuracy and the influence of other languages may interfere with the delivery of the message. Uses basic grammatical structures in a repetitious and partly incorrect manner.
• Pronounces in a mainly comprehensible manner, although the pronunciation deviates from the target language. The slow sentence rhythm makes it difficult to estimate if the message is delivered.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

The student has taken part to all teaching sessions and learning assignments and the activity during the course is good. The student acts flexibly as a group member.

In communication situations related to his/her field the student:

• Manages relatively well in daily general and specialized professional discourse.
• Composes coherent texts that successfully communicate the intended meaning.
• Takes initiative in familiar professional communication situations
• Uses general and basic technical terminology of his/her own field relatively well. Lapses may occur in the choice of words or grammatical structures, but these do not cause misunderstanding.
• Pronounces in a comprehensible manner. Pauses in the sentence rhythm do not cause misunderstanding.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

The course objectives have been achieved in a competent manner. The student has participated actively and constructively in the teaching and learning assignments. The student has acted as group member encouragingly and strengthening teamwork.

In communication situations related to his/her field the student:

• Masters varied and demanding general and specialised professional communication situations.
• Produces clear and detailed texts appropriate for the situation.
• Is an active participant in professional communication situations and allows for the requirements of the situation. Speaks fluently and effortlessly and takes the conversation partner in account.
• Uses technical and general terminology as well as grammatical structures diversely and almost without errors.
• Pronounces clearly, with a natural sentence rhythm.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

The student has a lot of absences from the teaching sessions. Activity during the teaching sessions and learning assignments is unsatisfactory. The student should improve her/his group working skills.

In communication situations related to his/her field the student:

• Manages in the most common general and specialised professional communication situations.
• Composes simple, partly incoherent texts. Language errors may impair understanding but do not prevent the delivery of the message.
• Participates in simple spoken interaction but often needs help from the conversation partner.
• Uses basic general and technical terminology of his/her own field; inaccuracy and the influence of other languages may interfere with the delivery of the message. Uses basic grammatical structures in a repetitious and partly incorrect manner.
• Pronounces in a mainly comprehensible manner, although the pronunciation deviates from the target language. The slow sentence rhythm makes it difficult to estimate if the message is delivered.

Further information

The course is implemented as a joint teaching of conservation and language teaching, the theme of which is defined in the course implementation plan. Student her-/himself has a role as an investigative learner.

The content of the course is determined by degree programme or orientation option.