Study Guide

Objective

On completion of the course, the student will be able to communicate in Finnish in his/her work environment and relate field-specific or general work related information in written and spoken forms. The student will identify the difference between formal and informal style. He/she will understand both field-specific and general work related texts. The student will also be able to both discuss and write clear and structured texts about topics related to his/her field or work in general. The student will know how to improve his or her language skills independently. The student’s communication skills will correspond to the skills level B1.2 as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Content

- Communication in oral and written work related situations
- The situational variation of language (differences between the formal and informal language)
- Reading, listening, speaking and writing texts related to the student’s own field as well as widening the professional vocabulary
- Revision of grammatical structures such as verb forms, tenses, connecting sentences, sentence types
- Basics of standardisation of language (using punctuation marks, capital letters and connecting words) and structures of written language (recognising participles and infinitive or participial constructions)
- Strengthening language learning strategies.

Prerequisites

Previous knowledge of Finnish on the B1.1 level, e.g. the courses Suomen mestari 1-3.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

- The students’ skills are sufficient for writing comprehensible and partly detailed texts. He/she is familiar with the linguistic means for writing clear and coherent text.
- The student identifies principles of different levels of formality in communication in different text types and takes them into account in his/her texts.
- The student is able to read texts on general work and field-related topics. He/she identifies the main points in a text. The student is able to communicate information and express his/her thoughts and views also in oral conversations.
- The student receives feedback and makes an effort to apply it in his/her oral and written communication.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

- The student is able to use relatively diverse sentence structures and linguistic means to write a text. He/she has a relatively extensive vocabulary on his/her own field and work related topics.
- The student is able to compose clear, quite detailed texts and oral presentations related to work and/or field-specific topics taking into account the requirements of different levels of formality in communication.
- The student understands some pages long texts related to his/her own field. He/she is able to find the main points in a text and identifies the purpose of the writer and the text. The student is able to take part in discussions related to his/her field and communicate information and views related to it quite precisely.
- The student is able to assess his/her language skills and set development goals.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

- The student has a good command of basic grammatical structures and quite an extensive professional vocabulary.
- The student is able to compose clear, coherent and quite detailed texts and presentations related to his/her field and work in general taking into account the correct level of formality in a situation.
- The student understands a wide range of texts related to his/her field. He/she is able to summarise the main points of the texts and describe, analyse and compare their contents. The student is able to communicate in a clear manner and compose well-structured texts. He/she expresses himself/herself relatively efficiently and in detail also in oral conversations.
- The student is willing and able to develop his/her language skills in a goal-oriented manner.

Further information

Starting level: B1.1.
Target level: B1.2. The course provides guidance and tools for the student to achieve the level B2 (independent user).