Help prepare teaching materials.

Help grade tests and homework.

To successfully complete the course, you must take all quizzes and participate in assigned activities. Your final grades are determined by the following course components:

? Attendance & class performance: 20%

? Quizzes and in-class exercises (listening & note-taking tests): 30%

? Assignments (informative talks, on-line feedback and note-taking practice): 15%

? Group presentations: 15%

? Final exam (Listening, note-taking and speaking tests): 20%

ATTENDANCE, PUNCTUALITY & ASSIGNMENT POLICIES

Attendance is mandatory. Students who are absent for more than 1/3 of total class hours without an appropriate reason are prohibited from taking the final exam and receive a mark of zero for the final exam. All required assignments must be submitted to the instructor on or before the due dates. Late assignments will be given a lower grade unless there is an acceptable explanation for their late submission. Make-up exams for the mid-term and final exams may be held for the students with appropriate reasons but will have 20 full points (20%) deducted from the grade awarded.

ASSIGNMENTS & EXAMINATIONS

Quizzes/In-class exercises

At regular times throughout the semester, lecture-listening and note-taking exercises and pop quizzes will be given in class. These exercises and quizzes CANNOT be made up. See the attachment for the grading rubric for note-taking exercises.

Assignments

Throughout the semester, you will give three or four talks on a topic discussed in class and post your peer feedback on the course platform. Each informative talk on the academic field will focus on a relevant subtopic of your choice, last five minutes, and include PowerPoint slides. Before or after the class, you need to upload the slides and then give your online feedback on your partners’ talks after this activity. Also, some listening and note-taking tasks, based on the lectures provided in the e-learning course (WM5), will be assigned to you in advance, followed by a class discussion or an opinion-sharing session. More details will be provided in class.

Group presentations

You will give one group presentation during the midterm week. For the group presentation, each group will report on a subject-matter topic containing numbers and statistics. The presentation should last approximately 20 minutes, followed by a five-minute discussion. While presenting, each group will be evaluated by the instructor (see grading rubric attached) as well as by their peers. After the presentation, each group needs to upload the PowerPoint slides to WM5. Each student is encouraged to give their on-line feedback on the task according to a peer evaluation form, which will be available on the course platform.

Examinations

The final exam contains a listening test and an integrated speaking test. The listening test includes lecture listening and note-taking tasks covering most of the materials and information provided in class. In the integrated speaking test, you will be required to answer two independent and four integrated questions as in the speaking section in TOEFL. You need to demonstrate your ability to respond to the questions clearly and coherently and the ability to accurately convey the information about what you have read or listened to. See the attachment for the grading rubric for the integrated speaking test.

• Textbook: To be selected from the following list
  
  1. Dunkel, P. A. & Pialorsi, F. (2014): Listening & Notetaking Skills, Level 3. (4th ed.) Cengage Learning.
  
  2. Maclntyre, P. (2013): Pathways 4, Listening, Speaking, and Critical Thinking. National Geographic Learning, a part of Cengage Learning.
  
  3. Sarosy, P. & Sherak, K (2013): Lecture Ready 2. (2nd ed.)Oxford University Press.
  
  4. Frazier, L. & Leeming, S. (2013): Lecture Ready 3 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
  
  5. Lebauer, R. S. (2010): Learn to Listen Listen to Learn 1 & 2 (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
  
  6. Beglar, D. & Murray, N. (2009): Contemporary Topics 3. (3rd ed.) Pearson Education.
  
  7. Preiss, S. (2004): NorthStar: Listening and Speaking, Advanced Second Edition. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.


• Supplementary readings: To be distributed in class


• Resources:

1. TED talks: https://www.ted.com/talks

2. BBC Learning English: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish

3. VoiceTube: https://tw.voicetube.com

4. VOA Learning English: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/

5. Elllo: http://www.elllo.org/