KEY COMPETENCIES IN ACADEMIC ENGLISH

                                             SESSION I


1. Home activity comments.


2. Listen to some ideas of university lecturers on critical thinking and discuss with your partner
what experience you have and how you believe this is related to academic English course.




3. Work in groups. Comment on what different academic skills mean to you and compare your views
with those of other groups.





4. Look at the sentences (a-d) and identify the academic style. Justify your choice.


a) It rained cats and dogs yesterday, didn´t it?

b) What a downpour last night!

c) The UK Meteorology Office monitored a heavy rainfall with the rate of precipitation reading 46
millimetres per hour on 24th March 2011 in North Cumbria.

d) She was standing there in the storm waiting for deafening thunder to come, feeling the water
cooling the air and thinking of how heavy the drops of water must be so that they could fall down
from the dark clouds and make her feel refreshed and so light that she could fly, and make her full
of energy, make her appreciate the eternal life it delivers, when finally she realised this
precipitation was indeed a friend, her only true friend. (McEwan, 2007)

                        (Adapted from: Štěpánek,L., deHaaff,J.: Academic English, Grada,
Praha,2011)





5. List as many characteristics of academic English as you can. Share them with the rest of the
class and justify your opinions.














6. Go back to your home activity and revise your text according to the principles of academic
English style.