UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Course Units 2015-2016
Successful completion of Mandarin Current Affairs and Culture (Social, Historical and Political) at the UCL CLIE, or equivalent qualifications/experience.
20 x 2-hour classes.
80 hours in total.
LCMA6807, LCMAG807 and LCMAM807.
The course is designed for very advanced level students requiring the language for academic purposes.
The course comprises knowledge and understanding both of the structure of the Mandarin language and its use in academic environments, such as lectures, seminars and conferences. The course covers academic development, academic culture and conventions, critical thinking, reading and writing academic texts (i.e. in the students main degree subject e.g. history) as well as other related topics to prepare students for further academic study/research in a
Mandarin speaking environment. This will be related back to the student’s degree subject.
The course will enhance knowledge and use of linguistically complex structures (a variety of styles and registers from a range of authentic academic material).
Various transferable skills will also be further developed.
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 Suggesting and expressing specialised opinions, critical topic-related comments;
 describing, defining, explaining complex content;
 debating, commenting, critical thinking;
 formally suggesting, proposing, arguing and defending one’s position;
 composing written pieces of information for academic purposes (essays, summaries, reviews, reports, critical responses to texts, etc.); preparing and giving oral presentations on complex academic topics; conference skills (simulating conference and academic discussions – academic oral registers); note-taking from written and audio sources; reading specialised texts, building up subject-related and general academic vocabulary;
Interviewing and questionnaires.

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Main topics/themes to be covered
 university system/academic qualifications
 seminar papers/presentations related to student’s academic subject(s); group debates; conference papers;
 lectures and online materials;
 project writing and management.
Reading
 reading for gist, scanning for specific information in academic sources;
 in-depth analysis of academic topics in relevant publications.
Writing
 formal academic letters;
 analysis and review of articles;
 preparing presentation and essay/project outlines;
 writing up notes from presentations;
 academic reports and conference papers;
 journal articles;
 summarising.
Listening
 radio, TV, audio and video, various online formats;
 presentations;
 academic debates, forum discussions.
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Speaking
 formal and informal forum discussions, debates;
 seminar skills, e.g. turn-taking, commenting, moderating; presentations; conference skills.
Discourse Strategies
 analysing/comparing texts from various academic sources (different text types, styles and registers);
 preparing oral contributions for different audiences;
 spoken versus written academic communication.
Main aspects of these strategies
 structuring (logical structures);
 linking devices (lexical, grammatical);
 stylistic levels and their usage, academic register;
 subject-related specialist and/or academic vocabulary
Application of Complex Grammatical Features and Registers
Handouts of advanced grammar and lexical materials will be given as necessary.
Materials for the course will be drawn from:
 Authentic written material from various sources, on the advice of the tutor;
 Authentic audio and audio-visual material.
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.