Advanced Speaking and Listening
Sample Syllabus
Time: Sunday & Tuesday 1 - 2:20 p.m.
Place: Lab 1
Department: European Languages and
Literature
Instructor: Dr. Thamer Alharthi
Phone:
Email: talharthi@kau.edu.sa
Required Textbook: College Oral Communication 4
Student website for this book: www.college.hmco.com/esl/students
This is an advanced listening and speaking course for college students. The purpose of
this course is to help students to speak and understand English well enough to succeed in
college courses in any subject. In this course you will practice listening to college
lectures, giving short oral presentations, and participating in class discussions.
The textbook for the course is English for Academic Success: College Oral
Communication 4. In addition, you will see and listen to audiotaped or computer-based
material in class or in the listening lab.
Course activities
Speaking activities include:
 participating in small group and large group discussions on academic topics;
participating in communication and pronunciation practice in class;
 preparing audiotapes or other recordings, to be handed in as homework assignments;
these talks will be on topics discussed in class. These tapes will be returned to you
with oral or written comments on content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and
pronunciation;
 making short oral reports to the class about work done in class;
 Attending at least one office meeting with me, either near the middle of the semester
or near the end of the semester, in which you report on discussion activities in class;
you will receive written comments on content, organization, vocabulary, grammar,
and pronunciation of your report;
Listening activities include
 practicing the skills that are necessary to participate in group discussions, lectures,
and other academic speech, including work on pronunciation, academic vocabulary,
grammar related to oral language;
 listening to lectures given "live" in class and preparing for tests on the contents of
these lectures;
 listening to oral presentations by classmates;
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Skills
The activities in this course are designed to help you learn more about the following
speaking and listening skills:

pronunciation skills, including:
 knowledge of the individual sounds in the English sound system,
 recognizing and using correct stress on syllables;
 recognizing and correctly using changes in sounds and stress in various forms of
academic vocabulary


using the right speaking style for different social situations;
participating in an academic conversation, including expressing opinions, asking for
clarification, respectfully disagreeing;
making a group decision or recommendation;
making an oral presentation to an audience, with notes;


Course schedule and assignments
General.
The material for the course is divided into six units. We will spend about two weeks
doing the work for each unit. For each unit, you will have a similar set of basic jobs to
do:

Discuss the content of the material related to a college course. Sometimes, this
discussion will be based on reading that you will be asked to do.

Study the meaning and form of academic vocabulary that you are likely to meet in
college courses.

Study material that describes listening and speaking strategies that successful students
use in academic courses. Sometimes this includes classroom activities in listening and
speaking.

Listen to longer examples of lectures, conversations, or discussions that are like the
ones you will hear in an academic course, and then take notes or do other activities
that are designed to help you understand and remember what you have heard.

Participate in speaking activities that include group discussions, oral presentations to
the whole class, etc.

Take tests, including tests in listening, in which you take notes and answer questions
about what you have heard, and in speaking, in which you make tape recordings
about the topics related to the unit.
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More specifically.
In addition to the general types of activities for each unit, which are listed above, here are
some of the specific goals connected to activities in the various units. The schedule for
these units is flexible, and will change according to the needs of the class.
Week 1-2. Unit 1. History.
Recognize syllable stress in academic vocabulary
Recognize advanced time expressions
Work as a member of a group on an academic task
Summarize the main points of a lecture
Week 3-4. Unit 2. Psychology.
Recognize and take notes on cause and effect expressions
Recognize and understand past participles used as adjectives
Compare and clarify lecture notes with classmates
Speak with cause and effect expressions
Ask questions for clarification during a lecture
Prepare for a lecture test
Prepare a short oral summary
Week 5-6, Unit 3. E-commerce.
Recognize examples in a lecture
Understand information about class assignments
Summarize information from a chart
Summarize a case study
Week 7. Midterm listening exam.
Week 8-9 Unit 4. Sociology.
Recognize and producing word forms in a word family
Summarize quantitative information from a chart
Use academic social rules for politeness
Week 10-11. Unit 5. Science.
Recognize and understanding passive voice
Summarize a laboratory investigation: describing steps in a process
Summarize data from a chart
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Week 12-13. Unit 6. Literature.
Take notes on a class handout
Understand paraphrases
Respond to arguments: agreeing and disagreeing
Persuade an audience about issues, claims, and evidence
Week 14. Review
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