Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong

Week Six Lesson 2

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: think of different ways to interpret and answer questions think of different ways to organize your answers talk spontaneously about science topics

Task 1: Interpreting the question Have a look at the questions below. Think of different ways in which you could answer these two questions and how you could organize your answers. For example, would you give both sides of an argument? Would you give your overall opinion at the beginning or the end? Are there any terms which you need to define?

1. Should governments spend money on space exploration? Why or why not? 2. Does technology overall have a positive or negative impact in HK or China?

Task 2: Different ways of organizing answers Now listen to how the speakers answered their question. While listening to each speaker note down how they organized their answers. Use the answers to Task 1 to help you. How the speakers organized their answers Speaker 1

Speaker 2

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students Course Guide Week 6 Lesson 2 Page 1

Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong Task 3: Discussion practice Choose some of the questions from the list below and discuss them with your partner / group. At this point you are not discussing the questions under exam conditions (i.e. a two-minute answer) but are discussing them as a pair/group. Its up to you how long you discuss each question for but you have 15 minutes overall. For each question you discuss below you consider the following: Is it better to give an overall answer to the question at the beginning or talk your way

through the question and give an answer at the end? Are there different ways to interpret the question? Are there any terms which you need to define?

Sample Questions for Science Topics 1) What makes science students different from arts students?

2) What qualities do scientists need to be successful? 3) Who is the most significant scientist/researcher in your field? 4) Which is the most important scientific subject for the future? 5) To what extent does war drive scientific research? 6) To what extent do smartphones encourage rude or anti-social behaviour? 7) Physics, Chemistry or Biology: which of these sciences is most important to teach in

secondary school? 8) How important are people skills for scientists? 9) Whats the most significant scientific discovery/invention of all time? 10) Imagine your scientific degree is going to be cut from HKUs programme. What

arguments would you give to persuade HKU to continue to offer your degree? 11) Whats the most significant scientific discovery/advancement in the 21st century? 12) Which area of science interests you most?

13) Should governments spend money on space exploration? 14) Does technology overall have a positive or negative impact in HK or China?

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students Course Guide Week 6 Lesson 2 Page 2

Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong Task 4: Spontaneous Speaking Practice Have a look at the checklist below, which reflects the rubric for the Speaking Test. Choose a question from task 3, choose one of the criteria, and ask your partner to assess you on it. Now swap roles. Repeat with other questions and other criteria. Grade how well the following are handled:

5= Excellent 1= Needs much improvement

Comments

CRITERIA 1: GRAMMAR (a) Range of sentence structures and grammar patterns (simple to complex)

(b) Accuracy of sentence structures / grammar patterns

(c) Use of tenses, subject-verb agreement etc (see rubric) After listening: To what extent do problems with grammar interfere with understanding? (Circle your response)

- Not at all - Very little - Somewhat - A lot

CRITERIA 2: PRONUNCIATION (a) Use of connected speech

(b) Use of sentence stress and intonation

(c) Clear pronunciation of words, word endings and phonemes

After listening: How much did pronunciation problems make it difficult to understand what was said? (Circle your response)

- Not at all - Very little - Somewhat - A lot

CRITERIA 3: VOCABULARY (a) Use of words and phrases with precise meanings

(b) Use of synonyms and pronouns to avoid repetition

(c) Appropriate vocabulary, relevant to the topic After listening: How much did problems with vocabulary make understanding difficult? (Circle your response)

- Not at all - Very little - Somewhat - A lot

CRITERIA 4: RELEVANCE / COHERENCE (a) Articulate response which addresses the question

(b) Fluent speech with no hesitation/repetition of content (c) Flow/linking of ideas: easy for listener to follow After listening: How easy/difficult was it to follow the speakers ideas and thoughts? (Circle your response)

- Easy to follow - Okay - Difficult - Very difficult CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students Course Guide Week 6 Lesson 2 Page 3

Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong

Follow up: Remember that there are other sample question responses in Moodle so please feel free to have a look.

Out-of-class Learning for Week Six Lesson 2

Task Deadline

Prepare for SALL Oral Report in Week 8/9

Week 8/9. Please see your class schedule for the dates.

Ongoing SALL Work

Ongoing. We recommend that you do around 2 hours of SALL per week.

Keep working on the Partial Draft of the PSA. Submit through

Turnitin, as you did for Assessment 1. Please see Appendix 3 of the Assessment Guide for further details of uploading your submission to Turnitin.

Ongoing but submit by Sunday of Reading Week (15th March)

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students Course Guide Week 6 Lesson 2 Page 4

Learning OutcomesTask 1: Interpreting the questionTask 2: Different ways of organizing answersTask 3: Discussion practiceSample Questions for Science TopicsTask 4: Spontaneous Speaking PracticeOut-of-class Learning for Week Six Lesson 2