Informació general


Tipus d'assignatura: Obligatòria

Coordinador: Rosa Herrero Antón

Trimestre: Primer trimestre

Crèdits: 4

Professorat: 

Juan García Ramírez

Idiomes d'impartició


  • English

This module is entirely delivered in English.

Competències


Competències bàsiques
  • B1_Que els estudiants hagin demostrat tenir i comprendre coneixements en una àrea d'estudi que tingui la seva base en l'educació secundaria general, i s'acostumi a trobar a un nivell que, tot i que amb el suport de llibre de text avançats, inclogui també alguns aspectes que impliquen coneixements procedents de la vanguardia del seu camp d'estudi

  • B4_Que els estudiants puguin transmetre informació, idees, problemes i solucions a un públic tan especialitzat com no especialitzat

Competències transversals
  • T1_Que els estudiants coneixin un tercer idioma, que serà preferentment l'anglès, amb un nivell adequat de forma oral i per escrit, d'acord amb les necessitats que tindran les graduades i els graduats a cada titulació

Descripció


Since most of the specialized technical literature students will come across is in English, this course aims to familiarise them with the typical structures, lexicon, and style of Technical English. Students will learn to interpret and translate technical texts related to their subject matters and to produce basic technical writings. They will also acquire basic writing skills in order to produce formal and informal letters, application letters, electronic mail, and specialized reports.

A strong focus will also be given to listening and speaking skills so that they may overcome everyday situations facilitating their integration into an English-speaking environment.

The classroom (physical or virtual) is a safe space, free of sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and discriminatory attitudes, whether towards students or teachers. We trust that we can all create a safe space where we can make mistakes and learn without having to suffer the prejudices of others.

Continguts


Content 1: Grammatical, syntactic and lexical aspects of technical register in the field of Computing Engineering:

  1. ‘s phrases and expressions and the possessive case
  2. Relative clauses and their shortening in certain situations
  3. Present and past participles (-ing and –ed forms)
  4. Complex nominal phrases and noun compounds. Hyphenated phrases
  5. Specific vocabulary in management computing engineering

Related Activities:

  • Exercises on ‘s and the possessive case
  • Exercises on the shortening of relative clauses  and their eventual conversion into participle clauses and/or complex noun phrases
  • Analysis of functions and uses of –ing and –ed participles and their interpretation in the context in which they are used.
  • Exercises on noun compounds or complex noun phrases. Exercises on Hyphenated phrases.
  • Glossary of technical terms

Content 2: Technical register and technical translation. Reading comprehension of technical texts in the field of Computing Engineering:

  1. Turning non-technical register into a more technical register using selected texts and by applying the points studied in Content 1
  2. Production of technical writings according to the features of technical register
  3. Making direct technical translations into Catalan or Spanish
  4. Reading comprehension of technical literature in the field of Engineering

Related activities: 

  • Exercises to turn non-technical style texts into technical style
  • Direct translations into Catalan or Spanish
  • Reading technical articles and  texts from the field of management computing engineering and reading comprehension exercises about them

Content 3: Writing Skills:

  1. Production of writings and reports according to formal academic register
  2. Writing formal letters to make an order, a claim, to ask for information
  3. Writing formal electronic mails
  4. Writing an abstract or a summary
  5. Writing a report on a given topic or project related to the subject-matter

Related Activities:

  • Exercises to compare informal and formal registers
  • Formal letters to make an order, a claim 
  • Writing formal emails
  • Writing an abstract or a summary of an article or a technical report
  • Writing a report on a topic related to the subject-matter

Content 4: Functions/Oral Skills:

  1. Conversations to develop oral skills within professional everyday situations: contrast information, pros and cons, make orders, participate in discussions on specific topics…
  2. Short oral presentation (2-3 minutes) on a topic of interest to the students
  3. Oral presentation in group of the project developed for the module "Entrepreneurship and Innovation". First, an elevator pitch has to be made.
  4. Fostering group discussions and debates around the topic of the short oral presentation

Related Activities: 

  • Exercises of listening and conversation on topics and professional everyday situations for a computing engineer. They will be performed in small groups
  • Short oral presentation (2-3 minutes) on a topic of interest to students
  • Oral presentation in group of the project developed in the module "Entrepreneurship and Innovation". Elevator pitch about the project (1 minute)

Sistema d'avaluació


Assessment Methodology:

Homework and classroom exercises will be collected on all the items of the course according to the following assessment criteria:

  1. 20% of the final mark: exercises on ‘s structures, relative clauses and their possibilities of reduction, participles in –ing and –ed, complex nominal phrases, hyphenated phrases, and specific vocabulary
  2. 20% of the final mark: exercises on writing skills: formal letters, emails, reports, summaries, …
  3. 30% of the final mark: exercises on oral skills: listening comprehension, oral presentation, and participation in discussions and debates. It is mandatory to pass this activity
  4. 30% of the final mark: written exam in which there will be exercises and tasks to demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge related to contents 1, 2, and 3 of the syllabus. A minimum mark of 4 (out of 10) is required.

 

If necessary, there will be a resit test of points 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the assessment (see above): 70% of the final mark. The remaining 30% corresponds to activity 4 above (Oral Skills). A minimum mark of 4 (out of 10) is required in the resit exam in order to pass the subject.

Rules for Doing the Activities

 

If one of the activities, tests, or exercises is not delivered in due time by the student, it will be considered as not assessed.

The student will not be allowed to use notes, dossier, or dictionaries in the exam(s)

 

VERY IMPORTANT:

 

Total or partial PLAGIARISM of any of the assignments will be automatically qualified as FAIL (0). And, if plagiarism is repeated, it may mean that the module has a definitive qualification of FAIL (0).

PLAGIARISM consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources, whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text, which is intended as the student’s own text. It includes cutting and pasting from Internet sources, presented unmodified in the student’s own text.  PLAGIARISM IS A SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must respect authors’ intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use. They must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.

Bibliografia


Bàsic

García, J. (2023). Handouts.

Complementary

www.ted.com

Trimble, Louis, (1985). English for Science and Technology. Cambridge 

 

www.edn.com

Herbert L. Hirsch. (2000). The Essence of Technical Communication. IEEE Press

Huckin and Olsen. (1991). Technical Writing and Professional Communication for Nonnative Speakers of English, McGraw-Hill.

Murphy, R. (2003). Essential Grammar in Use. Cambridge.

F. Beigbeder Atienza. Diaz de Santos, S.A. Polytechnic Dictionary of Spanish and English Languages.

Ginguay, M. Dicionario de Informática y Tecnologías Afines. Ed. Masson

Diccionario McGraw-Hill de Computación

Dictionary of Information Technology. Peter Collin Publishing

 

www.esl-lab.com

 

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish 

Flinders, Steve, and Steve Flinders. (2002). Test Your Professional English: Business : General. Harlow, Essex, Eng: Pearson Education.  Print.

 

www.acm.org

 

www.cepis.org/upgrade

 

www.computer.org

 

https://www.eenewsautomotive.com/