Admission requirements
Passes for Language Acquisition 2 (or an equivalent pronunciation course at first-year level) and Language Acquisition 3 (or an equivalent course on presentation skills).
Description
Language Acquisition 4: Speaking of Words is a course about words. It is a practical course, in that it encourages you to study vocabulary and idioms at home and then activate your newly acquired knowledge in a variety of writing and speaking exercises in tutorial. For instance, you give short presentations, lead and participate in discussions, and participate in short role-plays. You also write short speeches, newspaper reports, letters, blog texts, and even short stories and poems. The subject-matter of the vocabulary and idioms is such that at the end of the course you have the active lexical skills needed to express yourself on your everyday life and on topics of general interest. In addition, you have a sound passive knowledge of vocabulary and idioms used in academic registers.
Language Acquisition 4 is also a theoretical course, in that it encourages you to think about words as an object of study. Some of the questions that will be addressed: how do we study and describe words? How do we acquire words? And how does lexical knowledge contribute to our knowledge of a second language?
Course objectives
Understanding of students’ own and other people’s use of vocabulary
Expanding and activating students’ passive and active vocabulary
Improving students’ speaking and presentation skills
Improving students’ grammar and pronunciation
Timetable
The timetable will be available by June 1st on the website.
Mode of instruction
One 45-minute seminar per week
Reading List
Course Load
The course load for this course is 140 hours.
Hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 10
Time for studying the compulsory literature: 80
Time to prepare for the presentations and the exam (including reading / research): 50
Assessment method
Contribution to discussion in class: 20%
Two short oral tests in the language laboratory: 40%
Written test on vocabulary and idiom and on the theory: 40%
Blackboard
A Blackboard site is available for this course. See Blackboard
Reading list
Bromberg, M. & Gordon, M. (2008). 1100 words you need to know. Hauppauge, NY: Barron.
Language Acquisition 4: Speaking of words (2013). [Materials available from Blackboard and the Internet].
Registration
Students should register through uSis. Exchange students cannot register through uSis, but must see the coordinator of studies and register with her. If you have any questions, please contact the departmental office, tel. 071 5272144 or mail:“english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.”:mailto:english@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Contact
English Language and Culture departmental office, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Coordinator of studies: Ms T.D. Obbens, MA, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 103C.