6-Week Postgraduate Pre-sessional English Course (WMG) | Online
The 6-week Postgraduate Pre-Sessional English online course is a full-time academic English language and study skills programme that takes place ahead of your forthcoming degree studies. The course offers an alternative way to meet the English language conditions needed to study for your degree at the University of Warwick.
There is no formal award for these courses - successful completion of the course will allow you to meet the English language condition of your offer. Joining the Pre-Sessional English course will help you to develop further your language and study skills, allow you to feel more self-confident and better prepared when you begin your future studies - it will also give you an opportunity to meet fellow students and build friendships before your main degree starts.
The 6-week Pre-Sessional English course for Postgraduate WMG students allows you to develop the specific academic language and study skills that you will need in order to follow and engage in your future degree subject.
By the end of the programme, you should be able to:
Read critically, using a range of techniques to select, extract and analyse relevant information, perspectives and arguments, for the intended purpose.
Use general and specialised academic language as well as grammar in a controlled manner to write different text types effectively.
Recognise, apply and use the key features of a wide range of academic texts.
Demonstrate an understanding of the academic culture, practices and expectations of UK Higher Education Institutions.
Make use of language for seminars, including agreement, disagreements, asking questions and developing arguments.
Listen effectively to longer spoken texts and being able to reproduce and/or respond to main arguments.
Module Outline
The Postgraduate Pre-sessional English module is designed to help you understand and build confidence with the conventions, demands and expectations of your future discipline area. You will work in subject-specific groups, and there is a focus on the particular texts and genres that you need to cope with to engage effectively in discipline-based study. During your work on the module, you will practise the skills of searching for appropriate source materials, integrating your reading into structures of exposition, argument, and discussion, using the norms of citation for your discipline. You will also practise discussion of issues arising from your listening or reading material. This module focuses on collaborative work as a way of developing key postgraduate skills such as critical thinking.
The module aims to help you become a more independent and self-confident learner, ready to face the demands of postgraduate study. You will develop a range of language, academic and study skills, centred around the discipline of your chosen future postgraduate programme. You will develop the skills to enable you to make effective use of your reading and to present this appropriately to prospective readers. You'll learn how to take notes from a lecture or class, and to use these in your written or oral work. You will work on the development of the skills needed to speak confidently and effectively in small groups and in more formal situations, such as individual and group presentations.
Subject specific skills
Critical engagement with complex texts
Identifying and using relevant information from academic source texts to incorporate into academic assignments
Linguistic knowledge of academic texts: vocabulary and academic style; grammar and sentence/paragraph structure
The writing process: generating ideas, planning, drafting and editing
Reading strategies and comprehension skills: navigating texts, getting the gist, identifying key points
Paraphrasing, summarising and synthesising from sources
Follow conventions of citing and referencing
Conduct guided research effectively
Listen effectively to longer spoken texts and be able to reproduce main arguments
Take effective notes from spoken input
Use pre-, during and post-listening techniques to develop comprehension of a spoken text
Orally summarise key points of a spoken text
Be an active, reflective and critical participant in small and large group discussions
Use language appropriately to refer to sources, visuals and to signpost
Transferable skills
Note-taking
Library skills (e.g. finding and evaluating sources)
Referencing
Academic reflection
Time management
Self-evaluation
Presentation skills
Self-reflection
Interpersonal skills
Team working
How will I be taught?
The 6-week Pre-sessional English course will be delivered online via Microsoft Teams. Teaching will mainly be delivered via seminar groups and tutorials.
During the programme, you will receive 17 hours contact time per week and are expected to actively engage in;
Seminar activities and discussion forums with the class;
Collaboration on set tasks with a study group;
Independent work on assignments;
Regular one-to-one or small group tutorials;
Independent study as directed.
In addition to the scheduled seminar sessions for each module there will be online asynchronous materials via our Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle)
How will I be assessed?
There will be a range of formative and summative assessments during the course, including a Written Project and a Seminar Discussion.
More information about the grades required and progression to your main degree programme are available in our FAQs.
A list of our entry requirements, according to country, is available on our Entry Requirement page. If you have any questions about your qualifications and whether they are suitable for this course, please contact the team.
Applications for the 10-week Pre-sessional English course for 2023 are now open. The deadline for applying is Monday 26 June 2023.
Your application for the 6-week Pre-Sessional English course will only be assessed once you have received a decision on your postgraduate degree application.
