THEN 18English

Mikael Svensson

Intro meeting

• General course information• Roll call• Exercise: Correct or incorrect language• Exercise: Text types

Aims

Communicate effectively in English• Academically• Professionally

Improve your communicative skills• Written• Spoken

Aims

Improve your language awareness• Vocabulary• Sentence structure• Style• Text types and text structure• Communicative function• Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses

Methods

• Reading and preparing texts• Practical exercises in class• Feedback on written and spoken assignments• Peer response• Self assessment

Course work

Active participation

Oral assignments• Prepare and give presentations• Prepare, present and argue a case in a debate• Evaluate your own and others performance

Course work

Written assignments• Argumentative essay• Group report• Summary of an English article in English• Summary of a Swedish article in English• Formal letter• Review of A Short History of Nearly Everything

by Bill Bryson

Written exam

• Summary• Reading comprehension• Vocabulary• Proofreading• Formal letter

Grades

• Course work 3/4/5• Written exam 3/4/5Combined into a course grade 3/4/5

Literature

• Bryson, Bill. 2004. A short history of nearly everything.

• English Compendium THEN18, to be sold in the A-building entrance 19C. All texts and exercises will also be available through the home page

THEN18 – HT13 period one week 36 Introduction Introduction, correct or incorrect sentences, text types and style

week 37 Lesson one “Engineers test highly accurate face recognition” + study questions and

vocabulary, paragraph writing, Assignment: Paragraph writing

Lesson two “Outdated airport security” + study questions and vocabulary, Subject-verb agreement, Tools of the trade

week 38 Lesson three “Big Ben – Big Brother” / “Legal confusion on internet privacy”, essay

structure, punctuation Assignment: Essay on security and privacy

Lesson four “What if” + study questions and vocabulary, Tenses and conditionals

week 39 Lesson five Pronunciation and word stress, presentation techniques

Hand in: Essay on security and privacy Assignment: Form a group and select an article and prepare a short presentation

Lesson six Bring your own article + short group presentation Assignment: Report and group presentation

week 40 Lesson seven “The great transformer” + study questions, Report writing, Statistics and

graphs

Lesson eight “The responsible company” + Connectives, numbers and dates

week 41 Lesson nine “Social games, virtual goods” + questions, Definitions, Referencing

Lesson ten “The measure of things” – Chapter 4 in A short history of nearly

everything, + work sheet

week 42 Lesson eleven Group presentations

Hand in: Report

Complaints about technical writing (MacIntosh 1967)

1. Generally foggy language2. Inadequate general vocabulary3. Failure to connect information to point at issue4. Wordiness5. Lack of stressing important points6. Too much “engineering gobbledygook”7. Poor overall organization8. No continuity9. Poor grammar10. Poor punctuation11. No sense of tone for circumstances12. Poor adaption of form to purpose13. Almost meaningless introduction

Correct or incorrect language1. Today pneumatic tyres are fitted to practically all road vehicles, originally they

were developed for use on bicycles.

2. The recent development of breeder reactors are completely changing the economics of ore extraction and are boosting the known reserves of nuclear energy very considerably.

3. The minister agreed in principle to a new urban public transport system development plan.

4. There were yellow lines down all the streets and the car parks were full, so I couldn’t find nowhere to park.

5. The cause of the delay in laying the foundations was due to exceptionally heavy rain that was flooding the area.

Sentence 1

Today pneumatic tyres are fitted to practically all road vehicles, originally they were developed for use on bicycles.

Today pneumatic tyres are fitted to practically all road vehicles. Originally they were developed for use on bicycles.Today pneumatic tyres are fitted to practically all road vehicles; originally they were developed for use on bicycles.Today pneumatic tyres are fitted to practically all road vehicles, but originally they were developed for use on bicycles.

Sentence 2

The recent development of breeder reactors are completely changing the economics of ore extraction and are boosting the known reserves of nuclear energy very considerably.

The recent development of breeder reactors is completely changing the economics of ore extraction and is boosting the known reserves of nuclear energy very considerably.

Sentence 3

The minister agreed in principle to a new urban public transport system development plan.

The minister agreed in principle to a new development plan for a public transport system in the city.

Sentence 4

There were yellow lines down all the streets and the car parks were full, so I couldn’t find nowhere to park.

There were yellow lines down all the streets and the car parks were full, so I could not find anywhere to park.

There were yellow lines down all the streets and the car parks were full, so I found nowhere to park.

Sentence 5

The cause of the delay in laying the foundations was due to exceptionally heavy rain that was flooding the area.

The delay in laying the foundations was due to exceptionally heavy rain flooding the area.

The cause of the delay in laying the foundations was the exceptionally heavy rain flooding the area.

Model of communication

Sender: Who is speaking or writing? What is the purpose?

Message: What is being said? In what way is it being said?

Medium: How is the message sent?

Receiver: Who is listening or reading?

Context: In what situation is the message communicated? Where and when is the message received?

Text types and styles

• What is the communicative purpose?

• Who is the audience?

• What is the medium?

• What is the context/situation?

• How do the answers to the above questions affect the language that is used to communicate?

Text 1

?4U. Who 8 my pizza? CYAL8R. <3

Text 2Ruth Milkman, ChiefWireless Telecommunications BureauFederal Communications Commission445 12th Street, SWWashington, DC 20544 Re: AT&T Response to Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Letter, DA 09-1737 (July 31, 2009); RM-11361; RM-11497 Dear Ms. Milkman: On behalf of AT&T, I am writing in response to the Bureau’s July 31, 2009 letter, whichasks a series of questions about Google Voice and the Apple iPhone in order to informCommission policymaking in certain pending proceedings. As discussed below, AT&Thad no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application forinclusion in the Apple App Store. AT&T was not asked about the matter by Apple at anytime, nor did it offer any view one way or the other.

Text 3In these rotten economic times, putting in long hours has become a popular strategy for boosting job security. And that's really too bad. If you rabidly focus on work, in the long run, you'll be unhappy. Ran Kivetz, a professor of business at Columbia University, recently conducted a series of experiments that identified a paradox in our behavior: Doing the "right" thing—putting our responsibilities ahead of momentary pleasures—often leaves us unhappy down the road. When we skip a vacation to work overtime or pass up that awesome vintage Porsche for a used minivan—sure, we pat ourselves on the back for a week or two. But as the years go by, we invariably regret our monkishness and wish we'd enjoyed ourselves more. The word for this is hyperopia: an excess of farsightedness[...]

Text 4Many purchase and consumption decisions involve an intrapersonal struggle between consumers’ righteous, prudent side and their indulgent, pleasure-seeking side. Whereas purchasing and consuming utilitarian necessities and virtues (e.g., a practical car, a healthful food item) is considered responsible and farsighted, yielding to hedonic temptations (e.g., buying a luxurious car, eating a chocolate cake) is viewed as impulsive and wasteful. The perceived precedence of virtue and necessity over vice and luxury is at least as old as ancient Greek civilization (Plato and Aristotle argue that reason should rule appetitive and passionate elements). [...]Recent research challenges this approach and suggests that consumers often suffer from a reverse self-control problem—namely, excessive farsightedness and overcontrol, or “hyperopia.” Hyperopic consumers overemphasize virtue and necessity at the expense of indulgence and luxury[...]