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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong Community College

Subject Description Form

Subject Code CCN1002

Subject Title Practical English for College Students

Level 1

Credit Value 3

Medium of

Instruction

English

Pre-requisite /

Co-requisite/

Exclusion

Nil

Objectives

This subject aims to equip students with the essential English language

foundations needed for effective communication in an English-medium

learning environment at post-secondary education level. The main focus

is to enhance students’ English proficiency in reading, writing, listening

and speaking for academic purposes.

Intended Learning

Outcomes

Upon completion of the subject, students will be able to:

(a) develop strategies for vocabulary building and better comprehension

of spoken and written academic texts.

(b) use accurate and appropriate lexical-grammatical resources to

perform essential spoken and written academic tasks in English.

(c) apply fundamental writing techniques to structure and write short

academic texts.

(d) identify main ideas from spoken and printed sources and take

effective notes in academic settings.

(e) achieve a fair level of oral fluency and accuracy.

Subject Synopsis/

Indicative Syllabus

Reading Skills

Reading strategies (e.g. skimming and scanning); Skills for making

inferences from academic texts and discerning meanings of vocabulary,

idioms and other unfamiliar English expressions; Academic vocabulary.

Writing Skills

Grammar skills (e.g. subjects and verbs, subject-verb agreement,

pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions,

punctuations); Sentence skills (e.g. phrases, clauses, fragments, run-ons);

Composition and variation of sentences (e.g. simple sentences,

compound sentences and complex sentences); Academic writing (e.g.

paragraph/essay structure, topic sentence, supporting sentences, and

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concluding sentence).

Listening Skills

Classroom note-taking skills; Listening strategies (e.g. listening for

general and specific information; identifying the features of spoken

English); Discrimination of English sounds.

Speaking Skills

Word pronunciation (e.g. vowels, consonants, diphthongs, syllables and

stress); Intonation (e.g. stress in sentences); Linking.

Teaching/Learning

Methodology

Seminars will focus on improving students’ English language skills

through practices. Different learning activities such as diagnostic tests,

writing practices, worksheets, reading exercises, and group discussions

will be used to enhance students’ English proficiency for academic

purposes.

Audio-visual and online materials will be used to reinforce students’

listening and speaking skills.

Assessment

Methods in

Alignment with

Intended Learning

Outcomes

A variety of assessment tools will be used to develop and assess

students’ achievement of the subject intended learning outcomes.

Specific assessment

methods/tasks

%

weighting

Intended subject learning

outcomes to be assessed

a b c d e

Continuous Assessment* 100

Test 30

Individual Assessment 1 20

Individual Assessment 2 30

Individual Assessment 3 5

Group Project 10

Participation 5

Total 100

*Continuous assessment items and/or weighting may be adjusted by the subject

team subject to the approval of the College Programme Committee.

To pass this subject, students are required to obtain Grade D or above in

the Continuous Assessment.

Student Study

Effort Expected

Class contact Hours

Seminar 39

Other student study effort

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Self-learning 52

Continuous Assessment 42

Total student study effort 133

Reading List and

References

Recommended Textbook

Folse, K. S., Muchmore-Vokoun, A., Solomon, E.V., Humphreys, P.,

Harrison, L., Cushen, C., Hutchison, S., Lane, J. & Lange, E. (2014).

Practical English for college students. (Hong Kong edition), Hong

Kong: Cengage Learning.

References

Brown, K. & Hood, S. (2002). Academic Encounters: Reading, Study

Skills, and Writing. (1st ed.), Cambridge University Press.

Espeseth, M. (2002). Academic Listening Encounters: Listening, Note

Taking, and Discussion. (1st ed.), Cambridge University Press.

Hartmann, P. & Blass, L. (2007). Quest 1 Listening and Speaking. (2nd

ed.), McGraw-Hill.

Hartmann, P. & Blass, L. (2007). Quest 1 Reading and Writing. (2nd

ed.),

McGraw-Hill.

Langan, John and Janet M. Goldstein (2010). English Brushup. (5th ed.),

New York: McGraw-Hill.

Oshima, A. & Ann, H. (2006). Writing Academic English. (4th ed.), New

York: Pearson Longman.

Roemer, A. E. (2006). College Oral Communication 2. Houghton

Mifflin.

Ruetten, M. K. (2003). Developing Composition Skills: Rhetoric and

Grammar. (2nd

ed.), Heinle.

Thompson, C. (2004). Academic Word Power 2. Heinle.