University English Course: Integrated Language Skills on Writing

INTRODUCTION
This course is designed for UiTM diploma students to improve their English with an emphasis on writing skills by integrating reading and speaking skills together. It focuses on enhancing the student's abilities to use the language by exploiting a variety of materials in varied situations. Appropriate consideration is given to the development of higher-level grammatical construction and vocabulary expansion that are intended to help increase students’ lexical density.

AIM
This course aims to improve written English to discuss arguments and issues effectively.

OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, the participants should be able to: speak confidently based on non-academic issues in a social setting; respond to questions by applying a variety of reading strategies based on authentic and non-authentic discourses, and write an expository essay and evaluative commentary in academic or non-academic context individually and in pair.

TARGETED PARTICIPANTS
1. UiTM diploma students

TOPICS
1. Writing: paragraph structure, topic sentences, supporting details, writing mechanics, paragraphing, point of view, developing ideas and supporting details, outlining, preparing, revising, refining, and editing drafts, expository essay, argumentative essay, discussion-type essay, and evaluative commentary
2. Reading: the structure of a passage, mechanics used in reading texts, paraphrasing and summarising information, analysing and evaluating reading texts, and drawing conclusions
3. Speaking: oral responses to given situations, speaking strategies, oral commentaries of movies/films/television programmes
4. Grammar: parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, noun-pronoun agreement, verb tenses, yes/no and WH questions, transitional words and phrases, clauses, and passive voice

RESOURCES
Core
1. https://www.wecwi.com/blog/tags/academic-english
Supplementary
1. https://www.wecwi.com/post/seleh

ASSESSMENTS
1. Essay Writing︱20%︱2 hours︱Week 6
2. Evaluative Commentary︱30%︱7 weeks︱Weeks 7 & 14
3. Mid-Semester Test︱25%︱2 hours︱Week 10
4. Oral Commentary︱25%︱5-7 minutes︱Weeks 11-12