Courses in Academic English Programme

The Academic English Programme is designed for students who wish to widen their understanding and knowledge of English, who may want to go to university, or have already applied to university. It is also suitable for professionals who want to develop their English to help career prospects.

The course will develop the following skills:

Reading Skills: The organization of texts; Understanding the gist and the detail of a text; Understanding the purpose of a text; Evaluating the arguments of a text.

Writing Skills: Levels of formality and register; Understanding the purpose of essays and reports; Planning and drafting essays and reports; Paraphrasing, summarising, synthesizing Referencing (avoiding plagiarism).

Speaking Skills: Fluency and accuracy in more complex topics; Conversational skills; Presentation skills; Analysing and discussing ideas and opinions; Debating skills.

Listening Skills: Understanding gist and detail from various spoken sources; Taking notes from extensive reading and lectures and discussions; summarising arguments when note-taking.

Critical Thinking: Understanding the notion of bias; Understanding and analyzing/evaluating arguments.

Exam preparation: Understanding the purpose of the exam questions; Planning and structuring the answers; Practice in a variety of exams (IELTS or Cambridge Suite); Understanding the marking criteria.

You will improve your English ready for university. The course also includes IELTS preparation.

It is recommended that you sit the IELTS or one of the Cambridge Suite examinations at the end of the course. We can help you with this.

Entry Requirements:

Minimum Age – 16 years old.

Minimum Intermediate level of English required. Proof of English will be required, such as an FCE certificate or IELTS taken in the last 2 years. If the student does not have any formal English qualification, they will undertake the Cambridge Regional College English Assessment.