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Professional and Academic Uses of English

Code: 103582
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Primary Education OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Susagna Tubau Muntaña
Email :
susagna.tubau@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

To take this course students must demonstrate a C1 level in English. This is a requirement for all the courses that make up the specialization (menció) in English language teaching. Students in 3rd year will have to provide evidence that they comply with this requirement by the date indicated on the Faculty of Education webpage in order to be able to take any course in the specialization in the fourth year, including this one. Students who are taking this course as an elective but not enrolled in the specialization (menció) must also document a C1 by that indicated date in order to enrol. Further consultations can be made at the academic management office of the Faculty of Education Sciences, UAB.

Objectives

By the end of this course students should be able:

1. To produce quality oral and written productions within the academic and professional fields.

2. To become familiar with self-assessment and peer-assessment and be able to work with language registers and textual typologies.

3. To work efficiently both individually and in groups and deal with theory and practice equally (searching the best strategies and available resources).

4. To use virtual tools and ICTs in the design, development and self-assessment activities.

5. To show communicative proficiency in English in international and multilingual settings (oral and written.

6. To critically analyze professional and academic discourses (formal register of the English language).

7. To apply the theoretical framework into the communicative practice (oral and written) from a contrastive and multilingual approach.

8. To show linguistic and communicative skills in English equivalent or superior to a C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Learning outcomes

  1. Using virtual platforms as a communication and management tool for directed and supervised activities.
  2. Assessing the value of Spanish language learning strategies and techniques appropriate to primary education.
  3. Develop linguistic and literary competence using the English language in a fun and creative way.
  4. Demonstrate effective communication skills of at least level B2 of CEFR in situations of multilingual interaction and international contexts both orally and in writing.
  5. Using texts from children's literature in Spanish in order to develop English language learning activities in primary education.
  6. Develop reading skills in English to be able to analyse the practical implications of carrying out theoretical proposals in the field of language teaching.
  7. Using the most cutting-edge resources and the most advanced consultation tools in the English language.
  8. Critically understand and analyse, from a formal register of the English language, professional and academic discourse in English.
  9. Apply the theoretical framework on effective communicative both on a written and oral level, and from a multilingual and contrastive perspective.
  10. Establish relations between the nursery and primary foreign language curriculum and that of the first language.
  11. Using virtual environments as tools for written communication that respond to a variety of functions (recreational, academic, transactional, etc.) among learners.
  12. Self-assess one's own level of knowledge of English and analyse one's own communication needs and establish improvement plans.
  13. Analyse communication needs and control the process of learning the English language.
  14. Establish relations between the language curriculum of primary education and that of other curricular areas.
  15. Produce didactic sequences for teaching and learning English in primary education.
  16. Analyse and identify education and communication needs to design strategies for teaching and learning of the English language that are supported by the development of communication skills through ICT and technologies for learning and knowledge.
  17. Working efficiently as part of a team and individually, both in theoretical and practical activities, seeking resources and strategies that are appropriate for each situation.
  18. Incorporating appropriate CMO activities for the development of CLIL units in the context of national and international programmes (Comenius, etc.).
  19. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school's languages and the development of digital learning and intercultural skills.
  20. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school's languages and the development of llinguistic, audiovisual and digital skills.
  21. Critically analyse and discuss theoretical texts from different fields of linguistics.
  22. Present products (teaching units, class analyses, etc.) produced in teams with people from different degree courses and levels of expertise.
  23. Using ICTs in the design, development and self-evaluation of self-learning activities in English.
  24. Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
  25. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one?s own area of knowledge.
  26. Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  27. Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
  28. Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.
  29. Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
  30. Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
  31. Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
  32. Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
  33. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.

Contents

  1. Discourse genres and text types applied to professional practice and the academic field.
  2. Effective reading techniques in academic texts.
  3. Written and oral expression in English in academic and professional contexts.
  4. Techniques for organizing and presenting oral and written production in English.
  5. Uses of English for specific purposes: English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP).


Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
In-class activities 20 0.8 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30
Exercises and assignments 35 1.4 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32
Group discussions 15 0.6 6, 8, 10
Theory classes 25 1 6, 8, 10
Tutorials 20 0.8 6, 10, 25, 27
Readings 35 1.4 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 31, 32, 33

 In this subject there will be face-to-face classes in addition to face-to-face or virtual tutorials. Students must carry out tasks and do exercises inside and outside the classroom.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Individual written assignment 1 15% 0 0 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 16, 25, 26, 27, 30
Oral task 35% 0 0 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33
Project 35% 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
Individual written assignment 2 15% 0 0 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33

The evaluation for this course, with 80% mandatory attendance, consists of the following 4 parts:

a) Writing Task 1 (individual) – (15%) March 10, 2027 - A summary of a scholarly article related to the field of Education.

b) Project (individual) – (35%) June 7, 2027 - 1. A portfolio containing all individual and group assignments completed during the course. 2. Curriculum Vitae (CV). 3. Cover Letter.

c) Writing Task 2 (individual) – (15%) May 5, 2027 - An abstract of the Bachelor's Degree Final Project (TFG) or, for students who have not yet confirmed their TFG topic, an abstract of research proposal.

d) Oral Task 3 (individual)– (35%) May 19, 24 and 26, 2027 - An oral presentation of the Bachelor's Degree Final Project (TFG) or research proposal (for students whose TFG topic has not yet been confirmed), accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation.

  • If the student submits at least 30% of the assignments (continuous assessment), they will receive a corresponding grade on their transcript and will not be marked as “Absent”.
  • Students must achieve a minimum average of 3.5 in the course to be eligible for resit. Non-recoverable activity: the project. The resit will take place on 23 June 2027.
  • Plagiarism detected in any assignment or activity will result in failing the entire course. Plagiarism is considered a serious offense and will be dealt with according to university regulations.

Grade Review

When each assessed activity takes place, the instructor will inform students via Moodle of the review procedure and date.

Single assessment: June 9, 2027

Covers ALL course content and ALL continuous assessment tasks, with the following weightings:

  • Academic writing task (25%)
  • Theoretical-practical exam (1h 30 min)
  • Oral presentation of an academic article (50%) (20 min)
  • Written exercise (25%) – To be submitted on the same day as the written and oral exams.

Resit for Continuous Assessment: 23rd of June 2027

Resit for Single Assessment: 23rd of June 2027

In this subject, there is no synthesis assessment option.


This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

Bibliography

Kennedy-Scanlon, Michael, Juli Cebrian & John Bradbury (2009) Guided Error Correction: Exercises for Spanish-Speaking Students of English. C1 Level, Book 1. Bellaterrra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Servei de Publicacions.

McCarthy, Michael & Felicity O’Dell (2016) Academic Vocabulary in Use (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hewings, Martin. (2023) Advanced Grammar in Use. (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baker, Lida, Robyn Brinks Lockwood & Kristin Donnalley Sherman (2018) Grammar for Great Writing. Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning.

Hewings, Martin & Haines, Simon. (2015) Grammar and Vocabulary for Advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Powell, Debra. (2005) Common mistakes at CAE... and how to avoid them. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hewings, Martin & Craig Thaine (2012) Cambridge Academic English. An Integrated Skills Course for EAP. C1 level. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kennedy-Scanlon, Michael, Elisabet Pladevall & Juli Cebrian (2012) Guided Error Correction: Exercises for Spanish-Speaking Students of English. B2 Level. Bellaterrra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Servei de Publicacions.

Swan, Michael (2016) Practical English Usage (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Recommended Websites:

English for Academic Purposes:

https://www.academic-englishuk.com/

https://www.eapfoundation.com/

Writing websites:

https://www.grammarly.com/

https://writeandimprove.com/

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/index.html

https://owl.excelsior.edu/

Online dictionaries

https://www.ldoceonline.com (Longman Dictionary of Contemporay English)

https://www.merriam-webster.com(Merrian-Webster dictionaries on line)

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/(Cambridge dictionaries on line)

http://www.freecollocation.com/ (Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English)

https://www.lexilogos.com/english/dictionary.htm (A comprehensive set of resources for the study of the English Language)

Online Pronunciation Dictionaries

https://voicecup.com/

https://howjsay.com/

Software

Text editor

Powerpoint

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 90 English second semester afternoon