Discussion on the Value of English for Academic Purposes Course
ANNOUNCER: Section 3. Two overseas students called Spiros and Hiroko have just finished the first semester of their university course. They are discussing with their English language teacher how they coped with the course. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.
TEACHER: Before we start, thank you both for coming. Congratulations on doing so well in your first semester exams. I'd like to discuss the value of the English for Academic Purposes course you completed last year.
TEACHER: Spiros, which parts of the program have proved most useful to you?
SPIROS: I think doing a seminar presentatio
was very helpful. A few weeks ago in my marketing class, I had to give a presentation and I felt quite confident.
SPIROS: I was still nervous, but because I had done one before, I knew what to expect. I had also practiced my timing.
SPIROS: Compared with some others in my group, I think my presentation looked quite professional.
TEACHER: What about you, Hiroko?
HIROKO: I was surprised that many students simply read their notes during their presentations.
HIROKO: They didn't worry about presentation style or eye contact with the audience, even though these were strongly emphasized in our course.
TEACHER: How did you approach your presentation?
HIROKO: To be honest, I also read my notes. At the time it felt easier, but afterwards I didn't feel much satisfactio
.
SPIROS: That's unfortunate. Although I was happy with my presentation, I haven't spoken at all in our tutorial discussions.
HIROKO: Really? Why not?
SPIROS: Mostly because I lack confidence. The other students speak in a very different style.
SPIROS: They use many colloquial expressions, and sometimes the discussion seems quite disorganized.
SPIROS: They also know each other well, so they easily include each other in the conversation.
HIROKO: Yes, I've experienced the same thing.
ANNOUNCER: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.
HIROKO: Earlier this semester I didn't say anything in tutorials, but recently I started to join the discussio
more actively.
HIROKO: I noticed that when my comment was interesting, other students later asked for my opinio
.
SPIROS: That's encouraging. What helped you find those ideas?
HIROKO: Mainly the reading. I had to read many books and journal articles to understand the lectures.
HIROKO: Every evening I read for hours and made detailed notes.
HIROKO: This helped me understand the lecture content and gave me ideas to contribute in tutorials.
SPIROS: I already do a lot of reading, but my reading speed is still quite slow.
TEACHER: What could we add to the course to help students with this reading difficulty?
SPIROS: I don't think it's the course. We read many long articles, which actually prepared us well for university reading.
SPIROS: We also practiced speed-reading exercises and recorded our reading progress.
HIROKO: That's true, but sometimes the topics were unrelated to my field.
HIROKO: For example, we read about environment, health, and educatio
, instead of engineering, which is my subject.
TEACHER: But the strategies for understanding unfamiliar vocabulary were still useful, weren't they?
HIROKO: Yes, but psychologically I would have felt more motivated reading texts related to my own field.
SPIROS: I agree. It would have increased my confidence and motivation.
SPIROS: However, it was helpful that we could choose our own topics for the research assignments.
TEACHER: Good. Now let's move on to discussing writing skills.
ANNOUNCER: That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
