Course Description:

“We are what we repeatedly do－Excellence is not an act but a habit.” 

-Aristotle

As Aristotle once emphasized, when one does things repeatedly and habitually, one can hope to achieve excellence both internally (through self-improvement) and externally (with achievements). Improving one’s English listening and speaking, likewise, is an effort made both inwards (through reception) and outwards (through practice), and from repetition to habit formation. Most importantly, improving and perfecting one’s speaking and listening is not an impossible task as long as one follows professional guidance, practice regularly, to make listening and speaking English a habit in one’s daily life.

 

This course aims to help interested and self-motivated students improve their speaking with clear pronunciation, their listening comprehension of speaking patterns, and do so with interest. Therefore, to achieve this goal, the course will cover three modules which approach individual learning points interestingly and effectively: pronunciation in the context of popular cultures, of social medias, and of English listening/speaking exam. Students in the first module will review first basic principles in pronouncing syllables and minimal pairs, stress and rhythm, and use them as building blocks in the practice of different types of vowels, consonants through examples from films, popular songs and TV series.

 

After the review and practice of basic pronunciation units with fun, students, after midterm, will learn from the second module of social medias about how to increase fluency by using supra-segmental features of linking, contraction and reduction, how to use intonation to convey meanings, all of which useful for improving both speaking and listening. The examples used in this module will be speeches on TED/TED-Ed, news on technology and sports, radio programs on traveling, and podcast audio on city life. In the third and final module, English listening and speaking exams will be used to train students to understand questions effectively and articulate their answers clearly; this way students will learn to put everything they have learned together, demonstrate what they have learned, and examine where they need further improvement.

 

Course materials with various drilling exercises from interesting multimedia examples throughout the semester will be provided. This is meant to be an interesting and practical course, but at the same time serious and demanding.  It requires student’s patience and determination to make substantial progress through continuous practice, in class and out of class. Thus, those who can fully “enjoy” habitually repeated drilling exercises are highly welcome to join this class.

 

The Objectives:

By the end of the course,

• Students will be able to get a comprehensive understanding of English pronunciation strategies;

• Students will be able to correctly pronounce English words in oral context;

• Students will be able to correctly listen to and understand daily conversations and multimedia materials;

• Students will be able to improve their listening/speaking ability in exams;

• Students will develop more confidence in their speaking and listening abilities.

• Students will be able to orally present news project to show the presentation skills through a good command of pronunciation and English speaking skills in the end of the semester.

 

Acknowledgement:

本課課程設計與學習單設計參考曾淳美老師網站與課程，特此致謝。

 

 

作業說明
評分標準

 

（包括考試方式、考評項目其所佔總分比率）

1. Attendance (In-Class Meeting)………………………...11%

2. Online Office F2F Practice (x4) ………………………...8%

3. Online Assignment (Quiz x2) ……………………..….. 6%

4. Online Assignment (Discussion) ……......…………… 10%

5. Electronic Practice Log (e-PL x 5) …………………15%

6. Observation Assignment (OA x 5) ……………...…15%

7. Mid-term F2F Oral Exam ………………………… 15%

8. Final Group Presentation ..……………………...... 20%

 

 

其他

 

 

• 請務必於第一週到課以了解課設計與規劃與要求並評估自己是否適合選修本課程。若因第一週無故缺席未到校，視同自行放棄課程選讀，請自行退選課程。

1. Regular listening activities involving news, movies, speeches, English songs from different media platform are highly recommended.

2. Students taking this long-distance online English pronunciation course should follow the class rules and have self-oriented learning habits in studying this course.

3. Regularly logging course website to study the course and do the homework is mandatory.

4. Attendance: If students who make 3 consecutive absences of class work including weekly sign-up activity without concrete evidence before and after the midterm, he or she will be suspended from attending midterm or final examination.

5. Absence resulted from Emergencies, such as medical or family emergencies, can be discussed, with concrete evidence provided.

6. No makeup tests and assignments.

7. Electronic Practice Log (e-PL x 5): Keep (record) an audio practice log together with the scrip to reflect on your learning process.

8. Observation Assignment (OA x 5): Keep a pronunciation assignment to reflect what you’ve improved in targeted pronunciation objectives in each unit.