Course syllabus

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FSP047 English for Engineers (7.5 credits)
Study period 1 and 2, autumn 2024

English for Engineers is an optional English language course offered by the Department of Communication and Learning in Science and open to Chalmers students from any discipline.

Before starting the course, a grammar diagnostic test (in EngOnline) must be taken, and a score of at least 60% attained (if lower, or just above, contact the course manager to discuss if the course can still be taken). To sign in at EngOnline, a Chalmers ID is needed to log in, and use this step-by-step guide.

Schedule note: This 7.5-credit course spans both study periods 1 and 2, running from 2 September 2024 to 19 January 2024, with sessions occurring almost every Thursday afternoon, on campus (the first session is not until study week 2, 12 September). Note that if all assignments are completed on time, results can already be provided before Christmas.

  • Also: Because this is an optional course, it can clash with other courses in study period 1 and 2. Contact the course manager for any issues - sometimes there is a workaround.

An outline of each week’s activities and assignments are found below under "Schedule". The Canvas Calendar function is also useful for keeping track of these.

Contact details

Ideally, please use Canvas Inbox as the main channel of communication for personal questions. For course questions that all students can benefit from knowing the answer to, please use the discussion forum. For general course updates or information, the teacher will communicate via Announcements.

Course purpose

The course aims to improve students’ English proficiency in different communicative situations. This includes developing advanced language skills for academic studies and professional life.

Learning objectives and syllabus

After completion of the course, the student should be able to:

  • write and revise a variety of texts, both academic and professional.
  • select and structure information in paragraphs, sections, and chapters, keeping the audience in mind.
  • adapt and present information for different oral communication contexts and different audiences.
  • analyse sentences from a grammatical viewpoint and revise for effective communication.
  • give and receive constructive criticism on written and oral work
  • process reading material to use in academic texts.
  • use references appropriately and correctly.
  • search effectively for information and evaluate this information with regards to relevance and quality

Study plan

Course design

The teachers and course participants meet once a week. These meetings usually consist of some lecture input, class discussion, and other relevant activities. These can include a focus on the different genres covered in the different assignments in the course, input related to general English proficiency in the academic setting, and some peer response. The course aims to use the time in class for active learning. In other words, more research-type activities are expected to happen outside of class time.

PART A (study period 1)
The first part of the course focuses more on academic writing with some focus on general English language skills including written proficiency and some grammar. Writing skill development involves a step-by-step process of structuring and editing a literature review assignment, with feedback from peers and teachers. There will also be in-class discussion in small groups. Oral proficiency training is guided through some in-class discussion and an individual topic talk. Grammar support is provided through our web-based tool EngOnline, to be used for self-study. There are some lectures that touch upon typical problem areas of some specific grammar categories. Most grammar training though happens through feedback and revision of writing assignments during both study periods.

PART B (study period 2)
The second part of the course focuses a little more on professional English, including proposal writing, emailing, and further oral presentation practice in the form of a presentation "meeting". 

Teaching and assignments

  • Teaching: shared between the two teachers.
  • Assessment: shared equally between the two teachers. Assessment details for each assignment are available on the submission pages. For course grading, see the section below "Examination Form".
  • Process-oriented approach: all writing assignments go through at least one draft and one round of peer response (Peer Reviewing: A Brief Guide).
  • Participation: active participation in the course and attendance in the sessions are expected. Please speak to or email the teachers if there are schedule issues.
  • Deadlines: it is important that to keep to the deadlines. Any issues with meeting the deadlines, please speak to or email the teachers. 
  • Revisions: should assignment requirements not be met, revisions will be requested. Further details under each assignment.

Use of AI tools in this course
The main aim of this course is to develop your English writing and presentations skills in different contexts. It is true, that if used with careful thought, AI tools can be useful for the learning and the development of such skills. However, AI tools do not always provide appropriate output for the context you are communicating in. Through carrying out the tasks on this course - in other words through the process of writing - the intention is that your own thought, understanding and execution of these skills can develop. As a writer, you have a responsibility to your audience and to your own skill development to critically reflect over any suggestions AI tools propose and make a conscious decision why you do or do not incorporate it in your work. So, as you work on various tasks, ask yourself what skills you are developing, and how using AI tools might be an obstacle for this. Consequently, we want you to disclose why, how and where you have used AI tools in your assignments.

Additionally, directly submitting work (in whole or in part) that was produced by anyone other than yourself or your team members (on project team assignments) is considered a violation of Chalmers Academic Integrity Policy.

Working with Canvas
For some students, working in Canvas, the learning management platform in Sweden, might be new, and therefore, it might be helpful to take a look at the following page for tips and guidelines:

It is important to be aware that every teacher at Chalmers may utilise the Canvas learning platform differently. The link above provide good guidelines in general. But there may be some deviations. For example, in FSP047, there are just two modules: Course Information and Sessions. To help navigate this course's Canvas setup, we have created a simple guide: Navigating FSP047's Canvas pages. 

Schedule

The course has a teaching slot on Thursdays 13.15-17.00. Some weeks, the sessions will be a bit shorter. TimeEdit only gives an indication of the date, time, and room. To know specifically what the session involves, see each session page. Here is also a schedule overview to start with:

The schedule overview

  • Please note: While sessions may not always run until 17.00, we strongly recommend using any unused session time each week for reading/watching materials or working on assignments.

The 'Calendar' area in Canvas should also help with being organised (assignments and meetings can be seen there as long as course FSP047 is selected). Anything in the Calendar should also appear in the to-do list on the Canvas home page.

Course literature

  • Course literature consists of session material (found on each session page) and other recommended materials during the course. A page Master list of materials will have all session material divided up into logical topic categories to make searching for specific course content more easily, if looking for something long after sessions have happened. Some other helpful resources within and outside of the course/Chalmers are linked to within the module Course Information.

Changes made since the last occasion

  • One new learning outcome has been added to the course: "search effectively for information and evaluate this information with regards to relevance and quality". This was added to reflect a key aspect of the research element of the assignments especially with the library element the course has now had for the last couple of runs.
  • An assignment from previous runs, the CV assignment, was made into an optional workshop in 2023, partly to help students with workload, and also partly as the task didn't quite fit in to the progression of the other tasks. With only one student in attendance last year, it was decided that the task should be removed entirely.
  • An assignment, a summary task, which was the first assignment on the course, was removed, for two reasons. Firstly, it was on a subject that was not entirely related to the rest of the course, it was considered slightly irrelevant. And secondly, summary assignments in the age of AI tools is not deemed ideal, unless it can be carried out in the classroom under test conditions. This set up was not considered feasible on this course. So, instead, it was decided to make a start immediately on the literature review assignment. This is beneficial for the later assignment, the proposal as it gives the teachers time to set up these two related tasks more logically.
  • Partly as a consequence of the removal of the summary assignment, and partly because some students sign-up late, course start has been moved to the second study week instead of the first.
  • Some adjustments to session lengths made where deemed necessary (some sessions have been extended by an hour since some content was squeezed too tightly into a short space of time previously, some have become an hour shorter).
  • Assignment criteria have been updated to be more relevant for the task and with consideration to the age of AI tools we find ourselves in.

Examination form

Course grade
One final grade is given at the end of this 7.5 credit course, on a 3-to-5 Chalmers scale, with 5 being the highest mark. The course grade is based on:

  1. the grade from the literature review in Part A,
  2. the final oral presentation in Part B, and
  3. the written proposal in Part B.

Each of these parts is worth one-third of the course grade. In order to receive the course grade, all assignments, including those that do not receive U-3-4-5 grades, which are instead just pass/fail, must also be completed. Some tasks may require revision before a task is complete. Please note that these pass/fail tasks are compulsory because they are vital to the process-oriented approach that we use. Criteria for each assignments can be found under the submission page for each one.

PART A (study period 1)
The assessment during the first part of the course comprises

  • all pass/fail assignments (summary, source list, topic presentation)
  • a literature review assignment (which has been through the writing process – drafts and peer response), assessed as U (fail)*, 3, 4 or 5                               

PART B (study period 2)
The assessment during the second part of the course comprises

  • all pass/fail assignments (proposal idea meeting, email)
  • an oral presentation assignment, assessed as U (fail)**, 3, 4 or 5
  • a written proposal assignment (which has been through the writing process – drafts and peer response), assessed as U (fail)*, 3, 4 or 5

*A grade of U will trigger a mandatory revision, uploaded through Canvas (the same portal as the initial submission). The highest grade for a revision is a 3. Note that more than one revision of a text may be required before a passing grade is achieved. 

**A grade of U will trigger a mandatory revision, to be scheduled with the instructor. The highest grade for a revision is a 3. Note that more than one revision of a presentation may be required before a passing grade is achieved.

Course summary:

Date Details Due