HSUHK | CCCO

ENG3010 Advanced English

Prerequisite

Nil

Exclusion

Nil

Module Description

This Module is designed to develop students’ advanced skills in handling English for specific purposes, namely the journalistic, legal, financial and sales contexts. Students will interact with each other in a variety of written and oral tasks and activities which provide good opportunities for them to take their command of English to a higher level through learning and reviewing each other’s work. The major emphasis is on the context, structure and features of English in the mentioned specific purposes where students would be exposed to in their future careers.

Module Intended Learning Outcomes (MILO)

Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. demonstrate awareness of audience, purpose, schematic structure and lexical and grammatical features of English used for journalistic, legal, financial and sales purposes.
b. produce a wide variety of writing required in the genres for journalistic, legal, financial, and sales purposes
c. deliver oral presentations for the specific purposes
d. evaluate and critique their typical language errors and demonstrate awareness of how to avoid them.
e. express views logically and coherently and respond to ideas appropriately in a given context.

Module Content

1. Journalistic English

1.1 Special features of photo captions and news headlines
1.2 Structure, characteristics, tone and language style of general newspaper articles
1.3 Reproduction of a news article based on a photo, its captions, its headlines and by- headlines
1.4 Structure, characteristics, tone and style of and reproduction of editorials
1.5 Structure, characteristics, language style, tone and register of critiquing a book, movie, poem or similar work of creativity
1.6 Production of a critique of individual choices of genres

2. Legal English

2.1 Introduction of legal terminology and basic concepts
2.2 Analysis of audience purpose, schematic structure and lexical and grammatical features of a wide range of contracts and other legal documents such as police statements
2.3 Reproduction of a contract
2.4 Role-playing of different parties involved in a legal issue

3. Financial English

3.1 Introduction of financial terminology and basic concepts
3.2 Analysis of audience, purpose, schematic structure and lexical and grammatical features of financial letters, emails and reports
3.3 Description of company performance, financial trends and predictions, regulatory environments and risks

4. Sales English

4.1 Major language features and style in advertisements
4.2 Analysis of print adverts based on their content, target customers, graphics, language, etc.
4.3 The purpose, content and characteristics of sales brochures
4.4 Components, structure and linguistic features and style of press release
4.5 Producing a sales brochure and giving a press release to promote a chosen product or service

Assessment Methods

1. Written Assignments (40%)
2. Project (sales brochure + press release presentation) (30%)
3. Portfolio (20%)
4. Participation (10%)

Texts & References

  1. Andrew, J. D., May, C. B., & May, G. S. (1999). Effective writing: A handbook for finance people. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  2. Billingham, J. (2003). Giving presentations. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
  3. Campbell, K. K., & Huxman S. S. (2014). The rhetorical act: Thinking, speaking, and writing critically (5 th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.
  4. Carter, R., Hughes, R., & McCarthy, M. (2000). Exploring grammar in context: Upper-intermediate and advanced. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  5. Ceramella, N., & Lee, E. (2008). Cambridge English for the media. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  6. Krois-Lindner, A. (2011). International legal English. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  7. MacKenzi, I. (2006). Professional English in use: Finance. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  8. MacKenzi, I. (2008). English for the financial sector. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  9. Mascull. B. (2010). Business vocabulary in use: Advanced. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  10. Robinson, N. (2010). Cambridge English for marketing. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  11. Stovall, J. G. (2011). Writing for the mass media. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Whitaker, W. R., Ramsey, J. E., & Smith, R. D. (2012). Media writing – Print, broadcast, and public relations. New York, NY: Routledge.