Who is the course for?
This course has been designed for international students who:
- have already graduated in their own country
- need to improve their level of English for postgraduate study at the University of Sussex (or elsewhere in the UK).
Minimum entry requirement
IELTS band 4 / TOEFL 42 or equivalent for September entry.
IELTS band 4.5 / TOEFL 50 or equivalent for entry from January onwards.
IELTS band 5.0 / TOEFL 57 or equivalent for entry from April onwards
Course description
This course is based in the Sussex Centre for Language Studies and aims to:
- improve the language and study skills needed for study in Higher Education at postgraduate level, and
- prepare students for the academic culture within which they will be working.
The course is comprised of two modules: 15 hours per week of general English and 6 hours per week of English for Academic purposes and focuses on:
- reading and writing academic texts, and note-making
- attending lectures and public research seminars, and note-taking
- actively and effectively taking part in seminar discussions and tutorials
- study skills and UK academic conventions
- specialist help with applications to Masters programmes
- facilitating links with academic departments within the University of Sussex
- effective use of university facilities (library, computers, etc).
The course runs full time (21 hours per week) for an academic year during the University terms, but you can also join in January or April, depending on the amount of English language tuition you need, and your level of English on entry.
Course content
The syllabus is informed by the academic 'can do' descriptors of the Common European Framework for Languages, some of which are listed below:
| SCLS Level | ALTE | Note-taking | Processing text |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | C2 | Is aware of the implications and allusions of what is said and can make notes on them as well as on the actual words used by the speaker. | Can summarise information from different sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation of the overall result. |
| 4 | C1 | Can take detailed notes during a lecture on topics in his/her field of interest, recording the information so accurately and so close to the original that the notes could also be useful to other people. | Can summarise long, demanding texts. Can summarise a wide range of factual and imaginative texts, commenting on and discussing contrasting points of view and the main themes. |
| 3 | B2 | Can understand a clearly structured lecture on a familiar subject, and can take notes on points which strike him/her as important, even though he/she tends to concentrate on the words themselves and therefore to miss some information. | Can summarise extracts from news items, interviews or documentaries containing opinions, argument and discussion. Can summarise the plot and sequence of events in a film or play. Can collate short pieces of information from several sources and summarise them for somebody else. |
| 2 | B1 | Can take notes during a lecture which are precise enough for his/her own use at a later date, provided the topic is within his/her field of interest and the talk is clear and well-structured. Can take notes as a list of key points during a straightforward lecture, provided the topic is familiar, and the talk is both formulated in simple language and delivered in clearly articulated standard speech. |
Can paraphrase short written passages in a simple fashion, using the original text wording and ordering. |
What else?
You will be studying on a beautiful campus within the academic environment of one of the UK's top universities. Our Language Learning Centre offers you superb multimedia facilities with free internet access and satellite TV. Together with the audio and video language learning materials, these facilities will be available to you within the centre outside of class hours. Students also have access to the University Library and will be given a Sussex email address.
Contact us
Executive Officer,
Sussex Centre for Language Studies,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9SH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 873234
F +44 (0)1273 678476
E efl@sussex.ac.uk
Sussex Centre for Language Studies: English language