The University of Hong Kong

Academic English for

Science Students
CAES9820

Course Introduction
Semester 2, 2014-15
Centre for Applied English Studies
6/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam
Hong Kong
Tel: 3917 2004
http://caes.hku.hk
The copyright for these materials is owned by the Centre for Applied English Studies at the
University of Hong Kong. These materials may not be reproduced without permission.

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Table of Contents for Course Introduction

Table of Contents for Course Introduction ............................................................................................. 2
Letter from the Director ......................................................................................................................... 3
CAES Rules............................................................................................................................................... 4
English for Free in the Learning Commons, Zone R, Student Advisory Services .................................... 5
Support for Students with Disabilities or Special Educational Needs..................................................... 7
CEDARS - 4th Floor, Meng Wah Complex ........................................................................................... 8
Course Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Course Learning Outcomes ................................................................................................................... 10
Course Assessment ............................................................................................................................... 11
Feedback on your Work ........................................................................................................................ 12
Availability of your Teacher outside Class Hours .................................................................................. 13
Reassessment........................................................................................................................................ 13
Appeal of Results .................................................................................................................................. 13
Course Learning Activities ..................................................................................................................... 15

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Letter from the Director

Dear Student,
Welcome to your Academic English course. You are probably wondering what this
programme will offer you and what you will find in this book. Let me first reassure you
about what you are getting yourself into. You are among the 7,500 undergraduate and
postgraduate students who will take one of our courses this year so you are in very
experienced hands. Our goal is to assist you with the English you need for your professional
and academic development so that you can approach your university studies with more
confidence and a greater chance of success.
To achieve this goal you will find yourself in a small group of around twenty students where
we encourage English to be spoken at all times. Your teacher will do his or her best to
provide an active and supportive learning environment for you by arriving on time, being
well prepared, providing tasks to help you engage with your learning, and by giving you
feedback on your work in a timely manner. The teacher will also explain the course
assignments and assessment criteria to you clearly in advance and answer any questions
you may have about the course and about English language learning in general. He or she
cannot, however, proofread your work for you or help you with assignments from other
courses.
To get the most from your course, however, you need to participate in the class by arriving
on time and being well prepared, by speaking in English as much as possible and by taking a
full and active part in your classes, for example by working with others in group work. It is
also important to attend all classes and to inform the teacher in advance if you need to miss
a class.
I hope you enjoy your English course and wish you success in your studies. Good luck!

Prof. Ken Hyland

Director
and Chair of Applied Linguistics

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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CAES Rules
Attendance
You must attend 80% of the classes in order to pass the course. If you miss more than two
three-hour classes, you must provide a medical certificate to your teacher.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a very serious offence at university. If your work contains any plagiarism at all,
your assignment will be given a fail automatically.
Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, you may also be considered for further
disciplinary action.

Submission of Assignments
If you are sick and unable to hand in an assignment, you must contact your teacher to let
them know and also provide a medical certificate.
Assignments which are handed in up to three days late will have one full letter grade
deducted each day. If your assignment is more than three days late, it will be given a fail
automatically and will not be marked.

Bad Weather
In the case of bad weather such as Black / Red Rain or Typhoon Signal 8, please follow the
university guidelines at:
http://www.asa.hku.hk/weather.htm

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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English for Free in the Learning Commons, Zone R, Student

Advisory Services
Want to watch recent movies and TV series from the UK and USA?
Want to get one on one advice from CAES experts about ways to improve your English?
Want to discuss interesting topics with other students in English?
Want to attend workshops on pronunciation or conversational English?
Need to prepare for the IELTS test?
Need to improve your writing skills?

THEN GO TO THE

Learning Commons, Zone R, Student Advisory Services, Run Run Shaw Tower 2/F.
Check out the Virtual English website (VE) http://caes.hku.hk/ve

FACILITIES: The Learning Commons, Zone R, has the following facilities

A wide range of resources for improving English skills

Activities room for group workshops and discussions

Reading area with newspapers and magazines

Consultation rooms for student advisory services (CAES, CEDARS, Library, etc.)

ENGLISH SUPPORT: Zone R provides human support

Consultations where you can talk to a CAES consultant about suitable learning
materials. You can get advice about language problems, ways of learning more
efficiently, and diagnosis of pronunciation, writing and grammar weaknesses. Sign up
at http://caes.hku.hk/ve

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Discussion groups and other self-access learning workshops that are run by the CAES
consultants. Sign up at http://caes.hku.hk/ve

ENGLISH RESOURCES: Zone R contains loads of resources

Over 1800 feature films, comedy and detective series, documentaries, and BBC
classic drama series.

Newspapers and magazines including the South China Morning Post, Time, the
Economist, Wallpaper, National Geographic and Time Out Hong Kong.

Hundreds of books, DVDs, CD-ROMs and tapes for studying English. Look at the VE
online catalogue for up-to-date lists of what's available

Shelves of test preparation and reference materials: IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, TOEIC etc.

ONLINE LEARNING:
Check

out

the

English

Learning

Resources

at

http://caes.hku.hk/ve/wiki

A portal to a world-wide range of online resources as well as a guide to independent

learning.

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Support for Students with Disabilities or Special

Educational Needs
It is important to CAES that every student has a successful learning experience in our
courses.
If students feel that they have any special needs which might impair their ability to
participate in activities or complete course assignments, they are encouraged to contact
CEDARS and/or their course teacher and the course coordinator as soon as possible.
Teachers will make an effort to accommodate special needs students when arranging or
conducting learning activities.
If students have any special needs that might impact their ability to complete any assessed
task they should present documentation to CEDARS and ask that the course coordinator is
informed so that special arrangements can be made if deemed appropriate.
The CEDARS webpage on accessibility support for students with disabilities is linked below:
http://wp.cedars.hku.hk/web/cope/?p=1144
Additional information can be found at the HKU Equal Opportunities website: http://www.eounit.hku.hk/eng/index.htm

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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CEDARS - 4th Floor, Meng Wah Complex

CEDARS-Counselling and Person Enrichment Section (CEDARS-CoPE) promotes attitudes
and skills that are necessary for your success in the university environment and in your
pursuit of productive, satisfying and psychologically healthy lives.
Exam and test taking advice

http://w3.cedars.hku.hk/counselling/content/resources.php

Counselling for students with emotional / mental issues

http://w3.cedars.hku.hk/counselling/content/CAC.php

Help for students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia

http://w3.cedars.hku.hk/counselling/content/diversity.php#dyslexia

Careers advice

http://cedars.hku.hk/showext.php?id=cp

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Course Overview
Course Aims
This course aims to:

introduce you to the genre conventions of research articles and popular science
articles and to develop your ability to write popular science articles

develop your ability to explain scientific concepts to a non-specialist audience,

particularly in the written form

introduce you to the conventions of annotated bibliographies and develop your

ability to write these

develop your ability to speak spontaneously and confidently regarding science and
non-science topics

maximize the opportunity for speaking through the use of small groups

develop your ability to improve your English Independently

develop your ability to reflect on your learning experience and learning needs

Course Materials
The course materials consist of the following:

Materials for each individual lesson of the course are available to download from the
CAES9280 Moodle. These will be gradually made available through the course.

The Assessment Guide

The CAES9280 Moodle

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Course Learning Outcomes

The following outlines what you should be able to do by the end of this course.

SKILL / LANGAUGE FOCUS

Written English

Spoken English

Self-Access
Learning (SALL)

Language

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Identify and summarize disciplinary sources related to

a specified topic

Produce a text which is appropriate for a crossdisciplinary audience based on disciplinary knowledge

Write an annotated bibliography for the above,

consisting of description, evaluation and intended use

Spontaneous (i.e. unrehearsed) speech on both

science and non-science related topics

Plan, carry out, and reflect on a self-study programme

to focus on language learning needs

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Course Assessment
The following outlines the assessments that you will be required to complete for this course.
For further details of each assessment please see the Assessment Guide.

ASSESSMENT TASK

WEIGHTING

DATE OF ASSESSMENT

1. Write Topic Proposal with Key 15%

Points
of
Discussion
and
Annotated Bibliography (600
800 words for AB entries)

By Sunday Week 3
(8th February)

2. Write a popular science article

0%
(1100 1400 words excluding
title, reference list and text with
visuals)
30%

Submit Partial Draft (550 700

words) by Sunday of Reading
Week (15th March)

3. Speaking Test
(7 minutes per student)

30%

Week 12

4. SALL Oral Report

(10 minutes per student)

0%

Submit SALL Learning Goals Plan

(with completed Learner Profile)
by Sunday Week 4
(15th February)

10%

Week 8/9 (In class)

15%

By Sunday Week 13
(3rd May)

5. SALL Written Reflection

(700 1000 words)

Final Draft by midnight

Sunday Week 12 (26th April )

of

Note: The tasks which are not formally assessed are as important as the assessed tasks as
these are designed so that your teacher can give you useful feedback that will help you with
the assessed tasks.

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Feedback on your Work

Your teacher will give you feedback on your work during the course to help you improve
your skills and succeed in your assessments. This might be done on work completed during
class, work completed online or at home.
Your teacher may give you written and/or verbal comments on your work, but, of course, it
is your responsibility to make the improvements. This is particularly important to maintain
fair assessments.
The following outlines what you can / can't expect from your teacher during this course in
terms of feedback:
Your teacher will:

provide you with written feedback and comments on the partial draft of your PSA

provide you with written feedback and a grade for the AB

provide you with brief written feedback and a grade for the SALL Oral Report

provide feedback on common areas for improvement for speaking skills for the
members of your class

answer any questions you may have in class time, immediately after the class, or by email. If
your question requires an in-depth response then you can arrange an appointment with
your teacher.

Your teacher won't:

necessarily correct or identify whether you have not fully complied with the task
instructions when reviewing a draft

look at any other drafts of your PSA other than the scheduled partial draft

look at a draft of your AB, or the SALL Written Reflection

provide you with detailed, individual feedback on your speaking skills in class

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Availability of your Teacher outside Class Hours

Your teacher will answer emails, usually within two working days. Please note that your
teacher is unlikely to be able to answer emails on public holidays or weekends.
We would strongly advise you to do the assessments early and avoid sending last minute
emails. In the past, we have found that some students have sent some emails very near to
deadlines and have expected a very quick response from their teacher. In this situation, it is
difficult for your teacher to be in a position to give you helpful advice.
If you wish to make an appointment to see your teacher outside class hours then this is
possible but please try to give your teacher notice so that you can arrange a suitable time
for both parties. To ensure consistency there will be no extra lessons or tutorials outside the
officially scheduled classes.

Reassessment
If you fail one component of the course and this means that your overall grade is a fail then
you will be reassessed on that component of the course. Your result for the reassessed
component will be used and you will later receive a further grade for the course. Please
note that you will receive a Fail grade on your transcript in addition to a further grade.
Reassessment will occur in the Semester following the fail grade, and this includes the
Summer Semester. If you fail multiple components of the course and your overall grade is a
Fail then you are unlikely to be offered reassessment and will need to take the course again.

Appeal of Results
Student appeals against the academic judgments of assessors will not be accepted.
This is based on HKU regulations which state:
There shall be no appeal against the results of examinations and all other forms of
assessmentstudents may however request checking of the final course grade or the result
of any assessment component of any course if they have reason to believe that there is any
procedural irregularity or technical error in the determination of that result (e.g. an error in
the recording, collating or aggregation of grades/marks which contribute to the final result).
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See document 111/511 Procedures for Checking Assessment Results of Taught Courses
(link provided below).
The following procedures have been set up in CAES9820 to ensure that assessment practices
are fair:
1. Detailed assessment criteria are written for each assessment task so that students
and teachers have a clear and common understanding of the standards for A, B, C, D
and fail work.
2. These assessment criteria are made available to students at the beginning of the
course in the Assessment Guide.
3. Before any students work is assessed for CAES9820, all teachers are required to
assess sample student work. This is to ensure that teachers are grading to the
correct standard.
4. Blind marking (marking of assessments by teachers other than the class teacher) is
used for the final draft of the popular science journal article, and speaking test.
5. After students work has been assessed, the marks are checked by the course
coordinator and then the results are reviewed and approved by the Board of
Examiners in the Faculty of Science.
Calculation Appeals
If you suspect an error in the calculation of your final grade (or any component of that final
grade), you can request that this calculation be checked after the release of the final grade.
Procedure for Calculation Appeals
It is University policy that grade re-calculation requests must go through faculties.
Therefore, CAES cannot accept grade re-calculation requests directly from
students. Students must apply in writing to their home Faculty Office within three weeks
after the final grade results are announced, supplying the necessary information and
application fee.
For full details of the application procedure, please refer to Procedures for Checking of
Assessment Results of Taught Courses.
Applicants should note that as a result of the calculation checks, the original grade could
increase, decrease or remain the same. The decision reached will be final.

CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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Course Learning Activities

The course will be highly integrative and will require a high level of participation from you in
and out of class. It will include the following types of activities:

Practice in speaking skills through participation in small group speaking workshops

and one-to-one discussions

Analysis of genre features of research articles and popular science articles

Analysis of features of spontaneous (i.e. unrehearsed) speech

Practice in writing skills through writing at the paragraph level in pairs/groups

Course Study Load

It is estimated that this 6-credit course will take 120 hours to complete:

Face to face class: 36 hours

Out-of-Class Activities: 84 hours

Please see Moodle for the course schedule for your class.

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CAES9820 Academic English for Science Students: Introduction to Course

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