Developing academic vocabulary

WORKING OUT THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN WORDS

1.8. The following words in the box are all from the text above. Find them in the text.

admission     mandatory     significant    eligible      to assign

 

1.9. For each word, read the sentence it occurs in and answer the questions.

a) Is the word positive, negative or neutral?

b) Is it a noun, adjective, adverb or verb?

c) Can you think of a word with a similar meaning (synonym) and one with an opposite meaning (antonym)?

1.10. Match the words with their definitions.

1) to award	a) to give or allow someone something, usually in an official way
2) overwhelming	b) to give money or a prize following an official decision
3) to enroll	c) to improve the quality, amount or strength of something
4) significant	d) important or noticeable
5) to enhance	e) to decide a reason for something, to give a particular job or a piece of work to someone.
6) admission	f) having the necessary qualities or satisfying the necessary conditions
7) eligible	g) something that must be done or is demanded by law
8) mandatory	h) to put in an official list, to accept in such a list
9) requirement	i) permission to enter a place
10) to grant	j) very great or very large
11) to assign	k) what is wanted or needed by someone

GRAMMAR FOCUS

The passive

Academic texts typically contain a mixture of active and passive verb forms. You can decide to use the passive for a number of reasons, including:

1. To keep the focus on the action, idea, object or event being described rather than who or what carries it out:

The mixture is inoculated with a starter culture…

2. To avoid saying who did the action because it is unnecessary, obvious, or unimportant:

The mixture is filtered or racked to extract the sauce…

The Present and the Past Simple are often used in academic writing:

Present Simple

active: clean(s)/see(s) Somebody cleans the room every day.

passive: am/is/are cleaned/seen The room is cleaned every day.

Past Simple

active: cleaned/saw Somebody cleaned the room yesterday.

passive: was/were cleaned/seen The room was cleaned yesterday.

1.11. Look at the verb forms in italics in the text Master of Science program at NSTU. Write them out and state: a) their voice forms; b) their tense forms. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1.12. Make up sentences using the verbs  and the patterns: [X is V₃]; [Xs are V₃]

Enroll develop assess  choose    admit

1.13. Transform the sentences from 1.11 and 1.12. according to the schemes:

X is V₃  > X was V₃ > X will be V₃

Xs are V₃  > Xs were V₃ > Xs will be V₃

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE. SENTENCE STRUCTURE.

Frequent sentence patterns

The most frequent sentence patterns in English are simple and compound.

Sentences are built up using one or more clauses. A clause has a subject, verb,object, complement, and adverbial. This is an example of a simple sentence with one main clause:

 

Students work with their supervisors.

They attend lectures, laboratory works and seminars.

Two clauses can be joined to create a compound sentence using a coordinator. There are three main coordinators: and, but and or. For instance:

Some students learn in a different way from others and so need to be taught in a way that makes it easy for them to learn.

1.14. Put the words in the correct order. Use the sentences to speak about your Master of Science program of studies.

1) Awarding/ NSTU/ has/ of/ Science/ degree/ been / since/ Master/ 1996.

2) Entered/ I/ research-oriented/ have/ a/ program.

3) Major/ is/ physics/ my/ theoretical.

4) Well/ I/ am/ informed/ this/ problem/ on.

5) Moreover/ collecting/ I/ am/ on/the material/ the problem.

6) Significant/ is/ Master/ of/ instrument/ Science/ prospective/ program/ a/ career/ my /in.

7) Me/ it/ provides/ practical/ theoretical/ with/of/ area/ chosen/ and/ understanding/ the.

8) An/ to / Admission/ MS/ program/ competitive/ was.

9) In/ majors/ as well as/ I/ to/ had/ pass/ a test/ in/ English/ in/ my.

10) Admission/ granted/ I/ results/ had/ excellent/ I/ and/ was.

11) Closely/ my/ studies/ are/ now/ connected/ with/ field/ relevant/ the.

12) Attend/ seminars/ works/ I/ laboratory/ and.

13) Also/ take/ I/ part/ in/ conferences/ scientific.

14) Ivanov/ is/ academic/ Professor/ my/ advisor.

15) Work out/ I/ of/ my/ program/ in/ close/ the details/ consultation/ with/ him.

16) Hope/ to/ I/ my/ Master’s/ defend/ thesis/ in/ years/ two.

LISTENING

1.15. You are going to watch an introduction to a lecture Graduate Employability  given by Dr Siobhan Cleary. For questions 1-3 choose the correct answer: a, b or c.

1. The series of lectures is looking at

a) the work of engineering graduates

b) the relationship between course content and graduate employability

c) the prospects of engineering careers

2. Last week the lecturer talked

a) about the salaries of university graduates

b) about the development of communication skills

c) about why students study science and engineering in the first place

3. The purpose of the lecture is

a) to give a brief summary of expert views

b) to survey how well the course of study equips students to become successful

c) to tell the students about employers’ expectations

 

1.16. What did the lecturer do in the introduction? Tick (ˇ) the correct answers.

 

a) She introduced herself.

b) She spoke about the curriculum.

c) She stated the purpose of the lecture.

d) She spoke about creative abilities.

e) She explained the organization of the lecture.

f) She welcomed the audience.

g) She explained the content of the lecture.

 

1.17. You are going to watch Extract 2 of the lecture Graduate Employability  given by Dr Siobhan Cleary. For questions 1-6 choose the correct answer, a, b or c.

1. The lecturer is going to

a) speak about employment prospects

b) speak about current skills

c) speak about her own job experience

2. After narrowing down a shortlist of the most important skills comprised

a) fifty different skills

b) six key skills

c) five key skills

3. The interviewees named the most important job skill(s). According to them,

a) it is spoken communication

b) these are communication skills except presentation ones

c) these are communication skills encompassing both spoken and written communication, and presentation skills

4. Employers expect graduates to have

a) good engineering skills

b) good communication skills in all areas

c) both communication and engineering skills

5. Technical ability is

a) connected with people managing skills

b) means being able to understand technical issues

c) the desire to expand your technical knowledge as well as the ability to understand technical problems

6. According to the lecturer, people-based skills

a) are natural and do not need to be developed

b) should be nurtured in everyday life

c) should be developed during the period of academic studies

1.18.Watch Extract 2 again and decide what skills were NOT mentioned in the lecture.

a) The ability to solve the problems

b) The ability to deal with people

c) The ability to memorize information fast

d) The ability to analyse well

e) Brilliant mathematical skills

f) Creativity

g) Having technical ability

h) The ability to communicate well

1.19.Make up a list of 5 top skills you consider to be important for a modern engineer. Explain your choice.

1.20. Tell about MS program at NSTU.

MODULE 2

Field of study

Reading and discussion

2.1. Answer the following questions.

1) What are key skills in today̕s marketplace?

2) What is at the core of any business organization?

3) Should IT students be provided with both solid technical foundation and sound practice?

4) What positions in IT fields do you know? Can you enumerate them?

5) Do you think that Master of Science in Information and Technology ( MSIT) graduates can easily find a job?

2.2. Read the text Master of Science in Information and Technology and check your answers.