Level 5: B2 CEFR

AUDIENCE: This course is intended for learners who demonstrate advancing ability to use English independently. 

GOALS: The course aims to consolidate language skills and strategies that enable learners to understand and use fairly complex language on both familiar and unfamiliar, concrete and abstract topics in personal, social, academic, and professional contexts. 

OBJECTIVES: Individually or in groups, students analyze the structure of diverse, authentic written and listening texts (e.g. articles, job advertisements), contextual clues, textual relationships, lines of argument, and coherent devices. Activities at this level focus on summaries and multiple-paragraph writing on the basis of varied information sources. Through group discussions and debates, role plays and presentations, students practice how to communicate appropriately by adjusting their language choices to the topic, audience, and situation. They also learn how to structure and deliver effective, well-supported presentations on academic and non-academic topics of interest. Through controlled and semi-controlled pronunciation practice and speaking tasks (e.g. presentations, discussions), they continue to work on English sounds, phrase stress and rhythm, natural speech phenomena, and pragmatic uses of intonation. Students are trained to effectively utilize descriptive vocabulary in written or spoken production on a wide range of topics and with adequate attention to levels of formality. In addition, special emphasis is placed on construction grammar (e.g. gerundial and infinitive phrases, passive constructions), as well as on noun and adjective phrases.  

ASSESSMENT: Students’ performance in this course is assessed through graded homework assignments, quizzes, unit tests, midterm and final level exams.  

Student Learning Outcomes

After the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Use fairly complex grammatical structures and vocabulary to talk about familiar and unfamiliar, concrete and abstract topics such as purchases, projects, personalities, and life improvement.

2. Structure and deliver effective, well-supported presentations on academic and non-academic topics of interest such as research and technology, solutions to a problem, etc.

3. Analyze the structure of authentic written and listening texts of a wide thematic scope and genre, contextual clues, textual relationships, lines of argument, and coherent devices.

4. Write multiple-paragraph text types such as an opinion or a persuasive essay, a statement of purpose, or a performance review, by synthesizing information from several sources.

5. Use descriptive vocabulary effectively on topics such as personal characteristics, job relationships, and emotions with adequate attention to levels of formality.

6. Identify and practice the use of multiple-part constructions such as gerundial and infinitive phrases, passive constructions, as well as noun and adjective phrases.

7. Review how to perceive and produce English sounds; practice phrase stress and rhythm, natural speech phenomena (linking), and pragmatic uses of intonation (e.g. in requests, exclamations, or imperatives) in controlled and semi-controlled pronunciation activities and assessed speaking tasks (e.g. presentations, discussions).