Delivery – Fully Online (授業の実施形態: 完全オンライン)

• Students will be asked to have their cameras on during live sessions.

Course Description

This course is a combination listening and communication course suitable for students with a TOEFL Paper-Based Test score of up to 459, or for students who have successfully completed the Gateway English course.

Note-Taking and Discussion is a combination listening and communication, language-focused and content-based course. Organized around realistic college lectures, the course and lessons guide students through activities in skills such as note-taking, focusing attention, intensive listening, vocabulary building, and critical thinking. New subject areas, presented as one-on-one academic lectures, emphasize professional applications such as software engineering, multimedia design, information technology, urban planning, and social psychology.

Activities and tasks in each class are designed in a way to that gives students increasing involvement and self-direction of their learning. Authentic, stimulating content is introduced and developed so that students experience the value of understanding and exchanging contemporary ideas in a range of academic fields. The course is intended to ready students for genuine academic and professional contexts where they will be expected to participate fully.

Each lesson centers around a short academic lecture. Realistic preparation activities, focused listening tasks, personalized discussions, challenging tests, and authentic presentation assignments enable students to explore each topic deeply. The lecture topics are drawn from a range of academic disciplines, and the lectures themselves feature engaging instructors in a variety of settings including offices, lecture halls, and classrooms, many with live student audiences.

Student Selection

This course is best suited for students who:

• are comfortable taking instruction and participating in English
• are happy to perform pair and group work
• are looking to develop their listening skills
• enjoy discussing topical issues

Instructions:

• In addition to regular participation both in class and on-line, students must complete all assignments (and complete them in a timely manner) to pass the course.
• Students must pay attention to this university’s attendance regulations in this class.
• Some or all of the homework for this course will be online, and or uploaded in digital format. Students enrolling in this course will require access to a computer or at least a smart phone, and the internet. On occasion, students may be required to bring a computer to class.
• As 40% of the grade for this course comes from participation, students enrolling in this course will be required to actively participate in pair work and small-group discussion and be prepared to talk in class.

Feedback:

Feedback for this course will be provided by the instructor verbally during class, online through Moodle, or by e-mail. Homework will be checked and graded, and feedback given automatically through Moodle. The tests will be an online tests graded automatically by Moodle. Periodic updates on each student's grade condition will be provided by the instructor.
 

Course Objectives

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive, content-based approach to developing academic listening, note-taking, and critical thinking skills in order to prepare students for participation in real-life, academic, and professional contexts.

Other aims include:

• exposing students to and learning core academic vocabulary
• allowing students to collaborate and develop critical thinking skills
• providing top-down listening strategies and practice 
• introducing bottom-up listening exercises to emphasize important principles and improve real-time perception
• activating students’ knowledge by connecting the weekly topics to their personal experiences and beliefs
• learning strategies for listening actively and taking clear notes
• gaining discussion skills
• showing the value of review and discussion as an important study skill
• motivating students to learn material thoroughly

Attendance and Participation: 40%
Homework: 30%
Mid-semester Test: 15%
End of Semester Test: 15%

This course offers, not only a chance to work on your listening skills, but it also gives ample opportunity for you to practice your speaking skills while discussion some interesting topics. These topics are interesting and varied so I am sure you will find it interesting. The course does require a bit of work outside the classroom, but all-in-all, quite a rewarding course.