English Language 1

Objectives
The students revise and upgrade their knowledge of the general English language previously acquired at secondary school and acquire the basic ESP vocabulary and the most common grammatical and syntactic structures used in their professional fields to be able to successfully communicate in everyday professional situations and basic academic settings.
Competences
The students will further develop all four types of their general English and basic ESP language skills: speaking, listening, writing and reading. Moreover, the students will also develop basic critical thinking skills, as well as basic ESP presenting skills. They will also understand the importance of cross-cultural communication and become sensitive to cross-cultural differences affecting communication. By taking into account the latter they will acquire a sound basis for further developing their communicative competence in basic interactions across cultures.

Secondary-school knowledge of general English equivalent to the level of the general matura/vocational matura examination in the English language.

• Revising selected grammatical structures in general English and learning the most common grammatical and syntactic structures used in basic ESP* texts.
• Acquiring basic ESP vocabulary within the students' professional fields by analysing selected authentic texts and other sources, including digital/online sources.
• Using the newly-acquired basic ESP vocabulary in essays and simple professional texts.
• Functional writing (learning about the charcteristics of formal and journalistic texts, basics in business English communication, including the communication in online media, writing short texts.
• Developing the general awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights.

• Learning how to successfully prepare and deliver an oral presentation on a less demanding ESP topic.
• Simple case studies of successful cross-cultural communication.
*ESP = English for Specific Purposes

The students will be able to appropriately use the grammatical and syntactic structures discussed, as well as the newly acquired basic ESP terminology and thus successfully communicate within their professional fields. They will be able to distinguish between different genres and compose essays and other short professional and formal texts on a selected topic. They will be able to express their opinions on a particular professional issue and demonstrate basic argumenting skills. Moreover, they will be able to present selected professional topics to a general audience in an oral form. They will be able to identify cross-cultural differences affecting commnication and express themselves effectively in less challenging circumstances within a multicultural environment to avoid communication gaps.
upon successfully passing the course, the students will achieve the B2 level of English language competence (according to CEFR – the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and acquiring basic ESP terminology.

• Carter, R. and M. McCarthy. 2006. Cambridge Grammar of English. A Comprehensive Guide – Spoken and Written English Grammar and Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (selected topics/pages) Catalogue E-version
• McCarthy M. and F. O'Deal (1997). Collocations in Use. How words work together for fluent and natural English. Self-study and classroom use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (selected topics/pages) Catalogue E-version

• Šabec, N. and D. Limon. Across cultures: slovensko-britansko-ameriško medkulturno sporazumevanje/Slovene-British-American Intercultural Communication. Maribor: Obzorja 2001. (selected chapters)E-version Catalogue

• selected professional texts

Written examination.
To access the written examination, the students must successfully perform an oral presentation of a selected topic prior to accessing the written examination.

Veronika Piccinini, English language lecturer, holds a BA (Hons) in English Language in Literature. Since 2005, she has been working at the University of Nova Gorica, where she has been teaching ESP – English for Specific Purposes at various study programmes. She has also been teaching EAP – English for Academic Purposes as a branch of ESP as part of the courses Introduction into Project Work and Group Project at the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Nova Gorica.
She has gained her professional experience by teaching at various institutions on different levels of the educational system. She has received further professional training also in the U.K. and Austria (ECML – European Centre for Modern Languages, part of the European Council). She is particularly interested in the research of the methodology of teaching English as a foreign language, especially in creative language teaching. She has been presenting her work at conferences and published articles in Slovenia and abroad.
Milena Kovačević je diplomirala angleški jezik in književnost in komparativno književnost na Univerzi v Zagrebu; magistrirala na isti univerzi. Dobitnica Rektorjeve nagrade Univerze v Zagrebu. V britanski kulturni diplomaciji (British Council Zagreb) strokovno izpopolnjevanje v Združenem Kraljevstvu. Redno zaposlena na Univerzi v Novi Gorici; predavanja o književnosti na univerzah v Franciji, Angliji, Italiji, Grčiji, in na Danskem.

Milena Kovačević holds BA in English Language and Literature and Comparative Literature from the University of Zagreb, and MPhil from the same university. During her studies she was awarded the University of Zagreb Rector's award. In British cultural diplomacy (British Council Zagreb) professional development in the United Kingdom. She has been teaching English and has a full time employment at the University of Nova Gorica; some of her lectures on literature have been given at the universities in France, England, Italy, Greece and Denmark.