English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

SI-UKのEnglish for Academic Purposes （ＥＡＰ）プログラムはイギリスの大学や英語を公用語としている国への進学を目指している方のためのコースです。イギリス大学で実行しているプリセッショナルコースに基づいているこのプログラムはフルタイムとパートタイムのクラスがあり、学生は短期間で次のようなスキルを身に付けることができます。

EAP Full-time

Full-time / 4 weeks / 80 hours / All year round

Levels available: 4

Skills: Reading, Writing, Listening, Discussion, Presentation

This is our most intensive EAP course and is equivalent to doing a pre-sessional English course at a British university. Suitable for prospective undergraduate or postgraduate students who want to make rapid progress in all academic skills, the course uses the new Academic Connections textbook series, offers four different levels and runs three times throughout the year. Each week two different academic subjects are covered and progress is assessed by a weekly writing assignment (typically 200-400 words) and individual speaking task (typically a presentation or debate). Students on this programme benefit from more contact with tutors, including a weekly one-to-one tutorial with an academic advisor.

Academic Writing

Part-time / 20 weeks / 40 hours / All year round

Levels available: 2

Skills: Paragraph-writing, Essay organisation

This course is designed to develop your writing skills beyond IELTS by introducing a wider range of essay organisation techniques and more student-centred activities such as peer-editing and self-correction. On the intermediate level course there is a greater focus on paragraph writing and the basic concepts of essay writing. The advanced level course looks at a range of rhetorical modes for essays, including process analysis, cause and effect, argumentative, classification and reaction. On both courses you will complete a weekly writing task for homework, which will be fully assessed and corrected by your tutor. This course is recommended for all prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Academic Reading and Discussion

Part-time / 10 weeks / 30 hours / All year round

Levels available: 4

Skills: Reading, Discussion, Vocabulary-building

This course places a strong emphasis on vocabulary-building through reading and discussion. Each week a different academic topic will be introduced, for which no prior knowledge is required, and you will be asked to read two articles of 800-1200 words each for homework. During lesson time, you will check comprehension and share reactions to both articles. In the final hour of the lesson, your tutor will introduce some more open-ended discussion topics and you will have a chance to put the vocabulary you have learned into practice. Levels 1-4 cover the entire Academic Word List of 570 words considered essential for university study. This course is recommended for those who want to follow a regular academic study programme which entails a degree of self-study.

Lecture Listening and Discussion

Part-time / 10 weeks / 30 hours / All year round

Levels available: 3

Skills: Listening, Note-taking, Discussion, Presentation

Suitable for prospective undergraduate or postgraduate students who want to develop strong lecture-listening and discussion skills in an academic setting. Each weekly lesson begins by introducing a different topic such as marketing, media, psychology or linguistics, for which no prior academic knowledge is required. In the second hour, you will learn a new listening strategy and note-taking strategy, and you will then have a chance to practice these strategies by watching practice lectures of up to ten minutes. The final hour of the class is a mock seminar in which you and your classmates use a discussion strategy to react to the contents of the lecture. This is our most popular EAP class and is especially recommended for working people who cannot commit to our full-time programme.

English for Postgraduate Study

Part-time / 10 weeks / 20 hours / Three times a year

Levels available: 1 (IELTS 6.0 or higher required)

Skills: Research, Discussion, Writing, Presentation

Our most advanced level course is designed for prospective postgraduate students who require higher-level academic skills in order to conduct research and present findings. The course has been specially created by SI-UK for students entering a British university where a postgraduate course typically lasts only 12 months and students need to be fully prepared for the rigorous academic demands of their course beforehand.

The course guides you through the process of researching and writing a research essay of 1000-2000 words and delivering a research presentation of 15-20 minutes. The research can be on any topic of your choice, and you will have regular consultations with an academic advisor to help you choose your research topic, construct your essay and prepare for your presentation.

The process of writing a research essay is broken down into stages: open reading; creating a research proposal; focused reading; writing a thesis statement; selecting evidence; outlining; creating a paragraph plan; writing topic, support and concluding sentences; writing an introduction and conclusion; revising a first draft; and referencing sources. To prepare for your final presentation, you will learn and practice techniques for effective introductions, signposting, using visual aids, improving voice quality, concluding and dealing with questions.

Due to the high standard of written work expected on this course, it is recommended that you complete a course in academic writing beforehand.