Advanced Writing Skills in English

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION
In professional and higher education contexts, students need to use their knowledge and written expression skills in order to produce advanced academic and/or technical texts effectively. Apart from the thematic contents, in order to be able to produce texts in English which are suitable for international academic activities and communicative situations it is necessary to know how to use written composition regulation processes, including text planning and review. The aim of this course is for students to become familiar with the linguistic strategies and mechanisms that allow the effective writing of correct, appropriate texts. Autonomous learning, creativity and digitalization will be worked on with a blended learning approach.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Use the knowledge of the formal aspects of language, both in message reception and production so as to prepare for the most common professional situations.
2. Understand the main ideas and extract specific information from speech in a professional environment.
3. Produce written texts, fulfilling previously established objectives and standards, and organizing the information in an appropriate manner. 4. Use a wide range of tourism vocabulary and specifically professional expressions.
5. Show a mastery of the uses and social conventions of the language and its different registers.
6. Use the knowledge of the context and the socio-cultural aspects of the countries.
7. Demonstrate participatory, cooperative and respectful attitudes, both in terms of human and environmental relations.
8. Respond immediately and appropriately in different professional situations, showing a service-oriented attitude.
9. Use communicative and learning strategies to reflect and act upon deficiencies in oral and written expression and comprehension.
10. Use available resources effectively to increase knowledge and to answer questions in an autonomous manner outside the classroom. 11. Access different sources of information using different tools.
12. Analyze, interpret and infer data and results: preparation and reporting. 13. Be familiar with digital resources as a means of disseminating information.

ACADEMIC CONTENTS
1. The writing process
1.1. Background to writing
1.2. Reading: finding suitable sources
1.3. Avoiding plagiarism
1.4. From understanding titles to planning
1.5. Finding key points and note-making
1.6. Paraphrasing
1.7. Summarising
1.8. References and quotations
1.9. Combining sources
1.10. Organising paragraphs
1.11. Introductions and conclusions
1.12. Re-writing and proof-reading
2. Elements of writing
3. Accuracy in writing
4. Writing models
4.1. Formal letters and emails
4.2. Writing CVs
4.3. Reports, case studies and literature reviews
4.4. Designing and reporting surveys
4.5. Writing longer essays

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
Tasks will be designed inside and outside the classroom that allow students to practice communication and learning strategies. The students’ resources will be assessed through the integrated observation of their linguistic performance and strategies during the school period.
An integrated teaching-learning-assessment approach will be used, where students will need to devote time to autonomous learning outside the classroom, either on their own or in interaction with other students, and have access to a wide range of resources. This entails a continuous, multidimensional, contextualized, collaborative and learner-centred perspective, as well as the active role of the students. Preparation for lifelong learning requires a positive, responsible attitude, so learning strategies through reflexive processes will also be employed. Furthermore, the integral development of the students’ skills will include simulation activities that reproduce real, everyday contexts of application.
On the whole, an array of strategies will be used including:
• Lectures
• Debates
• Team work
• Individual work
• Application activities
 • Portfolio
• Simulation
• Readings

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
The assessment process determines the degree of a student’s achieved learning with regards to the competencies of the course in hand. Students are able to request to be evaluated via a system of continuous, semester-long assessment or a single assessment at the end of each academic period.These two options cannot be combined.

Continuous Assessment
consists of the evaluation of the teaching-learning process based on the continuous monitoring of the student’s performance through the acquired comprehension, coursework and exams.
Single Assessment
consists in the evaluation of the student’s learning administered at the end of the established period of time. This system of evaluation is available for all students that provide appropriate proof of their inability to regularly attend class. This assessment is determined based on the learning evidences proven through this evaluation.

The assessment activities planning will be public for the students from the start.

Review and Reassessment of the Course
The student has the right to revise all the evidences that have been designed for the assessment of learning.
If a student fails to achieve the learning objectives of the course, in order to opt for the subject reassessment, it will be necessary to have obtained a final grade of the subject between "4-4.9", and to have attended the individual final exam/s or final work/s of the course.
The reassessment process will only involve the modification of the final grade in the case that the new assessment activity is passed and, in any case, the maximum grade will be "5". This grade will be averaged with the other grades of the assessment activities carried out by the student during the corresponding academic period, considering the percentages established in each subject, setting the final grade for the course.