English 2 36

Academic unit or major

English language courses

Instructor(s)

Yuki Ishihara

Class Format

Exercise (Face-to-face)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

1-2 Thu

Class

36

Course Code

LAE.E112

Number of credits

010

Course offered

2025

Offered quarter

2Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 19, 2025

Language

Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

English 2 follows English 1 to solidify the foundational skills for effective communication in English as well as to foster international awareness, as both are typically required in the globally expanding domain of scientific and technological research activities. It also prepares students to study or do research abroad in the future. Students are assigned training exercises that cover the four language skills — reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The reading and listening materials include topics such as international and intercultural issues as well as the fundamentals of science and technology. Practice exercises in writing and speaking are provided so that students can develop communication competence to participate in discussions and conferences where opinions are exchanged through both text and speech. TOEFL-type exercise problems are also used in the course.

This course aims to establish a solid base on which students can build toward a higher level of communication competence specifically in an English language environment. The base is, as mentioned in "Course description and aims" of English 1, composed of three elements: (1) identifying relevant information accurately, (2) exercising fair judgement to form a valid opinion, and (3) stating opinions clearly and persuasively.

Each student is assigned to a group led by an instructor. Instructors for each group conduct the course using the "Course description and aims" and "Student learning outcomes" as the basic framework. "Class direction," "Course schedule," and other information below explain the features of each class.

Course description and aims

By the end of this course, students will:
・Strengthen practical English abilities that are required for learning at university and for research activities both in Japan and abroad
・Be able to accurately grasp the main ideas and arguments of written and spoken materials in diverse areas including international and intercultural issues, science, and technology
・Have increased their knowledge of effective vocabulary and expressions to actively communicate their ideas and opinions in English
・Be able to write their own short paragraphs with a clear purpose
・Be able to state their opinions with good organization

Keywords

Four language skills, fostering international awareness, communication skills, studying abroad, TOEFL

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

For each of the units in the textbook, students are required to read the unit and solve the exercise problems before coming to the class. Each class starts with several students' short speeches. The instructor will clarify the essential point of the unit, and show solutions to the exercise problems in class. The class activity will also include watching news video clips, discussion and writing in English.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Nozaki Yoshinobu, Matsumoto Kazuko and Alastair Graham-Marr, Inside Science, Kinseido, 978-4-7647-4077-8.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary etc.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Students' learning outcomes stated above will be evaluated.
Activities in class: 25%
Speech: 10%
Homework: 15%
Final exam 50%

Related courses

• LAE.E111 ： English 1
• LAE.E113 ： English 3
• LAE.E114 ： English 4
• LAE.E211 ： English 5
• LAE.E212 ： English 6
• LAE.E213 ： English 7
• LAE.E214 ： English 8
• LAE.E311 ： English 9

Prerequisites

None

Other

None.