Undergraduate Course: English for Successful Academic Communication 1 (LLLO07009)
Course Outline
| School | Centre for Open Learning |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | ESAC 1 is designed to build your confidence and improve your academic English language and study skills. The materials and class activities will support your studies at Edinburgh and enable you to participate fully in the courses offered on your programme. You will develop and practise listening and note-taking, reading and text analysis, discussion skills, academic writing, and presentation skills. |
| Course description |
ESAC 1 is a course in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) for Undergraduate Students. It is designed to build your confidence and improve your academic English language and study skills. An important feature of this course is that it enables you to improve and practise your skills in a safe and supportive environment. Previous students often comment that they appreciate having the opportunity to voice their ideas and contribute to group discussions in a relaxed, non-judgmental atmosphere. The materials and class activities will support your studies at Edinburgh, helping you to participate fully in all the courses on your programme.
This course will:
improve your listening and note-taking skills
increase your knowledge of the features of academic writing and reading
give you practice in group discussion and presentation skills
provide a supportive context to help you participate fully in your other undergraduate courses at Edinburgh
Course Content:
Listening and Note-taking
Reading and Text Analysis
Discussion skills
Academic Writing
Presentation skills
In the Listening and Note-taking strand, you will practise strategies to improve your listening, such as predicting, monitoring, responding, clarifying and inferring, and consider different note-taking techniques.
In the Academic Writing strand, you will learn how to sequence information effectively, and how to structure coherent and cohesive arguments in English. You will also learn how to integrate source materials to support your own ideas, and how to critically evaluate the work of others.
The Reading and Text Analysis strand also focuses on criticality; how to distinguish fact from opinion, and how an author's background, purposes for writing and basic assumptions can affect the text. You will learn to approach texts cautiously and develop an awareness of the linguistic and rhetorical techniques used by writers.
The Discussion and Presentation skills strands focus on facilitating and improving your ability to participate effectively in various academic settings, such as a less formal classroom discussion, or more formally, when participating in a seminar or presenting.
Both the formative and summative assessments for this course require you to prepare a short oral presentation and a written assignment.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 36,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
160 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% coursework:
Writing 60% of the overall grade
Speaking 40% of the overall grade
There are two summative assessments for this course:
An essay to assess your writing skills, representing 60%, and a speaking task representing 40% of the overall grade.
Midway through the course, you will have formative assessments and receive feedback on these to take forward to the final, summative assessments.
|
| Feedback |
The course provides ample opportunity for students to receive feedback on their learning. More formally, writing and speaking assignments are marked on Learn and, as well as assessing specific criteria, holistic comments are made. Particularly at the formative stage, students are encouraged to review and discuss their feedback, either during class sessions or in one-to-one tutorials with their teacher. Informally, teachers may provide students with ¿ad hoc¿ feedback ¿individually, for example, in response to a student¿s contribution to a discussion, or in plenary, for example, considering points students have in common in a piece of writing.
Peer-feedback is also encouraged. After formative speaking tasks, for example, each student receives feedback from their classmates. As well as helping to foster a supportive atmosphere, this is a valuable way for students to familiarise themselves with assessment criteria and gain some objectivity about their own performance.
Students are also invited to give feedback on the course. Along with end-of-course questionnaires, their opinions are sought at various times throughout the course. They are encouraged to voice their ideas and are made aware that they can help to shape the class sessions, materials studied and the course content. |
| No Exam Information |
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 36,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
160 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% coursework:
Writing 60% of the overall grade
Speaking 40% of the overall grade
There are two summative assessments for this course:
An essay to assess your writing skills, representing 60%, and a speaking task representing 40% of the overall grade.
Midway through the course, you will have formative assessments and receive feedback on these to take forward to the final, summative assessments.
|
| Feedback |
The course provides ample opportunity for students to receive feedback on their learning. More formally, writing and speaking assignments are marked on Learn and, as well as assessing specific criteria, holistic comments are made. Particularly at the formative stage, students are encouraged to review and discuss their feedback, either during class sessions or in one-to-one tutorials with their teacher. Informally, teachers may provide students with ¿ad hoc¿ feedback ¿individually, for example, in response to a student¿s contribution to a discussion, or in plenary, for example, considering points students have in common in a piece of writing.
Peer-feedback is also encouraged. After formative speaking tasks, for example, each student receives feedback from their classmates. As well as helping to foster a supportive atmosphere, this is a valuable way for students to familiarise themselves with assessment criteria and gain some objectivity about their own performance.
Students are also invited to give feedback on the course. Along with end-of-course questionnaires, their opinions are sought at various times throughout the course. They are encouraged to voice their ideas and are made aware that they can help to shape the class sessions, materials studied and the course content. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Use English grammar and vocabulary effectively in various academic contexts.
- Produce clear, coherent, well-structured text, both written and spoken, in appropriately academic language and style.
- Understand, take notes on, and respond critically to a range of texts, including multimodal texts, both in speaking and writing.
- Participate fully in their courses at Edinburgh, being supported in their development as confident users of Academic English.
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Reading List
| All course materials are provided by English Language Education . |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course supports the development of the https://graduate-attributes.ed.ac.uk/what-is-the-skills-for-success-frameworkSkills for Success Framework. By engaging with the course, students will have the opportunity to develop:
Critical Thinking: develop independent thought through questioning opinions; seek relevant and appropriate evidence and understand biases in multi-modal texts.
Collaboration: understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others, foster cooperation and build positive relationships with peers.
Reflection: set and achieve goals; recognise own strengths and areas to develop by engaging with formative feedback opportunities from peers and teacher.
Communication: practise active listening in class discussions; present ideas effectively using approaches and media which create shared understanding.
Inclusivity: be open to different views and perspectives; harness the benefit of difference and diversity; seek to create inclusive and welcoming environments, communicating across language and cultures.
Adaptivity: respond flexibly as circumstances change; managing own time and wellbeing; cope with uncertainty and ambiguity; engage personal drive, motivation and determination to apply skills and experience on course to their academic experience in the wider University.
Individuality: recognise and value previous experiences; develop existing skills and abilities. |
| Keywords | Language learning,academic language and literacies,confidence-building,support,critical thinking |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Kathryn Redpath
Tel: (0131 6)51 4833
Email: Kathryn.Redpath@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr James Cooper
Tel: (0131 6)50 4400
Email: jcooper6@ed.ac.uk |
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