TIE 045: Advanced Listening Speaking

Fall 2012

Course Outline
Instructor: Trischa Duke
Email: tduke3@uic.edu
Phone: 312-996-8098
Course Description:
This course is designed for advanced students who would like to continue improving their skills
in speaking (fluency & accuracy), listening, and vocabulary acquisition. In-class and out-ofclass activities are intended to prepare students for an American university setting. You will
participate in small and large group discussions, survey Americans, and give informal and formal
presentations. Other speaking activities include focused pronunciation practice. In addition, to
improve your listening skills you will listen to radio broadcasts, lectures, interviews, your
classmates, and native English speakers. You will practice note taking, summarizing,
synthesizing information from more than one source, responding critically, and inferring speaker
attitude and purpose. Throughout this course, you will learn and be expected to implement
strategies for continuing to improve your language skills on your own including self-evaluation,
goal-setting and follow-up review.
Texts and Materials:
Students will need the following:
1) Text: Real Talk 2, Authentic English in Context, Baker and Tanaka, (Longman, 2007)
2) For class you will be required to record 2 types of materials:
a) Your own voiceSome of this will be done during our class time in SCAILAB. You
may also be given this type of activity as a homework assignment.
b) A news broadcastWe will be listening to and playing newscasts from the radio or
Internet during class.
You must be able to record a news broadcast onto a CD,MP3 player, or a flash drive. For
one activity in class, you will need to play back a recorded piece of material for the entire
class.
Class activities may also include materials from other sources.
Activities, Homework and Assessments:
1) Four listening exams, two speaking exams and various other speaking evaluations.
2) Newsbreak: Quizzes and discussions about a radio news segment twice a week. More
details to follow.
3) Performance Journal: Due every week. More details to follow.
4) Discovery Project: A survey-based research project you will complete outside of class
during the last half of the semester, culminating in 3 separate graded, in-class presentations.
5) Other activities as assigned.

Evaluation: At the end of the semester, you will receive a grade of either Satisfactory or
Unsatisfactory. This grade will be based on the following criteria:
Listening: A student who successfully completes 045 can, within one or two hearings, demonstrate
understanding of most main ideas and details of extended, authentic conversations, lectures, and TV,
radio, and Internet broadcasts on a wide range of general interest topics. Many successful students will be
able to do more than this.
A final satisfactory grade requires satisfactory in at least 4 of these 6 areas:

Recognizes main ideas

Recognizes important details
Demonstrates understanding of key vocabulary
Makes inferences
Listens critically
Achieves an ITP TOEFL Listening score of 52 or higher

These grades will be based on at least 4 unit listening tests, and other activities, teacher observation, and
on the score from the listening section of the ITP TOEFL.
Speaking: A student who successfully completes 045 can communicate effectively and in some depth
with non-native speakers in group discussions of 10-15 minutes on a wide range of general and academic
topics and formal presentations of about 10 minutes using a visual aid on a researched topic. Many
successful students will be able to do more than this.
A final satisfactory grade requires satisfactory in at least 5 of these 7 areas:

Speaks fluently
Demonstrates control of grammar
Makes appropriate word choices
Demonstrates control of pronunciation
Communicates appropriately in pair and group interactions
Develops and supports ideas
Organizes information appropriately for audience and purpose

These grades will be based on at least 4 speaking evaluations, other activities, and teacher observation.

For test or assignment scores, 75% or better is satisfactory.

A student must have a satisfactory grade in both listening and speaking to pass the class.
Class Performance:
You will also receive a grade of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) for each of the following:
Homework (based on regular completion and quality of homework)
Class Participation (based on teacher observation of student work during class activities)