Course details

English for PhD Students

JA6D Acad. year 2025/2026 Winter semester

Current academic year

A course for postgraduate students focused on academic writing and presentation skills. It will also help the students prepare for the examination required for completion of postgraduate study.  

Guarantor

Course coordinator

Language of instruction

Czech, English

Completion

Examination (written+oral)

Time span

  • 13 hrs lectures
  • 26 hrs seminar
  • 13 hrs exercises

Assessment points

  • 100 pts final exam

Department

Learning objectives

The aim of the one-semester course is enhancing students' skills in reading comprehension, writing abstracts, reports and articles, presentations and communication skills.
An intermediate-level examination, examination passed as part of admission procedure to the doctoral study programme.

  • recommended prerequisite
    • New Headway Intermediate 2

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

An intermediate-level examination, examination passed as part of admission procedure to the doctoral study programme.

Study literature

  • Leki, I. (1998) Academic Writing: Exploring Processes and Strategies. Cambridge: CUP (EN)
  • McCarthy, M., O'Dell, F. (2016) Academic Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge: CUP (EN)
  • Harrison, R. (2012) Headway Academic Skills 3 Reading, Writing, and Study Skills Student's Book with Oxford Online Skills. Oxford: OUP (EN)
  • Moore, J. (2017) Oxford Academic Vocabulary Practice: Upper-Intermediate B2-C1. Oxford: OUP (EN)

Syllabus of lectures

  • Introduction
  • Presentations
  • Trends and development
  • Academic writing
  • Linking
  • Objectivity and formality
  • Passive 
  • Hedging
  • Articles
  • Relative clauses
  • Wordorder and emphasis
  • Word formation
  • Technical and academic vocabulary

 

Syllabus of seminars

  • Introduction
  • Presentations
  • Trends and development
  • Academic writing
  • Linking
  • Objectivity and formality
  • Passive 
  • Hedging
  • Articles
  • Relative clauses
  • Wordorder and emphasis
  • Word formation
  • Technical and academic vocabulary

 

Progress assessment

  • Active participation in the seminars
  • Presentation
  • Written exam consists of three parts: language test, reading comprehension test and listening comprehension test.


The course is based on electronic supports produced by the department and authentic materials. The students are expected to do written assignments and presentations.

In order to successfully complete the course, it is necessary to deliver a technical / academic presentation and achieve at least 50% in each part of the written exam (language test, listening, reading).

Course inclusion in study plans

  • Programme DIT, any year of study, Compulsory-Elective group A
  • Programme DIT, any year of study, Compulsory-Elective group A
  • Programme DIT-EN (in English), any year of study, Compulsory-Elective group A
  • Programme DIT-EN (in English), any year of study, Compulsory-Elective group A
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