Information for Students

1 Bachelor Study (Bc.)

The Department of Professional Language Communication prepares the students enrolled in the following study programmes at the Faculty of Natural Sciences: Applied Informatics, Biotechnologies, Chemistry and Applied Chemistry, and Applied Biology. In the first, second, third and fourth terms of bachelor study, the students attend the courses of compulsory subjects English Language I, II, III and IV (2-4 credits, 2 hours per week, oral exam) in the form of full-time study. In the fifth and sixth terms they have a possibility to take elective courses in English Language - Professional Communication I, II (2-3 credits, 2 hours per week, oral exam).

Besides regular classes, the teachers provide tutorial assistance to students during office hours.

Teaching English for Specific Purposes supports the development of professional communication skills such as writing an application for a job, writing a Curriculum Vitae (CV), preparation for a job interview, negotiation, elaboration of a PowerPoint presentation, and other activities. The students develop their language knowledge and skills working with specialised texts, performing communication activities, working with dictionaries, preparing special projects, and presenting a short talk on a special topic. The aim of seminar papers is to build a field-specific terminology and comprehend special linguistic features of a specialised English text. The students learn how to compile a bilingual glossary, translate an English text into Slovak, write an annotation and identify key words.

Knowledge and Skills Acquired

After completing the courses of English Language I, II, III and IV, the students will be able to:

• communicate about familiar and specific topics on an appropriate language level
• actively use specific lexis in written and oral discourse
• recognise characteristics of a field-specific text and understand its content
• know stylistic differences between English and Slovak specialised texts
• translate simple specialised texts from English into Slovak and vice versa
• work with different kinds of dictionaries (general, specialised, electronic, bilingual, reference, thesaurus)
• compose a short annotation of a specialised text and identify key words
• write professional documents in English (curriculum vitae, resume, application, business letter, report, etc.)
• observe professional ethics and political correctness when communicating in multicultural environment in written and spoken utterances
• present the results of student’s work and workplace in English
• create an effective PowerPoint presentation and give a short talk to a professional public

2 Doctoral Study (Ph.D.)

In the first term of the doctoral study programmes in “Applied Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry” and “Molecular Biology”, the students attend the course in Professional English Language (8 credits, 4 hours per week, oral exam), in the form of full-time and part-time study.

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