English Language Skills Development

The Business School

This page contains timetable information on Subject Specific Academic English support classes for students in the University of Exeter Business School (UEBS).

Our aim is to help you build confidence in using English to participate fully in your programmes. We have divided to workshops into those that focus on assignment writing and those that focus on oral fluency for seminars and presentations.

Enrol quickly and easily:

  • Click on the drop down menus for Academic Reading and Writing and Oral Communication, Seminar and Presentation Skills
  • Select the best time for you.
  • Click on the link to enrol.

Enrolling in one session will automatically enrol you in all subsequent sessions at this time, but if your timetable changes it is easy to cancel your enrolment via the system or by emailing insessional@exeter.ac.uk .

To make the most of all our English Language Skills Development resources, join our bespoke MS Teams chat where you will find materials, tips, strategies for effective use of academic English.

And you should explore our independent learning resources here: Guided Independent Learning site.

Workshops

Academic Reading and Writing

Efficient Reading Skills (How to read an article in 30 minutes): Become more confident and effective when reading and using academic texts. This workshop presents and practices an approach to academic reading and introduces the concept of critical reading. 

What academic writing looks like: This session takes extracts from authentic student examples to illustrate the features of good academic writing and provide practical tips for better writing. 

Writing better assignments – understanding assessment criteria: This is a discursive session allows students to explore the generic criteria used for written assignments and what this means for effective approaches to assignment writing. 

Writing better assignments – interpreting the question and finding your stance: Build language and strategies for your first assignments: Learn how to decode assignment questions and discuss strategies for assignment planning. 

Writing better assignments – reports vs essays:  Learn more about the language and organisation of these different genres of writing. This session will use examples to explore the purpose and organisation of reports vs essays. Students will also leave the session with a tool kit of useful language and tips to help improve their writing. 

Writing better assignments – incorporating sources (summary and paraphrase): A CRUCIAL workshop. Use this practical session to learn how to put the ideas from your reading into your own words. Tips for avoiding plagiarism and making more effective use of source material. 

Writing better assignments – perfect paragraphs (skills for synthesis): Another practical session that teaches you how to construct effective paragraphs combining ideas correctly and responsibly and using evidence and your explanation/evaluation to support your thesis. 

Writing better assignments – improving your grammar and vocabulary: Raise your awareness on common grammatical and lexical errors in academic writing. Build strategies for proofreading your own work and boosting the accuracy of your language. 

Oral Communication, Seminar and Presentation Skills

Communication Style: What’s your communication style? Discuss strategies we can put in place to become effective communicators 

Explaining and Clarifying: Build and practice language and strategies for explaining concepts and clarifying their understanding. 

Being Persuasive: Build vocabulary around being persuasive and discuss how effective different techniques are.

Effective teamwork: Work together to find a way out of our virtual escape room.

Speed Debating: A fun session using mini ‘speed debates’ to build oral confidence and fluency.

Presentation Skills 1: What makes a presentation effective. Engaging opening and effective introductions. 

Presentation Skills 2: Planning and preparation. Building useful language for organising the presentation and guiding your listener. 

Presentation Skills 3: Using your voice. Explore delivery techniques to communicate your message more effectively. 

Overcoming Communication breakdown: Discuss different communication problems that can arise and strategies that can be used to overcome them

Speed Debating the rematch: Revisiting this popular activity for building fluency