Developing and Testing Speaking Skills in Academic Discourse

Abstract

Teaching speaking is an essential aspect of developing students’ sociolinguistic competence in a foreign language at any level. English studies at the tertiary level offer a variety of courses for practicing speaking and helping students reach the C1 and C2 level in BA and MA studies, respectively. However, it is not only the level that differentiates between BA and MA studies, but also aspects of register and style. Beginning with the subjects generally called Conversation, Speaking, Oral reproduction, Argumentation skills, Debating or Public speaking (BA studies), students gradually advance to Conversation based on academic texts (MA studies). This transition requires students to raise their level of general English competence as well as learning the elements characteristic of academic discourse. This paper presents the MA program developed by the Institute of English at Opole University. The advantages as well as problems faced when introducing the program are described, including a discussion of the methods used in developing students’ English competence (C2 level) and, furthermore, testing their performance in academic discourse. The first implementation of the program has been completed and the results have been analyzed. As a result, adaptations have been made that have perfected a model which can naturally serve in creating similar MA programs at other institutes of modern languages.