Course

Studying English at university level is therefore a good idea, whether you want to take a BA in English or just want to add a semester of English to your other studies.

English level 1 is the first and most basic English course at university level. However, since English B/English 6 from Gymnasieskolan is a requirement, you can understand that the level is considerably higher than that at Gymnasieskolan, so we expect all students to be well prepared, highly motivated, and ready to work hard.

Most of the modules are available for exchange students with the right academic background, but the Vocabulary part of English language is only available to students who are proficient in Swedish.

The contents of the course (English level 1, ENGA04)

The main focus of the course is on increasing proficiency and communicative skills (reading, speaking, listening, writing). You do not need to choose between literature and linguistics, and you should not expect the academic level of the course to be very high. Instead, the course will prepare you for further academic studies in the field of English

English level 1 consists of three modules. It is important that you realise from the start that these modules sometimes run in parallel, just like you are used to from school.

These are the modules:

• English Language (15 credits)
• Academic Writing (7.5 credits)
• Literature (7.5 credits)

In the module called English Language, we explore the sounds in English and how they are produced and described. You learn how to read and write phonetic script and get a better understanding of pronunciation differences between English and Swedish.

Further in English Language, we deal with general grammar and English grammar. You learn some of the terminology needed to understand what is written in grammar books and discuss grammar with others. You also focus on the grammatical differences between English and Swedish, knowledge that's extra useful when translating from one language into the other.

Finally, in English language, you broaden your vocabulary while learning about how to expand your vocabulary more efficiently.

Academic Writing teaches you what you need to know to produce a basic, academic essay. You learn how to work with sources and refer to them. We view writing as a process so you will hand in several versions of your essay and both give and receive feedback. The essay you produced is based on something in our lecture series on History and Culture. This series of lectures deals with the history and culture of the British isles and how this knowledge can be used to better understand the present-day situation (language,culture, society, etc.).

In the module called Literature you study a number of literary works in order to learn more about society, culture and language in the English-speaking world.

After English level 1 (ENGA04)

When you finish this course, you will be eligible for the continuation course (ENGA21). We believe that the more English you know and the more English you study at university, the more competitive you will be on the job market. One semester of English is good, but not always good enough. To go on to be an English teacher or a translator, you normally need at least 90 credits of English (three semesters).