Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE IFS0512

 
TITLE Medical and Academic English Reading

 
UM LEVEL 00 - Mod Pre-Tert, Foundation, Proficiency & DegreePlus

 
MQF LEVEL 4

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Medical and Dental Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit is designed to develop the reading skills necessary to function effectively as a student of medicine and surgery at the University of Malta. Throughout the year the students will work to develop the fundamental reading skills necessary to comprehend academic texts in English successfully. As they move on in the course and progress through the levels they will also be encouraged to develop the more advanced reading skills that are essential to perform in an English speaking academic context.

Study-unit Aims:

The principal aim of the study-unit is to prepare students to engage effectively with the reading requirements of the Medical, Dental and Health Sciences degree courses. Students are expected to develop the following skills:

• Understand the main ideas of a text;
• Read for specific information;
• Identify redundant information;
• Understand text organisation;
• Predict content from context;
• Check comprehension;
• Infer;
• Deal with unfamiliar words;
• Understand writer’s style;
• React to the text;
• Read extensively;
• Read Actively;
• Recall and review.

Learning Outcomes;

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Engage effectively with authentic academic texts;
2. Form target questions and select texts which are likely to hold the answers, discarding irrelevant information and texts;
3. Deal with an advanced reading requirement effectively and at speed;
4. Identify and reproduce the main points of a text orally and in writing;
5. Show an understanding of text organization enabling the rapid location of specific information;
6. Evaluate and analyse a text and the information it contains to answer specific questions and form new ideas;
7. Comment on the audience and purpose of a text;
8. Evaluate the reliability of a text.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate effective reading skills to deduce meaning, confirm expectations, extract specific information and main points, infer opinion and attitude and identify relevant and irrelevant information;
2. Write useful, relevant and coherent notes and summaries.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- N’Shea, O. et al (2018), Academic Medical English Reading for Pathway / Foundation Programmes.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-requisite qualifications: As per Legal Notice 115 of Education Act (2009)

Please note that a pass in the Examination component is obligatory for an overall pass mark to be awarded.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Independent Study

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Progress Test (2 Hours) SEM1 No 20%
Oral and Written Exercises SEM2 Yes 40%
Examination [See Add. Notes] (2 Hours) SEM2 Yes 40%

 
LECTURER/S Omar N'Shea

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit