Unit 01 COMMUNICATION

ACADEMIC FOCUS: PREPARATION FOR ACADEMIC STUDY

Learning Objectives VOCABULARY

Listening: A - acquainted
Listen to lectures C - consistent/compensate
Make predictions
A - auxiliary
Listen for specific information
D - deregulated
Listen and give appropriate answers
E - equalizer
Speaking:
M - meticulously
Ask and answer simple questions
I - intuitive
Prepare for and take part in a discussion
Report the discussion C - contingency

Reading:
S – skimming / scanning
Read and understand short texts
Transfer information T - theory

Writing: U - understand

Generate ideas for writing tasks D - downsizing

Create a plan for writing Y - yearn

GRAMMAR

Question Forms (1) – Information questions (e.g. what, where, why.…)

Expressing & exchanging opinions

Reporting verbs – Subject, Verb, Object

Verbs used in Examinations / Assignments – questions & answers

Noun phrases (1) Determiner + adjective + noun

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LESSON 01 - Get Acquainted

SPEAKING – Expressing and asking for opinions and views

Asking and answering questions is an important communication skill for

academic study in English. Using a range of question forms accurately will
help you to participate more effectively in key academic activities such as
seminars and discussions, reporting opinions and views and allow you to
respond to presentations and lectures.

ACTIVITY 01
Pair work

1. Work with a partner, introduce yourself and get acquainted.

- Find out
His/her name
Where s/he comes from
Which faculty s/he belongs to
Which subjects s/he would be / is following

2. Now get to know your partner’s past

- Find out
Which school s/he went to
If s/he has done any sports
If s/he could play a musical instrument
What her/his hobbies are

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3. Write a few sentences describing your partner.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. Now introduce your partner to the class. (try not to read out from the above)

ACTIVITY 02
Get to know your partner
(views and opinions)

Pair work – (Change your partner)

Use the following questions to interview each other and to ask for and express
opinions and views. The questions should also help you to make appropriate
plans for your program of studies in English.

a. What have you liked and what have you not liked about learning English in the past?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

b. What ways do you think you are most likely to use English in the future?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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c. How well equipped do you feel you already are to use English in these situations?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

d. How would you use English for your studies at university?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

e. How do you plan to work on your English over the next year, apart from coming to
class?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

f. What skills / aspects do you feel you need to work on in your English studies over the
next few months?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

Question forms (1) Information questions

In a discussion, you need to be able to ask questions in different ways.
To ask open questions (where any answer is possible), use the question words
what, where, why, when, who, which, how. These are often followed by an
auxiliary verb like do, does, is, are or some modal verbs like can.
What are the main universities in your country?
How does the education system work?

To ask closed questions (where the answer is usually yes or no), use do, does,
is, are.
Do you have to pay to go to the private universities? Is it expensive?

Introduce a question on a new topic with - What about …?

What about the classes?

Statements (without question words) can sometimes be used as questions in

informal spoken language, especially if you expect a positive answer.
You have to pay to go to private schools?

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ACTIVITY 03
Pair Work –
Use question forms

1. Complete questions a – f with the following words.

what where why when who how which

a. …….……………… is responsible for student welfare?

b. …….……………… university system do you think is better, state-owned or private?
c. …….……………… do you hope to learn this academic year?
d. …….……………… do lectures normally start, and …….……………… long are they?
e. …….……………… do you hope to work after you graduate?
f. …….……………… are reading academic texts so difficult?

2. The question words are missing in the following. Insert the question words do,
does, is or are where appropriate.

Example – What ‘independence’ mean? What does ‘independence’ mean?

a. Which the best university in your country? …………………………………………………

b. You prefer studying individually or in groups? ……………………………………………
c. Why you planning to study in English? ……………………………………………………….
d. How the university application system work? …………………………………………….

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

Expressing & exchanging opinions

To take part effectively in a discussion, you need to be able to say what you
think, to find out what other people think, and respond to their ideas. Remember
that people are interested in what you have to say. In Activity 02 you expressed
your opinions on the use of English. There are many ways to exchange opinions.
Look at the examples for five key functions.
Giving your opinion – My view is (that) . . .
Asking for opinions – Do you agree?
Recognizing an opinion – All right, I understand (that) . .
Agreeing – I think that’s right, (and) . . .
Disagreeing – No, I don’t really agree

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ACTIVITY 04
Group Work –
(3/4 in a group)

For each phrase given below, decide which of the five key functions it is used for.

A. Giving your opinion B. Asking for opinions C. Recognizing an opinion

D. Agreeing E. Disagreeing

….. I think (that) . . . ….. What about you? ….. For me, . . .
….. I think that’s right, but . . . ….. Yes, absolutely. ….. Yes, but what about . . .?
….. What do you think? ….. I see what you mean. ….. I wouldn’t say that.
….. I agree (with / that) . . . ….. I would say (that) . . . ….. I don’t agree with that (at all).

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

Reporting Verbs
In an academic context, the present tense is used to report what someone said or
wrote or what they believe. Reporting opinions and ideas usually follows a simple
sentence structure

Subject Verb Object

(that) English should be a part of university
I would say
education.
Some people think (that) education should be the main priority.
that universities should focus on science,
The government believes
technology, engineering and medicine

There are many other verbs, including: state, suggest, propose, consider.

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ACTIVITY 05
Group Work

1. Form into groups of six. (three pairs to join together)

2. Appoint -
o a group leader – should encourage all participants to express their views.
o a timer – should monitor the time to complete given task on time.
o a writer – should note down all the views and opinions discussed.

3. Elicit views and opinions from each other on whether they think English is
important for -
- report writing - presentations - reading
- writing - exams - any other ideas

4. Make a decision on which aspect of the above is important for today’s

university student.

(The group leader should encourage all the participants to share their ideas
obtained from the discussions. At the end of the discussion, each participant should
present the answer to one of the above questions to the class.)

LISTENING - Lectures

Listening to a lecture, like reading, is about understanding the main idea and
recognizing key information. In most situations where you need to listen, you
can make some predictions about what you will hear based on your previous
knowledge. You can use your existing knowledge of the subject to help you
predict the content of a lecture, as well as of pre-lecture notes and handouts.

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ACTIVITY 06
Group Work

Divide the class into three / six groups.

Request each group to choose a picture.

Take a look at three well-known, even famous, people who range from
Hollywood, to music, and to politics.
- Guess the name of the person? Why is he famous?
- All three have the same kind of degree – Guess what it is.

(A) (B) (C)

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ACTIVITY 07
Gap filling

Listen to a short extract about three famous people and complete their profile.

Alfred Hitchcock : Tom Scholz : Jimmy Carter :

An engineer with a MIT grad turned Peanut farmer,
talent for suspense rocker engineer, president
Famed movie director Before “More Than A Jimmy Carter the 39th
Alfred Hitchcock was feeling” and “Peace Of ...................... of United States
schooled in ........................... Mind,” Donald Thomas was not only a peanut
before entering the film "Tom" Scholz was an ...................... but also an
....................... He graduated ................................... engineer before taking
from the London County Best known from his time in .......................
Council ............................. of the hard rock
Engineering and ..................................... Boston, Carter went to the Georgia
Navigation before Scholz received both a ...................... of Technology
................................ to the bachelor's degree (1969) and the US Naval .......................
suspense and and a master's degree In the navy, he focused on
psychological (1970) in ................................. ...................... and was chosen
....................... genres. engineering from the for the ......................
Massachusetts Institute of submarine program. For a
Hitchcock’s detailed Technology in Boston. short time, he did ......................
................................ of work in reactor technology
meticulously drawing He was ............................. for and nuclear .......................
scenes ................................... Polaroid Corp as a senior
shooting allowed him to product .................................... During his ......................,
work out whatever engineer when he began to Carter established a
...............................problems get serious about music. national ...................... policy
would arise. This that included conservation,
allowed his The two passions price ......................, and new
............................... work to ....................................... and the technology.
reflect what he had in "Boston guitar sound" was
Although unrelated to his
his mind's ............................ ............................. as the result
...................... experience but of
(and on paper) onto the of Scholz's .................................
experimentation with guitar interest, Carter deregulated
screen.
amplifiers, ..................................., the American ......................
and equalizers. industry.

What is common to all three people?

Did you guess correctly?
Look up Alfred Hitchcock on the Internet and make a list of the films he made – try to
watch a film made by him.

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READING – Different Texts

In academic study you will encounter many kinds of texts, which can be read
in different ways. Two key skills in reading most texts are skimming (reading
quickly to get an overview of the text and understanding the main idea) and
scanning (reading quickly to find key information, or the right part of the
texts). You can then read a text more slowly to find more detailed
information.

ACTIVITY 08
Think about the following questions.

1. We read for different purposes. Look at the following and try to add more of
your own.
to get information to be entertained to develop your language knowledge
to learn new things to make you think to develop your reading skills
………………………….. ………………………….. …………………………..
………………………….. ………………………….. …………………………..

2. What types of texts do you read? (E.g. – text books, magazines, journals,
dictionaries, websites, text messages, e-mails)
(a) in your own language - ……………………………………………………………….
(b) in English - ………………………………………………………………

3. How do you read – (Pair work)

- Do you have an idea of what the text is going to be about? (Predict)
- Do you always read every word?
- Skim a text to get an idea of what it is about?
- Search for particular words or information?
- Which skill would you use for the following activities?
- Yellow pages ………………
- Academic activities ………………
- What reasons are there for using different techniques for reading?

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ACTIVITY 09

Read the following article and use the skills of skimming and scanning to answer
the given questions.
a) What do you think the text is going to be about? (think/predict)

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory

Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) is a contingency theory that focuses on the

followers. Successful leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style,
which Hersey and Blanchard argue is contingent on the level of the followers’
readiness. Before we proceed, we should clarify two points; why focus on the
followers? And what do they mean by the term readiness? The emphasis on the
followers in leadership effectiveness reflects the reality that it is the followers who
accept or reject the leader. Regardless of what the leader does, effectiveness
depends on the actions of the followers. The term readiness as defined by Hersey
and Blanchard refers to the extent to which people have the ability and willingness
to accomplish a specific task.

SLT says that if followers are unable and unwilling to do a task, the leader needs to
give clear and specific directions; if followers are unable and willing, the leader
needs to display high task orientation to compensate for the followers’ lack of ability
and high relationship orientation to get the followers to “buy into” the leaders
desire; if followers are able and unwilling, the leader needs to use a supportive and
participative style; and if the employees are both able and willing, the leader doesn’t
need to do much. Research efforts to support this theory have generally been
disappointing, so despite intuitive appeal, approval of this theory must be cautioned
against.

1. What is the main argument of Hersey and Blanchard?

2. What is the focus on ‘followers’?
3. What is meant by readiness?
4. Define the four types of followers and what the leader needs to do.
Type What the leader needs to do
1. ............................................................... ...............................................................................................
2. ............................................................... ...............................................................................................
3. ............................................................... ...............................................................................................
4. ............................................................... ...............................................................................................

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ACTIVITY 10

A fun quiz
Get to know yourself – (Are you a leader?)

A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players (as individuals or
in teams) attempt to answer questions correctly. In some countries a quiz is
also a brief assessment used in education and similar fields to measure
growth in knowledge, abilities and/or skills.

Take this quiz with a partner. Ask your partner the questions and mark the
statements your partner agrees with.

1. I’d love to do a parachute jump.

2. I don’t like telling other people what to do.

3. I prefer spending time on my own rather than in a crowd.

4. I find it easy to set myself objectives.

5. I have difficulty making decisions.

6. I find it difficult getting to know new people.

7. I’d love to travel.

8. Friends sometimes complain that I order them around.

9. I like to have the advice and support of people more experienced than myself.

10. I don’t like volunteering opinions in case they are unpopular.

11. I like to find new solutions to old problems.

12. I would prefer to be a team captain rather than a team member.

13. I get embarrassed easily.

14. I don’t mind where I go with my friends as long as they are happy.

15. I like the latest fashions.

16. I like to be fully responsible for anything I do.

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Now add up the ticks of your partner and check the scores. Three or four ticks in any
category indicate characteristics you should take into account of when choosing a job.

Category A : 01 07 11 15 Category B : 02 05 09 14
Category C : 03 06 10 13 Category D : 04 08 12 16

A. Characteristics B. Characteristics C. Characteristics D. Characteristics

The entrepreneur The team worker The backroom worker The leader

You are the You work well You are a little shy, You are confident in
adventurous type. with others but and find it difficult to your abilities and
You enjoy new dislike having mix with new people. you prefer to be in
challenges and responsibility for You would do well in charge rather than
taking risks. You other people, any behind-the-scenes to take orders. You
could find success preferring to job where you don’t enjoy having lots of
anywhere you can implement other have to come face to people around you
put your ideas or people’s plans face with strangers and would do well in
genius to good use. rather than your every day, such as a a managerial post or
own. You would researcher. any job which
probably do well involves marketing.
in a team.

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LESSON 02 - Academic Writing

In lesson 01 you discovered that academic writing skills are necessary for a
student. Essays, reports, presentations and research papers are just some
examples of documents written in the academic style. Academic writing, when
used appropriately, presents a polished and professional image.

SPEAKING – Analyze your writing

ACTIVITY 01
1. Analyze your writing skills. How good are you in the following aspects of writing?

Very Not Don’t

Good OK
good good know
1 Understanding writing tasks

2 Planning

3 Coming up with ideas

4 Writing introductions

5 Organizing and linking ideas

6 Evaluating ideas
Paraphrasing
7
(re-writing using different words)
Summarizing
8
(writing the main points briefly)
9 Thinking critically
Handling different sources of
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information
2. Choose three things from the list above that you would like to improve in your
writing.
…………………………………… …………………………………… ……………………………………

3. Work in groups (of three or four) and compare your answers to 1 and 2. Give
reasons for your choices.

4. Why do you think so? – (use the language of expressing views and opinions to
express your ideas.

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 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

Verbs in Examinations / assignment questions and answers

Writing tasks usually include a verb which tells you how to organize your writing.
It is therefore important to understand exactly what each verb means.
Describe the role of technology in education.
Describe means give full and detailed information about something –
e.g. an object, an idea, a principle or belief or a situation

ACTIVITY 02
Pair Work –
Understanding verbs in writing

Underline the word/phrase in italics which explains what has to be done in the
answers to examination questions.

Essay title Meaning of verb

1 Outline the main disadvantages of a Communicate the main points of something
lack of education in today’s in order, with considerable/without any
competitive world. detail.
2 Discuss the financial problems Examine or explain an idea in detail/without
faced by unemployed older people. any detail, giving explanations, examples or
reasons to support the points you make.
3 Explore the benefits of being a Look at concepts, research, or information
mature student at university. to see what you can find/ to prove an idea.
4 Compare and contrast the Put ideas, concepts, or information side by
provision of pre-school education in side and look at the similarities only/both
two countries. the similarities and the differences.
5 Explain the different attitudes Give full/only the main information about
towards education among a range of something. e.g. an idea, principle, or situation,
age groups in your country. so that it is clear.
6 Classify the different types of Organize information or items into groups
buildings on the university campus. according to common/different features.
7 Examine the need for learning Look at something closely, give the
foreign languages at secondary arguments for and against/the advantages
school level. and disadvantages, and state your
conclusion.
8 Summarize the main types of Give all the details/only the main points of
vocational training you are familiar a concept, idea or principle.
with.

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READING

ACTIVITY 03
Academic Writing

Read the article about academic writing and answer the questions

What is Academic Writing?

Academic writing refers to a particular style of expression. Characteristics of academic

writing include:
- A formal tone
- Use of the third person rather than first-person perspective
- Clear focus on the issue or topic rather than the author’s opinion
- Precise word choice

Academic writing is formal writing. Many novice writers have trouble telling informal
writing apart from formal writing. They resort to informal writing, since it’s easier and
more familiar. Characteristics of informal writing include the use of colloquialisms and
jargon, writing in the first person or making “I” statements, making direct personal
statements, and imprecise word choices. In other words, writers employing the formal
academic style avoid jargon, slang and abbreviations. In comparison, the most formal
writing of all can be found in legal documents.

Informal writing is fine for diary entries, blogs, personal writing, letters or emails to
friends. However, writers working on papers for school, college application essays,
scientific papers, research papers, conference presentations and business proposals
generally employ a more formal style akin to donning a suit or dress to attend a
wedding.

Here are examples of informal and formal writing.

Informal writing: I think that’s a super gadget.
Formal writing: The steel rule is a precision instrument used for: measuring a work
piece; setting other tools like callipers and dividers.

In this example, the first statement is informal. The writer speaks in the first person,
using the word “I”, and states an opinion. The author employs the informal term

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“gadget”, which is inappropriate in a formal context. He also uses the contraction
“that’s”. If this was in the middle of a paragraph, it may be easier to understand to what
the author is referring. Taken as a simple statement, however, it is impossible to know
whether the writer thinks the gadget is a hammer or a bottle opener!

The second example uses an academic, formal style typical of what academics might
expect at the university level. Written in the third-person, the sentence omits references
to the writer and focuses on the issue. A specific adjective like “steel” conveys the
author’s view clearly without resorting to informal language. The use of the colon as
a punctuation mark, used in formal documents—creates a strong, formal feeling when
properly used here to introduce a list.

Academic Writing Skills

Academic writing skills encompass strong writing, excellent grammar, and a consistent
stylistic approach. Writers seeking to improve their academic writing skills should focus
their efforts on these three key areas:

1. Strong writing: Thinking precedes writing. Good writers spend time distilling
information from their sources and reviewing major points before creating their
work. Writing detailed outlines helps many authors organize their thoughts. Strong
academic writing begins with solid planning.

2. Excellent grammar: Learn the major and minor points of grammar. Spend time
practicing writing and seek detailed feedback from teachers, professors or writers
you respect. English grammar can be detailed and complex, but strong writers
command the major points after many years of study and practice. Using a good
writing reference, such as a dictionary, can provide advice on the more troublesome
points of grammar. Proper punctuation use and good proof-reading skills improve
academic writing as well.

3. Consistent stylistic approach: At the end of pieces of writing you need a list of
materials that you have used to refer to. This usually has a heading. Check whether
your university requires use of American Psychological Association Style (APA)
which is used for psychology and science. This style provides guidance on how to
write out numbers, references, citations, and more.

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Questions

1. What are the characteristics of academic writing?

-
-
-
-

2. Information transfer – complete the table with relevant information

Types of writing Characteristics Purpose

use of colloquialisms &
jargon 7. ……………………………………….
2. ………………………………………… blogs
Informal writing
making direct personal 8. ………………………………………..
statements letters of e-mails to friends
3. …………………………………………
Avoid - papers for school
4. ………………………………. 9. …………………………………….

5. ………………………………. 10 …………………………………….
2. ……………………...
research papers
6. ……………………………….
11 ……………………………………..
12 ……………………………………..

3. Name the three key areas in formal writing.

………………………………………. ……………………………………. ………………………………

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

Noun phrases (1) – Determiner + adjective + noun

Noun phrases are very common in academic English. They are useful because they
can often express a large amount of information in a few words.
e.g. – adjective + noun - academic writing
– determiner + adjective + noun - many novice writers

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ACTIVITY 04
Read and find noun phrases

Read the article in Activity 03 on ‘Academic Writing’ and find six noun phrases.

1. ………………………………………. 4. ……………………………………….

2. ………………………………………. 5. ……………………………………….

3. ………………………………………. 6. ……………………………………….

WRITING – Topic Sentence

In academic writing, it is important to be able to write a strong topic

sentence. The topic sentence states the main idea in a paragraph, and
helps the reader to understand the development of that idea by guiding
them through the paragraph. Writing an effective topic sentence will
therefore help you to produce a well constructed paragraph. It will also
enable you to organize information within the paragraph, such as providing
supporting evidence for the main idea, giving reasons and examples, and
supplying background information.

ACTIVITY 05
Read the short description below.

Topic Sentence
In an essay, the sentence containing the central idea is often
referred to as the topic sentence. Therefore, an essay should consist of:
- An introduction: A general discussion which begins the essay.

- A topic sentence/ thesis statement: This is located within the introduction. This is
the most important statement in the essay as it guides and controls what is said.

- A body: This is the middle of the essay and consists of a number of paragraphs
which explain or clarify the thesis statement / topic sentence. The body offers
supporting details which can be presented as: cause & effect, as a process, as points
of comparison and contrast or as examples.

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Identify the topic sentence - To find the topic sentence you must ask three questions;

- Who or what is the paragraph about?

- What is the author concerned about?
- What does the author want the readers to understand?

Example - The steel rule is a precision measurement instrument. It is a kind of tool

used for measuring. Measuring means finding the distance between two
points, or finding how long the distance is. The steel rule is a measuring
instrument.

- What is the paragraph about? The steel rule.

- What is the author concerned with? It is a measurement instrument.
- What does the author want the readers to understand? The steel rule is
used for measuring.

E. g. Topic Sentence – The steel rule is a precision measuring instrument.

1 - Identify the topic sentence in the following paragraphs. (Pair work)

The engineer’s square is for checking right angles. It is an accurate instrument for
checking squareness as well as flatness. The tool has two main parts, the blade and
the stock. The blade which is a thin strip of steel has got straight and parallel edges
which are used for checking flatness. The stock is heavier and like a handle. Both the
blade and the stock are used for checking work.

Which of the following is the topic sentence?

a. The engineer’s square is for checking right angles.

b. The engineer’s square is an accurate instrument for measuring.
c. The engineer’s square has two main parts for checking work.
d. Both the blade and the stock are used for checking work.

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2 – Study the following paragraphs and identify the topic sentence – Pair work

a) There are few, if any, simple and universal principles that explain organizational
behaviour. There are laws in the physical sciences – Chemistry, Astronomy, and
Physics – that are consistent and apply in a wide range of situations. They allow
scientists to generalize about the pull of gravity or to be confident about sending
astronauts into space. But generalizations are limited. Two people often act
differently in the same situation and the same person’s behaviour changes in
different situations.

Topic sentence …………………………………………………..……………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

b) Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement

of a vision or set of goals. The source of this influence may be formal, by the
possession of management rank in an organization. Individuals may assume a
leadership role because of the position they hold in the organization. However all
leaders are not managers. Leaders can emerge within the group, as well as by
formal appointment, to lead a group.

Topic sentence ………………………………………………..………………………………………………..

c) Stress is defined in terms of its physical and psychological effects on a person. It

can be mental, physical or emotional strain. It can also be a tension or a situation
or factor that can cause stress. Stress can occur when there is a discrepancy
between the demands of the environment/workplace and in an individual’s
ability to carry out and complete these demands.

Topic sentence ………………………………………………..………………………………………………..

d) There are many barriers to communication. These may occur at any given stage
in the communication process. Barriers may lead to our message being distorted
and therefore, risk wasting both time and money by causing confusion and
misunderstanding. Barriers include noise, physical barriers, language, culture
and organizational barriers.

Topic sentence …………………………………………………………………………………………………

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3 – The following paragraphs (1–4) do not have topic sentences. Select the most
appropriate topic sentence: a or b (Why do you think one is better than the
other.)

1) All files have got the same basic parts: a blade, or body, and a tang. Before using the
file, the tang must be fitted with the proper handle. A file is not used without fitting a
handle. The part which the blade meets the tang is called the shoulder. The length of
the file is measured from the shoulder to the tip. There are different files for
different jobs. We should always use the right file for the right job. This means you
need to choose the right file according to the correct shape, length, grade and cut.
a) Files are used for many purposes. b) There are many different types of files.

2) Even in your own country, you’re going to find yourself working with bosses, peers
and other employees who are born and raised in different cultures. What motivates
you may not motivate them. Your style of communication may be straightforward
and open, but this approach may be uncomfortable and threatening to others. To
work effectively with people from different cultures you need to understand how
their culture, geography and religion have shaped them.
a) Working with people from different cultures is a challenge.
b) There are many different people in an office.

3) Communicators could initiate, receive or interpret an act of communication using a

word, action, or object to send a specific message to another person. The sender puts
his or her ideas together and transmits the message and the receiver constructs his
or her version of the meanings of that message. When the receiver comprehends the
message the communication is accurate. If not the meanings could become distorted
or inaccurate.
a) Communication is diversified. b) Communication can be used for many purposes.

4) In the past, mobile phones did not offer deaf people much help except for the ability
to communicate by text message. But new video-phone technology has meant an
improvement in the quality of life of deaf people. With such technology becoming
more widely available, they can now communicate by mobile phone using sign
language and (depending on image quality) even by lip-reading
a) Recent video-phone developments are a distinct advantage for deaf people.
b) Video-phones are useful for everyone.

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ACTIVITY 06
Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks using the correct words and phrases.

retailing and wholesaling/ institutional markets and government markets/
products and services

The business market includes firms that buy goods and services in order to produce
1.………………………………………. to sell to others. It also includes 2……………………………………..
firms that buy goods in order to resell them at a profit. Because of business to business
marketing apply to 3……………………………………………………………, we group these together.

decision participant, major participants, degree of influence, exercise influence,

The business marketer needs to know the following: Who are the 4……………………………?
In what decisions do they 5……………………………………………..? What is their relative
6………………………………? What evaluation criteria does each 7………………………………………
use? The business marketer also needs to understand the major environmental,
interpersonal, and individual influences on the buying process.

ACTIVITY 07
The following paragraphs do not have topic sentences. Select the appropriate
topic sentence: a or b (Why do you think one is better than the other.)

1. Research is crucial to the design process and is part of being an innovative thinking
and credible designer. It is about being alive and alert to everything you experience
and see. You can never find out everything about your subject but you will discover
more than you knew before and the process is very rewarding if fully explored.
Always push your research techniques, let there be no boundaries and remember
that it is not purely about reading, although this is vital. You need to evidence you
work visually, thus consider a variety of media. It is also important to try and see
items such as historical garments ‘in the flesh’. As a fashion student, you should
always be researching historical or contemporary key fashion moments which relate
to your particular project. (University of Moratuwa/B.Des - Fashion Design &
Product Development)
a) Research is crucial to the design process.
b) Innovative thinkers are credible designers.

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2. Design is all about solving problems, to create original products, (ideally for
identified markets). Your project briefs at college are intended to give a clear set of
guidelines regarding the project you are asked to undertake. They are intended to
represent typical situations in which you may find yourself in the industry. The brief
will always state the minimum assessment requirements, and the time span in
which you must complete the work, again reflecting industry, where deadlines are
often tight. Some briefs will state the market level and/or season; others will leave
that choice up to you.
a) Project briefs give a clear set of guidelines.
b) Designs give guidelines to project briefs.

Listening - Vocabulary

ACTIVITY 08
1) Note down the sentences where the following words occur.
dramatic people of colour downsizing war on terror

2) Look up the meaning on internet and give website.

3) Listen to a short extract about Organizational Behaviour and fill in the blanks.

Understanding organizational behaviour (OB) has never been more important for
……………….......... today. A quick look at a few of the dramatic ………………............... now
taking place in ……………….................. supports this claim. For instance, the typical
………………...................... in many developed countries is getting older; more and more
………………...…………… and people of colour are in the ………………..........; corporate
downsizing and the heavy use of ………………............... workers are severing the bonds
of ……………….................. that historically tied many employees to their ……………………..;
and global competition is requiring employees to become more ……………….............
and to learn to cope with rapid ……………….............. The war on terror has brought to
the ………………........... the challenges of working with and managing ……………….............
during uncertain times. In other words there are a lot of challenges and
………………............. today for managers to use OB concepts.

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 LESSON 03 - Fact and Theory

READING

ACTIVITY 01

1. Look at the title and predict what a fact is and what a theory is.

Fact vs. Theory

We distinguish between factual statements and theories. If the path from a statement to
verifiable predictions is short and uncontroversial, we call it factual. A theory is a
statement which can generate a wide scope of predictions, but only through some
intermediate steps, such as reasoning, computation and the use of other statements.
Thus the path from a theory to predictions may not be unique and often becomes
debatable. Between the extreme cases of statements that are clearly facts and those
which are clearly theories there is a whole spectrum of intermediate cases.

Top-level theories of science are not deduced from observable facts; they are
constructed by a creative act, and their usefulness can be demonstrated only
afterwards. Einstein wrote: "Physics is a developing logical system of thinking whose
foundations cannot be obtained by extraction from past experience according to some
inductive methods, but come only by free fantasy".

The statement of the truth of a theory has essentially the same meaning as that of a
simple factual judgment: we refer to some experience which justifies, or will justify, the
decision-making on the basis of this statement. When this experience is in the past we
say that the truth is established. When it is expected in the future we say it is
hypothetical. There is no difference of principle between factual statements and
theories: both are varieties of models of reality which we use to make decisions. A fact
may turn out to be an illusion, or hallucination, or a fraud, or a misconception. On the
other side, a well-established theory can be taken for a fact. And we should accept
critically both facts and theories, and re-examine them whenever necessary. The
differences between facts and theories are only quantitative: the length of the path from
the statement to the production of predictions.

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WRITING

ACTIVITY 02
Group work

1. Distinguishing between fact and theory.

2. Choose one of the topics given below and reach an agreement about what is
known and what is believed about them. (You should try to find at least three
facts and three theories.)

 The AIDS virus

 Is the sea level rising or falling?
 How did the universe begin?
 Global warming

(you can search the web in your groups for facts if you don’t know)

Facts
1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Theories

1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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SPEAKING

ACTIVITY 03
Present the facts and theories on your chosen topic to the other groups – prepare
two slides.
TOPIC
Facts Theories

……………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………….

ACTIVITY 04

Identify the cause and effect in the following sentences.

e.g. – The invention of Braille revolutionized reading for blind people.

Cause – Invention of Braille Effect – Revolutionized reading for blind people

1. Development of mobile phone technology resulted in increased international

relationships.

Cause: ……………………………………………. Effect: .................................................................

2. Construction of the new site was temporarily shut down because of the risk of fire.

Cause: …………………………………………… Effect: .................................................................

3. The world of finance is undergoing constant change as a result of innovations in

computing technology.

Cause: …………………………………………… Effect: .................................................................

4. The relationship between universities and the manufacturing industry has improved
markedly, owing to the involvement of the private sector.

Cause: …………………………………………… Effect: .................................................................

5. The government encouragement to research and development produced

considerable opposition.

Cause: …………………………………………… Effect: .................................................................

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 Cause and effect relationships are an essential element of many texts. It is
important to understand these in order to see how phenomena such as ideas,
concepts, events and actions affect each other. You can learn to recognize not
just the language of cause and effect, but the patterns of such relationships
within paragraphs and across whole texts. The cause part of the relationship
can come before the effect, or vice versa. You also need to be able to
distinguish cause and effect relationships from those where there is a link or
association between phenomena, but where one phenomenon does not directly
affect the other. One way of helping you express cause and effect relationships
is to take notes using diagrams.

ACTIVITY 05

The following paragraphs contain causes and results. Summarize them as follows

- Expressions used for describing causes or origins E.g. …… was caused by …

- Expressions used for describing results E.g. ……… led to …

Fax and email have made it possible to

communicate much faster and more
effectively over long distances. One
result of this has been that more people
are now able to work from home instead
of travelling to work.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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 Over the past two decades, the temperature of
the Earth’s atmosphere has gradually increased.
As a result, the world’s climate has become less
stable; some areas have experienced unusually
high temperatures and droughts, while other areas
have suffered from rainfall and violent storms.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

ACTIVITY 06
Group work

Choose one of the headlines and expand the idea into a cause and effect paragraph.

FOOD ADDITIVES TO BE
BANNED

(control the use of flavouring / stricter regulations)

AWARENESS PROGRAMS
AT UNIVERSITIES TO
OVERCOME THREAT OF
DENGUE
DRINKING WATER
CONTAMINED WITH
FACTORY WASTE
(checking dumping area /educational programs)

(water in village wells / coloured)

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…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

ACTIVITY 07
Group work

And now sports news . . .

Group work – Write out an interesting report for sports activities. You can use the
reported verbs you learnt in Lesson 1 - Activity 05

Tennis stars strike rich on and off courts

There’s a lot of money in tennis these

days and for the big players, a large
proportion of it comes from big business.
World Champion swimmer
suspended after drugs test
Andre Agassi recently signed a contract
THE CHINEESE WORLD CHAMPION, with Nike worth a reputed $100 million
Lu Bin, has been suspended from all over ten years, in addition to an
competition for two years after a estimated $8 million in prize money, and
positive drug test, the International Peter Saro this year become a
Swimming Federation announced Wimbledon millionaire by beating Brian
yesterday. Lu returned a positive result Bever. Steve Grant is generally thought
for the anabolic steroid, to be worth more than $30 million
dehydrotestosterone, in a test on through winnings and advertising and
September 02 shortly before the Asian Maria Martin, seven time Wimbledon
games. singles champion, has a personal fortune
estimated at more than $20 million.

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…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

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