AB INITIO LANGUAGE I: FOUNDATIONS - 2025/6

Module Overview

This is an intensive introduction to a modern foreign language, covering the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Students follow a coursebook covering a wide range of everyday topics, such as home life, education, hobbies, food, culture, and tourism. Tutors guide students through the course material, employing interactive tasks encompassing all four skills, pair, and group work, and providing extensive supplementary activities for independent study. The module is designed to enable students to attain a pre-intermediate/intermediate level in the target language by the end of the first semester.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

ARCHER Leona (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

• The grammar of the language including grammatical terminology in the target language


• Analysis of written and spoken texts


• Structuring spoken and written texts


• Taking notes and summarising information from spoken and written texts


• Effective use of reference materials (e.g. grammar books, dictionaries, other reference works)


• Develop a degree of awareness and use of appropriate register and style


• Structuring spoken and written texts


• Taking notes and summarising information from spoken and written texts


• Expressing opinions in written and spoken contexts


• Listening comprehension of familiar topics


• Strategies for effective listening and reading in the language

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

n/a

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

• knowledge and understanding of the use of the target language


• ability to produce the target language in speech and in writing ability to analyse and interpret texts


• ability to select and synthesise information from written and oral texts


• ability to use IT skills to find and present relevant information


• subject-specific knowledge of the culture and society related to the language

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• oral and listening task, 30% (addresses learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8)


• coursework: written assignment, 40% (addresses learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9)


• takes the form of short exercises allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of basic grammar and vocabulary


• exam, 40%, 2 hours (addresses learning outcomes: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9)

Formative assessment:
Formative assessment will focus on student participation and class discussions throughout the module.

Feedback:
Students will be provided with detailed written feedback following coursework assignments.

Verbal feedback will also occur in class and individual appointments if required.

Module aims

• This module aims to: enable students with little or no previous knowledge of the language to acquire written, oral and aural skills
• enable students to develop the structural language foundations needed for further study of the language up to degree level
• enable students to develop the skills necessary for independent language learning

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• enable students to acquire explicit knowledge of the linguistic structures, grammar and stylistic registers through attending classes and reading in the target language


• encourage student participation and learner autonomy, through reading outside contact hours and participating in seminars


• develop ability to use linguists' tools, such as dictionaries and IT resources


• enable students to engage in analytical and evaluative thinking, to analyse and interpret texts and other cultural products, through attending classes and engaging in individual study


• develop communication skills through interactions in class

The learning and teaching methods include:

• four contact hours per week over Semester 1


• classes will be interactive seminars


• students are expected to read extensively outside classes in order to participate in seminars

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: LAN1007

Other information

This module will follow a course book. This may vary from year to year, and specific book and cost will be confirmed on a yearly basis.

Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: By learning a new modern language, students are adding an important asset to their CV. CBI reports consistently show that employers are looking for graduates with language skills, and these are highly valued across a range of professional sectors. Students learning a new modern language are able to spend part or all of a Professional Training Year in the target language country, affording them additional professional opportunities.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: In this module, students develop the foundational knowledge across all four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) to communicate in a range of everyday and academic situations, developing their understanding of the target language cultures and societies through task-based activities. Students are invited to reflect on their own prior knowledge, cultural backgrounds and experiences, to contribute to discussions in class. Pair and small group work affords ample opportunities for students to use the target language, receiving detailed verbal and written feedback from tutors, in order to make rapid progress.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: Learning a language ab initio in a short space of time is highly challenging. Students will need to be disciplined in the way they manage their time and resources if they are to achieve the LO. The intensive nature of the course enables students to develop their capacity to work independently and strategies to learn and revise extensive grammar and vocabulary. Students are enabled to achieve proficiency relatively quickly, building their resourcefulness and ability to adapt to a new linguistic environment.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.