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Textbooks

Esteras, S.R, (2000). Infotech: English for computer users. Cambridge: Cambridge: University
Press.

Azar, B. S. (2000).Understanding and using English English Grammar. Englewood Cliffs,


NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

-An anthology of writing materials prepared by the department.

-Infotech Cassette

The Infotech textbook is designed as intermediate-level English course for students of computer
sciences and technical English.

The course aims at helping students to develop a variety of language skills and acquire
knowledge of computers in English. It also helps students to use computers to understand a
wide range of texts about information technology. The text book consists of :

§ Reading units organized into seven sections and each unit provides an average of two
hours of work.
§ A Glossary of technical terms.
§ A list of acronym and abbreviations
§ Technical Help Section is included in each unit to help students understand computer
concepts and terminology.
§ Students will link these concepts to their specialized computer courses.
§ The material is organized into thematic sections which cover a wide variety of topics
and styles of presentation.
§ The material is also based on skills development and communicates tasks.
§ Each section consists of three to six units based on the same theme.
§ Each section provides different learning objectives.
§ Each section has the following pattern:
§ Pre-tasks to prepare students for the main task and make the texts more accessible for
students.
§ Pre-tasks involve students in the activities by asking them to predict vocabulary,
exchange questions and answers, and elicit answers about pictures on computer
sciences.
§ Main tasks which focus on developing reading skills.
§ Language and vocabulary tasks to enable students expand their understanding and
language practice.
§ Follow-up tasks to provide students with more opportunities for speaking or writing.
§ These tasks can be tackled individually and collaboratively in class to encourage
students interactions by providing relevant additional materials.

Skills Development

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§ The textbook lays particular emphasis on developing receptive skills supported by
listening, reading, and writing activities.
§ The reading texts are authentic and adapted from original sources such as specialist
magazines, computer programs, and reference manuals.
§ The tasks are designed to develop a great variety of reading strategies such as
scanning and skimming.
§ Text analysis is a relevant feature of this textbook.
§ Students have to look for information, find reference signals, identify cohesion devices
or distinguish facts and opinions.

Listening
§ The listening passages include conversations, interviews, and advertisements,
descriptions of hardware and software and information technology.
§ Pre-listening activities are designed to enhance students listening skills.
Students take notes while they listen to the activities and they get engaged in
brainstorming sessions to improve their listening comprehensions and speaking skill.

Speaking
The speaking tasks develop oral skills through quizzes, information-gap and problem-solving
activities.

Writing
§ The approach to writing is based on two principles:
§ Writing is an interactive process where the writer tries to communicate something to a
real or an imaginary reader.
§ The organizations of the ideas are as important as grammar accuracy.
§ The students are encouraged to write to complete coherent texts.
§ The writing tasks include describing objects and diagrams, making advertisements,
summarizing texts and writing letters, emails, and resumes.
Grammar and Vocabulary
§ The language tasks revise the major language skills necessary at this level.
§ The Charts in each unit are designed as resources which will be used as part of
classroom teaching or outside the classroom.
§ The language work concentrates on grammatical constructions which are typical of
technical English including passive forms, imperatives, comparatives and superlatives,
and discourse markers.
§ Grammar exercises are contextualized and arise from the linguistic forms that appear
in the texts.
Vocabulary
§ The book places special emphasis on vocabulary acquisition.
The objectives of this section are as follows:
§ Explain the difference between active and passive vocabulary as some students are
not conscious of this distinction and are very anxious about their lack of active
vocabulary.
§ Active vocabulary refers to lexical items that the students are able to use
appropriately in oral and written communication.

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§ Passive vocabulary refers to those items that can be recognized and
understood during the process of listening and reading.
§ Passive vocabulary is much easier to acquire than active vocabulary at any stage in the
learning process.
§ Students will use parts of speech to enhance vocabulary building.

Word building exercises and the study of word formation processes including suffixes,
prefixes, and conversion and compounding will help students to develop and extend their
vocabulary.
§ The textbook Glossary will help students to acquire technical terms, synonyms, and
acronyms.
§ Dictionary skills tasks will be practiced in class and outside classroom.
§ Students will use their dictionaries properly on a daily basis.
Students will work on pronunciation guidance, layout of entries, and abbreviations.
Dictionaries of technical terms will also be used.
§ Students will create their personal archives of vocabulary using their computers or
college computer laboratory.
Word processing programs include a spell checker that students will use daily.
§ The built-in thesaurus with synonyms and antonyms will also be used.

Coursework

§ Regular discussions in the classroom.


§ Textbook tasks.
§ Quizzes
§ Worksheets
§ Two interm exams.
§ A collaborative presentation or project
§ Home assignment based on external reading
§ A workshop to present the projects
§ Final exam
§ Applications of technology
Online Resources
Students will use the Internet to acquire new language and computer skills.

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