7. Students’ English language skills

In the course of their education at the university, students are expected to read different academic and non-academic texts published in English, regardless of whether they study on Danish- or English-medium instruction programmes. However, it cannot be assumed that students are familiar with the relevant disciplinary genres and terminology in English since they may have not been exposed to them before they start their education at the university. As a result, students may need to spend many hours to complete reading assignments and may struggle with understanding even short academic texts in English. For that reason, it is important to support students in developing an understanding of the disciplinary genres and English terminology, not only in the first semesters but throughout their university education.

Developing disciplinary literacy, i.e., the ability to participate in the communicative practices of a discipline, is a long-term process regardless of whether it is in the student’s first language(s) or in a foreign language. While post-graduate students may transfer, at least to a certain extent, their disciplinary literacy from their first language to English, many undergraduate students encounter the disciplinary genres and terminology for the first time in English.

In order to support students’ reading skills in English, lecturers may take the following steps:

• Organize journal reading groups.
• Familiarize students with the structure of the academic texts in the field.
• Explicitly teach strategies for how to find and select relevant information in academic texts.
• Provide pre-reading questions to help and focus on key points.
• Pre-teach key subject-specific vocabulary and technical terms. You can reinforce this by using definitions and explanations.
• Support vocabulary development (e.g., by offering or helping students develop definitions, synonyms, mind maps, realia, diagrams).
• Ask students to keep glossaries of disciplinary terms.

For management, focusing explicitly on students’ reading skills as part of programme planning will ensure that students and lecturers get the resources and support they need.

At CIP, we offer courses in reading skills in English for students and support for lecturers who would like to implement different activities to support students’ development of their reading skills in English.

CIP also offers one-off workshops for students and lecturers (e.g., at the beginning of the semester or before the semester start), collaborating with lecturers to implement reading support for students, or providing support for students in handling the disciplinary content throughout the semester, often in collaboration with the content lecturer. These courses and workshops could be organized in collaboration with the teaching and learning units at the university.

If you’re interested in knowing more about what we offer at CIP, please contact us at cip@hum.ku.dk or by phone +45 3235 8639.