Curriculum Overview

• The Certificate in Academic English (CAE) is an internally accredited Melbourne Polytechnic certificate. It is benchmarked to the English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS) delivered at Melbourne Polytechnic. It is for the students studying in the Melbourne Polytechnic offshore program. The course aims to develop the English language skills of students, enabling them to:

  Participate effectively in degree programs delivered by Australian or international vocational teachers;

  Become independent English users in an academic context;

  Acquire the language skills relevant to goals of work and academic study;

  Meet the language requirements for international students to undertake further study in Australia;

  Meet the language needs of students aiming to work or travel in an English-speaking environment.

Syllabus

• The CAE curriculum comprises four modules, namely Biography/Narrative, Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Argument and Exposition. The four macro skills, speaking, listening, reading and writing, are integrated into the curriculum. The teaching of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary development, discourse awareness, critical thinking is integrated into the teaching of the four macro skills. Teachers modify and adapt materials to suit the needs of the students. Students would be assessed on their ability to understand, interpret and produce the text types, including letters/emails, case studies, biographies, procedures/instructions, surveys, graphs, reports and essays.