David Beglar – författare

Now in a fourth edition, Contemporary Topics expands on its highly respected approach to developing academic listening and study skills. Organized around realistic college lectures, the text guides learners through carefully sequenced activities in skills such as note-taking, focusing attention, intensive listening, and vocabulary building. It also helps students evaluate their interests and explore possible career paths.

New to This Edition

New subject areas, presented as one-on-one academic lectures, emphasize professional applications such as software engineering, multimedia design, information technology, urban planning, and social psychology. Learning Outcomes listed at the outset of each unit let students know the goals of each unit and what their learning experience will be. New audio interviews with topic experts provide context for the upcoming unit lecture. Bottom-up listening and pronunciation exercises emphasize important principles and improve real-time perception. An oral presentation activity, supported by specific preparation and delivery strategies, concludes each unit and includes the opportunity for peer evaluation. Proficiency assessments composed of short academic audio lectures and multiple-choice exams simulate TOEFL-style test format for practice on high-stakes tests. New Essential Online Resources include audio, video, and teacher materials (assessments, teaching notes, answer keys, audioscripts, presentation points, and more).

Other Highlights

Corpus vocabulary drawn from the Academic Word List ensures that students are exposed to core academic vocabulary. Collaborative activities with presentation strategies and peer evaluations allow students to make connections and develop critical thinking skills. Unit comprehension tests assess students’ grasp of key concepts presented in the unit lecture. Mapped to the Global Scale of English.

Teacher’s Pack for busy instructors with: •Suggested bonus activities •Teaching notes •Answer keys •Audioscripts •Simulated TOEFL Listening Test for each unit This interactive listening-speaking series prepares students for the challenges of college lectures with a wide range of listening, speaking, and note-taking strategies and skills. The lectures are drawn from a range of academic disciplines and reflect authentic lecture settings, featuring engaging instructors and live student audiences.

 

Successful Dissertation Writing guides students through the involved process of writing an academic dissertation, developing their ability to communicate ideas and research fluently and successfully.

From conducting research, working with a supervisor, understanding and avoiding plagiarism, right through to using feedback and editing to improve the written piece, it will help students master the more technical elements of producing well-written academic work.