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GAC Academic English

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GAC Academic English runs across all three levels of the programme as six modules, split into a listening and speaking strand and a reading and writing strand. Level I builds everyday academic language, Level II adds note-taking, describing data and structured paragraphs, and Level III expects critical listening, seminar work, argument from sources and an in-depth essay.

The units are themes, not topics. Communicating, Human Health, Political Issues and the rest supply the material; what is actually assessed is the skill practised on them. The same theme therefore comes back at a higher level with a harder task attached to it.

Referencing and plagiarism are taught as content. Avoiding plagiarism, citing sources and building an annotated bibliography are named outcomes here, not general advice, and they carry marks in the written events.

You are assessed continuously at your own teaching centre. Presentations, group discussions, listening tests, essays and a seminar are spread through the semester and moderated by ACT afterwards, so there is no single final paper to revise for.

The notes follow ACT's published module outcomes unit by unit. Our practice tasks are original and written to match the shape of those events.

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  • 1

    GAC001 Academic English I: Listening and Speaking Skills

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    • 1.1 What this module is, and how it is marked
    • 1.1 Communicating: text types and purpose
    • 1.2 Countries and cultures: listening for meaning
    • 1.3 Modern lifestyles: responding and following instructions
    • 1.4 Journeys and travel: preparing a short presentation
    • 1.5 Living things: accuracy in interaction
    • 1.6 Technology: the formal discussion
  • 2

    GAC002 Academic English I: Reading and Writing Skills

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    • 2.1 What this module teaches
    • 2.1 Communicating: read for a purpose and preserve conditions
    • 2.2 Countries and cultures: vocabulary, dictionaries and paragraphs
    • 2.3 Modern lifestyles: sentences, paragraph functions and style
    • 2.4 Journeys and travel: meaningful messages and paragraph focus
    • 2.5 Living things: accurate source use and plagiarism
    • 2.6 Technology: plan and synthesize a short essay
  • 3

    GAC007 Academic English II: Listening and Speaking Skills

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    • 3.1 What this module teaches
    • 3.1 People and society: compare text types and functions
    • 3.2 Living environments: listening strategies and supported inference
    • 3.3 Work and business: useful notes, summaries and media
    • 3.4 Health science: keep findings and measurement limits together
    • 3.5 Processes and production: describe graphs and meaningful stages
    • 3.6 The environment: present evidence and encourage discussion
  • 4

    GAC008 Academic English II: Reading and Writing Skills

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    • 4.1 What this module is, and how it is marked
    • 4.1 People and society: features of academic text types
    • 4.2 Places where people live and work: reading for argument
    • 4.3 Doing business: vocabulary and idiom
    • 4.4 Human health: sentences and cohesion
    • 4.5 Human progress: research and synthesis
    • 4.6 Man-made environmental issues: referencing and information literacy
  • 5

    GAC014 Academic English III: Listening & Speaking Skills

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    • 5.1 What this module teaches
    • 5.1 Education: critical listening and argument structure
    • 5.2 Medicine: abstract discussion and precise quantities
    • 5.3 Legal studies: relevance, validity, reliability and bias
    • 5.4 Political studies: priorities, viewpoints and supported recommendations
    • 5.5 Communications: oral presentations with relevant digital media
    • 5.6 The future: conduct a formal class seminar and synthesise honestly
  • 6

    GAC015 Academic English III: Reading & Writing Skills

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    • 6.1 What this module teaches
    • 6.1 Issues in education: critical and analytical reading
    • 6.2 Issues in medicine: select, evaluate and reference suitable sources
    • 6.3 Legal issues: build a logical argument from data
    • 6.4 Political issues: evaluate sources and synthesise policy reasoning
    • 6.5 Communications: an annotated bibliography and information literacy
    • 6.6 The future: plan and create an in-depth academic essay

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IGCSE, A-Level & AP