English Language

General Information

The Department of English Language is offering special courses to the students of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy studying at all levels – Bachelors, Masters and PhD Students. There are four comprehensive general courses provided by the Department: General English for BA Students, Special English for BA Students (divided by major specializations), General English for MA Students and Academic English for PhD Students. Besides that the Department offers a wide range of elective courses adapted to the professional needs of all Programs taught at the Academy.

The main focus of all our courses is on mastering the practical use of English Language in active academic and daily communication. Great attention is payed to the development of communicative skills in the students, which have to be effective and modern. This is especially important for Kyiv-Mohyla Academy as a bilingual university. Our teaching methods are based on the progressive approach of interactive education, where the instructor plays the role of consultant and motivator for the students.

The programs and curricula at our Department are developed with the help of the leading specialists in English Language teaching and the representatives of the major international and foreign English schools and universities, such as British Council, America House, English Teaching Resource Center, Grant MacEwan University, and with an active support of English Teacher Fellowship and Fullbright Fellowship Programs. Besides that the professors of the Department have got a international rich experience. They are the regular participants of multiple exchange programs and fellowships provided by European and American universities, and trainings and master-classes organized by such famous institutions as British Council, English Teaching Resource Center and many others.

The Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Ukraine is a long-term partner of the Kyiv-Mohyla English Teaching Resource Center (ETRC). This honorary partner gives constant support to the projects aimed at the development of educational programs, which includes first of all training of the best English Language instructors and providing the most modern literature in the spheres of English Linguistics, History and Culture of the English-Speaking World.

Some of the courses of our Department are available to the wide public, not only the Kyiv-Mohyla students. These include nine courses of General English (divided by levels), a special course of Business English (consists of four levels), special Preparation Courses for the Applicants (has two levels – for applicants of BA and of MA programs) and a Preparation for International Standard Language Tests (IELTS and TOEFL) Course.

Program Structure

The curricula of the English Language courses is based on the complex of modern approaches and technologies of language teaching aimed at providing maximum of practical experience including real-life speaking and listening practice.

The first level of English taught at all Bachelor Programs during the first two academic years is developed as a survival course. It is focused on basic communicative skills training and mastering of a wide range of general and academic topics most popular in the modern English-Speaking World. The minimum student’s level at the end of this course is Upper Intermediate.

The second level English for Bachelors includes a number of specialized elective courses. Most of them are practical and have a professional element adapted to the needs of each specific Department. These courses are proposed to the 3rd and 4th years’ BA students.

The Master students are supposed to take the course in Public Speaking and Academic Writing. This course provides a deeper knowledge of Academic English Language, including professional vocabulary (according to the major profile). Stylistic and linguistic peculiarities of academic writing, skills of official communication (both oral and written), presentation of scientific research results and writing scientific publications.

The PhD students can continue their English Language Training on the highest level of Academic English which is oriented at the international future scholars.

The Department of English Language also offers a number of intensive preparation courses for the applicants of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and any other universities at two levels – Bachelor and Master.

Research Activity

There are two main directions of the research activity at the Department of English Language: methodical aspects of language training and communication practice, and complex research of English-language communications and modern discourses.

The results of these activities are widely applied in the teaching practice at our Department, our professors use them in developing the course for all levels (Bachelor, Master, PhD). The most widely used are the results of our specialists’ researches in rhetorics, social linguistics and ethnology. Also our young teachers are active in comparative studies of English and Ukrainian languages.

Our professors are regularly publishing their works in several scientific and pedagogical journals. The Master and PhD students of the Department also have an opportunity to start writing for the Scientific Notes of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Naukovi Zapysky NaUKMA) and the Internet Journal Theory and Practice of Communication (Teoriia i Praktyka Komunikatsii) which gives a perfect real-life practical experience of both scientific research in the sphere of language studies and English academic writing.

The Department of English Language is also traditionally active at the Annual Days of Science at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy where our professors and the specialist from our Center of Communication Transformations are organizing seminars and public discussions in the linguistics of communication, discourses in communication problematics and innovations in language teaching methodology.