Courses & structure

What you study

All pathways

English for Academic Purposes courses (30 credits each) Students on all IFC Pathways take both of these core courses, designed to develop your ability and confidence in the four key areas of writing, reading, listening and speaking.

Academic Reading and Writing

The course covers the key aspects of writing an essay. These include features of academic style, the planning process, structuring an argument, summarising, paraphrasing techniques, referencing, avoiding plagiarism, and drafting and editing. Emphasis is given to the logic underlying Western academic writing conventions, rather than simply looking at the procedural aspects. This is supported by work on the main areas of English grammar, with a focus on improving grammatical range and accuracy in your writing. Reading skills are also developed.

Textual analysis helps you learn about cohesion, extend your vocabulary, read for gist and specifics, infer meaning, as well as develop summary skills. The texts generally focus on a background to Western thought and culture, taking into account ancient Greeks and Romans, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the influence of modernity, feminism and Marxism. There is an emphasis on how to use reading in writing – learning from other writers’ style and using their points as evidence for your arguments.

Academic Listening and Speaking

To enhance listening skills, the course makes use of a wide range of texts, drawing firstly on commercially produced EAP materials to help you acquire the skills of listening for gist and specific information, and taking useful notes. Later, the course moves on to recordings from Goldsmiths library as well as BBC radio shows. You are exposed to a range of challenging and interesting recordings related to the arts, current affairs, media, education and aspects of British culture.

Many of the recordings are relevant to subjects studied at Goldsmiths, for example race and ethnicity, representation, identity and culture. Where possible, the recordings are exploited for vocabulary development. To develop speaking skills, you will research and give seminar presentations and lead the class through discussion of your chosen topic. You will receive input on effective seminar techniques and functional language.

The Arts and Humanities Pathway, Media, Culture and Society Pathway and Social Sciences Pathway

Interdisciplinary courses (30 credits each)

All students on the Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Media, Culture and Society Pathways select one of these courses. The interdisciplinary courses introduce some basic ideas and theories that are important within many of Goldsmiths’ academic subjects, and integrate study skills and language development.

Images and Representation

The intention of this introductory unit is to provide you with some of the basic tools available in interpreting the kinds of images that surround us in our everyday life. As such, it is relevant and adaptable to many of the disciplines students will go on to cover in both the humanities and social sciences. The course will have both a practical and a theoretical approach. For example, you will be asked to examine advertisements such as those promoting women’s perfume, and to consider what ‘myths’ they represent in terms of power relations in Western culture.

You will also be actively encouraged to bring in and discuss advertisements and images from your own culture to consider the connotations of such images. The concept of ‘myths’ relates to the theoretical work of Roland Barthes, a key and influential thinker on the science of signs and systems of representation. Further texts will be drawn from the work of the well known cultural theorist, Stuart Hall.

Globalisation

Globalisation is one of the most far-reaching and widely discussed phenomena of modern times. It affects all our lives, and has an impact on all areas of study. The globalisation course will give you an overview of the main theories regarding globalisation, and you will consider how it influences your own country, your academic subjects and the world at large.

By taking this course, you will be able to develop your English in a genuine academic setting, and will practise the key skills of reading academic texts, researching and writing essays, listening to lectures, discussing theory and giving academic presentations.

Option courses (15 credits each)

All students on the Arts and Humanities Pathway, Social Sciences Pathway, and Media, Culture and Society Pathway select two of these courses. The option courses are taught in different departments and allow you to explore your particular area of academic interest and get a taste of the various disciplines that can be studied at Goldsmiths.

At least one option should relate to your intended area of future study. Some courses may be required for progression onto certain degree programmes. The list of IFC option courses here is indicative. Options may change and not all courses will be available each term. For full information contact the Centre for English Language and Academic Writing.

London: Arts Capital

This course is offered by the Departments of Visual Cultures, Drama and Music. It explores London as a diverse and vibrant capital of the arts. You will be introduced to a range of musical, theatrical and visual art activities taking place in well known institutions, as well as in smaller alternative venues. Visits to events in the city are put in context in follow-up discussions.

Urban London

Offered by the departments of Anthropology, Sociology and Politics, this course will involve exploring London at first-hand, as well as looking at its portrayal by anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, writers, artists and filmmakers. Along with the efforts of planning and architecture, cities are made by the people who live in them.

Contemporary Art Worlds

This course is offered by the Department of Visual Cultures. By embarking directly into the complex and colourful landscapes of present-day practices, it aims to familiarise you with the vocabularies and context of visual culture as it has developed from art history.

The first half focuses on particular artists and the various inflections that situate their work within modernity and postmodernity; concentrations on case studies will yield fundamental skills of reading and thinking the visual. The second half then shifts attention to spaces of exhibition and display, while introducing you to wider topics such as (inter) nationalism and its impact on contemporary theory.

Identity, Movement and Change

This course is offered by the departments of Educational Studies, Anthropology and Sociology. It focuses on identity and the issues surrounding how we define ourselves. In order to understand how identities are often formed, there is a particular focus on the roles of gender, race, social class and sexuality, and how these subject areas can be applied to studies in the fields of Sociology, Anthropology and Education.

The key concepts of knowledge, power and status are also studied, as they play a major role in how we are viewed by others, which in turn affect how we view ourselves.

Introduction to Literary Criticism

This course is offered by the Department of English and Comparative Literature, and introduces a range of works from 1800 to the present day. The emphasis is on introducing you to reading primary texts in the way in which undergraduates study literature.

The lecture/seminar format encourages you to consider contrasts and dialogue between texts. Cohesion is also supplied by the fact that many of the texts articulate literal and metaphorical ‘explorations’, quests and searches.

Approaches to Textual Analysis

Offered as an option in the Media, Culture and Society Pathway only, this course introduces themes and approaches that are fundamental to studies in media. The central content is received through the auditing of first year lectures in the Department of Media and Communications. You are supported in this with structured pre-reading and feedback classes.

The lecture content is applicable to studies beyond the media and introduces you to a range of approaches to analysing various texts.

Introduction to Cultural Studies

This course is offered as an option in the Media, Culture and Society Pathway only. It introduces you to Cultural Studies as a discipline, with particular reference to Western cultural production. The main content is delivered in first-year lectures in the Department of Media and Communications, which you audit.

You are supported in this with structured pre-reading and feedback classes. The lecture content is relevant to social sciences in general and gives you a broad awareness of developments in contemporary Western culture.

Nations and Nationalism

This course, jointly offered by the Department of Politics and the Department of History, is an examination of the continued salience of nationalism and the nation-state form in the modern world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many thinkers expected the nation-state to be superseded by more ‘universal’ forms of political organisation. As recent history demonstrates, however, that expectation has been dramatically falsified.

The Nation and nationalism, once exclusively European phenomenon, became globalised in the 19th and 20th centuries. Through a series of case studies that introduce you to a variety of nationalisms, this course asks why that was so. What are the distinctive features of nationalism, and why has it proved so resilient and so adaptable to different circumstances? Are the nationalisms of the non-Western world repetitions of an original template, or are they fundamentally different?

Guaranteed progression

Students who pass all courses at the required level are guaranteed a place on a related Goldsmiths degree programme.

Programme structure

About the department

The Centre for English Language and Academic Writing

The Centre for English Language and Academic Writing (CELAW) at Goldsmiths has specialised for over 20 years in English language teaching for academic study in creative and culture-related disciplines. While most students go on to successful study at Goldsmiths, some take our courses as stand-alone programmes. We welcome all international students whose first language is not English.

We currently offer four modes of provision:

1. A Pre-Master’s Diploma in the Humanities and Social Sciences
2. An International Foundation Certificate in the Humanities and Social Sciences
3. Pre-sessional courses from April-September
4. In-sessional courses for students already on their chosen degrees

How to Apply

Please download the application form available at www.gold.ac.uk/media/gold-app-form-lang-studies. pdf. Please complete and return all sections of the form, together with any additional documentation.

Make sure that you enclose:

• A reference
• English Language certificates
• Transcript or student record

Please send your form and additional documentation to: Centre for English Language and Academic Writing, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK.

We will send you more information on your programme, maps and travel information if you accept an offer of a place.

Student profiles

"All tutors are very professional and respectful, they know exactly what foreign students need as they are experienced.

Although I had been at language school to learn English, writing in a proper academic style was totally different from what I used to do in my country. Yet, the tutors lead us step by step and I could see that I am actually improved in many ways."

Eun, International Foundation Certificate