Courses and 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 Computing Pathway

Students undertaking the IFC in Computing should normally have a maths qualification equivalent to a GCSE grade C. The Computing Pathway is made up of two courses in the Department of Computing. All students take the Foundations of Computer Programming. Those who do not have recent basic mathematics experience study on the Foundations of Mathematics course, while all other students take the Foundations of Problem Solving course.

Foundations of Computer Programming (30 credits)

The course provides you with the background you need to use a computer to develop and execute simple software programs in a manner that will prepare you for the programming courses in the first year of a computing degree programme. This course is appropriate for everyone, including those with no knowledge of programming.

Foundations of Mathematics for Computing (30 credits)

The purpose of this course is to equip you with the mathematical tools and understanding that will be essential to studying computing at degree level. It is aimed at students with little or no recent experience of mathematics.

The course aims to familiarise you with the fundamentals of arithmetic, algebra, logic, series, symbolic manipulation, equation solving (linear, quadratic and simultaneous), functions, co-ordinate geometry, trigonometry, matrices and probability. It will also introduce algorithms with reference to simple sorting, packing and searching methods. You will gain an appreciation of the fundamental aspects of mathematical representation, modelling and programming.

Foundations of Problem Solving with Programming (30 credits)

This course aims to provide basic problem-solving strategies relevant to computer programming, by controlling the definition and use of algorithms to control data and achieve a task. This course is designed to be taught concurrently with the Foundations of Computer Programming course to students with little or no experience with computer programming.

It complements the bottom-up tendency of the syntax-based programming course by providing a top-down view of programming. It is expected that this will increase your interest in and understanding of algorithms, and clarity and efficiency when programming, which are fundamental when pursuing a career in computing.

Guaranteed progression

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

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