Course Objectives:
Achievement of the Common European Framework of Reference level C1, as well as further expansion of skills in reading, listening, writing, grammar, vocabulary and speaking.
 
Objectives for Communication Skills:
• Writing: summarizing complex, long-form informative texts ; formal / informal correspondence with established guidelines ; analysis and argumentative evaluation of statements in texts ; description, comparison and interpretation of statistics / images ; correcting errors in texts (word choice, sentence structure and grammar, text coherence, and style)
• Speaking: presentations, brief reports, debate, discussions
• Listening: news radio, documentaries, commentaries, editorials
• Feature articles in Austrian, German and Swiss press, possibly including literary texts (short stories, poems etc.)

Grammar:
• Particularities of modal verbs
• Direct and indirect discourse / verbatim citations and paraphrasing
• Two-part connecting devices
• Modal particles
• Functions of the word "es"
• Verbal vs. nominal style
• Noun-verb linking
• Adjective declination with and without articles
• Sequence of tenses

Assessment criteria:
Regular class attendance, active participation, homework, course work, tests, mid-term and final exams