Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES)

The Centre for Applied English Studies is responsible for building students’ academic literacy skills throughout their time at university. All CAES courses focus on close contact between teachers and students, with no more than 20 students per course. They also develop learner independence and initiative, which are encouraged by the provision of Communication Support Services (CSS) offered at CAES.

Students are highly encouraged to take Core University English (CUE) in either Semester 1 or 2 of their first year, and they are required to take one English in the Discipline (ED) course before they graduate. Both are six-credit courses. Assessment is wholly by coursework for both CUE and ED courses.

Core University English (CUE)

CUE serves as a bridge between secondary school English and university one by helping students develop the academic literacy skills they need to be successful at university. Students work on the English language skills they need to understand and produce spoken and written academic texts, express academic ideas and concepts clearly in both written and spoken forms through critical reading and listening, and search for and use academic sources of information in their writing and speaking. Students also complete online learning modules of academic grammar, vocabulary, speaking as well as citation and referencing skills and understanding and avoiding plagiarism.

English in the Discipline (ED) Courses

In order to graduate, students are required to take one ED course that is aligned with their faculty coursework. The ED course students take is closely integrated with their disciplinary studies to further develop their academic literacy skills in their field.

Architecture
The focus is on the language and communication skills required to facilitate students’ approach to architectural literacy. Through spontaneous speaking tasks on their personal and social experience of architecture in HK and through critical reading and discussion of selected texts, students will focus on the language needed to express their views on architectural issues.

Arts
These courses have been designed to help students use written and spoken English to demonstrate critical learning from their reading of disciplinary texts, including modern languages and cultures, literature, philosophy, history, language studies, and creative and visual arts.

Business and Economics
The course aims to enhance students’ academic writing and move students towards a more critical understanding of the way texts work to achieve purposes and meet audience expectations. The course further aims to develop students’ meta-cognitive abilities, in order to be able to judge good quality writing.

Dentistry
Students will develop effective language skills in their written presentation of their Community Health Projects in dentistry. Input will also be given to enhance students’ ability to deliver a professional oral presentation of their projects appropriate to the purpose of the research and the audience.

Education
These ED courses will provide the opportunity for Education students to develop their critical reading skills, report writing skills and oral presentation skills for disciplinary studies and academic purposes.

Engineering
These courses aim to help engineering students improve their technical writing skills through drafting and revising their technical reports relevant to their engineering projects. They are also trained to deliver associated technical presentations with teacher feedback and autonomous learning tasks.

Medicine
These courses aim to improve students’ academic and communication skills to meet the demands of their MBBS, Nursing, Pharmacy, Chinese Medicine or Biomedical Sciences studies. Each course is tailored to the specific needs of the medical profession or field, and depending on the course, may include medical vocabulary learning, reflective writing, presentation of patient cases or histories, conveying technical information to different audiences (specialist and non-specialist), or delivering a professional oral presentation.

Science
Depending on the course attended students will engage in some of the following communication tasks: (1) repackage expert knowledge from academic research articles for a non-specialist audience in the form of a popular science article; (2) write a case study report after using mathematical techniques such as regression to analyse a set of data and make recommendations based on their findings; (3) perform an oral presentation; and (4) develop a self-access language learning plan, carry this out, and reflect on their learning experience and learning strategies used.

Social Sciences
Students (apart from those in BSW programme) can choose from a range of ED courses on different literacy skills important for their studies and/or future career, such as research writing in the social sciences, public speaking and report writing.

In addition, CAES offers two elective experiential learning courses and a wide range of blended learning courses to enhance students’ leadership skills and cater to a variety of language related skills and interests.

Nurturing Global Leaders Programme (NGL)

The CAES2001 Nurturing Global Leaders (NGL) programme is a 12-credit free elective course offered in the summer semester, where HKU students undergo a 2-week pre-trip training before their 6-week teaching internship in different locations across Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong, teaching English language and communication skills to marginalised youths. Through this immersive cultural experience, students sharpen their English communication skills and become better global leaders with intercultural awareness.

Online Digital Storytelling in English

CAES2002 is a 6-credit free elective course taught online. Students in this course learn the Digital Storytelling method of creating video-based personal narratives before delivering workshops to less-privileged learners outside of Hong Kong. The course focuses on developing a range of skills associated with digital and online communication. Upon completion of this course, high-achieving students are highly encouraged to apply for Peer Consultant posts in the Digital Literacy Lab.

Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs)

SPOCs (Small Private Online Courses) were launched in 2019 and use a combination of online and face-to-face sessions to focus on niche areas of academic language and other communication skills. Sessions fit around CAES assessment periods thus directly serving students' needs and offering greater flexibility. Six SPOCs dealing with a range of speaking, reading, and writing skills are currently on offer with more under consideration for development.

Click here for a complete list of undergraduate courses offered by CAES.

Communication-Intensive Courses (CiC)

A Communication-Intensive (CI) course is an HKU undergraduate course that consists of a syllabus with components that explicitly develop communication-related knowledge, skills and attributes. It also specifically develops at least two out of four communication literacies: oral, written, visual and digital, with 40% of the course grade assigned to communication-related assessment tasks. On completion of a CiC course, students receive a CiC badge which is visible in the Academic Achievement Profile (AAP) and the HKU mobile app.

For more information about CiC, please visit http://cics.hku.hk/

Communication Support Services

CAES Communication Support Services (CSS) offers a variety of consultations, workshops and discussions to help students succeed at the University of Hong Kong, and to support students’ development as a communicator within and beyond the university. CSS comprises four separate strands: General Language Advising, Digital Literacy Lab, Speaking Studio as well as the Writing Centre.

Please visit the CAES CSS website for details: https://www.caescss.hku.hk/