English for Oceanography Ι

Through a variety of teaching materials, in-class activities and pair/group works, the course ‘ENGLISH FOR OCEANOGRAPHY I’ seeks to help students:

• Develop reading and writing skills in English for Oceanography and Marine Biosciences (i.e. thematic areas related to the marine environment, such as: marine organisms, climate change, ecosystem functioning and health, marine biodiversity and conservation, fisheries, aquaculture and marine resources in general, as well as coastal zone problems such as coastal erosion, pollution)

• Learn how to understand and handle short, long and difficult passages on Marine Sciences written in English

• Carry out specific search on Marine Sciences in English in printed and electronic form (in the University Library and on the Internet respectively)

• Find and use general and specialist monolingual, bilingual and multilingual specialized dictionaries for Marine Sciences in printed and electronic form

• Construct and maintain a personal bilingual Terminological Data Bank (TDB) and, thus, learn how to handle difficult scientific terminology for Oceanography

• Enhance their research and IT skills

• Give briefings on the research they carry out (short oral presentations) in English on given (by the instructor) or pre-selected (by the student[s]) texts

Summarize in English and in Modern Greek short and long specialized texts related to Oceanography with relative ease

The students obtain the following competences:

• Search, analysis and synthesis of data and information (i.e. scientific terms) regarding Oceanography and Marine BioSciences - through (printed or electronic) specialized scientific texts, using conventional media (e.g. Library) and the necessary technologies (e.g. Internet, electronic monolingual, bilingual and multilingual general and specialized dictionaries)

• Development of research skills in scientific documents related to Oceanography appropriate both for English and Greek

• Writing autonomous work (as summaries of English texts in both English and Greek) both in the classroom and home (HomeWorks)

The ultimate goal of the course ‘ENGLISH FOR OCEANOGRAPHY I’ is to enable students to move between (at least) two different linguistic and scientific systems with ease and comfort – i.e. English to Greek and vice versa in terminology for Marine Sciences, which is essential for them since at least 10 different courses in the Undergraduate Programme are offered in the English language, while, in addition, in the majority of the rest courses is a prerequisite to deliver HomeWorks and studies which are based on scientific literature in English. Furthermore, the Final Thesis of the students (obligatory in the Undergraduate Programme of Studies) is based on English Scientific literature.  Finally, the experience in the use of English of Oceanography is also useful when required (e.g. participation of the students in Educational Exchange Programmes - Erasmus +, Erasmus Placement, as well as participation in International Conferences).

The following thematic scientific areas of Marine Sciences are offered in the framework of the Course ‘ENGLISH FOR OCEANOGRAPHY I’:

(1) Introduction to principles of Oceanography and Marine Sciences, Historical background, Observation and Hypothesis Testing, Habitats and Life Habits: Definitions

(2) Exploring the Oceans – Scientific equipment, Vessels, Satellites, ROVs, Bathyscaphs, AUVs

(3) Marine organisms I: Micro-organisms

(4) Marine organisms II: Seaweeds and Plants

(5) Marine organisms III: Invertebrates

(6) Marine organisms IV: Vertebrates

(7) Marine Resources 

1. Levinton, 2017. ‘MARINE BIOLOGY: Functional Biology, Biodiversity and Ecology’. Oxford University Press, 5th Edition [2017], New York, USA, 980pp.

2. Castro P. & M. Hubber, 2020. ‘MARINE BIOLOGY’. McGraw Hill, 10th Edition [2020], New York, USA, 870pp.