Foundation Access – Integrated Skills, High Begining

Welcome to the second edition of FOUNDATION, INTEGRATED SKILLS. This new edition is the product of ongoing revision and evaluation, not only by myself, but also by the many instructors who, along with their students, have used the previous edition and have contributed valuable suggestions and comments. The success of the previous edition has been due, in large measure, to the honest and careful appraisal given by instructors and their students.

            FOUNDATION, INTEGRATED SKILLS, is a theme-based, two-level, EFL series designed to prepare students for university-level academic content. The series combines communicative activities with skill-based exercises in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar in order to facilitate academic success. It focuses on the real needs of Arab students intending to go to university, and prepares them to enter university courses after the completion of this series.

            FOUNDATION, INTEGRATED SKILLS, is made up of eight thematically-based units. Each unit consists of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar activities and explanations.

            The Before Listening, Listening, and After Listening sections activate students’ prior knowledge, guide them to listen for main ideas and specific information, and increase their understanding through comprehension questions and vocabulary recycling.  Various task-based practice exercises reinforce their listening comprehension.

            The speaking activities develop naturally from listening, reading, and grammar exercises and take various forms: comprehension questions answered orally in complete sentences; vocabulary reviews that reinforce understanding and improve learner ability to communicate with the new vocabulary and so on; talking about pictures; and authentic speaking opportunities in a variety of formats such as interviews, surveys, scenarios.  All these speaking activities aim at enhancing students’ fluency, building confidence by linking understanding to production, and improving overall ability to communicate effectively.

            The Vocabulary Preview introduces the students to new vocabulary appearing in the listening and reading sections. The listening sections increase student listening comprehension through task-based practice. Pictures provide valuable context for each topic.

The  Before Reading, Reading, and After Reading sections provide scaffolding to help students build to understanding authentic language and identifying main ideas, while reinforcing said understanding through comprehension questions.  Language-learning strategies such as making reasonable guesses about vocabulary and understanding pronoun reference provide students with reading comprehension tools.  Students also have the opportunity to generate language in a semi-controlled format, with discussion and writing exercises encouraging students to contribute their own opinions on subjects of student interest related to the various unit topics.

            The Grammar section contains explanations and charts, which provide clear, easy-to-understand, and visually-appealing grammar presentations.  The exercises in this section give students controlled practice of specific grammatical points, as well as some freer practice with more communicative exercises.

            Writing exercises develop naturally from the listening, speaking, reading, and grammar sections. They are in the form of guided writing practice.w