Aiming at helping Faculty students develop academic literacy skills in English and further enhance their proficiency in the English language, a new Language Study Programme was planned by the Language Committee appointed by the Department of Language and Linguistics. The Programme is built around four compulsory core courses of language study running during the first two years of undergraduate study:

• Academic Discourse (1st semester)
• Translation: Practical Applications (2nd semester)
• English Phonetics and Oral Production (3rd semester)
• Genres in English (4th semester)

These four courses, first offered in 2001-2002, focus on the development of skills that are necessary in order for the students firstly, to comprehend and produce oral and written discourse in English and secondly, to develop interlinguistic understanding and translation skills from Greek to English and vice-versa. A number of complementary activities have been designed for all of these courses, in addition to the 3-hour weekly sessions.

The complementary activities which are carried out in the framework of two of the above courses, namely in Academic Discourse and Genres in English, have been designed by the members of the Department of Language and Linguistics, Elly Ifantidou, Bessie Mitsikopoloulou and Angeliki Tzanne, who specialise in the area of English language studies. The complementary activities carried out in the framework of Translation: Practical Applications and English Phonetics and Oral Production have been prepared by seconded staff under the guidance of Professors Eleni Antonopoulou and Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra.

The programme is financed by the Faculty’s own regular funding. However, it requires on the part of the staff members involved work and commitment which are additional to their regular teaching load, their research and their administrative responsibilities. It also requires the teaching assistance of additional staff that the Faculty has been able either to hire on a limited contract bases, according to legal regulations, or to second from the public school sector. Without the assistance of this extra teaching staff, the programme cannot be implemented.

COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES FOR LANGUAGE COURSES
As part of each compulsory course, students are required to further improve their language competence by collaborating over specially designed learning material along the lines of self-study, collaborative learning and adult education. The primary aim of this material is the minimization of learner dependence on the tutor’s presence and the nurturing of learner autonomy and independence.