UNIVERSITATEA Titu Maiorescu

Facultatea de Psihologie
Departamentul de învaţământ la distanţă

MODUL:
Comunicare de specialitate în limba engleză
II

TUTOR: Lect. univ. dr. Alice Popescu

2013
CUPRINS

Introducere 2

Unitatea 1. The unhelpful crowd 8

Unitatea 2. Noticing that people need help 12

Unitatea 3. Jobs and employment 16

Unitatea 4. Self-esteem and social success 21

Unitatea 5. Husky had been very healthy 28

Unitatea 6. Balancing equity and excellence 32

Bibliografie 38

2
INTRODUCERE
1.Scopul si obiectivele cursului:

Cursul de limba engleză pentru învăţământ la distanţă îşi propune să sedimenteze

elemente de limba engleză dobândite în formarea preuniversitară a studentului ID,
elemente lingvistice şi de interpretare necesare unei deschideri a studentului ID către
lumea ştiinţifică internaţională. Pentru o analiză gramaticală şi interpretarea de texte,
sunt folosite tematici cu predilecţie din psihologie (inclusiv psihologie socială,
psihologia comunicării etc.). De asemenea, prin acest curs se urmăreşte formarea
deprinderilor orale şi scrise utile în activitatea socio-profesională, în vederea
căpătării unei autonomii valide de informare şi comunicare în limba engleză.

Obiective generale:

Dezvoltarea de competenţe în utilizarea limbii engleze pentru comunicare şi

informare în general , ca şi în domeniul ştiinţelor sociale şi în special al psihologiei,
astfel încât studenţii să fie capabili :
 Să înţeleagă după auz enunţuri în flux verbal;
 Să înţeleagă enunţuri, texte citite în limba engleză;
 Să comunice verbal un mesaj, enunţ în limba engleză;
 Să exprime în cuvinte proprii în limba engleză, în scris, un mesaj/enunţ.

Obiective specifice:

1.pronunţarea de diverse enunţuri cu intonaţia corectă;

2.înţelegerea sensului global al unui mesaj ascultat;
3.raportarea informaţiei ascultate la limbajul şi experienţa culturală proprie;
4.adaptarea formulelor conversaţionale la contextul dat (formal, informal);
5.susţinerea de dialoguri referitoare la sine şi la universul propriu;
6.descrierea de persoane, locuri, activităţi;
7.identificarea unităţilor de conţinut ale unui text;
8.exprimarea înţelesului global al unui text;
9.recunoaşterea şi utilizarea formelor speciale de corespondenţă;
10.valorificarea deprinderilor acumulate pentru perfecţionarea competenţelor de
limbă engleză.

2. Cerinţe preliminare:

3
1.demonstrarea stăpânirii cunoştinţelor de gramatică si vocabular corespunzătoare
modulului 1.
2.participare la activităţile anunţate în calendarul disciplinei.

3. Conţinutul materialului de studiu. Organizarea pe unităţi de studiu

Materialul de studiu cuprinde, pe de o parte, texte de specialitate in limba engleză,

menite sa pună bazele unui vocabular corespunzător psihologiei şi ştiinţelor sociale
şi, pe de altă parte, noţiuni şi exerciţii de gramatică.
Unitate de studiu 1: THE UNHELPFUL CROWD
Ca primă unitate de studiu, aceasta introduce studentul in sfera psihologiei de grup,
descriind un experiment revelator in privinţa alterărilor comportamentale ale
individului atunci când acţionează ca membru al unui grup. De asemenea, această
unitate tratează situaţiile de folosire ale timpului Past Continuous.
Unitate de studiu 2: NOTICING THAT PEOPLE NEED HELP
In această unitate de studiu, tema este un alt experiment revelator in ceea ce priveşte
condiţiile în care oamenii sînt dispuşi să ofere ajutor semenilor lor, în caz de nevoie.
Din punct de vedere gramatical, studenţii vor fi rugaţi să conceapă un text care să
ilustreze utilizarea în contrast a timpurilor Paste Tense Simple şi Past Tense
Continuous.
Unitate de studiu 3: JOBS AND EMPLOYMENT
Aceasta este o unitate de studiu care solicită participarea studenţilor în descrierea
celor mai cunoscute joburi. Partea de gramatică abordează verbele cu prepoziţie
(look) şi situaţiile de folosire ale lui Present Perfect Tense. Conţine, de asemenea, un
model de concepere a unui CV în limba engleză.
Unitate de studiu 4: SELF-ESTEEM AND SOCIAL SUCCESS
Unitatea oferă o scurtă analiză a noţiunii de „self-esteem” în societatea
contemporană. Din punct de vedere al vocabularului, introduce diferenţa între
utilizarea verbului make şi cea a lui do.Ca parte de gramatică, introduce, de
asemenea, diferenţele între situaţiile de utilizare ale lui Present Perfect Tense Simple
şi Present Perfect Tense Continuous.
Unitate de studiu 5: HUSKY HAD BEEN VERY HEALTHY
În această unitate, studentul este familiarizat cu terminologia minimală referitoare la
un caz de spitalizare pediatrică. În planul vocabularului, sânt prezentate verbele cu
prepoziţie: catch, keep, bring.
Unitate de studiu 6: BALANCING EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE
Unitatea de studiu abordează situaţia învăţământului şi a cauzelor abandonului şcolar
în SUA. Este centrată exclusiv pe vocabular.

4. Recomandări de studiu
Este important ca studentul să respecte timpul alocat calendarului disciplinei, modul
de abordare a testelor de evaluare si sarcinile de învăţare. De asemenea,
recomandăm ca studentul sa parcurgă bibliografia şi să consulte indicaţiile rubricii
cunoştinţe preliminare.
Fiecare unitate de studiu atinge următoarele aspecte: obiective, cunoştinţe
preliminare, resurse necesare şi recomandări de studiu, durata medie de
4
parcurgere a unităţii, cuvinte cheie. Un test de autoevaluare se va regăsi la sfârşitul
acestui modul. Fiind un curs practic de limba engleză si nu unul teoretic (de
psihologie, sociologie etc.) propriu-zis, nu se vor regăsi rezumate şi concluzii, ca
instrumente de învăţare. Studentului i se cere o abordare creativă a cursului,
capacitatea de a se lansa in situaţii conversaţionale spontane care să-i solicite
abilităţile de comunicare in viaţa de zi cu zi şi nu memorarea rigidă a unor structuri
gramaticale.
Fiecare din subpunctele mai sus menţionate sînt semnalizate în text prin intermediul
unor pictograme.
În continuare, prezentăm un tablou cu principalele pictograme prezentate în text:

OBIECTIVE

CUNOȘTINȚE PRELIMINARE

RESURSE BIBLIOGRAFICE

DURATA MEDIE DE
PARCURGERE A UNITĂȚII DE
STUDIU

CUVINTE CHEIE

TESTE DE AUTOEVALUARE

RĂSPUNS CORECT

EXPUNEREA TEORIEI
AFERENTE UNITĂȚII

5
5. Recomandări de evaluare
După parcurgerea fiecărei unităţi de studiu se impune rezolvarea sarcinilor de
învăţare, ce presupun studiu individual, dar şi a celor de autoevaluare.
Activităţile de evaluare condiţionează nivelul nivelul de dobîndire a competenţelor
specificate prin obiectivele disciplinei.
În ceea ce priveşte evaluarea finală, se va realiza printr-un examen, planificat
conform calendarului disciplinei. Examenul constă în rezolvarea unei probe de tip
grilă.

6. Test de evaluare iniţială

Desemnaţi cele mai imporante situaţii de folosire a timpurilor Past Tense Simple şi
Past Tense Continuous, exemplificând cu cîte o propoziţie în limba engleză pentru
fiecare situaţie în parte.

7. Structura cursului: Materialul de studiu pentru invatamintul la distanta are ca

suport cursul English for Social Sciences, autori Daniela Niculescu
Zdrenghea, Aurelia Ana Vasile;

8. Observaţii privind structura cursului:

Activităţile de prezentare de noi conţinuturi (reactualizare) sunt combinate cu

activităţi practice, participarea activă a studenţilor deţinând un rol fundamental.

Fiecare curs conţine text(e) din domeniul ştiinţelor sociale şi aplicaţii pe text(e) pe
probleme de vocabular, gramatică, ortografie şi pronunţie, elemente de cultură şi
civilizaţie britanică şi americană.

6
UNITATEA 1:
THE UNHELPFUL CROWD

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea:

 să se exprime, în limba engleză, asupra unor prime noţiuni de psihologie a
grupurilor.
 să utilizeze corect timpul Past Continuous

Cunoştinţe privind regulile generale de formare a timpului Past Tense Simple.

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995, vol. 1;

Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996;

Două ore

7
Pre-reading:
Listening to Sounds (see Penny Ur, op. cit., page 46) Students close their eyes and
listen to the sounds they may hear; then they write and tell (using the simple past and
the past progressive).
E.g.: There was a car. It was going past, accelerating. Somebody dropped something.
Somebody closed a door…….

Reading:
Text (part 1) “The Unhelpful Crowd”, from “Social Psychology”, pages 314-315.
Kitty Genovese, Andrew Mormille, and the eighteen-year-old switchboard
operator were at a serious disadvantage in needing spontaneous emergency help in
urban environment. Bibb Latané and John Darley (1970) were not convinced,
however, that the stresses and strains of city life fully explain why these individuals
didn’t get the help they needed. So, these researchers set out to see if they produce
unresponsive bystanders in the cool, calm environment of a psychology laboratory.
One study went this way.
When a subject arrived, he or she was taken to one of a series of small rooms
located along a corridor. Speaking over an intercom, the experimenter explained that
he wanted subjects to discuss personal problems that college students often face.
Subjects were told tat to protect confidentiality the group discussion would take
place over the intercom system and the experimenter would not be listening.
Participants were required to speak one at a time taking turns. Some subjects were
assigned to two-person dyads; others to larger groups of three or six people.
Although the opening moments of the conversation were uneventful, one
participant did mention that he had a seizure disorder that was sometimes triggered
by study pressures. But soon an unexpected problem developed. When it came his
turn to speak again, the person who suffered from a seizure disorder stuttered badly,
had a hard time speaking clearly, and sounded in a serious trouble.

I could really-er-use some help so if somebody would-er-give me a little h-help-uh-er-er-

er-er c-could somebody-er-er-help-er-uh-uh-uh (choking sounds)….I’m gonna die-er-er-
I’m…gonna die-er-help-er-er-seizure-er (chokes, then quiet).

What would you do? Would you interrupt the experiment, dash out of your
cubicle, and try ti find the experimenter?
As it turns out, subjects’ responses to this emergency strongly influenced by
the size of their group. Actually, all subjects were participating alone, but tape-
recorded material led them to believe that others were present and that there was a
crisis. All the subjects who thought they were involved in a two-person discussion
left the room quickly to try to get help. In the larger groups, however, subjects were
less likely and slower to intervene. Among subjects in the six-person groups, 38
percent never even left the room and those who did go for help took longer to get out
the door than subjects in smaller groups. This research led Latané and Darley to a
chilling conclusion: the more bystanders there are, the less likely the victim will be
helped. In the bystander effect, the presence of others inhibits helping.
Before the pioneering work of Latané and Darley, most people would have
assumed just the opposite. Isn’t there safety in numbers? Don’t we feel more secure
rushing in to help when others are around to lend their support? Latané and Darley
8
overturned this common-sense assumption and provided a careful step-by-step
analysis of the decision-making process involved in emergency interventions.

LANGUAGE FOCUS

New Vocabulary: environment, setting; urban vs rural; stress and strain; to set out;
bystanders; cool and calm; to face something; event, eventful , uneventful,
eventfully; to assign; to take turns; seizure; disorder; triggered by, to trigger, a
trigger; to stutter; to choke; to dash (out)of; cubicle; to turn out; lead-led-led, leading,
leader, leadership; crisis, crises; chilling (conclusion); to be likely/probable; to lend-
lent-lent vs to borrow; to rush; assumption, to assume; to overturn; to provide; to
make a decision.
Cognates (false friends): actually, eventually.

GRAMMAR FOCUS

Prepositions: along, over. Prepositions that show time, place and manner. (see
Virginia Evans, Round up 4, Longman 1992, pages 122-125; or Grammar Spectrum,
O.U.P., 1995, pages 84-86 or other similar books).
Emphatic “do” in affirmative sentences (imperative, simple present, simple past).
E.g.: “Please, do come in!”
Practice:
Give the emphatic form of:
a) He prefers playing on the computer.
a) Help yourselves, please.
b) They liked their new neighbourhood.
“The + comparative … the + comparative…”:
E.g.: “the sooner, the better.”; “The more, the merrier.”

The Past Progressive:

Use: to express:
 an action in progress at a certain moment in the past;
 an action that was in the middle of happening at a stated time in the past;
 two or more actions which were happening at the same time in the past
(simultaneous actions);
 to describe the background to the events in a story.

Time Expressions:
 yesterday at 5 p.m.;
 at this time last Monday;

9
  then;
 at that time;
 the day before yesterday, from 10 to 12 a.m..

Form:
Affirmative: Subject + was/were + verb-ing….
Interrogative: Was/Were + Subject + verb-ing…?
Negative: Subject + was/were + not + verb-ing….(short form: wasn’t/weren’t).

Practice
Bibliography: Grammar exercises from the already mentioned volumes.
1. Fill in the blanks with the right forms of the words in brackets:
Kitty Genovese’s case supports the theory that the (many)……….. 1 the
bystanders, the (little)………2 likely to help the victim.
When she (be attacked)…………………..3 in the middle of the street, while she
(cry out)………..4for help, and the criminal (stab) ……………..5 her, many
bystanders (watch)………………….6 passively. Eventually, the victim (be
killed)…………. 7
It (turn out)……………. 8 that whenever such things (happen)………………. 9 no
one would take the responsibility of helping because everybody (expect) …………. 10
others to act.

2. What were the bystanders thinking? (express at least three ideas)

They were thinking that: 1……………..
2……………..
3……………..

Unresponsive bystanders

10
 UNITATEA 2:
NOTICING THAT PEOPLE NEED HELP

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea:

 să se exprime, în limba engleză, asupra unor prime noţiuni de psihologie a
grupurilor.
 să utilizeze corect timpul Past Continuous

Cunoştinţe privind regulile generale de formare a timpului Past Tense Simple.

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995,

vol. 1;
Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996;
Exerciţii de gramatica limbii engleze, Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana,
Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1987:

Două ore

11
Pre-reading: What did/was doing Mrs. Brown yesterday ? (G.Gălăţeanu, op. Cit.
exercise 99, page 71).

Reading

Text (part 2), «Social Psychology», page 315-316.

The first step is to notice that someone needs help or, at least, that something
out of the ordinary is happening. Clearly, subjects in the seizure study could not help
but notice the emergency. In many situations, however, the problem isn’t always
perceived. The presence of others can be distracting and can divert attention away
from indications of victim’s plight. As noted earlier, people may fail to notice that
someone needs help when they are caught up in their own self-concerns. Consider
the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). On the road from
Jerusalem to Jericho, three people passed a man lying half-dead by the roadside: a
priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. The only one who helped was the Samaritan, a
social and religious outcast in Jewish society of that time. The story points out that
people with low status are sometimes more virtuous than those with high status and
prestige. Why? Perhaps in part because high-status individuals tend to be busy
people, preoccupied with their own concerns. Such self-concerns may prevent them
from noticing a victim in need of assistance.
John Darley and Daniel Batson (1973) put this interpretation of the Biblical
parable to an ingenious test. They asked seminary students participating in their
study to think about what they wanted to say in an upcoming talk was to be based on
the parable of the Good Samaritan; the other half was expected to discuss the jobs
seminary students enjoy most. All subjects were then instructed to walk over to a
nearby building where the speech would be recorded. At this point, subjects were
told either that they were running ahead of schedule, that they were right on time, or
that they were already a few minutes behind schedule. On the way to the other
building, all subjects passed a research confederate slumped in a doorway, coughing
and groaning. Which of these future ministers stopped to lend a helping hand?
Surprisingly, the topic of the upcoming speech had little effect on helping. The
pressure of time, however, made a real difference. Of those who thought they were
ahead of schedule, 63 percent offered help—compared with 45 percent of those who
believed they were on schedule and only 10 percent of those who had been told they
were late. In describing the events that took place in their study, Darley and Batson
noted that “on several occasions a seminary student going to give his talk on the
parable of the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his
way!”

12
 LANGUAGE FOCUS

New Vocabulary: to notice vs to observe a rule; at least; ordinary, common, usual,

customary, habitual; to perceive, perception; to distract; to divert attention;plight(of a
victim); to be caught up in; an outcast; to point out vs. to underline; to emphasize;
upcoming, following; to cough; to groan; to slump; be/run right on time/behind
schedule/ahead of schedule.

The “self” concept

1. Give examples of compounds with “self”(e.g.: self-concern; self-awareness; self-
hood; self-preservation; self-assertion; self-esteem; self-dependence; self confidence;
self aggrandizing attitudes; self-control.
2. Briefly discuss about the Freudian interpretation of PERSONALITY: the three
selves: the id,the ego, the superego (the ideal self).
3. Match the concepts in column A to their appropriate definition in column B:

CONCEPT DEFINITION
A. self-actualization 1. unique identity, individuality
B. self-assertion 2. reliance on one’s capacities
C. self-composed 3. the process of understanding
oneself and developing one’s
own capacities and talents
(coined by Abraham Maslow)
D. self-confidence 4. having one’s emotions under
control
E. self-esteem 5. the ability to exercise the will
so as to prevent oneself from
expressing strong emotion or
acting impulsively
F. selfhood 6. behaviour asserting one’s
claims or rights, expressing
confidence in one’s proper
merit or aggressively asserting
the superior quality of one’s
own mind and body
G. self-control 7. one’s good opinion of one’s
dignity or worth

E.g.:

A. B. C. D. E. F. G.
3.

13
 Practice
1.Word-web
Try to design a word-web for the key concept PSYCHIC PROCESSES.
2.Human Sounds (see B.J.Thomas, Intermediate Vocabulary, page 40).

GRAMMAR FOCUS

1.The Reflexive and the

SINGULAR PLURAL Emphatic Pronoun
Myself ourselves
yourself yourselves
Himself/herself/itself themselves

2.Past Simple vs.Past Progressive -recycling.

Formative Evaluation.

The Good Samaritan Parable

14
UNITATEA 3:
JOBS AND EMPLOYMENT

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea:

 să scrie un CV şi o scrisoare de intenţie în limba engleză
 să folosească Present Perfect Tense Simple

Cunoştinţe privind regulile generale de formare a timpului Present Perfect Tense

Simple.

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995, vol. 1;
Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996;
Exerciţii de gramatica limbii engleze, Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana,
Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1987:

Două ore

15
 Pre-reading

Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the jobs you are being prepared for.

Reading

Text:

Jane Smith has been out at the supermarket, to do the shopping. She’s just come
back home. She’s bought a new blouse to cheer herself up because the firm she’s
been employed at is almost bankrupt. She hasn’t removed the tag from the backside
of the blouse, and she rushes to tear it away. She has already put the blouse on when
the postman rings at the door.
Five minutes later.
Jane is upset. She’s just opened a letter which has brought her bad news. She’s lost
her job!
For the past year she’s worked as a bookkeeper at a firm. Now the majority of the
firm shares have been bought by another firm. The manager has kindly suggested
looking for another job. Being given the pink slip so soon, has taken her by surprise.
She has recently bought some furniture and hasn’t paid for it yet. Now she may not
be able to pay at all, because she hasn’t saved any money lately.

LANGUAGE FOCUS

New Vocabulary: tag; bankrupt(cy); to tear –tore –torn (away); upset, sad, grieving;
bookkeeper; account(ancy), accountant, to account for, accountable for; share
(B.E.)/stock (A.E.), shareholder;to be given the pink slip, to be given the axe, to be
fired; pay-paid-paid; to save (money/time).

GRAMMAR FOCUS

1.The verb look + preposition:

 to look for…= try to find;
 to look up/down to somebody = to respect, admire/to despise;
 to look after = to take care, protect…;
 to look out = to be careful.
Fill in the correct particle(s):
My sister-in-law is looking …..1a good baby-sitter who would look …..2her two-
year-old daughter.
She looks …….3 to irresponsible people even if they looked …. 4to her.
2. Uncountable nouns: furniture; news; information; advice; luggage;

16
 bread; soap; flour…
3.Partitive phrases used with uncountable nouns: an item of; a piece of; a bar of; a
loaf of…
4.The Present Perfect
Use: to express:
 an action before another present action or moment;
 a completed action whose results are effective in the present;
 actions which happened at an unstated time;
 personal experiences or changes which have happened;
 emphasis on number ;
 a recently completed action.
Time Adverbials: ever, never, just, already, yet, lately, recently, so far, up to/till now,
this month/year…, for…,since…,
How long…? Questions.
Form
Affirmative: S + have/has + 3rd form of the verb…
Interrogative: Have/Has + S + 3rd form of the verb…?
Negative: S + have/has + not + 3rd form of the verb…(short form: haven’t/hasn’t).

Practice

1.Identify the present perfect forms of the verbs in the text and the expressions of
time which accompany (and require) such verb forms.
2.Jobs
What does a policeman do? Gives fines,…
lawyer
reporter
football player
physicist
physician

3.What has just happened ? (Penny Ur, page 92)

Make up sentences to match the cues:
 Oh!
 Oh?
 Congratulations!
 Welcome!
 Good bye!
 Thank goodness!
4.Write a resume using the

Resume(hints)below.

17
 RICH ANDREWS

OBJECTIVE
[Click here and type objective]

EXPERIENCE
1990–1994 Arbor Shoe Southridge, SC
National Sales Manager
 Increased sales from $50 million to $100 million.
 Doubled sales per representative from $5 million to $10 million.
 Suggested new products that increased earnings by 23%.

1985–1990 Ferguson and Bardell Southridge, SC

District Sales Manager
 Increased regional sales from $25 million to $350 million.
 Managed 250 sales representatives in 10 Western states.
 Implemented training course for new recruits — speeding

profitability.

1980–1984 Duffy Vineyards Southridge, SC

Senior Sales Representative
 Tripled division revenues for each sales associate.
 Expanded sales to include mass market accounts.
 Expanded sales team from 50 to 100 representatives.

EDUCATION
1971–1975 Southridge State University Southridge, SC
 B.A., Business Administration and Computer Science.

 Graduated Summa Cum Laude.

INTERESTS
Southridge Board of Directors, running, gardening, carpentry,
computers.

TIPS
Select text you would like to replace, and type your information.

5.Cover Letter (hints).

18

F A X ( 1 2 3 ) 0 9 8 - 7 6 5 4 • E - M A I L M E @ M Y C O M P A N Y. C O M
 [Click here and type return address]

Company Name Here

11 October, 2013

[Click here and type recipient’s address]

Dear Sir or Madam:

Type your letter here. For more details on modifying this letter template, double-click
(. To return to this letter, use the Window menu.
Sincerely,

[Click here and type your name]

[Click here and type job title]

Letter Jumble (page 21, Practise Advanced Writing, Mary Stephens, Longman,
1997).
5.Write a cover letter to a human resource manager job entry advertised by the Coca
Cola Company in “Cotidianul” a week ago.
6.Write a fax (mind the format!) to the Central European University, Nador u. 9,
Budapest, Hungary 1051, Tel: (361)3273069, Fax: (361)3273124, to Mrs. Gabriella
Ivacs, to ask for information about the summer courses organised in the year 20__
for postgraduate students.

Resume, cover letter

19
 UNITATEA 4:
SELF-ESTEEM AND SOCIAL SUCCESS

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea:

 să se exprime în limba engleză asupra problemelor legate de stima de sine a
individului în contemporaneitate
 să folosească diferenţiat Present Perfect Tense Simple şi Present Perfect
Tense Continuous

Cunoştinţe privind regulile generale de formare a timpurilor Present Perfect

Tense
Simple şi Present Perfect Tense Continuous

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995, vol. 1;
Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996;
Exerciţii de gramatica limbii engleze, Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana,
Editura
Albatros, Bucureşti, 1987:

Două ore

20
 Pre-reading
1.Express your agreement/disagreement to the 10 statements of the Rosenberg “Self-
Esteem Scale” (1965) below.

Statement Agree Disagree

1.I feel that I am a person of 1 2
worth, at least on an equal plane
with others.
2.I feel that I have a number of 1 2
good qualities.
3.All in all, I am inclined to feel 1 2
that I am a failure.
4.I am able to do things as well 1 2
as most other people.
5.I feel I do not have much to be 1 2
proud of.
6.I take a positive attitude 1 2
toward myself.
7.On the whole, I am satisfied 1 2
with myself.
8.I wish I could have more 1 2
respect for myself.
9.I certainly feel useless at 1 2
times.
10.At times I think I am no good 1 2
at all.

Text: “How Is Your Self-Esteem?”, Sociology, page 142.

Questions to consider

1.List three or four of your major roles and imagine yourself a failure in each of them
in turn. What steps could you take to protect your self-esteem? Are there any roles
where failure could not be rationalised, where failure would damage your self-
esteem?
2.Where do you stand on the self-esteem scale? (Students calculate their score and
compare them to those obtained by other students in their group).

Supplementary Question
What is your opinion about the quality of the test?

Reading

Text: “How Is Your Self-Esteem?”, Sociology, page 142.

“The ten questions in the box above make up the Rosenberg Self-Esteem
Scale (1965), widely used by psychologists and sociologists to measure self-esteem
(Bohrenstedt & Fisher, 1986; Shamir, 1986).
21
 Some have criticised the scale because it was high social desirability bias;
people may distort their answers to provide more positive images. This is not a
problem, however, because the question at issue is not whether people really do have
anything to be proud of or whether they really are a success or failure. Rather our
concern is how they feel about themselves. Since we are asking about subjective
interpretations rather than objective facts, this is one scale in which everybody really
can be above average.
Some of the more important research findings on self-esteem are the
following:
1.We always think better of ourselves than others do (Wylie, 1979). In this
sense, the looking-glass self is always a little distorted in our own favour.
2.Self-esteem turns out to be very stable. Even blows to major role identities,
such as the loss of a high status job, may not result in much loss of self-esteem
(Shamir, 1986). This stability of self-esteem testifies to the skill most of us have in
negotiating our self-concepts.
3.People with high self-esteem are more confident and hence more open to
new ideas and new relationships. People with low self-esteem, on the other hand, are
defensive and anxious, afraid to challenge themselves or others (Michener et al.,
1986).
____________________________________________________________________
______________

When others’ responses are ambiguous—and they usually are, we

just believe what we want to.
____________________________________________________________________
______________

We cannot all be above average. Yet studies on topics from intelligence to

physical attractiveness show that hardly anybody thinks he or she is below average
and large majorities think they are above average. How do people manage to protect
their self-esteem ? They do so by:
1) Using the identity salience hierarchy to emphasise roles they do well;
2) Being very careful about their choice of looking glasses (Rosenberg, 1979); and
3) Simply interpreting others’ responses in ways that support a positive self-image.
When others’ responses are ambiguous—and they usually are, we just believe
what we want to (Felson, 1985).”

LANGUAGE FOCUS

New Vocabulary: bias; to distort; scale; average; rather; above vs below; looking
glass, mirror; confident; hence; to challenge; yet (in various contexts); salient,
salience; to support; ambiguous.

22
 Practice

Uses of MAKE versus DO.

MAKE DO
An attempt Lessons
Mistakes Homework
Noise Housework
A complaint An exercise
A fuss One’s best
Coffee/tea With(out) something
Breakfast (meal) A favour
Furniture (an object) Justice
One’s bed The washing up
A decision The shopping
An excuse One’s correspondence
Up one’s mind One’s hair
An offer Good/harm
A mess The cooking
A phone call One’s duty
A fortune Business with someone
Money The carpets
Trouble One’s room
Plans The dishes
A living Fine/well
arrangements The grand/polite
damage “Do as you would be done.”
progress “How do you do”
Someone rich/poor
wonders
sense
A speech
An impression
A will
A wish
A remark
Room for…
A trip/journey/voyage
A gesture/a discovery
Somebody angry/happy
A fresh/new start
It one’s business
A guess at
Oneself at home
Sure of
“To make a mountain out of a molehill.”
“To make both ends meet.”
“To make haste slowly.”
“Make hay while the sun shines.”
23
 Practice

Fill in the blanks using either MAKE or DO at the right tense.

1. She has already…………..dinner.
2. It’s hard to ……….a decision at such short notice.
3. Patience ……….wonders (miracles).
4. You shouldn’t………….the polite if you don’t feel that
way.
5. I hate……………the washing up.
6. …….as you would be done.
7. I haven’t …………up my mind as to what I
should……next.
8. She……..her hair at the hairdresser’s last Wednesday.
9. Why haven’t you………your homework.
10. ………the housework is equivalent to chores (A.E.) /
chares (B.E.).
11. She ……always……….a mountain out of a molehill.
12. ………hay while the sun shines.
13. ………haste slowly.
14. ………yourselves at home.
15. Don’t……such a fuss!

PRONUNCIATION : hierarchy.

Follow-up activities: Sociology, page 142, (Questions to Consider).

1. List three or four of your major
roles and imagine yourself a
failure in each of them in turn.
What steps could you take to
protect your self-esteem? Are
there any roles where failure
could not be rationalised, where
failure would damage your self-
esteem?
2. Where do you stand on the self-
esteem scale?

GRAMMAR FOCUS

1.The verb turn + preposition:

 Turn against = start disliking someone/something;

24
  Turn down = 1.reduce the volume of…; 2.refuse a request;
 Turn off = make something stop working;
 Turn on = make something work;
 Turn up = increase the volume of…

Practice

Fill in the correct particles:

The way Jim turned.…….1the offer, eventually made the boss
turn………….2him. He didn’t either listen or at least turn……….3the volume of
the CD player while the boss was talking to him. On the contrary, after a few
minutes he even turned………4the volume.
The boss got angry and turned the player……..5 Yet, Jim immediately did the
opposite, turned it…….6and declined the offer.
2.The structures “Whether…or not/Whether…or whether”(see the text). Briefly
comment on “What a distressing contrast between the radiant intelligence of the
child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.” (S. Freud) using these structures
(“Whether…or not/Whether…or whether”).

3.Long Adjectives
Degrees of Comparison
Positive Comparative Superlative
careful More careful than The most careful of/in
expensive Expensive expensive
demanding demanding demanding

Cross out the unnecessary words:

a) He is as very absent minded as his sister.
b) His insight on the issue was more deeper than expected.
c) The environment was the many most comfortable one available at the time.
d) The side effects were the less important for the chemical reaction.
e) The sooner the upcoming session the more faster the problem is worked out.

4.The Present Perfect Progressive vs the Present Perfect

Use: to express:
 an action which has started before another present action/moment, and has
continued up to the moment of speaking, and may continue even afterwards;
 a finished action before another present action/moment, to emphasise the idea
of duration;
 actions which have visible results in the present;
 irritation, anger, annoyance, explanation or criticism.
Choose the right item:
1. Aunt Ellie is out of breath because she……………………in the orchard for a
couple of hours.
a. worked; b. has worked; c. has been working.
2. She……………….many dozens of fruit so far.
a. picked; has picked; has been picking.
3. She still…………………….to lean the ladder against a tree, though she is tired.
25
 a. want; b. wants; c. wanted.
4. Dropping out is not her style. So, she……….still………………her best to finish
the job.
a. has done; b. has been doing; c. is doing.
Time Expressions:
for, since, how long.
Form:
Affirmative: Subject + have/has + been + verb-ing…
Interrogative: Have/Has + Subject + been + verb-ing…?
Negative: Subject + have/has + not + been + verb-ing….

Practice

Write a letter to a friend telling him/her about the things that have changed in your
life over the last year.

How we feel about ourselves

26
 UNITATEA 5:
HUSKY HAD BEEN VERY HEALTHY

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea:

- să se familiarizeze cu un vocabular minimal referitor la problemele privind
sănătatea vs spitalizarea într-o instituţie medicală
 să cunoască şi să utilizeze corect sensurile unor verbe cu prepoziţie precum:
catch, bring, keep.

Cunoştinţe privind noţiuni generale de vocabular legate de verbele cu prepoziţie

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995, vol. 1;
Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996;
Exerciţii de gramatica limbii engleze, Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana,
Editura
Albatros, Bucureşti, 1987:

Două ore

Pre-reading

Talking about health and diseases (contagious, chronic, common disease). The
human body.

Reading

Text: HUSKY HAD BEEN VERY HEALTHY, pages108-111, Changing Times,

Changing Tenses.

Husky Yellowhair is a little boy on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

27
It’s difficult for his family to get to a doctor, because they don’t have a car or a
telephone. Their closest neighbours live ten miles* away.
Last month Husky had caught a cold. He’d felt sick for three days, so his
mother wanted to bring him to a doctor. She’d kept him in bed the whole time, and
she’d given him medicine every day for three days. Still, he didn’t feel any better. On
the third day, he developed a fever. At that time, Husky’s parents asked some friends
to take them to the hospital.
At the hospital, Husky tried to sleep. He put his head in his mother’s lap.
From time to time he looked for the doctor, but he didn’t really want to see him.
Husky had always been afraid of doctors and hospitals. Up to that time, Husky had
been very healthy, so he hadn’t seen many doctors. As he was waiting, he grew more
afraid. The family had waited for an hour when the doctor came.
The young doctor found the problem immediately. The cold had gone to
Husky’s ears, and he’d developed an ear infection. Although it wasn’t a serious
disease, it had caused the pain and the fever. With stronger medicine, Husky would
be well soon.
* 1, 609. 3 metres

LANGUAGE FOCUS

Vocabulary: sick, disease, ill(ness); a fever, hay fever, feverish; lap, laptop; health(y);
to catch (a cold); to pick up an infection.

GRAMMAR FOCUS

1.The verb catch + preposition.

To catch Up with = Become equal to others

on = become popular
On to = understand
Up on = bring/come up to date

2.The verb bring + preposition.

To bring along = to fetch with

on = cause
out = produce
up = educate/rear/raise children
3.The verb keep + preposition.

To keep up = Go forward
on = continue
off = maintain a distance
In(with somebody) = remain on good terms with
out = avoid

Practice

Fill in the blanks with the suitable prepositions (mind the explanations in bold in the
28
brackets):
One strange happening caught…..(became popular) with dozens of people.
Two tomatoes were jogging in the street. One of them, some steps behind the
other, cried…….(exclaimed), “Keep…….(continue) jogging! I’ll
keep…….(maintain a distance) for a few seconds. And keep…………(avoid)
trouble. I’m a bit out of breath. I’ll catch…………….(reach the same stage) you.”
The tomato ahead couldn’t keep……(remain in good terms) with the one
behind--after their recent make up—because a bike ridden astray
brought……..(caused) a horrible accident that simply smashed the latter. [play on
words: “ketch up” vs “catch up”].

4.The Article: Definite (“the”); Indefinite (“a”/”an”); Zero. (see grammar reference).
Fill in the blanks with “a”/”an”/”the” where an article is necessary:
1) He is …….1undergraduate student.
2) He goes to…….2university in …….3morning every day from Monday to Friday.
3) His friend came to ……4university yesterday to bring him …….5keys that he had
forgotten at…..6home.
4) Fortunately, ……7”T.M.” University is not very far from ……8district they live
in.

5.The Past Perfect Tense

Use: to express an action before another past action/moment.
Time Expressions: before, for…, since…, after , just, already, yet, ever never,
till/until, when, by, by the time.
Form:
Affirmative: S + had + 3rd form of the verb ….
Interrogative: Had + S + 3rd form of the verb ….?
Negative: S + had + not + 3rd form of the verb ….(short form: hadn’t).

Choose the appropriate verb form:

1) He………………..away the old worn out hat two weeks before he went shopping
for another one.
a. has thrown; b. had thrown; c. threw.
2) The client said he……..already………a shrink before.
a. had seen; b. saw; c. has seen.
1) We……cranky because of the bad weather yesterday.
a. are; b. was; c. were.
2) The ozone layer………………..thinner and thinner.
a. gets; b. is getting; c. get.

Marriage, family life

29
 UNITATEA 6:
BALANCING EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea:

 să se exprime în limba engleză asupra problemelor ridicate de abandonul
şcolar
 să cunoască utilizarea timpurilor Past Perfect Tense Simple şi Past Perfect
Tense Continuous
 să îşi reîmprospăteze cunoştinţele referitoare la punctuaţia limbii engleze

Cunoştinţe privind formarea timpurilor Past Perfect Tense Simple şi Past Perfect
Tense
Continuous

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995, vol. 1;
Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996;
Exerciţii de gramatica limbii engleze, Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana, Editura
Albatros, Bucureşti, 1987:

Două ore

30
Pre-reading:

Group Work: Mention at least 5 shortcomings of the Romanian educational system in

terms of equity (equal opportunities and access) and excellence (competitive process
and results, creativity). Briefly comment on this issue.

Reading:

Text: Sociology, page383.

BALANCING EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE

In 1983, an 18-member National Commission on Excellence in Education
issued a report that was extremely critical of U.S. education. The report indicated that
13 percent of all 17-year-olds and as much as 40 percent of minority youths are
functionally illiterate. In a comparison of U.S. students with students from 21 other
nations, Americans scored the worst on 7 of 19 achievement tests and never came in
either first or second. The commission argued that the problem was caused not by
factors beyond our control but simply by lack of insight and will. The solutions
recommended included:
1) a more demanding sequence of basic courses;
2) longer school days and school years, and
3) higher standards for school achievement.
Generally, the call for excellence in education has been well received. By
1984, 17 states had instituted competency testing for high school graduation and 7
more were in the process of implementing it. Increasingly, however, policy makers
are facing the dilemma posed by the potentially conflicting demands of equity and
excellence (Alexander et al., 1985).

THE DROPOUT PROBLEM

Despite the sharp expansion in education in the last decades, a substantial

minority of the population has not graduated from high school. In 1984, fully 14
percent of all young adults 25-29 had not graduated from high school; this figure is
21 percent among blacks and 41 percent among Hispanic young adults.
These dropouts pose a potentially major social and economic problem. As
one study summarised the issues:
“Dropping out of high school is associated with an array of individual and
social costs. For the individual, failure to complete high school is associated with
limited occupational and economic prospects, disenfranchisement from society and
its institutions, and substantial loss of personal income over his or her lifetime. For
society, premature school-leaving is associated with increased expenditures for
government assistance to individuals and families, higher rates of crime, and

31
maintenance of costly programmes for purposes such as employment and training.
(Steinberg et al., 1984:113).”
For all these reasons, the dropout problem is a social policy issue. It is an
issue that the reports on excellence ignore altogether. An important question for
policy makers is whether steps made to increase excellence—higher standards, more
basics, longer school years or school days—will increase the dropout problem. If
imposition of higher standards increases the SAT scores of those students who
remain but doubles the dropout rate, especially among minority or disadvantaged
students, will we have gained? Or, as one recent report claims, will this be a
“blueprint for failure”? (McDill et al., 1986:139).

LANGUAGE FOCUS

To issue, an issue; (il)literate, (il)literacy; achieve(ment); youth(s); to argue,

argument; beyond; lack of insight and will; will, testament; demanding; sequence;
call for excellence; politics vs. policy; to pose; to drop out, a dropout; array;
disenfranchisement; loss vs. gain; income; expenditure; to maintain, maintenance;
costly, expensive, dear; altogether; to impose, imposition; to take the floor;
compulsory; eel; squirrel; nervous breakdown; to double vs. to treble; to claim;
blueprint; to sweep (over) –swept – swept; tide; mediocre, mediocrity; tough; trend,
tendency; to attempt; sharp expansion; despite, in spite of.

Punctuation marks:

 comma ,
 full stop .
 semicolon ;
 colon :
 inverted commas “ ”
 hyphen -
 question mark ?
 exclamation mark !
 dots …

GRAMMAR FOCUS

I. The Present Perfect and the Past Perfect (recycling).

Practice

1.Identify the present perfect and the past perfect forms of the verbs in the text
above.
2.How much freedom should children have? (B.J. Thomas, Advanced Vocabulary
and Idiom, Longman, 1989, page 6).
II. The Past Perfect Progressive
Use: to express:
 an action continuing up to a specific time in the past;
 a continuous, past action which had visible results or effect in the past.

32
 Time Expressions: before, for.., since…, after , just, aready, yet, ever never,
till/until, when, by, by the time.
Form:
Affirmative: S + had + verb -ing….
Interrogative: Had + S + verb -ing….?
Negative: S + had + not + verb -ing….(short form: hadn’t).

Choose the correct item:

1) She……………in a stable family before she got married in 2000.
a. has been brought up; b. was brought up; c. had been brought up.
2) Harry………..an ugly accident a couple of years before they moved house.
a. had; b. had had; c. has had.
3) He is weary. He………………….at the boring project all day.
a. has been working; b. has worked; c. had worked.
4) They were worried. The police……………….for their kidnapped children for a
fortnight without finding a clear lead.
a. had looked; b. has been looking; c. had been looking.
5) He……………..all the possible assumptions until yesterday morning when he had
that illumination.
a. had exhausted; b. had been exhausting; c. has exhausted.

Listening

Listen to “The Animal School” fable and find the flaws that such a school has,
from the points of view of equity and excellence (see the tape script).
Also comment on “The family that learns together, earns together.”
Tape script
The Animal School

Once upon a time, an animal meeting was held in the forest. The issue at
stake was animal education. The animals were going to set up a school. An Animal
School Board was elected.
Despite some stifled protest, the Animal School Board decided on a common
curriculum for all the animals. The four compulsory curriculum areas were: Running,
Climbing, Swimming, and Flying. There were no optional subjects. All the animal
students had to attend all these four types of classes.
But, no matter how dedicated efforts the students made, some difficulties
were encountered.
The duck was very good at Swimming, even better than the teacher, but it got
poor grades at Flying; and the Running classes were a disaster as the duck hurt its
legs because of over-exercise so that even the performance at Swimming got lower.
The squirrel was excellent at Climbing but had some problems with taking off
from the ground at Flying as it expressed preference to fly down from a tree.
Because of the stress of all the Swimming lessons it had a nervous breakdown and
dropped out.
Some similar experiences had the rabbit—though it was a brilliant student at
Running. Eventually, it had to see an animal psychotherapist because of the
enormous effort made at the other classes.

33
 Anyway, by the end of the school year, a common eel ended up valedictorian
as it could swim well, was able to climb, crawl and fly a little, no matter how small
and insignificant it was.
(adapted from the fable quoted
by Stephen Covey)

the dropout problem

1.Match the concepts in column A to their appropriate definition in column B:

CONCEPT DEFINITION
H. self-actualization 8. unique identity, individuality
I. self-assertion 9. reliance on one’s capacities
J. self-composed 10. the process of understanding
oneself and developing one’s
own capacities and talents
(coined by Abraham Maslow)
K. self-confidence 11. having one’s emotions under
control
L. self-esteem 12. the ability to exercise the will
so as to prevent oneself from
expressing strong emotion or
acting impulsively
M. selfhood 13. behaviour asserting one’s
claims or rights, expressing
confidence in one’s proper
merit or aggressively asserting
the superior quality of one’s
own mind and body
N. self-control 14. one’s good opinion of one’s
dignity or worth

2. Practice
Fill in the blanks using either MAKE or DO at the right tense.
16. She has already…………..dinner.
17. It’s hard to ……….a decision at such short notice.
18. Patience ……….wonders (miracles).
19. You shouldn’t………….the polite if you don’t feel that
way.
20. I hate……………the washing up.
21. …….as you would be done.

34
 22. I haven’t …………up my mind as to what I
should……next.
23. She……..her hair at the hairdresser’s last Wednesday.
24. Why haven’t you………your homework.
25. ………the housework is equivalent to chores (A.E.) /
chares (B.E.).
26. She ……always……….a mountain out of a molehill.
27. ………hay while the sun shines.
28. ………haste slowly.
29. ………yourselves at home.
30. Don’t……such a fuss!

1. H-10, I-13, J-11, K-9, L-14, M-8, N-12

2. 16- made
17- make
18- does
19- make
20- doing
21- do
22- make
23- does
24- done
25- doing
26- making
27- make
28- make
29- make
30- make
BIBLIOGRAFIE

 Adamson, Donald, Practise Your Tenses, Longman, 1996;

 Bădescu, Alice, Gramatica limbii engleze, Editura Ştiinţifică şi
Enciclopedică, Bucureşti, 1984 (sau alte lucrări de gramatică a limbii
engleze);
 Gălăţeanu, Georgiana, Exerciţii de gramatică engleză, Editura Albatros,
1979;
 Gălăţeanu, Georgiana, Exerciţii de gramatică engleză, Editura Albatros,
1987;
 Watkins, Mike, Practise Your Modal Verbs, Longman, 1996.

35
BIBLIOGRAFIE FACULTATIVĂ:
 Conan Doyle, Arthur, The Speckled Band and Other Stories, Heinemann,
1999;
 De Devitiis, G., English Grammar for Communication, Longman, 1991;
 Evans, Virginia, Round up, Longman, 1996;
 Galea, Ileana, Criveanu, I., Ivaş, A., Voia, M., Dicţionar englez român de
expresii verbale, Ed. Echinox, Cluj, 1991;
 Groza Filip, A., Synonyms in Practice, Ed. Dacia, Cluj, 1996;
 Hewings, M., Advanced Grammar in Use, C.U.P., Cambridge, 1999;
 O’Dell, F., McCarthy, M., English Vocabulary in Use, C.U.P., Cambridge,
1994;
 Peterson Wilcox, Patricia, Changing Times, Changing Tenses, U.S.
Information Agency, 1992;
 Plant, P., Everyday English, VEB Verlag, Leipzig, 1978;
 Stancu, Victoriţa, Engleza intensivă, Ed. Niculescu, 1997;
 Thomas, B.J., Intermediate Vocabulary, Longman, 1995;
 Thomas, B.J., Advanced Vocabulary and Idiom, Longman, 1995.

36