G azərbaycan respublikasi təHSİl naziRLİYİ azərbaycan texniKİ universiteti M. M. QƏNDİLova e. Q. İsmayilova

PREFACE
Education is the future of the nation

Haydar Aliyev
“The English Language for Higher Technical Schools” is a main course book for students in higher technical education who have completed initial courses in English.

It consists of three parts: part I, part II, and part III.

The first part contains thirteen units. Each unit contains grammar models comprehension and conversation drills, exercises, texts and jokes related to the grammar.

The second part contains twenty units with the texts in different fields of engineering, key words, questions, exercises.

The third part of the book consists of a grammar reference in Azerbaijani, reading, comprehension and eight appendices of difficult items for students. The level ranges from pre-intermediate to intermediate, with more material for pre-intermediate students studying Engineering English.

We have arranged the theses of the book as a progression, and we would like to advise teachers adhere to the order of presentation of units, however, each unit is self-contained and can stand on its own.

In Part I, the fist page of each unit contains a detailed breakdown of the unit’s contents. It’s, perhaps, worth pointing out that the Texts form the basis of each unit; all the exercises on grammar, lexis and conversational drills are directly related to them. There are also jokes, and various short stories in the units.

The emphasis, in the texts, is on modern English, as we have spoken today.

However, the aim of the book is concentrating on frequently used constructions as the students have already studied a certain amount of English grammar and lexis. The treatment of grammar in the book, also places emphasis on the current language, spoken, rather than on grammatical terminology and rules. Most exercises we have presented in the form of conversation rather than in isolated, unrelated sentences.

Lexical exercises appear in a variety of contexts: drills, texts with gaps, etc. The purpose of the exercises is to create situational reinforcement, by offering situations in which we can naturally use the words and word combinations. The exercises we grouped on particular purposes. The grammar points we practice in the context of, or in connection with the texts.

Part II contains texts on specialized fields of engineering with key words and expressions, supplementary texts, conversational drills, exercises, bilingual translations, and questions.

Part III contains grammar reference in Azerbaijani, supplementary reading and eight appendixes on particular points. “Just Reading” and discussion section take up and develop the problem issues raised in the unit texts of Part II and make up the topical content of each unit. These additions to the basic texts, we have designed to provide opportunities to various kinds of discussions.

Letter writing, with its many forms and uses, is another activity in the third part, as the writing skills are often the most difficult skills for students, as there are important difficulties between spoken and written English.

We would like to mention that the book has the CD.

We have used the following textbooks and exercise books dealing with grammar, lexis and engineering.

Robert j. Dixson Exercises in English Conversation, a new revised edition 2001. Prentice Hall Regents, Englewood Cliffs, RJ Dixson Associates-2001. John Eastwood, Oxford Practice Grammar, Oxford University Press – 2002. Familiar Quotations. Longman - 1999. Language Laugh-in. London - 1997. English for Academic Study, John Trzeciak and S.E. Mackay. International Book Distributors Ltd - 2001.