Contemporary Topics (4th Edition)

New to this edition

• New subject areas, presented as one-on-one academic lectures, emphasize professional applications such as software engineering, multimedia design, information technology, urban planning, and social psychology.
• Learning Outcomes listed at the outset of each unit let students know the goals of each unit and what their learning experience will be.
• New audio interviews with topic experts provide context for the upcoming unit lecture.
• Bottom-up listening and pronunciation exercises emphasize important principles and improve realtime perception.
• An oral presentation activity, supported by specific preparation and delivery strategies, concludes each unit and includes the opportunity for peer evaluation.
• Proficiency assessments composed of short academic audio lectures and multiple-choice exams simulate TOEFL-style test format for practice on high-stakes tests.
• New Essential Online Resources include audio, video, and teacher materials (assessments, teaching notes, answer keys, audioscripts, presentation points, and more).

Other highlights

• Corpus vocabulary drawn from the Academic Word List ensures that students are exposed to core academic vocabulary.
• Collaborative activities with presentation strategies and peer evaluations allow students to make connections and develop critical thinking skills.
• Unit comprehension tests assess students’ grasp of key concepts presented in the unit lecture.
• Mapped to the Global Scale of English.