IL1PIALS3N-Integrated Academic Language Skills 3

Module Provider: International Study and Language Institute
Number of credits: 0 [0 ECTS credits]
Level:4
Terms in which taught: Autumn / Summer term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2022/3

Module Convenor: Mr James Wylie
Email: j.wylie@reading.ac.uk

Module Co-convenor: Miss Victoria Collins
Email: v.collins@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module is taught twice to two different cohorts of students, one in the Autumn term and one in the Summer term.  The contact hours are listed for the first iteration of teaching in the Autumn term and these same contact hours are repeated for the second iteration of teaching in the Summer term.

As a component of the Pre-sessional English Language Programme (PSE), this module aims to help students develop their academic language skills for successful engagement with their university degree programme study.   It prepares students for entry onto the Pre-sessional English Programme exit modules, Integrated Academic Language Skills 4 (IL1PIALS4N) and Academic Practices and Genres (IL1PAPGPN/IL1PAPGUN ), which further develop and summatively assess students' readiness to start their degree programmes.

The module will take a task-based, contextualised approach which integrates practice and development of receptive (listening, reading) and productive (speaking, writing) academic English communication skills. Themes explored help to promote understanding of issues affecting students' personal and academic development and engagement with supportive environments at the University of Reading.

Aims:

This module aims to help students develop their academic language proficiency for successful engagement with their university degree programme study, integrating practice of the fours skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

• Formulate clearly defined questions and a data collection instrument which allow for small scale primary research amongst peers.


• Discuss and examine the experience of groupwork in a written reflection.


• Co-construct selected sections of a research report [ the introduction, methods, results and discussion] employing appropriate organisational and linguistic features according to the stages of the genre.


• Give a clear, logically structured presentation to propose suggestions for future action and evaluate these, expanding and supporting ideas with subsidiary points and relevant examples.


• Ask and respond to questions about specific points following a presentation.


• Draw on a wide range of grammatical structures and vocabulary to express complex ideas with reasonable fluency and accuracy.


• Attribute sources accurately within texts they produce using appropriate in-text and end-of-text citation methods.

Additional outcomes:

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a global understanding of an extended presentation.


• Collaborate and participate appropriately in group work and manage group tasks effectively.


• Exercise autonomy and initiative in time management and project management


• Become a confident user of the university’s VLE (Blackboard), submission and assessment tools e.g. Feedback Studio, and other learning technologies e.g. Office 365


• Use a variety of strategies and resources for the purpose of independent language study.


• Demonstrate an awareness of the text organisation and features of a research article and use this to locate key information


• Reflect on the skills and language needed to continue developing and understand how to use tutor feedback to identify areas for improvement

Outline content:

The module will help students to acquire the skills and knowledge to engage effectively with spoken and written tasks common to university study through:

• Analysing the purpose, stages and key features of the spoken and written coursework genres.


• Extracting information from spoken and written texts relevant to the purpose of the tasks.


• Engaging in a small scale simulation of the research process with the design of a data collection instrument to investigate the given topic with peers.


• Producing sections of the tasks with guided supported practice i.e. improving the response through tutor or peer feedback on draft work.


• Co-constructing the final response to the tasks independently [of the tutor] for final assessment.


• Practice of language to achieve a good control of grammatical forms, appropriate use of vocabulary for the context of the genre and topic, and a generally appropriate level of intelligibility.

Global context:

This module supports internationalisation at Reading by facilitating successful and equal inclusion of students whose first language is not English in UK degree programme study.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The module will take a task-based, contextualised approach which integrates practice and development of receptive (listening, reading) and productive (speaking, writing) academic English communication skills around accessible themes.

The module will adopt an overall ‘genre’ approach, taking the social purpose of texts as the starting point to explicate organisation/structure and key language features.

The Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) framework, which links language to purpose and genre, will guide the teaching of linguistic and discoursal features of academic communication.

The module consists of practical classes and guided independent study tasks. Team work and discussion are a central element to this course. 

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures	10
Seminars	54
Guided independent study:
Advance preparation for classes	10
Preparation for presentations	10
Preparation for seminars	28
Completion of formative assessment tasks	34
Total hours by term	146	0	0
Total hours for module	146

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method

Percentage

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Formative assessment methods:

There are two formative group assessments: a group written assignment and a group oral presentation, and an individual written reflection.

Penalties for late submission:

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

Reassessment arrangements:

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

Last updated: 9 January 2023