IL1ASLEN-Academic Skills and Language for Education

Module Provider: International Study and Language Institute
Number of credits: 0 [0 ECTS credits]
Level:4
Terms in which taught: Autumn term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Ms Sarah Mattin
Email: s.mattin@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module focuses on the academic language and literacy skills needed to perform more effectively at undergraduate level in Education. It is primarily designed for undergraduate Education students whose first language is not English. The module utilises Education-specific texts to develop a range of reading, writing and speaking skills needed for successful completion of assessed coursework tasks.

The module is non-credit-bearing and designed to support students’ disciplinary study, the expectation being that students will apply the skills they have learnt IL1ASLEN in their credit-bearing work. Therefore, for the module itself, there is no assessment or expectation of independent study hours.

Aims:

This module aims to support BA Education students with their transition to the UK HE context and academic culture, with a specific focus on the key academic language and skills needed to successfully complete undergraduate Education coursework assignments. 

By the end of the module, students will be better able to: 

• recognise and respond to the expectations of the key written assignment genres in Education, e.g. the Essay


• employ task-appropriate organisational patterns at paragraph, section and whole-text level


• use a variety of task-appropriate techniques to incorporate and comment on the views of others in their writing


• accurately use the referencing conventions for their discipline


• employ task-appropriate language (grammar and lexis)


• critically evaluate their own and others’ writing


• utilise appropriate oracy skills to accomplish spoken language academic tasks


• read disciplinary texts employing appropriate reading skills and strategies to critically engage with disciplinary texts


• communicate fluently and accurately within their discipline by building their subject-specific vocabulary and grammar

Assessable learning outcomes:

N/A

Additional outcomes:

Outline content:

Classes will focus on the following:

• Recognising and responding to the key coursework assignment genres in Education, e.g. the Essay, including:
  
  
  
  • expected structural & argumentation patterns and how these differ according to task type 
  
  
  • reading-to-write and source use and synthesis processes
  
  
  • how ‘voice’ and ‘stance’ are realised linguistically within Essays
  
  
  
  


• Key skills useful to all academic writing within Education:
  
  
  
  • incorporating sources using paraphrasing, summarising and direct quotation
  
  
  • ‘information flow’ in English-language texts
  
  
  • employing linguistic features of textual cohesion to clearly signal relationships between parts of a text
  
  
  
  


• Grammar for academic communication, including verb tense and form, nominalisation, clause and sentence structure


• Reading skills and strategies for dealing with a range of Education texts and reading purposes 
  
  
  
  • careful reading to build gradual understanding of ideas and relationships between them 
  
  
  • strategic reading to identify: 
    
    
    
    • specific sources or concepts (search reading)
    
    
    • individual words or phrases (scanning)
    
    
    • overall nature and structure of text (skimming)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

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 utilise written texts from Education to develop students’ receptive and productive disciplinary language knowledge and reading skills. 

Teaching will be learner-centred, taking a task-based approach to:

• guided ‘noticing’ of key organisational, argumentative and linguistic features in context


• exercises practicing use of relevant lexical/grammatical items


• scaffolded readin g-to-write exercises


• scaffolded written-language and spoken-language tasks 


• reading collaboratively and interactively, utilising Academic Reading Circle strategies/techniques

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Seminars	16
Guided independent study:	0	0	0
Total hours by term	16	0	0
Total hours for module	16

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method

Percentage

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Formative assessment methods:

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):

1) Required text books: 

2) Specialist equipment or materials: 

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: 

4) Printing and binding: 

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification: 

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence: 

Last updated: 30 March 2023