IL1APRN: Academic Skills and Language for Politics, Economics and International Relations

Module code: IL1APRN

Module provider: International Study and Language Institute

Credits: 0

Level: Level 1 (Certificate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Mr James Wylie, email: j.wylie@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Mr Daniel Devane, email: d.devane@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This non-credit-bearing module is delivered at the University of Reading for students who are studying degrees delivered by the School of Politics, Economics and International Relations (SPEIR) at undergraduate level. It is primarily for international students whose first language is not English. The module recognises the need to focus primarily on the essay genre.  

This module aims to develop the students' familiarity with, and linguistic ability to perform effectively, the written genre, the essay, and also the spoken genre, the presentation. This developmental enhancement has been designed to be transferrable to other modules, both concurrent and future, and thus help facilitate the students' assessment task and overall performance in their undergraduate SPEIR studies at the University of Reading. The module also aims to enhance students' academic English self-confidence. 

Module learning outcomes

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

1. Apply knowledge of the argument essay and presentation genres to interpret assignment tasks and employ appropriate organisational patterns in their completion;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of academic integrity through appropriate use of referencing conventions, including the paraphrase and summary of source material;
3. Employ task-appropriate language (grammar and lexis) in written and spoken texts;
4. Demonstrate criticality by using a variety of task-appropriate techniques to incorporate and comment on the views of others in their essays and presentations. 

Module content

The content of this module is divided into two strands of learning:

Strand 1: Essays

• Recognising common essay command words
• Applying appropriate use of voice, including techniques for guiding and involving the reader
• Relating source synthesis to essay writing
• Relating argument to essay structure
• Writing a thesis statement
• Appling critical evaluation to a critique

Strand 2: Presentations

• Producing a persuasive presentation
• Distinguishing between spoken presentation and written language
• Breaking down a presentation into comprehensible chunks

Both strands will focus on consolidating and enhancing students’ use of language for academic communication, and developing self-confidence in academic communication.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

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

It takes a discipline-specific approach to language and literacy development using example student texts and published Politics and International Relations specific sources in classroom tasks. 

Teaching and learning is facilitated in a generally task-based approach through a combination of reflective and productive activities, guided analysis of extracts of example student essays and published texts, and peer and tutor feedback. The guided analysis of texts involves 'noticing' of key organisational and linguistic features in context, and productive activities are appropriately scaffolded. Interactive communicative tasks are regularly included, both longer presentation tasks and shorter reflective and discussion tasks. Two of the sessions will be delivered in workshop style allowing students to tailor the sessions to individual needs. The in-person delivery of the module will be supported by digital tools in the classroom where appropriate (e.g. short interactive learning tasks and/or quizzes). 

Study hours

At least 16 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

There is no assessment on this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

There is no assessment on this module.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Sessions will take a task-based approach, enabling students to receive feedback from the instructor and from other students during class discussions.

Reassessment

Additional costs