IL1ASLN: Academic Skills and Language for Postgraduate Success

Module code: IL1ASLN

Module provider: International Study and Language Institute

Credits: 0

Level: Level 1 (Certificate)

When you'll be taught: Summer (vacation) semester

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

Module co-convenor: Mr Anastasios Asimakopoulos, email: a.asimakopoulos@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

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

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: No placement specified

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 2 October 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module provides induction into UK academic culture and expectations, and enhancement of the academic skills and practices needed for successful participation in taught postgraduate degree-programme study. Students will become more aware of the types of writing assignments, or ‘genres’, they will likely encounter on their degrees, and associated academic values, practices and processes. The module will develop students’ awareness of the characteristics of research texts within their intended disciplinary field and how to critically evaluate published research. They will also gain understanding and practice of the spoken communication demands of their degrees, be introduced to the independent learning expectations of UK postgraduate study, and gain confidence and experience using Reading’s learning platforms and digital resources. Self-awareness and reflection are also integral features of the module. Students will be invited to submit two formative, assessment-for-learning focused tasks, a written Critical Review and an Individual Presentation, on which they will receive criteria-based feedback designed to help them to effectively apply learning from the module in their degree-programme coursework.

Module learning outcomes

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

1. Write a critical review of research articles in one discipline showing suitable text selection, organisation, and language to describe, compare and evaluate research
2. Drawing on a range of communication skills, give a clear, logically structured presentation to reflect on their own academic practices and the implications for their degree programme study
3. Use appropriate listening skills to discuss information from video interviews with University of Reading academics within an individual oral presentation
4. Ask and respond appropriately to questions about specific points following a presentation
5. Acknowledge sources accurately within texts produced, using appropriate in-text and end-of-text citation methods

Module content

The module will help students to acquire the skills and knowledge to engage effectively with tasks common to UK postgraduate degree programmes by:

• Raising students' awareness of the range of coursework genres used for assessment on UK university degree programmes focusing on their social/communicative purposes, and their structure and language.
• Applying given evaluation criteria for analysing research articles/studies
• Selecting appropriate articles from a reading list
• Producing sections of the tasks with guided supported practice i.e. improving the response through tutor feedback on draft work
• Practice of language appropriate for the context of the oral (presentation) and written (a Critical Review) genres and topics.

The module will also focus on developing key academic skills such as: 

• Exercising autonomy and initiative in time management for coursework tasks 
• Reflecting on the skills and language needed to continue developing 
• Recognising what academic integrity is and taking steps to engage with this. 
• Becoming a confident user of the university’s VLE (Blackboard), submission and assessment tools e.g., Feedback Studio, and other learning technologies (e.g., Microsoft 365)

Structure

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 the students’ intended disciplinary field as well as discussing international student experiences.

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.  

Study hours

At least 56 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.

Critical review – Written coursework assignment – 1500 words

Individual presentation – 5-8 minutes – followed by 2-3 minutes Q&A

Reassessment

Additional costs