Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Notes taken from the proceedings of the Student Writing in Transition Symposium 2011, Nottingham Trent University

Increasing Seminar Participation; Lessons from EAP for everyone

Dr Ellie Kennedy

1) Purpose of seminars?

- Explore, question, small group discussion, access to tutor

International students in transition. School to uni; home culture to UK culture; one education system to another; learning in their home culture to another.

Problems they might face:

- Difficulty following the discussion

- Difficulty expressing ideas

- Difficulty understanding materials used

- Difficulty understanding task instructions

- Unused to speaking out

- Unused to questioning others

Importance of seminar participation for academic success.

- Participation in classroom discussions

- Participation in debate with classmates

- Ask for clarification

Internationalisation

- Recruiting more international students

- International content for modules

- EAP courses

We could also internationalise teaching styles to focus on international learning needs, even in subject modules/seminars

Case Study from Business Seminar:

New Coke: A Classic Brand Failure

Ideal student can read the text quickly, understand the content easy, critically engage readily.

EAP – Style Approaches

EAP Professionals:

- attuned to the particular needs of international students

- used to adapting materials

But, EAP methods can be used across disciplines…

How would you approach ‘New Coke’ material to maximise engagement?

- You tube advert clip

- Give materials and task beforehand

- For and against

- Break into sections/language/simplify/add changes

- Make it interactive – taste test? … brand loyalty

- Add human story

- Role play

FLUTE: 5 Step Process

1) Focus

2) Language

3) Understanding content

4) Thinking

5) Engagement

1) Focus

Before reading, give ‘soft’ questions, i.e. what is failure?

2) Language

Plan a task to help students identify key words; help them to define/understand. E.g. list of marketing strategies in date order, help structure text, help introduce key terms (blind test)

3) Understanding content

Break into sections; comprehension tes; what happened? What happens next? After reading: process main ideas; why did Coke introduce New Coke? Why did it fail? Outcomes? Discuss in groups so students more at ease.

4) Thinking

Give students chance to formulate a position on main issue; groups discuss ‘what would you advise if you were a market researcher for Coke? Show there are multiple answers.

5) (Critical) Engagement

Students ready to engage so time to ask the question, ‘was new coke a tactical manoeuvre or a mistake?’; students can now self-select a stance; more ready to discuss/debate/interact/participate

Questions to think about…

- How can we share ideas at our HEI’s?

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