openings for progression dr lindsay hewitt. background to eal survey 2009 what we know what we think...
Post on 21-Dec-2015
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TRANSCRIPT
- Slide 1
- Openings for Progression Dr Lindsay Hewitt
- Slide 2
- Background to EAL Survey 2009 What we know What we think we know What we dont know What we wanted to find out
- Slide 3
- Aims to provide an insight into the locally lived experience of OU students in Scotland for whom English is not their first language
- Slide 4
- Objectives to identify issues around reading and writing to find out the extent to which OU resources in general and the www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy webpages in particular were accessed and found usefulwww.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy to use the survey findings to inform both the development of language-related resources and staff development for Associate Lecturers.
- Slide 5
- Methodology What we did Who responded Control group
- Slide 6
- Demographics Geographical spread Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) Financial support for course fees Previous educational qualifications (PEQ)
- Slide 7
- Previous educational qualifications
- Slide 8
- Findings: what the students said Reading Writing -Terms -Conceptualisation -Understanding what is expected -Formal writing
- Slide 9
- Resources Course specific resources General resources Information, Advice and Guidance
- Slide 10
- Mitsukos online experience There is a problem for non-native speakers its quite overwhelming. When you open the website, you have lots of links and you dont know which ones are what because there are so many of them. Especially for people of Oriental languages we dont use alphabet and what the screen says is lots of alphabet. Even though weve been studying English for a long time, its still visually quite challenging.
- Slide 11
- Shans personal journey Ive been here for 12 years I work before in the welfare system, right - but the detail you need to know the way they express its difficult. I always think too much in my own language (but) I think in my own language because it helps me remember it better. [Its] very difficult to know how to use new vocabulary when [you] dont know the exact meaning Sometimes Ill use the words, but we cannot copy word by word. Its about expressing myself thats the problem. I find it quite difficult. you need to write about the points, and then you need to argue. And the grammar because Chinese is when we think, its just the opposite way. We think from the beginning, but English is from the end. For example if I say today, what are you doing, what have you done? grammatically its a little bit different, you know, my thinking the sentence structure is different.
- Slide 12
- Ashimas personal journey it was more with the critical how you have to be so critical in the essays because mostly [in India] you just learn whats in the books and you just write it down and you dont need to analyse so I did decide to look around for tips about that but I felt that there could have been more about how to be critical and sort of structure because you start learning as you go on, [but] youre losing marks on the way, right? sometimes in the class the teacher would dictate parts of an answer and youd just write that down, and so if it turns up in the exam, everybody writes the same thing. That wasnt a problem in that system. But obviously here you have to be quite independent in the way you write things that constitute plagiarism here werent plagiarism over there. Im not used to using my own arguments being logical about them I dont think its connected to the language. In India, [we] didnt really plan essays the structure would be in the textbook, if you wanted to discuss theories then youd just put them down one by one. And thats about it. I think most people expect at this stage that you know most of these things so now Im getting a bit embarrassed about it. I think a little more specific hints for instance [about] what being independents about [my tutor] helped by saying that you link two or three different concepts to get a new argument that helped but I need more one technique they use[d] for the first TMA, the next TMA they didnt give that structure but I used the same structure.
- Slide 13
- Outcomes Attainment and progression 30 out of 33 course completed 25 out of 31 students passed 3 failed (2 eligible for re-sit/re-submission) 1 deferral 1 withdrawal 1 post grad student still studying course
- Slide 14
- Reflections Issues around reading and writing Use of resources
- Slide 15
- Recommendations Further research a larger study at this level of detail that looks at attainment, retention & progression for EAL Speakers exploration of the diversity of experience and needs that sits within the overall label of EAL Speaker Dissemination of findings Discussion and staff development
- Slide 16
- Contact Lindsay Hewitt Learning and Teaching Co-ordinator (Widening Participation) OU in Scotland, Learning Development Team [email protected] or [email protected] [email protected]