Intervention: Outline
Context
For 12 weeks over this summer I will be a tutor of Pre-sessional English. This will be my sixth year teaching on these courses and my fifth online. By their nature, all students are International, non-native speakers of English. I am yet to learn who my tutees will be, but they will all have applied for a course at either Foundation, Undergraduate or Postgraduate level, and progression onto their chosen course is conditional upon success on the Pre-sessional programme, making it ‘high-stakes’. There is limited time in which to demonstrate a measurable degree of language-related progress.
Student Profile
My expectations, based upon experience of previous cohorts, is that I will be tutor to a group of between 10 and 16 international students. Being online it is likely that they will be studying from their home country, geographically distant from one another, but it is possible that some may be in London. The vast majority are expected to be South-East Asian, predominantly Chinese. The nature of ‘language classes’ is that different students will possess different strengths and weaknesses across the four language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening).
Approach and Rationale
The course consists of both formative and summative assessments, with feedback being given for the former only. There are a substantial number of changes being introduced this year, so I won’t know the actual assessment structure until early in June. It can be crucial for the students’ success to be able to understand feedback they receive, reflect on it meaningfully, and apply this to their graded work, all within a tight timeframe. I wish to initiate research-based approaches to sharing feedback that is targetted towards non-native speakers who additionally may have an educational background quite different from our Western model.
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Preliminary Resources
Alexander, O., Argent, S. and Spencer, J. (2018) EAP Essentials: A teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Second Edition. Reading: Garnet Publishing.
Barrow, M. (2006) ‘Assessment and student transformation: linking character and intellect’, Studies in Higher Education, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 357-372.
Biggs, J. (1999) ‘What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning’, Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 18, issue 1, pp. 57-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0729436990180105 (Accessed 13 March 2024).
Hyland, K. (2006) English for academic purposes: an advanced resource book. Abingdon: Routledge.
Race, P. (2001) A Briefing on Self, Peer and Group Assessment, York: LTSN Generic Centre. Available at: https://phil-race.co.uk/download/5647/ (Accessed 28 February 2024).
Rear, D. (2017), ‘Reframing the Debate on Asian Students and Critical Thinking: Implications for Western Universities’, Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 18-33. https://doi.org/10.20355/C5P35F (Accessed 4 March 2024.).