Volume 3, Issue 2
ISSN 2397-3072
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ISEJ The International Student Experience Journal
Editorial Phil Horspool, University of Leicester Articles International Student Wellbeing and Academic Progress. Jonathan Sibley Making sense of academic life in the UK: the voice of the direct entry student at UWE. Jane Saville and David Hewish Social Networking for EAP students. Tim Leigh The transition experiences of an international postgraduate student: Her narrative. Gwyneth James Can EAP meet the source use needs of international Master’s students? Mary Davis Advertorial Integrated Skills in English (ISE). Trinity College London Conference review BALEAP PIM. University of Sheffield. Gary Riley-Jones
ISEJ – International Student Experience Journal
Volume 3(2), Autumn/Winter 2015
Editorial Phil Horspool University of Leicester Welcome to the Autumn/Winter 2015 special issue of ISEJ. Our last issue in spring 2015 contained two reviews of the 2015 BALEAP conference held at the University of Leicester. In this issue, four of the presentations related to the student experience at that conference have been turned into articles. The exception is an article all the way from Australia with Jonathan Sibley from Central Queensland University considering the relationship between wellbeing and academic progress and arguing the case for an early detection of a lack of wellbeing leading to intervention and a possible rescuing from academic failure. The conference related articles begin with one from Jane Saville and David Hewish from the University of the West of England in Bristol. The article is again research-based with research leading to the ‘introduction of pre-arrival tasks across all faculties and the formation of a cross-service International Student Experience Group’ (Saville and Hewish, 2015). Timothy Leigh from the University of Bolton continues the theme of the challenge of studying abroad for international students and reports on the use of a social networking site to bring international students together. Gwyneth James from the University of Hertfordshire focuses on the transition experiences of one of the students who participated in her doctoral research in which she used a ‘Narrative Inquiry’ approach. Finally from BALEAP 2015 we have Mary Davis, from Oxford Brookes University, who asks the key question ‘Can EAP meet the source use needs of international Master’s students?’ and concludes that presessional programmes can help but that further EAP teaching throughout their time at university is necessary to help the students understand more complex aspects of source use. In addition to these, we have a review of the Sheffield BALEAP PIM from Gary Riley-Jones and our advertorial is about Trinity’s integrated skills in English test (ISE). This test is just one of two SELT tests accepted by the UKBA for entry to UK education institutions through the Tier 4 route. In the spring/summer 2016 issue we hope to include both a student and teacher perspective on the test (please contact us if interested). In other news, we are sad to announce that two of our founding members, Caroline Burns and Ellie Kennedy, have decided to take a break from our Editorial Panel due to work and other commitments. We are glad that both will be keeping in contact and hope to return in the future. However, this has given us the opportunity to recruit Kerry Tavakoli from St Andrews onto our Editorial Panel. Many of you will be familiar with Kerry as she is currently a member of the BALEAP executive committee, and coordinates an annual conference on various aspects of EAP at the University of St Andrews. We also have an Editorial Team of seventeen reviewers who help with mentoring, reviewing and proofreading. We have decided that we would like to have a separate group who are responsible for just proofreading and if you would be interested in this then please contact us as we would like to build up this group. Finally although this is officially the autumn/winter issue I’d like to take the opportunity to wish all our readers, whichever your religious beliefs, a great Christmas and a and a fantastic 2016. Phil Horspool
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Article International Student Wellbeing and Academic Progress Jonathan Sibley, David Hamilton , Ritesh Chugh Central Queensland University ABSTRACT The measurement of subjective wellbeing may provide an easily administered indicator of social, psychological or academic adaptation issues experienced by international students. We compare the subjective wellbeing of international students achieving unsatisfactory academic progress against peer international students achieving satisfactory academic progress. Students with unsatisfactory academic progress reported significantly lower levels of well-being than students achieving satisfactory academic progress across all domains. …………………………………………………………………………………………….......... Background The study was conducted at the Central Queensland University (CQU) Melbourne campus. The campus has a significant number of international students enrolled relative to the number of domestic students and the social, cultural and academic acculturation of international students is a major focus of campus student support. International students are evenly distributed across undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses. CQU uses a learning support programme which monitors all students’ academic progress to facilitate early support for students who may be experiencing issues with their studies.
International Student Acculturation and Adaptation To be successful in their studies, international students must learn to successfully to a new social and educative environment. The range of academic, social, cultural and economic issues which can be experienced by international students has been explored for over many years. In an early paper, Ward (1962) suggested international students can experience the “foreign student syndrome”, a situation where students experience high levels of anxietyrelated problems, yet show no physical signs or symptoms. By 1983 research had advanced and Zwingman and Gunn (1983) developed an (initial) guide discussing psycho-social health problems experienced by international students and remedial measures which could support students experiencing ‘uprooting’ issues. Students may experience stresses such as cultural distance, cultural shock, language and other communication issues (Ward, Bochner & Furnham, 2001). They may also experience 2
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psychological feelings such as loneliness, helplessness, inferiority, anxiety and depression. Some students, in particular students unfamiliar with constructivist pedagogy, may also encounter challenges in adjusting to a different pedagogy. Ward has identified two discrete but inter-related constructs in cross-cultural adaptation: psychological adaptation (feelings of wellbeing and satisfaction) and sociocultural adaptation (the ability to fit in and to negotiate interactive aspects of the new culture) (Searle and Ward, 1990, Ward et al., 2001, Ward and Kennedy, 1993, Ward and Kennedy, 1994). In a review of studies examining predictors of international student psychological and social adjustment to life in the United States, Zhang and Goodson (2011) found the most common predictors of adverse psychological symptoms were stress (both acculturative and academic) and lack of social support. The most common predictors of positive sociocultural adjustment were English proficiency and social contact with locals. Comparable results have been found in other countries (refer for example, Tafarodi and Smith (2001) and the Swami et al (2010) studies of Malaysian student sojourners in the UK). Successful adaptation to a new social and academic environment is a significant concern for educators. Academic issues can take time to emerge. Individual student psychological or social issues may not be immediately evident to staff faced with the need to support large numbers of students with whom they may have limited regular contact. Administering a battery of discrete and often complex social, psychological and academic adaptation instruments is not efficient in a busy academic environment. There is a need for an easily administered instrument to provide an indicator of potential issues with student adaptation.
Subjective Wellbeing Subjective wellbeing is an indicator of the ways people assess their own sense of personal wellbeing and how they evaluate their lives, and is therefore an indicator of how well a person perceives they are engaging with their environment. The principal subjective wellbeing theories are set-point theories which argue individuals maintain a consistent level of wellbeing, usually positive, which is only defeated by sustained extraordinary circumstances (Diener and Suh, 1997). Subjective wellbeing scales do not measure adaptation; however, they provide an indication of the extent to which those who shift from an environment they are familiar with to an unfamiliar environment have succeeded in adapting to their new environment and therefore have been able to maintain their sense of wellbeing.
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The Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) (International Wellbeing Group, 2006) is a widely used subjective wellbeing scale. The PWI was developed by Cummins and colleagues at the Australian Center on Quality of Life1 and is based on the earlier Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (Cummins, 1996,1997). The PWI scale has been successfully deployed in a broad range of contexts and countries, both developed and developing. The scale comprises eight domains (see Table 1), with one question per domain.
Table 1: Personal Wellbeing Index Domains Domain Standard of living Health Achievements in life Relationships Connections with the community Safety Future security Spirituality or religion
Source:
Description Material wellbeing, environment Overall health Outcome of productive activity Intimacy, friends, family connections Social connections, education, job status, community integration and involvement, empowerment. Security, personal control, privacy, independence, autonomy, knowledge of rights, residential stability Ongoing material, productive, social, and personal safety Form of emotional wellbeing
(Cummins, 1996, Wills, 2009)
Spirituality/ religion was added to the scale following research in several Christian countries (Wills, 2009) but was excluded from this study as it was considered after discussion with colleagues from mainland China that concepts relating to spirituality or religion could not be reliably measured for students from China.
Academic Progress It is not appropriate to measure academic performance directly against subjective wellbeing, given the confounding impact of factors such as prior subject knowledge and varying academic assessment criteria. It is, however, considered valid to use academic progress as a normative measure as this measures students’ ability to complete their studies within the timeframe required by their course of study. CQU has developed a hierarchical ‘Monitoring Academic Progress’ (MAP) programme to monitor student progress and to facilitate the provision of early teaching and learning, or general student support for students who are not achieving satisfactory academic progress. The MAP programme is used for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Criteria for participation in the programme are: 1
www.acqol.com.au/
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Failure to pass at least 50% of courses in the previous term
A cumulative pass rate of <50% of the courses taken in the programme, over the course of the programme to date.
Failing the same course more than once.
In the first term of determination of unsatisfactory progress, students are assigned to MAP 1. If unsatisfactory progress continues to a second term, despite extra support, this is escalated to MAP 2. If this continues beyond two terms this is further escalated to MAP 3. This is a terminal status and enrolment is cancelled.
Sample At the time data was collected all students were required to enroll on campus in person. Two rounds of data collection were undertaken mid-2010:
Round One: MAP 1, MAP 2 and non-MAP students were sampled (n=547). Data was collected during the Term One enrolment period. Students were randomly selected to complete the survey and did so individually during the enrolment process whilst waiting to meet with an academic adviser. Participation was voluntary. No incentive was provided.
Round Two: MAP 2 students were sampled (n=44). Data was collected during Term Two. The second sample was collected to check the consistency of the MAP sample across academic terms.
Completion of the survey was online. Participation was
voluntary. No incentive was provided. The response rate was 62.8%.
An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the PWI for the two MAP samples. There was no significant difference in domain scores between the original sample taken on site (M=62.92, SD=15.163) and the follow-up sample solicited by email (M=61.59, SD=13.58); t(88)=0.437, p=0.663 (two tailed). The samples were combined for analysis. The principal regions of origin for students sampled were the Sub-Continent and China/ SE Asia, these being the two principal groups of international students at the campus. A small number (n=33) students from a wide range of other regions were excluded from the analysis due to the range of socio-cultural and educational backgrounds.
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Results The Scale was tested for reliability. The Cronbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alpha (CA) was significant at 0.85. The CA for each domain was tested. No domain was rejected. As shown in Figure 1, Chinese/ SE Asian students reported lower levels of PWI than Sub Continent students2, within the categories of satisfactory and unsatisfactory progress. However, levels of PWI were lower for all students failing to achieve satisfactory academic progress, irrespective of region of origin. Figure 1: PWI by Region of Origin and Academic Progress 75.00 70.00 65.00 60.00 55.00 50.00 Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Academic Progress Academic Progress Academic Progress Academic Progress Sub Continent
China/SE Asia
N=591 As shown in Table 2, students who were not achieving satisfactory academic progress (SPWI) reported lower PWI, at both overall and at each domain-level, than students who were achieving satisfactory progress (US-PWI).
Table 2: PWI Relative to Academic Progress Subjective
Standard of
Wellbeing
Living
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
S-PWI
70.6
14.2
68.3
17.5
75.3
19.0
66.1
18.8
75.2
20.1
70.8
20.8
70.8
19.3
68
19.9
US-PWI
62.2
14.3
62.4
18.2
65.8
20.5
56.0
15.4
68.6
19.4
63.8
22.7
60.3
20.4
59.0
19.6
t
5.161
2.909
8.039
7.954
7.576
7.351
8.004
7.658
<.001
<.05
<.001
<.001
<.001
<.001
<.001
<.001
0.05
0.01
0.10
0.10
0.09
0.08
0.10
0.09
p 2
Eta
Health
Achievement
Personal
in Life
Relationships
Safety
Community
Future
Connect
Security
A comparison of domain scores indicates the difference across all domains was significant and the difference between values for each domain was moderate-large (Mean ETA2=0.09), with the exception of Standard of Living. Overall, when considered at the domain level,
2
This may be attributable to cultural response bias (Lau et al, 2005)
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international students achieving an unsatisfactory rate of academic progress evidence significantly lower levels of wellbeing. Discussion International students, in particular students who are experiencing both a new country and a new pedagogy, need to acculturate and adapt to their host and study environments quickly in order to be successful with their studies. Students who are not successful in adapting have a greater risk of being unable to settle into their studies and achieving satisfactory academic progress. This may also impact their sense of wellbeing. The present study is the first study to examine the relationship between subjective wellbeing and international student academic progress. We conclude students who were not achieving satisfactory academic progress were either failing to acculturate and adapt to life and/ or study in their host country and this impacted both their sense of wellbeing and their academic progress, or alternatively failure to achieve satisfactory academic progress had a pervasive impact on studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wellbeing. Issues with academic progress can take time to surface. The study is correlational. Data is point-in-time and longitudinal research is required to explore possible causal relationships between academic progress and subjective wellbeing over the course of study (research is ongoing). Results from the present study indicate the measurement of subjective wellbeing may provide an easily administered early indicator of issues international students may experience settling into their new living and new educational environment, and may facilitate effective early intervention to increase the probability of satisfactory academic outcomes. Subjective wellbeing scale is an easily administered scale and may provide educators with early identification of potential issues, thereby enabling proactive intervention to support international students. CONTACT THE AUTHOR j.sibley@cqu.edu.au References Cummins, R. A., 1996. The Domains of Life Satisfaction: An attempt to order chaos. Social Indicators Research, 38, pp. 303-332. Cummins, R. A., 1997. Comprehensive quality of life scale - adult. Manual. 5th ed. Melbourne: School of Psychology, Deakin University. Diener, E. and Suh, E., 1997. Measuring Quality of Life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 40, pp.189-216. 7
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International Wellbeing Group. 2006. Personal Wellbeing Index [Online]. Melbourne: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University. Available: (http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/instruments/wellbeing_index.htm.) [Accessed]. Lau, A. L. D., Cummins, R. A. and McPherson, W., 2005. An Investigation into the CrossCultural Equivalence of the Personal Wellbeing Index. Social Indicators Research, 72, pp.402-432. Searle, W. & Ward, C. 1990. The Prediction of Psychological and Sociocultural Adjustment During Cross-Cultural Transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14, pp.449-464. Swami, V., Arteche, A., Chamorro-Premuzic, T. and Furnham, A., 2010. Sociocultural adjustment among sojourning Malaysian students in Britain: A replication and path analytic extension. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45, pp.57-65. Tafarodi, R. W. & Smith, A. J., 2001. Individualism-collectivism and depressive sensitivity to life events: the case of Malaysian sojourners. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 25, pp.73-88. Ward, C., Bochner, S. and Furnham, A., 2001. The Psychology of Culture Shock. London: Routledge. Ward, C. & Kennedy, A. 1993. Psychological and sociocultural adjustment during crosscultural transitions: A comparison of secondary students overseas and at home. International Journal of Psychology, 28, pp.129-147. Ward, C. and Kennedy, A., 1994. Acculturation Strategies, Psychological Adjustment, and Sociocultural Competence During Cross-Cultural Transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 18, pp.329-343. Ward, L. E., 1962. Some observations of underlying dynamics of conflict in a foreign student. Studenterraad Med 10, pp.430-440. Willds, E. 2009. Spirituality and Subjective Wellbeing: Evidences for a New Domain in the Personal Wellbeing Index. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, pp.49-69. Zhang, J. & Goodson, P. 2011. Predictors of international students' psychosocial adjustment to life in the United States: A systematic review. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35, pp.139-162. Zwingman, C. A. A. & Gunn, A. D. G. 1983. Uprooting and Health: Psycho-social problems of students from abroad. Geneva: World Health Organization.
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Article Making sense of academic life in the UK: the voice of the direct entry student at UWE Jane Saville and David Hewish University of the West of England – Bristol ABSTRACT The academic experiences of a small group of direct entry international students were recorded by a cross-service/faculty project group at the University of the West of England. Findings showed that more could be done to inform prospective students about their course and the different academic culture they would experience. In response to the student interviews, the project team compiled recommendations and a toolkit for staff which focused on transition, teaching and learning, and academic support. Progress has included the introduction of pre-arrival tasks across all faculties and the formation of a cross-service International Student Experience Group. …………………………………………………………………………………………….......... Background This article outlines a collaborative learning and teaching project at the University of the West of England (UWE) to investigate the academic study experiences of direct entry undergraduate international students. UWE recruits international students through entry agreements which bring students to the university directly into the second or third year of their programme. The project team included staff from the Library, which included the English Language and Academic Skills Unit; the International Office; and two faculty academics. A small group of south-east Asian students (11 in total) were interviewed about their experiences pre-arrival at UWE; about the study environment, and the support they had sought and received. Interviewees were asked to offer advice, based on their experiences, to prospective direct entry students, and to UWE staff. The project outcomes were a series of recommendations to UWE and a toolkit for teaching staff. In 2013, UWE received nearly 700 undergraduate direct entry students from 47 different countries who joined their programme in either the second or third year, having started their university life in their home countries. Ninety-five of these students had attended a UWE pre-sessional course (UWE Data Requests, 2014). Although direct entry students have similar transition experiences to all students entering university, they have less time to adapt to the academic culture than if they had entered at level one. These students then require additional 9
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support (Quan, Smailes and Fraser, 2013). At UWE, academic staff, in-sessional EAP tutors and library staff had expressed concern that direct entrants were struggling to adapt to their academic studies. The following sections outline the key findings from the student interviews.
Student Interviews Literature provides evidence of the value of offering pre-arrival summer courses or online modules to assist with familiarisation (Rienties and Tempelaar, 2013; Webster, 2011; Godfrey and Tait, 2001). However, the majority of interviewees had not attended a presessional course and began their UWE programmes knowing very little about their programme or the study environment. Those who had attended a pre-sessional course had benefitted by having time to familiarise themselves with the university and the process of completing a written assignment, but still knew very little about their specific degree modules. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven students from three different faculties. South-East Asian students were selected, having responded to an invitation sent out on flyers via PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) Leaders. Pilots and main interviews were conducted by members of the Learning Services Team in the library and were recorded by digital voice recorder. Consent was obtained and confidentiality ensured. The themes below, which emerged from the data, were identified for analysis from the transcriptions.
Pre-arrival information and expectations Ramachandran (2011) argues that “pre-departure briefings, information from websites, and books and brochures from the university, are not sufficient to provide an understanding of the academic practices…in the UK’ (p.215). Information which respondents had received from UWE, from Regional Offices and from agents seemed to focus on the practicalities of signing up for the course. ‘...before I came here I just know the course, the name, the name of the course… I just know the module, how many module I have to study this year … just a simple view of the subject but not very detailed’. Chinese student This response, similar to those from other respondents, suggests that direct entry students arrive unprepared for their course of study and would benefit from much clearer and more detailed information about their degree programme.
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The study experience Interviewees were largely positive regarding the induction and welcome experience for new students at UWE. There was also much praise for tutors who were responsive to requests for help. However, understanding lectures, seminars and what was expected from assignments were a challenge for the interviewees, even when they had attended a pre-sessional course. These challenges focused on understanding language and accents; different academic teaching formats and academic cultural differences: ‘…it takes a few weeks before we get used to the accents…in the first week or the second week, we don’t know actually what the lecturer is talking about’. Malaysian student Even when students have attended pre-sessional courses, these do not always equip students to understand multicultural groups with different accents, or lecturers with different accents. Pre-sessional courses at UWE have tended to be populated by south-east Asian students in recent years (Chinese and Vietnamese) and, despite efforts to offer students live lectures in their subject, this has proved hard to arrange due to lecturer availability in the summer. Students on pre-sessional courses are not exposed to the variety of teaching styles and formats which they may encounter on their degree courses. ‘…in China, there is no seminars and no tutorials, so, since I come here, I have tutorials and seminars and it is hard for me to get used to the teaching style’. Chinese student ‘…you need to put more effort on those assignments…here you have to finding a resource by yourself. In Malaysia you can depend on your lecturer…they will tell you how to do the assignment and give you the clear answer’. Malaysian student ‘…the way we understand it [assignment] is maybe different from how the local students may understand it’. Malaysian student
From the lecturer’s perspective, student cohorts comprise diverse, highly differentiated students, including direct entrants who may be perceived as joining a course ‘late.’ Those students who have not attended a pre-sessional may be less aware of the academic cultural differences than those who have attended. This discrepancy can create challenges for both students and teaching staff.
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Awareness of support available The interviewees mostly preferred to request support from their subject lecturers. In the past, it was generally accepted that in many Asian cultures, the teacher’s role was to impart deep knowledge to students and to develop them individual morally and intellectually (Cotazzi and Jin, 2001; Gao and Watkins, 2002). However, some interviewees in this study had accessed some generic academic support, including the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme which operates at UWE. The first person I will ask is my lecturer or tutor…they teach me this subject…they are willing to help me. Chinese student I attended the academic writing skills workshop…and PAL…it actually help with our work. Chinese student This indicates a willingness to see others as able to facilitate learning. However, the project team believes that the availability and usefulness of the generic support available to these students should be better promoted.
Advice Students were asked to offer advice, both to prospective students and to lecturing staff at UWE. Themes for fellow students included developing language skills and practising writing in the style expected for the programme they were entering. ‘Try to write essays in English and try using the correct format for the referencing before they come to the UK’. Chinese student For lecturers, advice included utilising lecture capture and video to record lectures and assignment briefings. ‘In the first few weeks, we don’t know actually what the lecturer is talking about...we have to get used to it. Videoing lectures would help’. Malaysian student One interviewee was critical of the content of her pre-sessional class, arguing that the level had been too low for her and, although students were provided with sample lectures, they would also benefit from learning about how seminars are conducted. ‘The pre-sessional could provide seminars for us to get used to it, to practise’. Chinese student There was a heavy emphasis on language difficulty. This could be due to the normal anxiety experienced when studying in a foreign language, especially with regard to listening skills, 12
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but it may also indicate that UWE is not making clear to students that their use of English only becomes an issue when it impedes lecturer comprehension. In other words, the marking criteria for degree modules does not directly penalise grammatical or lexical errors.
Recommendations and toolkit In response to the student interviews, the project team compiled a series of recommendations and a toolkit for UWE staff. The recommendations focused on three areas: transition; teaching and learning and academic support. Firstly, with regard to transition, UWE needs to raise awareness of UK academic culture through communications with prospective students, at partnership institutions and regional offices. These communications need to be supplemented through pre-sessional course content and online tutorials in advance of the degree programme beginning, as explored by Watson (2013) and Webster (2011). UWE also needs to encourage students to arrive early and to take advantage of at least the free two week pre-sessional course before induction week. Teaching and learning development at UWE should include the improvement of lecturer awareness activities so that teaching staff understand the needs of international students. UWE should also enable students to review, check and revise teaching materials by effective use of lecture and screen capture technologies.
Video-based feedback on
assessment could also be considered (Henderson and Phillips, 2015) All students should be offered academic personal tutors who have some understanding of the cultural and academic needs of their students. The third group of recommendations targeted the academic support available to students, including direct entrants, and staff. Both students and staff need clear sign-posting to the range of study support offered, including workshops, one-to-one support and online tutorials. These recommendations were disseminated through faculty executive meetings, staff training and a poster at the UWE Learning and Teaching conference. Further dissemination took place through UWE learning and teaching events in different faculties.
Toolkit A web â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;toolkitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of advice for teaching staff was created and hosted on the Staff Intranet. The toolkit, based on the areas highlighted in the recommendations, focuses on measures aimed to 13
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help direct entry students to adapt to their new study environment. Examples include providing clearly written instructions and explaining expectations in terms of learning and assessment, especially in podcast format, along with information about the support available.
Progress To date, there has been progress in implementing some of the recommendations. For example, in August 2015, all faculties set a pre-arrival task to improve new studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; understanding of academic culture and their expectations of their programmes. As expected, however, there is variation with regard to the engagement level between faculties. This appears to depend on the existence of a pro-active member of senior staff. Ultimately, such support is more likely to result in an equitable experience for students. This project has also resulted in the formation of the International Student Experience Group (ISEG) at UWE. Chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience, this group may provide the institutional drive which is necessary. ISEG has brought together members of the various teams involved in the journey that all international students undertake, both before arriving at UWE and while they are progressing with their studies here in the UK.
Future At UWE, progress has been made by listening to the student voice. This is an important and challenging facet of researching the experience of our international students and its value should not be underestimated (Maunder et al, 2013). However, despite some progress, the project has highlighted a need for closer links between teams across the institution with regard to preparing international students to work within a different academic culture. In particular, subject staff who teach direct entry students need to engage with the recommendations and toolkit. This is more likely to occur if it is first recognised that difficulties with transition may affect students at all levels of study, and that direct entry students in particular may struggle with transition to UK academic culture.
CONTACT THE AUTHORS Jane.Saville@uwe.ac.uk David.Hewish@uwe.ac.uk
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References Cortazzi, M., and Jin, L., 2001. Large classes in China: 'good' teachers and interaction. In Watkins, D.A. & Biggs, J.B. (Eds.), Teaching the Chinese learner: Psychological and pedagogical perspectives, pp. 115-134. Hong Kong/Australia: Comparative Education Research Centre/Australian Council for Educational Research. Gao, L., and Watkins, D. A., 2002. Conceptions of teaching held by school science teachers in P. R. China: Identification and cross-cultural comparisons. International Journal of Science Education, 24 (1), pp.61-79. Godfrey, H.T., 2001. Enhancing the student experience for direct entrants to the penultimate year of undergraduate degree programmes. Journal of further and Higher Education. 25 (2), pp.259-265. Henderson, M. and Phillips, M., 2015. Video-based feedback on student assessment: scarily personal. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. 31 (1) , pp. 51-66. Maunder, R., Cunliffe, M., Galvin, J., Mjali, S. and Rogers, J., 2013. Listening to student voices: student researchers exploring undergraduate experiences of university transition. Higher Education. 66 (2), pp. 139-152. Quan , R., Smailes, J. and Fraser, W., 2013. The transition experiences of direct entrants from overseas higher education partners into UK universities. Teaching in Higher Education. 18 (4), pp.414-426. Ramachandran, N.T., 2011. Enhancing international students’ experiences: An imperative agenda for universities in the UK. Journal of Research in International Education. 10 (2), pp.201-220. Rienties, B. and Tempelaar, D., 2013. The role of cultural dimensions of international and Dutch students on academic and social integration and academic performance in the Netherlands. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 37 (2), pp.188-201. Watson, J., 2011. Combining international students’ social and academic transition online. International Student Experience Journal. 1 (2). Webster, S., 2011. Improving the provision of pre-arrival information and support to international students via the use of online resources. Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education. 3 (1), pp.5-19.
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Article Social Networking for EAP students Tim Leigh Manchester Metropolitan University ABSTRACT For many international students, moving to a new country for higher education poses not only language challenges but also lifestyle changes. This paper addresses the question of whether a social networking site (Edmodo) can help pre-sessional EAP students integrate into British life and study. A cohort of 52 pre-sessional students used the site over a three month period to post comments, share links, and reply to queries. Of the 446 posts made, the majority related to settling in issues such as accommodation, entertainment, and local transport. Findings revealed 92% of the participants intended to continue using the site during their university studies; citing the site’s accessibility and informality as key positives. At an institutional level, this study suggests English Language Centres could use social media to connect international students to each other as well as to the wider university community both before arriving to the UK and after finishing pre-sessional courses. …………………………………………………………………………………………….......... Introduction Recent studies on international students in the UK have highlighted the challenges in both study and lifestyle (e.g. Huang, 2012, Brown and Holloway, 2008). For many, it is a time of several firsts; their first time living abroad, their first English speaking environment, and the first time away from family and friends. To assist with these anxieties, it seems many universities provide a range of services, all focused on helping international students integrate into UK HE. Services such as buddy programmes (Eseonu et al. 2011), orientation weeks (Dunne, 2009), and international societies (Coles and Swami, 2012) have all been recommended in research as useful provisions for international students. Nevertheless, in spite of these services, it appears from first-hand experience on UK HE Pre-sessional programmes that many of these international students continue to direct their concerns to their tutors. Queries regarding visas, banking, accommodation, and how to make new friends, seem to be frequently directed to the teacher rather than the university’s provisions.
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Social Networking: A possible solution In addition to these non-curricular queries, and again from first-hand experience, a second commonality amongst many of these international students appears to be the possession of a mobile device and an interest in social networking. With this in mind, this study aimed to combine these two classroom observations by proposing the following research question: Could a social networking site help pre-sessional EAP students integrate into living and studying in the UK? Recent research on social networking sites (SNS) and their uses within education suggest they are playing an increasingly prominent and diverse role. At an institutional level, SNS such as Facebook and Twitter are often used as marketing and communication tools (e.g. Moran, et al. 2011). In the classroom, it seems many studies have focused on the impact of SNS on learning and teaching. This has led to research suggesting SNS have the potential for improving pedagogy (e.g. Reinhardt and Zander, 2011) and the notion that students could use SNS as much for learning related issues as for their personal use (e.g. Estus, 2010). In the language classroom, a recent study involving Greek university students found over two thirds of the 48 students regarded the inclusion of a social networking site (Facebook) as an additional learning platform as positive for both developing a sense of community and enhancing the learning process (Dogoriti, et al. 2014). In a similarly focused study, Liu, et al. (2014) targeted student perceptions of using SNS in their language course with participants reporting overall “positive experiences interacting with peers” (2014, p.152). Skinner (2009) however, is one of several authors (e.g. Downing, et al. 2007, Coates, 2006), who stresses the importance of learner engagement in online discussions; reminding teachers that unless discussion topics strike a personal chord with students, many may decide not to join in and “potentially…lose opportunities for learning” (2009, p. 89). In general, it appears that recent research is positive towards SNS and learning. Although some authors point out the lack of evidence-based research for second language learners when using SNS (e.g. Clark and Gruba, 2010, as cited in Liu, et al, 2014), there appears to be a common belief that SNS can play a role within education. This study however, although focused on HE students, aims to use SNS outside of the classroom. Its primary aim is to enhance the international student experience by helping learners integrate into UK life.
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Method The first step, as identified by Liu, et al. (2014), when considering SNS for students is the choice of site to be used. For this study, a range of SNS were reviewed and Edmodo, often dubbed the ‘Facebook for education’, was chosen.
Operating with similar features to
Facebook, this SNS allows ‘closed groups’ for invited students, has a free App so students can access the site through their mobile devices, and appears to have received positive reviews from other institutions both at secondary and higher education (e.g. Paddick, 2015). To answer the research question, all 52 students within four classes of a 12 week presessional EAP programme were asked to sign up to the site during the first week of their course. This was introduced to the students by conducting a lesson on ‘social networking’ in the first week. During the lesson, students were asked about their social networking habits and whether using a site amongst new classmates in the UK could help them to settle in. At the end of the lesson, the teacher showed them Edmodo on the computers and students signed up. Once registered, the teacher created a closed group and invited students to join by using the distinctive ‘group code’ allocated by Edmodo.
This allowed them to post
comments and send replies amongst themselves. Students were advised to use the site to ask non-curricular based questions and to share their experiences of life and study in the UK. It was also pointed out that, as the site was non-curricular, participation was voluntary. At the start of week two, the teacher supported this with some example threads such as “How does everyone travel into Manchester and how much do you pay?” but, after this, the teacher became an inactive participant; ensuring communication was student-led and aligned to the belief that students could “interact to construct knowledge, negotiate meaning, and (…) create a community” (Skinner, 2009: 89). To collate findings, participants were interviewed at the end of their pre-sessional course as part of their penultimate and final tutorials. These were semi-structured and approximately five minutes in length, with questions targeted on frequency of use, level of interest in using the site, benefits and drawbacks of the site, and the potential use of Edmodo during their university studies. In addition to these interviews, textual analysis of the posts was conducted to identify the topics discussed, the frequency of use, and the level of student participation. This analysis, given the relatively short time frame to collate data, adopted a structural-linguistic approach (e.g. Van Dijk, 1972); analysing the grammatical, syntactic, and lexical features of the language. By taking a narrow approach, this study was able to
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focus on the language produced by the students at ‘surface-level’, i.e. identifying general language features. This allowed findings to be quantified which in turn helped to identify the main topics of discussion on the site. Establishing the identity and date of comments was done by simply checking the users’ names and date/time stamps on each post.
Findings A total of 446 posts were made by the 52 students during their 12 week pre-sessional course. This included posting new comments and sending replies to existing ones. The majority of the 52 students were Chinese (28) and Arab (19) with the remaining five learners from Nigeria (2) and Cameroon (3). In relation to frequency of use, Arab learners were the most frequent users with an average of 17 posts per user (a total of 329 posts). The five African students made a total of 52 posts; an average of 10 per student and the Chinese learners were the least active, with only 65 posts; averaging less than one post per student. This aligns with the student interview feedback which identified five of the Chinese students as ‘lurkers’; meaning they visited the site but did not post any comments or replies.
Topics discussed As can be seen in Table 1 below, of the 446 posts made by the students, four prominent categories of discussion emerged; entertainment & shopping, immigration, accommodation, and transport. In total, these categories accounted for approximately two thirds of all posts on the site.
Table 1: Discussion topics Topics Number of posts
Entertainment and Shopping 163
Immigration
Accommodation
Transport
Total
71
44
24
302
The majority (163) related to entertainment and shopping with queries ranging from ‘where is the cheapest supermarket in town?” to ‘what is everyone doing this weekend?’ Immigration, accounting for 71 posts, included questions such as ‘how do I renew my Tier-4 visa?’ or ‘who knows where to register with the police?’ Accommodation and local transport issues included ‘Does anyone know any Chinese landlord?’ and ‘What is the cheapest bus ticket?’ and made up 68 of the posts.
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Common language features It is widely cited that the use of abbreviations and emoticons are prominent on SNS (e.g. Crystal, 2011) and, from the 446 posts, these students actively used these language features for fun and humour. There were a total of 103 abbreviations used on the site, with LOL and OMG being used 66 and 25 times respectively. There were also frequent examples of ‘intentional’ orthographic mistakes, for instance “alriiiight” and “heeeeelp!”, suggesting some of the students were familiar with using SNS in English as this playful attention to form is often cited as synonymous with SNS language (e.g. Lam, 2000). In addition, in almost one third of the posts, the writers’ comments were intended to be humorous or light hearted, with posts such as “I love this English weather….NOT” and “I hope the police let me go after register!!!” This level of informality implies students felt the platform was separate to the classroom and provided further opportunities to create self-identity and build a sense of community; aspects of social networking believed by some authors to be key to their success (e.g. Thelwall, 2010).
Student feedback From the student interviews, when asked whether the site was useful for settling into British life, more than two thirds of the students either agreed or strongly agreed. A commonly cited benefit of the site was the interaction they could have with fellow international students in the other pre-sessional classes. Ordinarily, as some students pointed out, interaction with learners from the other three groups would only occur during break times or at university-led social events. Another key finding from the interviews highlighted that the majority of participants (63%) stated the ability to use fun and humour as the main reason for enjoying the site. This connects with the earlier finding of informal language on the site and further suggests that students viewed the site as outside of the curriculum. Additionally, the vast majority (92%) commented that they would like to continue using the site after the pre-sessional course had finished. Reasons for this ranged from keeping in touch with classmates to practising English online. Despite the relatively positive feedback from the interviews, with a total of 446 posts produced by 47 active students over 12 weeks, the average posting was less than one per week. From the interviews, many students cited the intense teaching schedule and orientation into the other university platforms, i.e. the VLE, email, and online library, as reasons for a lack of activity. With regards to the low frequency of use amongst the Chinese learners, one
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reason appeared to be the reluctance to move away from L1 social media; namely WeChat and QQ. All 28 Chinese students had the WeChat app on their smart phones and all cited using it in L1 on a regular basis. In addition, some of the students mentioned that, through QQ, they had already connected with some of their Chinese classmates before arriving to the UK; helping them to deal with some of the pre-arrival anxieties such as how to find their accommodation and how to travel from the airport.
Implications and suggestions for implementation Upon reflection of this study, a number of implications and suggestions for using SNS with EAP pre-sessional students can be made. The first is that SNS could play a role in helping these students connect with each other before arriving to the UK. Students could be invited to join an Edmodo group as part of their pre-arrival documents whilst still in their home country; allowing them to build relationships, reduce anxieties, and practise their English before their pre-sessional has even begun. Another implication from this study is that, with such a large proportion of students voluntarily contributing to the site, the amount of time the teacher devotes to non-curricular topics in the classroom may be reduced. A word of caution however, the chance of misinformation on the site could be problematic. With students answering each other’s queries on visa and immigration issues, information needs to be accurate. One suggestion to counter this would be to post a bank of FAQs for students to refer to on the site. Alternatively, a student could be given the role of ‘site administrator’; tasked with monitoring posts for accuracy. The final suggestion stems from the positive student feedback about the site. Given the limited timeframe of many pre-sessional programmes and the fact that the course and Edmodo are not directly related, students could continue to use the site after the pre-sessional. University departments and faculties could then connect these learners to other international and home HE students on their degree programmes. Social networking and EAP seem an unlikely partnership but this study has shown its potential in helping international students overcome the incredible challenge of living and studying in a new country. CONTACT THE AUTHOR timleighuk_99@yahoo.com
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References Brown, L. and Holloway, I., 2008. The initial stage of the international sojourn: excitement or culture shock? British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 36 (1), pp.33–49. Clark, C. and Gruba P., 2010. ‘The Use of Social Networking Sites for Foreign Language Learning: An Autoethnographic Study of Livemocha’ in Steel, C Keppell, M, Gerbic P and Housego, S. (eds), Curriculum Technology Transformation for an Unknown Future. Proceedings of the 2010 ASCILITE Conference, pp.164–173. Coates, H ., 2006. Student Engagement in Campus-based and Online Education. Abingdon, Routledge. Coles, R. and Swami, V., 2012. The sociocultural adjustment trajectory of international university students and the role of university structures: a qualitative investigation. Journal of Research in International Education, 11(1), pp.87–100. Crystal, D., 2011. Internet Linguistics: A Student Guide. New York, NY: Routledge. Dogoriti, E., Pange, J., and Anderson, G., 2014. The use of social networking and learning management systems in English language teaching in higher education. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 31(4), pp.254 – 263. Downing, K., Lam, T., Kwong, W., Downing, W. and Chan, S., 2007. Creating interaction in online learning: A case study. ALT-J Research in Learning Technology, (15)3, pp. 201-215. Dunne, C., 2009. Host students’ perspectives of intercultural contact in an Irish University. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(2), pp.222–239. Eseonu, K., Wedderburn, C., and Maurice, J., 2011. Clinical communication for international students in the UK undergraduate curriculum. The Clinical Teacher, 8, pp.186–191. Estus, E., 2010. Using Facebook within a geriatric pharmacotherapy course. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 74(8), pp.1-7. Huang, Y., 2012. Transitioning challenges faced by Chinese graduate students. Adult Learning, 23, pp.138–147. Lam, W., 2000. L2 Literacy and the Design of the Self: A Case Study of a Teenager Writing on the Internet. TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), pp. 457-482. Liu, M., Evans, M., Horwitz, E., Lee, S. J., McCrory, M., Park, J. B. and Parrish, C., 2013. A Study of the Use of Social Network Sites for Language Learning by University ESL Students. In Lamy, M-N. and Zourou, K. (eds) Social Networking for Language Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp.137–157. Moran, M., Seaman, J., and Tinti-Kane, H., 2011. Teaching, Learning, and Sharing: How Today’s Higher Education Faculty Use Social Media. Pearson Learning Solutions. Paddick, R., 2015. Cloud for Everyday Education [Online] Available at http://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/cloud-for-everyday-education Accessed on 6 April 2015 Reinhardt, J. and Zander, V., 2011. Social Networking in an Intensive English Program Classroom: A Language Socialization Perspective. CALICO Journal, 28(2), pp.345–368. Skinner, E., 2009. Using community development theory to improve student engagement in online discussion: a case study. ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology, 17(2), pp.89-100.
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Thelwall, M., 2010. Public Dialogs in Social Network Sites: What Is Their Purpose? Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61(2), pp.392–404. Van Dijk, T., 1972. Some Aspects of Text Grammars. The Hague: Mouton.
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Article The transition experiences of an international postgraduate student: Her narrative Gwyneth James University of Hertfordshire ABSTRACT In this article I focus on some of the educational transition experiences and consequent coping mechanisms of a former student of mine, Berenice. She was one of five Master’s students who participated in my doctoral research where I used Narrative Inquiry to research their lived experiences. What I discovered was that despite some commonalities, all five had unique transition experiences with which they coped in various ways. Through this article it is my hope that something is glimpsed of this one student’s transition by exploring the stories she told (here presented as co-constructed narrative extracts from her journal) over the academic year and the meanings she attributed to them. …………………………………………………………………………………………….......... Introduction Berenice is from Colombia and came to London for 12 months to study for a Master’s degree, during which time she was in one of my EAP classes. Prior to this she had worked in Colombia for a number of years and I was curious to discover what characterised her (and others’) transition both to the UK and to being a student again, and in particular how she coped with so many changes. The data I collected over this one year consisted of interviews, emails, and conversations that ‘just happen’ (Trahar, 2006, p.122) which I then wrote up as narratives that highlighted learning experiences more broadly and transition more particularly using Narrative Inquiry as my methodology (see James, 2013 for a more detailed discussion on Narrative Inquiry). Research on postgraduates’ transition to the UK is scarce, possibly due to their being seen as ‘experts’ (Tobbell, O’Donnell and Zammit, 2010, p.262) in that they have already successfully achieved an undergraduate degree so there seems to be an implicit assumption that their knowledge is simply continued rather than re-situated. This in turn implies that academic environments are universally understood.
There is even less research on
international students’ transition experiences and how students coped with their transition, and this was part of my research focus.
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My research conceptualised transition as a holistic and dynamic combination of psychological and sociocultural adjustment (Searle and Ward, 1990) and educational adjustment (Zhou and Todman, 2009) including culture shock (e.g. Pedersen, 1995) and how these all impact on identity and developing a sense of self.
From the perspective of
educational adjustment, all five fit the normative pattern in that they were all successful in achieving their Master’s degrees and all struggled with the timespan, speed and intensity of their one-year courses, as did Berenice. But each had unique and different transition experiences despite these and other similarities. In much Narrative Inquiry research it is common for the voice of the participant to be foregrounded as much as possible; here Berenice’s voice is presented through her journal. These journal extracts will be integrated with transition elements specific to educational transition extrapolated from her narrative and located in literature, as well as my analysis and reflections. Journal extracts 5th November. Five weeks into my degree and I’ve seen hardly anything of London; instead I am living in the bubble of the university. My days revolve around the library and I’ve almost forgotten how to socialise. 8th November. I have very high standards and today I’ve been thinking about where they come from... Through all of my previous educational success an image was created of ‘you can do it.’ I got a scholarship to study my undergraduate degree back home as well as to study here in London because there’s no way my family could have paid the fees for either university. I got the job of Research Assistant at my university after I graduated because some of the teachers said ‘you have to work with me.’ Which is great but the problem is that I now realise I have a huge academic ego and it’s dying. Despite having been really worried about studying in English I still thought ‘I can do it!’ But the gap between what I was expecting of myself and what I can really do is much bigger. This internal pressure feels like such an obstacle at the moment... 10th December. I can’t believe it’s the end of my first term already. It’s been fast, fast, fast! At one point I wanted to go back to Colombia as I didn’t feel intelligent here. In my head I thought I understood that everything would be faster, but in reality I couldn’t keep up with the demand. I was so looking forward to being a student again but by about the third week I had to accept that I was ‘lower in English’ than everyone else. That’s obvious, I know, but it took me time to accept it. I definitely had a romantic view of becoming a student again based on my previous experience, but the confrontation with reality was rather different. The sheer quantity of the readings is unbelievable; it feels like I’m drowning in them.
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Berenice was the only one of my five research participants who mentioned her English language skills, saying on more than one occasion that she was ‘lower in English’ than everyone else and that in the first term she was ‘ashamed’ of her English. She was looking forward to being a student again, spending time learning and reading. But she said that it took ‘four hours to read three pages of text’ and realised that the gap between what she was expecting of herself and what she can really do is greater than she had anticipated. Her second language identity (see Benson, Barkhuizen, Bodycott and Brown, 2013) was therefore called into question. The pressure to cope with the short timescale of a UK Master’s degree has been mentioned in much of the literature on postgraduates’ transitions both generally as well as that focused on international students (e.g. Tobbell, O’Donnell and Zammit, 2010; Brown and Holloway, 2008) and language has also partially been ‘blamed’ for the time delay (see Prescott and Hellsten, 2005). The speed of the course is something that all of my participants mentioned. 21st January. I’ve started to talk more this term: I’m less ashamed of my English and not as worried about how ‘clever’ or ‘perfectly expressed’ my arguments are. 2nd February. Something which has really struck me is the concept of ‘Western people’ which I’ve heard a lot about here. When you are in Latin America, there are many people who think that we are part of the concept of ‘Western’ because we have the same institutions. But then you come here and you understand what Western really means and I don’t think we are that Western. If there is differentiation within Europe between West and East then Colombia/Latin America is definitely not Western! Anyway, I was skyping with my friend and she asked ‘so what are we? What concept do they use to talk about us?’ I said ‘first they have to talk about us! If they do talk about us, they’ll call us Latin American or South American. They’re never going to call us Western – that’s just our silly idea.’ Before our conversation I’d never questioned it; I’d never thought about it. But you need the confrontation to question something that you just assume as given... 25th April. It’s term three already! I’ve been thinking recently that I’ve changed so much since I arrived. In October I felt very restricted and ashamed about my English ability because I couldn’t be myself and express my ideas clearly. This shame increased my levels of stress and decreased my levels of self-esteem and I felt that my experiences were being affected by my inability to communicate effectively in English, in seminars I mean, not generally. I was expecting to be me in Spanish in English, but of course it wasn’t the same. Without language you can’t be yourself.
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Berenice here very aptly states that ‘without language you can’t be yourself’ and indeed along with ethnicity and gender, language is a key marker of identity (Giampapa, 2004). This in turn impacts on her second language identity as mentioned above. 10th May. My friends and I were talking today about how we feel about the system of education here. I’m quite headstrong, and even when I had an idea of what I had to do, I was not that good to adapt myself to the university’s system. It’s not like my way is ‘bad’ and the UK’s is ‘good’ but that’s what it feels like sometimes. Another thing is that you need time to think; thoughts are not products of a machine but of your brain. At times we were running to read everything and having really superficial seminars because of the speed of the course. This year has felt like a production chain, always running to submit essays, do readings and so on. I mean, we’re talking about knowledge and I need time to think – who doesn’t?! I don’t like this thing of being treated like a machine: I’m not! I really like to think but I’m not enjoying thinking because I’m not thinking well. At the end it’s really sad that you’re not enjoying learning anymore – all you want is that everything finishes – to me it doesn’t make sense. The idea of doing a Master’s programme is that you enjoy learning.
This entry links back to the speed of the course, but here Berenice connects this particular struggle with the clash between her ideal of being a student and the reality of it and aptly laments: ‘as a student you need time to think…thoughts are not products of a machine but of your brain…I’m not [a machine]…’ This clash with reality links back to issues around second language identity. 20th May. What factors have influenced my transition to the UK and being a student again? Definitely my work in Colombia. I know when a piece of writing is good or not because of my previous professional experience, and that’s another cause of my frustration because I have the skills but didn’t feel able to develop them because of my language. I think language was the greatest hindrance to begin with. Another thing which helped was friends, especially Florian (my Swiss boyfriend) and my Norwegian friend. Initially I didn’t feel as good as other people because I’m from a ‘Third World’ country and my education is not as good. It’s not that others made me feel like this; it’s just my perception and I was feeling all the heaviness of presupposition. And perhaps that insecurity was super-increased by my language problem. But when I started interacting with Europeans it helped a lot, because my friends helped me realise that although we’re culturally different we’re still similar: humans with fears and expectations and...just humans.
Berenice here illustrates a fascinating point made by Tobbell, O’Donnell and Zammit (2010) when they define educational transition.
They discuss ‘shifts’ when moving from one 27
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educational context to another, and although the institution does not change, ‘the mode of study and the meanings that underpin that study undergo a considerable shift because these are inextricably linked to the wider experiences of students…’ (p.265). In writing essays, Berenice illustrates how she experienced one such ‘considerable shift’, despite her previous professional background. This influenced her transition positively, saying ‘I [therefore] know when a piece of writing is good or not’ but she also resisted conforming to UK conventions, initially at least (see her entry for the 10th May). 28th June. At last – the exams are over! My visa doesn’t expire until the end of January 2014 so until then I will stay in the UK; I’ll travel around Europe and then look for a job. I have to wait and see how I did in my dissertation before I decide whether or not to apply for a PhD…
So how did Berenice cope?
She mentions her previous professional experience in a
university context but simultaneously also the fact that she therefore ‘had the skills but didn’t feel able to develop them because of [her] language.’ Her primary coping mechanism seems to have been her friends and this is borne out in other UK-based research by Montgomery and McDowell (2009) who highlight the area of social networks comprising international students to support each other. In Berenice’s case she met and started dating her Swiss classmate, journal extracts of which I have not included, but which had a significant impact on her with regard to her identity and the ‘Other’, a sociological way of understanding identity when confronted with difference. Implications So what can be learned from a glimpse of just part of Berenice’s narrative? Crucially, it is a reminder that everyone’s transition experiences are different and unique (Brown and Holloway, 2008; Tobbell, O’Donnell and Zammit, 2010) and that what we as teachers see on the surface in the classroom is usually not what is being experienced internally. An obvious ‘truth’ perhaps but one which I have seen being continually suppressed; the idea that because postgraduates had all successfully completed undergraduate degrees they would take to further studies with ease, regardless of the fact that it would be in a different context to their own. We frequently assume too much from our students because of their background: an erroneous assumption that all postgraduates are one homogeneous group regarding their understanding and mastery of academic literacy practices (O’Donnell, Tobbell, Lawthom and 28
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Zammit, 2009). Of course in some way they are ‘experts’ but despite many having been successful professionals in their own countries and despite being proficient in English, this success and proficiency does not equate with UK universities’ arguably opaque conventions and requirements to ‘succeed’ and therefore in my role as academic staff I need to help build this implicit knowledge (Walter, 2010). Despite the partial nature of narratives, they can – and do – still tell us much of the individual and their world. In glimpsing what it was like for Berenice, and notwithstanding that each student is unique, my hope is that I can now act on actual rather than perceived experiences that I had as a teacher. In classes and in snatched conversations with students it is all too easy to assume that this superficial observation tells even part of their story clearly. I am unaware of research on this area of actual and perceived experiences, whether with international or home students, and it would be worthwhile expanding on this in future to allow the voices of other students to be heard. I also realised through my research with Narrative Inquiry that such continual and reflective practice is vital to gain a deeper understanding of the students we teach. Without such reflection, even fleeting moments of reflection, we are perhaps inadvertently preventing both a greater degree of empathy with others as well as accommodating the colourful diversity in our classrooms. CONTACT THE AUTHOR gwynethjamescb@hotmail.com References Benson, P., Barkhuizen, G., Bodycott, P. and Brown, J., 2013. Second Language Identity in Narratives of Study Abroad. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Brown, L. and Holloway, I., 2008. The adjustment journey of international postgraduate students at an English university. Journal of Research in International Education, 7(2), pp.232-249. Giampapa, F., 2004. The politics of identity, representation, and the discourses of selfidentification: negotiating the periphery and the center. In: A. Pavlenko & A. Blackledge, eds. Negotiation of Identities in Multilingual Contexts. UK: Multilingual Matters. pp.192218. James, G., 2013. Understanding the learning experiences of postgraduate Latin American students in a UK context: a narrative approach. Language Learning in Higher Education, 3(1), pp.27-41. Montgomery, C. and McDowell, L., 2009. Social networks and the international student experience. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(4), pp.455-466.
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O’Donnell, V.L., Tobbell, J., Lawthom, R. and Zammit, M., 2009. Transition to postgraduate study – practice, participation and the widening participation agenda. Active Learning in Higher Education, 10(1), pp.26-40. Pedersen, P.B., 1995. The Five Stages of Cultural Shock: Critical Incidents Around the World. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Prescott, A. and Hellsten, M., 2005. Hanging together even with non-native speakers: the international student transition experience. In: P. Ninnes and M. Hellsten, eds. Internationalising Higher Education – Critical Explorations of Pedagogy and Policy. CERC Studies in Comparative Education Volume 16. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. pp.75-95. Searle, W. and Ward, C., 1990. The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14(4), pp.449-464. Tobbell, J., O’Donnell, V. and Zammit, M., 2010. Exploring transition to postgraduate study: shifting identities in interaction with communities, practice and participation. British Educational Research Journal, 36(2), pp.261-278. Trahar, S., 2006. Roads Less Travelled: Stories of Learning and Teaching in a Multicultural Higher Education Environment. Unpublished PhD, University of Bristol. Walter, C., 2010. International students in transition to Master’s study in the UK. [online] Conference paper given at the Society for Research into Higher Education. Available at: <www.srhe.ac.uk/conference2010/abstracts/0208.pdf> [accessed 2 June 2013]. Zhou, Y. and Todman, J., 2009. Patterns of Adaptation of Chinese Postgraduate Students in the United Kingdom. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(4), pp.467-486.
Meet the ISEJ Editorial Panel
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Article Can EAP meet the needs of international students with source use? Mary Davis Oxford Brookes University ABSTRACT This study evaluates the extent to which EAP can equip international students with the source use skills necessary at Master’s level. It draws on interview data from a PhD study of eight international postgraduate students and tutor comments. The findings offer insights into the challenges the students face in developing their citation, critical engagement, use of reporting verbs, paraphrasing and avoidance of plagiarism, in order to meet tutor expectations. It appears that while some features of source use are fairly easily developed, other features remain problematic and cause anxiety. Thus, more ongoing support from EAP with source use seems necessary throughout Master’s degrees. ……………………………………………………………………………………………..........
Introduction Problems for international students with source use, particularly at Master’s level, have been widely acknowledged. Evidence suggests that source use is often taught only at induction stage and limited to guidance on referencing (McGowan, 2005). Furthermore, while instruction about source use should be explicit and available for international students (Carroll, 2005, p.27), it seems postgraduate tutors do not prioritise their needs (Hall and Sung, 2009, p.61). As a consequence, the responsibility for teaching source use has increasingly fallen to EAP teachers. Therefore, given the importance of using sources competently at postgraduate level, it is worth questioning the extent to which EAP equips international students with the source use skills they need at this level. While instruction about source use is frequently focused on in EAP textbooks and course materials, some studies have indicated limitations, for example Martala (2006, p.51) found that students improved their referencing skills on an EAP course, but continued to have problems with criticality. Other studies have identified problems with the transferability of new knowledge about source use, indicating it is more likely to transfer if content is included (James, 2006, p.802) which bears out the strong recommendation by Hyland (2006, p.12) to focus on the disciplinary needs with source use. James (2006, p.798) also found that learning about sources on an EAP programme was more likely to transfer at the beginning of further study, which implies that by the time Master’s students reach their dissertation, their pre-sessional 31
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EAP learning about source use may have ‘worn off’. Therefore, this study aims to examine the experiences of international postgraduate students with source use and to determine how successfully their needs are met by EAP teaching.
Method This study, as part of PhD research on the development of source use (Davis, 2014), tracked eight international student participants (S1-S8) over a two-year period (on Pre-Master’s and Master’s programmes). A profile of participants can be seen below. Table 1: Profile of participants Participant S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8
Nationality Chinese Chinese Algerian Chinese Chinese Japanese Algerian Sri Lankan
EFL/ESL EFL EFL EFL EFL EFL EFL EFL ESL
Male/Female F M M M F M M M
Master’s Subject Business Business Business Business Technology Business Business Business
All students had non-UK undergraduate degrees from their own countries, and used English as a foreign language, apart from the Sri Lankan, who used it as a second language. They all studied Master’s degrees in business, expect for one Chinese student who studied technology. Students (S1-S8) were interviewed at each stage about their source use, to explore their experiences and development (stages three and four on the Master’s included here). In the final stage, eight postgraduate tutors of the students were interviewed (T1-T5 included here).
Findings and discussion I will set out the findings and discussion using data from interview extracts based on five features of source use: citation, critical engagement, reporting verbs, paraphrasing and avoiding plagiarism. I identified these features as essential elements of source use in the emerging themes from interviews with tutors and students, from their prevalence in student assignments and from my own reading and teaching.
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Citation Students’ use of citation can be seen as a standard element to academic writing, both in terms of accurate formatting and effective use. Tutors were asked about their expectations of how students should use citation. One tutor explained how she felt high expectations were justified: When they are handing in their first sets of written coursework, we expect them to use the Harvard referencing system pretty much perfectly, so we do work during the induction, we do work with the Academic Conduct Officer, and we do a formative assessment where they get to practise and we correct that (T1).
From this explanation, it is clear that the tutor expects citation formatting to be used without any mistakes, but also that there are several learning opportunities in place. One participant described what she had learnt: I feel, once you do the citation, it’s like more helpful, it’s not a bad thing, it’s better to use citation than plagiarism because the tutor, they like citation, yeah (S1, Stage 4).
This student’s understanding of citation seems to be focused on its importance to tutors. At the same time, students appeared to encounter personal preferences among tutors about how they wanted sources to be used, as one reported: The tutor of this module, he said he didn’t like quotation, that’s why I didn’t use quotation. He said quotation is not really good. (S2, Stage 3). This reaction from a tutor of business, a social science discipline, seems confusing for students, who had been taught to use quotations on their Pre-Master’s programme. It is interesting that both students say they responded to what they thought tutors ‘like’. This reaction was noted by Pecorari (2013, p.129): depending on the support available, students may attempt to adapt their practices and draw their own conclusions about how to use sources. Thus, students would benefit from further discussion about citation to develop their understanding.
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Critical engagement Critical engagement has been recognised as one of the most difficult skills for students with source use. As with their expectations for citation, tutors seemed to require high levels of critical engagement in terms of evaluative skills. One tutor elaborated on this: We want them to critically evaluate the information that they find, to debate issues, and as they progress through the programme, to increase that ability to debate, so that when they get to something like the dissertation, they are comfortable with the issue of debating. We say ‘we want you to think independently, we want you to challenge the theories, the models, the concepts (T2). For some students, achieving these skills may not be problematic. One student commented on his sense that his development of critical engagement was satisfactory: ‘My writing is not perfect but it is readable I think, and I can make an interpretation of ideas of people and use it, in my own way, which is really important’ (S3, Stage 4). However, debating and challenging the literature are likely to be new activities for many international postgraduate students, who struggle to do this. For example, one student criticised his lack of improvement and highlighted his problems trying to follow tutor requirements: I think I still need practice make my argument and comment on my sources more sophisticated. But my tutor recommend some books, but it’s really difficult to read and not focused on what we do, but the tutor mentions we should read and talk about, so we have to do it (S4, Stage 3). Thus, students’ ability to engage critically is likely to depend on how far they can understand and interpret what they read, and their perception of critical engagement with sources may remain quite different to that of their tutors, especially if they have a different educational background (Weller, 2010, p.101). Reporting verbs Students’ choice of reporting verbs is linked to critical engagement in terms of the degree of evaluation. Tutors seemed to perceive their range and understanding as limited; for example, one tutor commented: I think they tend to choose two or three favourites, in terms of ‘state’, ‘argue’ and ‘point out’ and I don’t think they are generally aware of the different shades of meaning (T3). 34
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Student remarks seemed to bear out this view: I use a lot of ‘states’- it’s familiar for me to use ‘state’ (S5, Stage 3). Students may choose non-evaluative reporting verbs such as ‘state’ because using them is easier than employing evaluative reporting verbs that require more critical engagement with sources (Hyland, 2004, p.37). However, another student preferred an evaluative reporting verb: I use ‘discusses’ because it shows kind of debate within the coming paragraph, it could be between two ideas or two authors’ (S3, Stage 3). It appears that the reporting verbs chosen by students tend to be based on individual preferences for certain words, with some more comfortable with a non-evaluative stance and some making use of evaluation. However, as found by Hyland (2004, p.38), academic writers need to show their position on a subject through their choice of reporting verbs; thus, if students tend to avoid evaluative verbs, their writing would lack the sort of debate and challenge required by T2 above. Paraphrasing Tutors highlighted problems with paraphrasing for international students in terms of grammatical errors, transferring meaning, choosing appropriate synonyms and paraphrasing sufficiently. One tutor explained: Some students will try, and get completely lost in trying to paraphrase it because they then run into grammatical structure issues and then as a marker, you are trying to read through this. I just don’t understand and on a couple of occasions recently, I’ve actually said ‘I think you need to go to the EAP Department’ (T4).
Previous research has shown that tutor readers sometimes feel they lack the time to work out the meaning of some attempts to paraphrase and want to send the problem away to EAP (Davis, 2012, p.27). One student explained the problem from a writer’s view: I think there are two ways of worrying about it, because I must not use the words on the original sources so I have to change it, and I must not change the meaning of the information. But sometimes if I want to change the words, the meaning is slightly different, so it takes long time to paraphrase (S6, Stage 3).
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This comment is striking because rather than saying there are two elements in paraphrasing the student describes, ‘two ways of worrying about it’, which indicates his concerns. Another student explained her worries about leaving source text to paraphrase later: I think I have a lot of bad habits because I didn’t really do the good or right thing sometimes, I will just use it right now, maybe later I will forget what part I want to change (S1, Stage 3). This concurs with the finding by Pecorari (2008, p.111) that students sometimes adopted a risky ‘change it later’ strategy with paraphrasing, resulting in continued anxiety and problems with plagiarism, which will be discussed in the next section. Avoiding plagiarism Of all the features of source use, avoiding plagiarism is obviously the most basic requirement to good academic practice. Yet, despite its importance, tutors said that there was no time to help: To me, formative feedback [about plagiarism] is the most important thing but it’s the hardest thing to do because you just don’t have the time to do it, it isn’t scheduled (T5). This comment is important as the tutor recognises the need for more plagiarism education, and at the same time, the lack of opportunities for it. This bears out the conclusions of other studies of the lack of instruction about plagiarism (McGowan, 2005; Pecorari, 2008). Students also reported that tutors had no time to support them, and it was not prioritised: To be honest, everything I’ve learnt was in my Pre-Master’s. When you start your Master’s degree, nobody tells you anything about plagiarism. I mean, they’re gonna tell you about plagiarism and referencing once or twice but that’s it, they’re gonna move on (S7, Stage 4). This student’s perspective is clearly that teaching about avoiding plagiarism only takes place in EAP courses. At the same time, there was evidence of students continuing to worry about plagiarism: Sometimes I feel a bit scared about [plagiarism] because sometimes I have used too many words from the text (S8, Stage 3). This comment suggests that more needs to be done to meet students’ needs in terms of plagiarism education on Master’s programmes. 36
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Conclusion This study has reviewed some international postgraduate students’ experiences of using sources through a discussion of student and tutor comments, in an attempt to see how well EAP meets their needs with source use. In terms of the five features of source use focused on, the following conclusions can be made: tutors expect citation to be ‘perfect’ and students seem to manage this fairly well, though they might struggle with individual tutors’ preferences; critical engagement is clearly more challenging to develop, and students may not achieve this; the use of reporting verbs tends to be limited to individual preferences; students continue to struggle with paraphrasing due to lack of confidence, vocabulary and poor strategies; avoiding plagiarism remains a source of anxiety to students, as there is a lack of support. In sum, postgraduate tutors appear to have high expectations about source use (especially citation and critical engagement) but lack time to support students, and students’ attempts to use sources competently seem to be affected by ongoing worries and lack of understanding. While it is acknowledged that these findings are based on a small number of participants’ views, it seems significant that both tutors and students have linked support with source use to EAP. More continuous EAP teaching about source use until students reach the end of the dissertation could help them avoid problems and worries at this critical stage. CONTACT THE AUTHOR marydavis@brookes.ac.uk
References Carroll, J. 2005. ‘Strategies for becoming more explicit’. In J. Carroll and J. Ryan (Eds.) Teaching International Students: Improving Learning for All, pp.26-34. London: Routledge. Davis, M. 2012. International postgraduate students’ experiences of plagiarism education in the UK: student, tutor and expert perspectives. International Journal of Educational Integrity, 8/2, pp.21-33. Available at http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/IJEI/article/view/807/601 Davis, M. 2014. The development of competence in source use by international postgraduate students. Unpublished PhD thesis. IOE, University of London. Hall, G. and Sung, T. W.-C. 2009. ‘Mind the gap? A case-study of the differing perceptions of international students and their lecturers on postgraduate business programmes’. International Journal of Management Education, 8/1, pp.53-62.
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Hyland, K. 2004. Disciplinary Differences. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Hyland, K. 2006. English for academic purposes: An advanced resource book. London: Routledge. James, M.A. 2006. ‘Transfer of learning from a university content-based EAP course’. TESOL Quarterly, 40/4, 783-806. Martala, M. 2006. ‘Tracking pre-sessional students’ writing abilities at the University of Hertfordshire’. In A. Gillett and L. Wray (Eds.) Assessing the Effectiveness of EAP Programmes, pp.40-55. London: BALEAP. McGowan, U. 2005. ‘Does educational integrity mean teaching students NOT to ‘use their own words’?’ International Journal for Educational Integrity, 1/1. Pecorari, D. 2008. Academic writing and plagiarism. London: Continuum Pecorari, D. 2013. Teaching to avoid plagiarism: how to promote good source use. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Weller, S. 2010. ‘Comparing lecturer and student accounts of reading in the humanities’. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 9/1, pp.85-104.
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Advertorial
Integrated Skills in English (ISE)
What do you want from an English language exam? What do you need to know about overseas students before they embark on a course of study? There are many skills international students need to succeed in an English speaking academic environment, and these go far beyond the language ability they are required to evidence before commencing a pre-sessional programme or course of study.
Skills for success in an academic environment? International students require a skill-set that can broadly be separated into three groups:
Increasingly, university language centres require language assessments to not only offer an indicator of basic linguistic ability, but also ask for a valid measure of communicative competence and an indication of these other relevant skills. Assessments are needed that demonstrate a student can perform well in a study context within this wider skill-set, whether it is recognised as a valid indication of abilities prior to acceptance on a course, or whether it forms part of a pre-sessional or in-sessional programme.
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Introducing Trinity’s Integrated Skills in English exam Trinity College London’s Integrated Skills in English (ISE) exam is a contemporary multiskills language exam designed for people who need English language skills for study. With a strong focus on real language performance and promoting the development of transferable skills for academic study and employability, ISE assesses the communicative skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. An ISE qualification provides valuable evidence of a student’s ability to communicate effectively in English. Preparing for Trinity’s ISE exams fosters the language communication skills needed for future development. This is because the type of tasks practised for the exam are also relevant for college, university and for employability purposes.
ISE exam – skill sets Developed with some of the world’s leading linguistic assessment practitioners (including CRELLA and Lancaster University), Trinity’s ISE has been constructed to give a valid assessment of communicative competence and places an emphasis on the use and development of a variety of transferable skills and study strategies. The construct of the exam aims to ensure that a course of preparation will have a highly positive effect on the teaching and learning process, and will engender the development of this wider skill-set. A brief overview of the skills embedded within ISE is given below.
An integrated exam – communicative competence Built to assess communicative competence, ISE measures a candidate’s ability to communicate in real life situations across all four skills beyond the confines of grammar and lexis. ISE combines Reading and Writing exams and Speaking and Listening exams to test skills in the way they interact in the real world. Both exams are currently offered at four levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) from A2 to C1. The purpose of one module is to assess candidates’ English language skills in Reading and Writing and in the other module Speaking and Listening in a context which reflects students’ real world activities and their purpose for learning English. The reading texts reflect the range of sources a student may encounter in an educational or academic context and the way that they need to find, select and report relevant and appropriate information. The writing tasks reflect the kind of activities a student does in an educational context, such as essay or summary writing. The integrated Speaking and Listening tasks reflect the kind of activities a student will do in an educational context. Additionally, the recordings used in the independent listening task reflect the way that students find, select and report relevant and appropriate information in an academic context. The speaking and listening rating scales give an assessment of communicative competence, interactive listening, language control, delivery and independent listening; again to reflect an individual’s overall communicative competence.
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An integrated exam that reflects transferable skills ISE has been developed to reflect a range of transferable skills; a skill set that is increasingly referred to as essential for student success. ISE promotes the development of the following transferable skills:
Confidence Taking an ISE exam encourages students to perform at their best in English, using a wide range of interpersonal skills to introduce and discuss a personalised topic, helping to develop self-confidence.
Collaboration Candidates are assessed on their ability to interact naturally in reallife contexts that are reflected in the exam. Students are responsible for initiating and maintaining conversation.
Critical thinking Tasks are designed to encourage the engagement of critical thinking skills including summarising, paraphrasing, analysing and synthesising.
Interactive listening and soft skills Trinity ISE is the only exam that explicitly assesses the essential communication skill of interactive listening.
Self management Time management and organisational skills are developed as candidates prepare for the exams and perform the tasks in the allotted time.
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An integrated exam that reflects study skills ISE is set in an educational context and use the type of activities and tasks that students come across in their studies. ISE promotes the following study skills:
Authentic, integrated skills Tests students’ ability to use reading and writing skills and speaking and listening skills in combination — to reflect how people use English in real life.
Academic writing Supports academic process writing such as planning and reviewing, reading across multiple texts and making notes to inform further writing.
Spontaneous communication Tests spontaneous, authentic, interactive and communicative speaking and listening skills that are essential for tutorials and seminars.
Independent and interactive listening Tests both interactive and independent listening skills needed for study.
Learning strategies Promotes the development of language learning strategies which are important for students who are learning English language in parallel with other subjects.
Framework alignment Trinity College London is an exam board regulated by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Trinity College London’s English language qualification levels are mapped to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Trinity ISE and GESE qualifications have been independently calibrated to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) as part of an extensive and award-winning study led by Lancaster University, a world leader in the field of evaluation.
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Diagnostic Profile All ISE candidates receive a detailed diagnostic report for each skill showing strengths and areas for improvement. Here is an example of a candidate’s diagnostic report for Task 1 - Long reading in the Reading & Writing part of the exam. It shows the three language skills measured by Task 1: Diagram B: Example from a report Task 1 - Long reading
Recognition of ISE Trinity College London liaises with education authorities around the world to ensure that our candidates’ achievements are recognised. These arrangements vary from country to country, depending on the subject area and the type of qualifications concerned. In the United Kingdom, Trinity College London is one of only two exam boards approved to offer Secure English Language Tests (SELT)s which can be used as evidence of English language proficiency for UK visa purposes. Visit www.trinitycollege.com/UKvisa for details. Trinity ISE is recognised by most UK universities and Higher Education Institutions. Check proficiency level requirements with institutions before applying and check the Trinity College London website for more details. www.trinitycollege.com/UKrecognition. Trinity College London’s GESE, ISE and ESOL Skills for Life qualifications were awarded Q-mark status by ALTE, having met all 17 of its stringent quality standards.
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So what do you we need from an English exam? If you’re a student looking for a qualification to demonstrate your academic ability to successfully follow a course of study… If you’re a tutor looking for a motivational, academic target for your students… If you’re a centre assessing a student’s academic competence… You might want to take a closer look at the Trinity ISE.
In summary, Trinity ISE offers: • • • • • •
A contemporary multi-skills exam matching learning context and purpose Assessment tasks that enable learners to apply what they know Assessment of truly integrated skills in English Building of real-life communication skills for academic study and transferable skills for employability Tests that support teachers in the classroom through positive backwash A diagnostic report which shows strengths and areas for improvement
For more information and a summary of ISE, please see the ISE Fact Sheet. You can also visit www.trinitycollege.com/ISE for exam guidance, specifications, resources and classroom activities. You can also watch sample Speaking & Listening exam videos for each ISE level.
Next Steps? Trinity College London offers support and guidance for tutors and administrators. The ISE exams are offered once a week at 10 SELT centres across the UK, bookable on www.trinitySELT.co.uk. It is also a possibility to become a Registered Trinity Centre. Registered Trinity Centres can book their own convenient dates for examiner visits and sessions which are available throughout the year.
To get in touch, please email unirecognition@trinitycollege.co.uk
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Conference Report BALEAP PIM: Process and Practice in EAP - University of Sheffield English Language Teaching Centre, 14 November 2015 Gary Riley-Jones Goldsmiths, University f London The highly successful BALEAP PIM recently hosted at the University of Sheffield English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) was entitled ‘Process and Practice in EAP’, with the conference themes divided into five strands: systems for feedback; frameworks for tasks; procedures for assessment; process approach; and autonomy and reflection. In addition to the sessions based around these themes, there were also three plenaries presented by Zoltán Dörnyei, David Hyatt and Diane Schmitt. The conference began with Zoltán Dörnyei’s opening plenary on ‘Long-term Motivation and Motivational Currents in L2 Learning’. In his presentation, Prof. Dörnyei introduced the concept of ‘Directed Motivational Current’ (DMC) referring ‘to an intense motivational drive capable of both stimulating and supporting long-term behaviour, such as learning a foreign/second language’. DMCs, Prof. Dörnyei argued, involve an intense motivational surge where individuals ‘pursue a goal/vision which is considered personally significant, highly relevant to one’s desired identity and emotionally satisfying’. He also argued that DMCs ‘have been used to transform individuals, groups and situations’ to allow them to ‘move on to new levels of existence or operation’ and that as such they have considerable potential to motivate learners in the language classroom. In practical terms, Prof. Dörnyei stressed the importance of group work and project frameworks that can ultimately ‘generate DMC-like sustained motivational currents in L2 classrooms’. His latest book Motivational Currents in Language Learning: Frameworks for Focused Interventions was published in September 2015. Following Prof. Dörnyei’s plenary I attended two sessions on e-portfolios: Alison Evans’ ‘The Evolution of a Reflective Portfolio Assessment’, and Nick Murgatroyd’s ‘Designing and Implementing an e-portfolio for Pre-Sessional Students’. Alison Evans presented an interesting and thoughtful session on the process of introducing a Reflective Portfolio as part of the International Pre-Master’s course at UCL. She discussed the questions 45
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that need to be addressed in e-portfolio assessment, with particular reference to the work of Rogers (2001). During this presentation, two key points that came out for me were her belief that the chief advantage of e-portfolios is that they allow students to show engagement with the process of reflection, and that they could probably not be used on pre-sessionals due to the intensive nature of such courses. Interestingly, in the light of Alison Evans’ comments with regard to e-portfolios and pre-sessionals, Nick Murgatroyd’s presentation dealt specifically with the difficulties of implementing an e-portfolio process on a 6-week pre-sessional at Sheffield ELTC. He discussed the various software options and how the ELTC finally came to design its own eportfolio tool using Google Classroom and other GAFE products, and went on to talk about how such a tool met pedagogical and assessment demands. There then followed the second plenary given by David Hyatt, Director of the Doctorate in Education at the School of Education at Sheffield. His potentially controversial talk, entitled ‘Reconceptualising EAP as Academic Repertoire’, focused on the often-stated trivialisation and marginalisation of EAP within the university. He asked the audience to consider a recharacterisation of ‘our professional practice more explicitly away from the simple language upskilling of students and more towards the preparation of potential and actual HE students to become successful members of the academic community’. This, he argued, could be achieved in a consideration of what Blommaert and Backus (2011) refer to as ‘repertoire’, i.e., focusing more on the role of the EAP tutor ‘as developers of the repertoires of successful students’. He went on to argue that ‘In making the case for the transdisciplinary, culturally-agile and research-informed work we do with students’, EAP can be considered ‘as professionally important as other university departments’. In the afternoon I attended Elizabeth Long’s presentation on ‘Learning Presentation Skills through Peer Feedback’, in which she demonstrated how all first-year students on the Richmond University Transition programme are encouraged to give and receive peer feedback on one another’s presentations. She concluded that student feedback on this approach had been very positive and that teachers had noticed an increase in both skills development and motivation. In her presentation on ‘Formative Feedback on Academic Writing’, Lisa Robinson, an EAP tutor at Nottingham University, presented the findings of a small-scale action research project that explored students’ perceptions of formative feedback. She discovered a mixture 46
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of student preferences for both direct feedback, and what she referred to as ‘fluffy’ feedback and commented on student responses to different types of feedback. This was a very interesting session. Lisa Robinson’s talk was followed by an equally interesting session by Sal Consoli from the University of the West of England, who presented on a similar theme, ‘Written Feedback: Does it Work?’ Reporting on the findings of a study he had conducted into students’ perceptions of and attitudes to feedback on their written EAP assignments, he discovered that although students’ perceptions of their understanding of feedback were highly positive, this attitude did not necessarily reflect an accurate understanding of the feedback given. His other conclusions noted the need for clarity in tutor feedback; that students’ understanding of key concepts was not always clear, e.g., the difference between cohesion and coherence; and that feedback needs to be specific and ideally provided with examples of problems/errors. The closing plenary of the day was given by Diane Schmitt, from Nottingham Trent University and Chair of BALEAP, who spoke on ‘Applying Linguistics and Theorising Practice in EAP’. Touching upon the theme brought up earlier by David Hyatt, Diane Schmitt discussed the relationship between scholarly activity in EAP and teacher research, through exploring the theory-to-practice cycle in Applied Linguistics research. She contended that this cycle is incomplete in EAP as ‘we rarely see how the practice of EAP feeds back into EAP theory’. Referring to the work of Ursula Wingate, Diane Schmitt argued that action research, popular within EAP, must refrain from remaining local and argued how such research had the potential for ‘going wider’ through a closing of the loop in the theory and practice cycle. Many of these themes I am sure will be touched upon at the St Andrews EAP Conference on ‘Finding the Balance: Language and Content in EAP’ on 27 February 2016 and at the BALEAP PIM on In-Sessional EAP at the LSE on 19 March 2016.
Videos of the plenary speakers from the Sheffield BALEAP PIM can be found at: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/eltc/events/baleap A Storify of some of the highlights of the PIM are also available at: https://storify.com/baleap/baleap-pim-at-eltc-sheffield-university-14-novembe
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Twitter users can follow the Sheffield ELTC’s dedicated PIM account @BALEAPpimELTC and use the #BALEAPpimELTC hashtag to view ideas and comments that were shared throughout the day. CONTACT THE AUTHOR G.Riley-Jones@gold.ac.uk
St Andrews EAP Conference ELT has held six EAP conferences for teaching professionals in the last seven years. Having looked at materials in 2013 (Materials for Thought: moving best practice in EAP forward) and innovation in 2014 (Innovation in EAP: the key to the future) and assessment in 2015 (Assessment in EAP: what’s the score?), we are looking at the balance between language and content this year. As EAP schools/departments, or whatever we are known as, are developing and evolving, what we teach is changing, and our relationship with the rest of the academic community is changing, so this will be an opportunity to share our thoughts and practices.
2016: Finding the Balance: Language and Content in EAP In order to maximise the benefits of such a discussion, we hope to showcase a wide range of current thinking on finding a balance, with two plenary speakers, Dan Jones and Steve Kirk opening the morning and afternoon sessions. The call for papers is now open and we invite presentations in areas such as:
Combining academic skills and content People and qualifications Assessment Subject-specific courses Collaboration with academic schools Are academics really concerned with language? ESP versus EAP – which is appropriate in a given context? Communicating the balance with schools – the institutional question The limits of an ESAP approach
Presentations can take the form of: Papers – 40 minutes including questions Presentation of materials in use/in preparation – 40 minutes Posters Proposals of 300 words should be sent to Kerry Tavakoli, Conference Facilitator, Visit:: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/elt/eapconference/ The deadline for abstracts is Friday 5th February 2016.
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ISSN 2397-3072
The International Student Experience Journal is a peerreviewed online publication for those involved in researching, teaching and providing services to international students in Higher Education in the UK and other English speaking countries. The Journal links the everyday concerns of university staff including academics, researchers, EAP practitioners and the students themselves with insights gained from related academic disciplines such as applied linguistics, education, psychology, and sociology.
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