EDUC 1009 - English Literacy for University

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2015

This course is designed to help improve students' English skills. Students will develop effective self-learning tools in order to take control of their own language learning that will extend beyond the limits of this course. The course focuses on fundamental language skills but is open to both non-native speakers of English and native speakers wishing to improve their language skills. The course will assist students in conducting self-directed learning through reading, writing and listening. Students are free to choose much of their own study material, from their own disciplines of interest, however substantial demonstration of out-of-class study is required and forms a significant component of assessment.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code EDUC 1009
    Course English Literacy for University
    Coordinating Unit School of Education
    Term Semester 2
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 3 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange N
    Assumed Knowledge Basic fluency in spoken and written English required
    Restrictions This class is only open for students in the University Preparatory Program or Wilto Yerlo Preparatory Program.
    Course Description This course is designed to help improve students' English skills. Students will develop effective self-learning tools in order to take control of their own language learning that will extend beyond the limits of this course. The course focuses on fundamental language skills but is open to both non-native speakers of English and native speakers wishing to improve their language skills. The course will assist students in conducting self-directed learning through reading, writing and listening. Students are free to choose much of their own study material, from their own disciplines of interest, however substantial demonstration of out-of-class study is required and forms a significant component of assessment.
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Dr Chad Habel

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

    You are advised to check the MyUni announcements weekly for any changes of venue. Also, ensure that you check your email at least three times a week for the same reason.
  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    Through undertaking this course, students are expected to:

    1. Develop skills in following the conventions of academic presentations in written and oral formats. 
    2. Learn how to use the Internet to find academic materials, through the library and elsewhere.
    3. Develop basic logical communication techniques necessary for academic communication and useful in the workplace.
    4. Provide opportunities for students to work together, peer teach, receive and provide feedback, discuss work on the MyUni discussion board and interact with academic staff.
    5. Develop students’ efficacy with information/communication technologies (including word processing, presentation and note-taking applications) and online learning applications.
    6. Develop skills in self-directed- and lifelong learning with an emphasis on English language proficiency in all language macro skills (reading, writing, listening speaking).
    7. Develop a variety of English communication skills and tools with a wide application extending beyond university life.
    8. Become aware of multicultural perspectives through facilitated discussion on a variety of ethical and social issues.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised. 1,2
    The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner. 3,4
    A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies. 5
    A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life. 6
    A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community. 7
    An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities. 8
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    Dictionary: Oxford is preferred for general English; Macquarie is preferred for Australian English. If English is your second language them you may find it useful to have access to a specialised Learners Dictionary such as the Macquarie Learner's Dictionary, as it provide much more information about words and their forms and function.

    Harvard referencing guide (University of Adelaide Writing Centre) www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/referencing_guides/ 
    Recommended Resources
    Faigley, L 2011, The Little Penguin Handbook, Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest, NSW.

    The University of Adelaide’s Learning Guides are excellent resources for all aspects of learning and study: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/learning_guides/ 
    Online Learning
    MyUni will be used for essential communication including via email, so please check your University email regularly (at least three times a week). If you have a smartphone it is strongly recommended that you set up your email on it for easy and regular access to your University email. For guidance on how to do this, visit:

    https://www.adelaide.edu.au/its/networks/mobile/support/config/#mobile  

    Remember, the most useful portal for all University online activities is Unified:

    https://unified.adelaide.edu.au/web/mycampus/home 
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    Lectures and problem-solving tutorials based on material covered in lectures.
    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    1 x 1 hour lecture per week (x 12) = 12 hours
    1 x 2 hour workshop per week (x 12) = 24 hours  
    Independent study = 120 hours spread evenly across the semester
    Total: 156 hours
    Learning Activities Summary
    Week 1: Overview; Introductions; Assessment
    Week 2: Locating and citing resources
    Week 3: Portfolio workshop
    Week 4: Annotated bibliographies, Note-taking applications
    Week 5: Presentations part A
    Week 6: Note-taking & Comprehension
    Week 7: Portfolio workshop
    Week 8: Basic Sentences and paragraph writing

    MID-SEMESTER BREAK

    Week 9: Oral presentation skills and use of PowerPoint
    Week 10: Portfolio workshop
    Week 11: Presentations
    Week 12: Course catch up and summary

    Order and duration of topics may change depending on class requirement, but every effort will be made to ensure that content coverage is consistent across both workshops, despite having different tutors.
    Specific Course Requirements
    To pass this course, students must attend at least 75% of lectures and tutorials; in cases of absence for medical or compassionate reasons, documentation must be provided and students must still attend at least 50% of classes. If a student attends less than this, they will be deemed to have not submitted one piece of assessment as below, and the ’45 rule’ will apply. If a student fails to attend a class in which in-class assessment is undertaken, alternative arrangements will be made by the lecturer and formative in-class assessments may be counted towards the final result.
    Small Group Discovery Experience
    The University of Adelaide has committed to a pedagogical approach termed the “Small Group Discovery Experience”, indicating that the SHDE will be a core component in a credit-bearing course of every undergraduate program, and that it will be part of every first-year level from 2014. Since the UPP is not an award-based program, it is not strictly required to include an SGDE in the UPP.

    However, since the UPP is designed to prepare students for first-year study, and the SGDE will be a core component of all first-year study, it is important for the UPP to provide some preparation in Small Group Discovery. These should be of a scaffolded, preparatory nature as befits each course within the program, and the philosophy and program objectives of the UPP. The Program has been designed to include preparation for small group work and research activity in many of its courses.
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
      Task     Task type     Due date   Weighting     Learning objective  
    Comprehension Test 1 Summative Week 3 in lecture 5% Develop students’ listening, critical thinking & note-taking skills.
    Vocabulary Test 1 (AWL, sublist 1-5) Summative Friday, Week 7, 5pm 5% Increase students’ academic vocabulary.
    Comprehension Test 2 Summative Week 9 in lecture 5% Develop students’ listening, critical thinking & note-taking skills
    Vocabulary Test 2 (AWL, sublist 6-10) Friday Week 11, 5pm 5% Increase students’ academic vocabulary
    Oral presentation Summative Week 11 in class 20% Develop students’ basic logical communication skills and facilitate discussion on a variety of ethical and social issues.
    Interim portfolio Formative 9am on the Monday of Week 7 10% Provides an opportunity to demonstrate out-of-class self-directed learning and self-reflection. Facilitates, vocabulary, grammar and language improvement
    Portfolio final assessment: (Vocabulary book, Annotated bibliography, Grammar & Learning reflection) Summative Regular progress checks but final submission Week 12 in class 40% Provides an opportunity to demonstrate out-of-class self-directed learning and self-reflection. Facilitates, vocabulary, grammar and language improvement
    Class participation Summative Throughout semester 10% Provides exposure to social & ethical issues. Develops self-regulation in attention and participation in class discussions (oral & written)
    Assessment Related Requirements
    Students must sufficiently attempt all assessment tasks to pass this course. Since the University Preparatory Program is designed to prepare students for success at University, completing and submitting all assignments is central to the intended learning outcomes of the program and each course within it. Often, at least attempting and submitting assignments in the face of difficulty or adversity is enough for success at University and the UPP encourages this resilience by employing this policy in select courses.

    Please note that the absolute last date for the submission of assignments in Semester 2 is the last day of the examination period. Any assignment handed in late without an authorised extension will be penalised at a rate of 10% of the assigned mark per 24-hour period late, to a maximum of 7 periods. Assignments handed in more than seven periods late without an authorised extension will not be marked and an automatic fail grade for that piece of assessment will be recorded.

    If a student fails to submit all assessment tasks and would otherwise have received a grade greater than 45, they will be given a nominal grade of 45 (Fail) for that course in that semester. This will permit them to undertake additional assessment (formerly called academic supplementary assessment) at the Course Coordinator’s discretion, as per policy at 9.1.3 at http://www.law.adelaide.edu.au/students/assessment/#supp  

    It is not necessary to apply for additional assessment; this assessment will usually consist of the missed pieces of assessment, but the course coordinator may require more. As per policy 9.1.3.3, if the student passes the additional assessment to the Course Coordinator’s satisfaction, the maximum grade they can get for the course is 50 (Pass). If a student’s raw grade is below 45, regardless of whether all tasks have been attempted, this score will stand unless exceptional, documented circumstances apply as per the University’s Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/mod_arrange.html 
    Assessment Detail
    Assessment at university can be formative or summative. While all feedback helps you to review and develop your skills, formative assessment aims to help you develop your skills within a course, with further opportunities for improvement on a certain assignment, whereas summative assessment aims to give you final feedback on an assignment.

    Comprehension Tests 1 & 2

    The test will comprise mostly of multiple-choice questions with the possibility of some short answer questions.

    This test assesses students’ listening, critical thinking, note-taking skills and general comprehension. In-class you will be shown a short documentary, lecture or presentation and then asked questions that will test your understanding. You will be able to take notes during the viewing and refer to them during the test. *If a student is absent for one or more of these tests the teacher may, at his or her discretion, use: a) a practice comprehension test, b) the other assessed comprehension test or c) a make-up test in substitution for the missed comprehension test.

    It is essential that you attend the lecture for this in-class test. If for any reason you are unable to attend, please notify the lecturer beforehand and provide any relevant documentation, and you will have the opportunity to re-sit the test at the end of the semester.

    Vocabulary Tests 1 & 2

    These Vocabulary tests are in multiple choice format and done on MyUni. They will help you become more familiar with MyUni’s different features. It will also give you an opportunity to practise, and demonstrate your vocabulary development. The first test will focus on the first half of the Academic Word List (sublists 1-5) and the second test will focus on the second half of the list (sublists 6-10).

    It is essential that you attend the lecture for this in-class test. If for any reason you are unable to attend, please notify the lecturer beforehand and provide any relevant documentation, and you will have the opportunity to re-sit the test at the end of the semester.

    Oral Presentation

    The content of this presentation is flexible and you are encouraged to present on a topic of personal interest to you and potential interest to your peers, however care should be taken to make sure the content of the presentation is foreseeably inoffensive to the most conservative of students in your group. Like the essay, the presentation will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your vocabulary, grammar and logical communication skills. It will also give you practice in presentation software like Powerpoint and give you a platform to share something of interest with your peers. Again, an incorporation of what you have learned during the course should result in an improved presentation. You will be marked on how well you spoke, the logicality your presentation, how interesting it was and the improvement you have demonstrated over your first presentation.

    Portfolio

    Your portfolio is the most important part of the English Literacies course. Your portfolio consists of 2 main elements: a Language Self-assessment and Perpetual Action Plan;and Evidence of Actions.

    The Language Self-assessment and Perpetual Action Plan is a document that you will use to plan and manage your own language progress. Parts of the plan (like vocabulary building strategies) will be provided by your teacher however, you are responsible for managing your own plan. Keep this document at the front of your portfolio. It needs to include the following:

    1. An assessment of your language weaknesses that will become your areas of focus.
    2. A plan of action that will help you to improve in your weak areas. This will list the specific actions that you will take in detail – including details of how much of each activity you will do per week/fortnight etc.
    3. As the course progresses you may find that what you actually did was not actually the same as your plan. You need to record your actual actions against your planned actions.
    4. Next you will need to evaluate your progress. Write down what you think is working well and what isn’t. If an action is working, write the reasons why. If your plan doesn’t seem to be working, write the reasons why you think it isn’t effective.
    5. If necessary, change some of your planned actions in order to make them more effective. Don’t delete your original plan - just add changes to the end of the document.
    6. Follow your new action plan…* * – Repeat steps 3, 4, 5 & 6 a number of times while you make adjustments to achieve a realistic and effective plan for you, that you are able to follow.

    The rest of the portfolio is made up of your Evidence of Actions. Your portfolio makes up the bulk of the work you will do in this course and is the biggest component of your assessment, and as such, you will need to be able to demonstrate the actions you have taken to improve your language skills. This section is the proof of your efforts in the actions that you mostly set yourself. The Evidence of actions section will, at least, include:

    1. A Vocabulary Bank of 200+ words with corresponding definitions and usage examples of words that you have not been familiar with. These words can come from the Academic Word List (AWL), a Most Frequently Used Word List (MFUWL), journal articles or any other source. Remember to choose words that you believe will be of most help in improving your language. A Vocabulary Bank template will be provided to assist in recording information.

    2. Grammar Rule Summaries (at least 1 per week) that explain (with examples) a grammar function/rule that you haven not been very familiar with. A Grammar Rule Summary template will be provided to assist in recording information.

    3. An annotated bibliography that summarises a variety of materials (at least 4 per week) that you have chosen to help improve your language. Examples can include books, newspaper articles, journal articles, documentaries, presentations etc. An annotated bibliography template will be provided to assist in recording information.

    4. Evidence of other actions you have taken in order to improve your language skills. * – Please bring your portfolio to class every week so that your teacher can verify steady progress and so that you can discuss your work, giving and receiving feedback from your teacher and peers. The philosophy underpinning this course is that improvement in language skills is directly proportional to appropriate language exposure and so demonstration of consistent progress recorded in your portfolio will be a significant factor in both the portfolio and class participation components of assessment. Students feeling comfortable keeping a portfolio in electronic form (i.e. MS Word, Evernote) are encouraged to do so but should take the usual precautions with respect to data backup.

    Interim Portfolio Assessment

    About halfway through the semester, you will be required to have completed a draft of your Portfolio which comprises 25 pieces in your Annotated Bibliography (please submit this via the Turnitin assignment functionon MyUni). Summative assessement will be based on your completion of the entries in your Annotated Bibliography; for example, if you submit all 25 peices to an adequate standard, you will receive the full 10% for the Interim Assessment. If you only submit 12, your maximum mark will be 5%.
    Submission
    All assignments will be electronically submitted via MyUni, although tests will be administered in class and the Portfolio will be submitted via Turnitin on MyUni (including the Interim assessment). A rubric for the Portfolio will be available via Turnitin - you are strongly advised to check this rubric and complete your assignment with the criteria in mind.

    Students may be granted extensions to assignments on medical or compassionate grounds; documentation to support these ground will be required. Requests for extension must be made before the due date; requests for extension submitted after the due date will not be considered. All extension requests must be submitted to the Course Coordinator (Chad Habel: chad.habel@adelaide.edu.au); any extensions granted by the lecturer or tutor will not be considered valid.

    All extension requests will be administered according to the
    Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/3303/  

    For a concise information sheet on this policy, please visit
    http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/pdfs/maca_medical_compassionate_info.pdf  

    Penalties for Late Submission

    Unless the Course Profile states otherwise when an assessment is submitted after the due date, and without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc. Hard copy submissions made after 5.00pm on a Friday will be assumed to have been submitted on the next business day and will be penalised 5% per day for every day including weekend days and public holidays. This penalty may be increased where the assignment is to be completed in a period of less than a week.

    This course aims to return assessed work within 2 weeks of its submission, although this cannot be guaranteed. The resubmission of assignments is not possible for this course, except in exceptional circumstances as approved by the Course Coordinator.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.