BA History and Philosophy of Science and Thai Studies

Year 4

(Award available for year: Bachelor of Arts)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the programme, students should have provided evidence of being able to:
-Communicate fluently and appropriately, maintaining a high degree of grammatical accuracy, in Thai, with native or other competent speakers
-Demonstrate sophisticated receptive and productive language skills, and show some practice in mediation language skills, in a variety of contexts
- Demonstrate a consolidated and extended knowledge and understanding of complex structures and registers of Thai
-Demonstrate an ability to evaluate critically one or more aspects of the literatures, cultures, linguistic contexts, history, politics, social and economic structures of Thailand and South East Asia
-Demonstrate global and cultural awareness and a particular understanding of one or more cultures and societies, other than their own, that will normally have been significantly enhanced by a period of residence abroad
-Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and an awareness of and ability to engage with and respond to the ethical issues raised by the programme of study
-Understand and demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge concerning issues of realism and anti-realism, historiographical themes and methodologies, and the inter-relationship between science, technology and society
-Demonstrate the ability to describe and comment on particular aspects of recent research and/or scholarship in history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine;
-Describe and comment on particular aspects of recent research and/or scholarship, appreciate the uncertainty, ambiguity and limitations of knowledge in the subject and make appropriate use of scholarly reviews and primary sources
-Work autonomously within a structured environment
-Conform to professional standards and norms of ethics, presentation and communication of information
-Demonstrate an ability, where appropriate, independently to identify and critically engage with instances of cross-over between the two strands of the degree programme

Transferable (key) skills

Students will have had the opportunity to acquire, as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- Advanced linguistic qualities and transferable skills relevant to employment and life more generally;
- An advanced ability to draw connections between language, academic learning and context;
- Advanced contextual awareness and consolidated skills of contextual immersion;
- Advanced skills of deduction, argument and both oral and written presentation;
- Advanced skills of information retrieval and synthesis;
- An advanced ability to use information and computing technology effectively as a means of communication and as an aid to learning;
- Advanced skills necessary for the exercising of personal responsibility;
- Advanced skills of time and organisational management.

Students will have had the opportunity to acquire, as defined in the modules specified for the programme:

i) qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment related to the subject area(s) studied;
ii) skills necessary for the communication of information;
iii) skills necessary for the exercising of personal responsibility and decision making;

The dissertation component of the programme of study directly enables students to attain i), ii) iii): students that successfully complete a dissertation will have learned to exercise personal responsibility and decision making. The dissertation introduces them to a new and challenging means of communicating that supplements the 2000 word essay and unseen examination paper.

Other modules studied in the programme all present opportunities to attain transferable/key skills as defined in i) and skills of communication as defined in ii).

Assessment

Achievement will be assessed by a variety of methods in accordance with the learning outcomes of the modules specified for the year/programme and will include:
- Regular written, oral and aural tests during the course of the year to ascertain students' level of progress with: the Thai script; the Thai intonation system; Thai reading and writing ability; Thai vocabulary development and use; Thai grammar and syntax; the Thai context;
- Continuous assessment, essays and end-of-semester examinations in both Thai language and in students' disciplinary modules.

Achievement will be assessed by a variety of methods in accordance with the learning outcomes of the modules specified for the year/programme and will include:

i) demonstrating the ability to apply a broad range of aspects of the discipline;
ii) work that draws on a wide variety of material;
iii) the ability to evaluate and criticise received opinion;
iv) evidence of an ability to conduct independent, in depth enquiry within the discipline;
v) work that is typically both evaluative and creative;

The dissertation component of the degree assesses students' capacity to attain all of these learning outcomes, most specifically outcome iv).
All modules assess learning outcomes i) and v).
Outcome iii) is more specifically addressed in the philosophical modules listed in group B1.
Outcome ii) is more specifically addressed in the socio-historical modules listed in groups B2 and B3.