2021/22 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

XJFY0100 English for Engineering

60 creditsClass Size: 350

Module manager: Howard Mitchell
Email: H.J.Mitchell@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2021/22

Module replaces

XJFY0025 English Study Skills for Engineering

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Objectives

The module aims to ensure the students:

- Meet the language requirements for progression to Year 2 of their degree;
- Are confident and competent in the use of English as the means of communication and study;
- Develop their linguistic and academic skills to a level which will enable them to communicate effectively within their discipline specific context at undergraduate level;
- Develop an awareness and understanding of the culture and context of academic study in their subjects at the Joint School;
- Have become familiar with and become accustomed to noticing the specific academic language required in their degree programmes;
- Are developing as autonomous learners, with a demonstrable ability to work both independently and in a group situation;
- Are able to cope with the unique learning experience of the Joint School by becoming familair with its demands, expectations and practices of communication.

Learning outcomes
On completion of the module, the students should:

- Be improving their ability to use and manipulate written and spoken academic language in order to communicate effectively in English at the level required for undergraduate study;
- Be developing a wide lexical resource and range of appropriate language structures and functions, which they are able to use confidently and with the requisite accuracy and fluency to be understood;
- Have begun to develop an awareness of and ability to (competently/effectively) produce subject specific academic genre, such as presentations, seminar/group discussions, reports, longer essays and timed writing;
- Have begun to develop an ability to follow subject specific academic conventions in both spoken and written tasks, such as synthesising, citing, referencing and meeting task requirements;
- Be developing the ability to select and apply appropriate strategies in order to follow a range of written and spoken texts on general, academic and engineering related topics, to be able to recognise genre and structure, and to understand main ideas and relevant detail;
- be developing as independent learners and recognising the need to be responsible for their ongoing language and academic development through reflecting, responding to feedback, identifying problem areas, and setting and maintaining (individual language) learning goals.

Syllabus

The module is divided into 3 phases.

Phase 1

This phase centres around orientation to the Joint School, the transition to learning in English at university and general introduction to and experience of the Joint School methodologies. The period will include diagnostic testing to provide a benchmark for future progress and facilitate placement into teaching groups.

Phase 2

This phase constitutes an intensive period of English tuition, with input from both Language Centre, UoL and SWJTU staff, on a ‘pre-sessional’ type model. The focus will be on the rhetorical functions and language commonly used in Engineering, such as defining, description of objects and processes, explanation, cause and effect, instructions and comparison and contrast. The themes for this phase lead from the student themselves to the wider Engineering context as they make the transition to university life.

This phase also incorporates support for the Maths and Physics modules which run alongside the English module, on a more ‘in-sessional’ model. It includes ways of approaching and using textbooks, lectures and lecture slides as means of learning content and language and deals with the type of written assessment required in these modules. Students will be encouraged to use English in a practical way and develop teamworking skills through engineering related projects.

Phase 3

The final phase develops the students’ ability to interact with and produce longer texts on a more discursive level, using the single theme of ‘sustainability’. This phase will provide an extension to their language learning and will prepare for parts of the degrees.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Class tests, exams and assessment	4	6.00	7.00
Seminar	99	3.00	297.00
Independent online learning hours			90.00
Private study hours			206.00
Total Contact hours			304.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			600.00

Private study

Independent Online Learning activities are designed to provide students with an opportunity to develop their English language knowledge and appropriate academic study skills. This component will be particularly important as a way of giving the students exposure to the English language, given that the module will be taught within a non-English speaking environment.

Private study tasks relate to the content of the course and the preparation of any assessed pieces of work.

Please note: all delivery types and number of hours are subject to variation, depending on immediate delivery needs. An 'hour' refers to one session in the timetable which is approximately 45 minutes long.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students' progress is monitored on a continuous basis by each tutor through their participation in class activities and through the grading of assessed pieces of work.

There is also the opportunity to complete formative assessments in semester 1 in the format of a poster presentation (in pairs) and a portfolio of short essays.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	(S1) Portfolio - Draft writing tasks based on classroom input (Formative)	0.00
Essay	(S1) Portfolio - Final writing tasks based on the formative draft tasks..	5.00
Assignment	(S1) Timed Writing Assessment	15.00
Presentation	(S1) Pair Presentation (Formative)	0.00
Group Discussion	(S1) Speaking Task - Group Discussions	20.00
Assignment	(S2) 1200 Word Essay	20.00
Presentation	(S2) Individual Presentation	20.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		80.00

Students will only be eligible for a resit if they have made an attempt at each assessment, assuming no mitigating circumstances have prevented them from doing so. Resits will be based on single skills tests dependent on which one needs to be re-assessed. The format of the resit of each component will be as similar as possible to the assessment which was failed. Details of all assessments, procedures, rubrics and marking criteria will be available on Minerva for staff and students.

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc) (S1)	3 hr 00 mins	20.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		20.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 30/06/2021 16:23:30

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