Delivering academic support to meet the needs
of international students
Elizabeth Hauge Julie Watson [email protected] [email protected]
Overview
• The needs of international students • Addressing these needs with:
– face to face support– resources for independent study– online courses and resource
sets
NeedsStudents may arrive with a mixed language skills profiles. Problems can include:
– Weak academic writing skills– Inadequate reading skills– Limited critical thinking skills– Poor oral communication skills– Inadequate listening skills
This leads to:
– Problems with assignments– Problems in lectures/ seminars/
tutorials
Complicating factors
• The demands of the specific degree programme
• Timetabling clashes
• Time management issues
• Homesickness
Addressing needs (face-to-face)
• Academic writing courses (e.g. writing conventions, issues of coherence, cohesion and plagiarism)
• Oral communication courses (e.g. seminar skills – presentations, discussion skills)
• Critical thinking courses (e.g. developing analytical and evaluative approaches to reading and writing)
• Individual tutorials by appointment (e.g. planning an assignment or formatting references; also general language advice – how to cope)
Resources for independent study
These comprise materials for
developing the four language skills
plus grammar, vocabulary and
critical thinking; (and also exam
preparation and cultural awareness)
which are:
- paper-based
- audio/video
-computer-based
Background to online provision
• eLanguages Project – funded to develop e-tutored, online modules in English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
• Currently… – A bank of 1500+ ‘learning objects’ in
EAP, plus generic and discipline-specific study skills for home students
– Refined, researched, increased and re-used to create online courses and resource sets
Online single skills courses
• Academic Writing Skills; Academic Listening Skills; Academic Communication Skills; Academic Reading Skills; Academic Vocabulary Development; Aspects of Grammar for Academic Study
• E-tutored, 10 weeks
• Delivered to University of Southampton students using VLE (Blackboard)
Online resource sets
• International Students’ Online Resource set (EAP Toolkit)
• Available throughout year on a self-enrol basis
• Delivered to University of Southampton students using VLE (Blackboard)