Fantastic pictures of the earth at night
Satellite view of the earth at night. Absolutely mindblowing.
Satellite view of the earth at night. Absolutely mindblowing.
One of the main features of the UK education system is the amount of reading that students are expected to do at university. This can be extremely challenging to some students, especially if all that reading is in a language different to their own. This can be overwhelming for some as they may not only have problems withe linguistic complexity of what they have to read, but some may also struggle with the ideas expressed.
One method I find helpful with students is to present them with a framework for notemaking where they read a complex text, then review and rewrite their notes in order to fill in any gaps in understanding.
I ask students to divide a page in their notebooks into two columns (one column being bigger than the other). At the top of the page they write the referencing details - this will become helpful when they start writing their essays. In the narrow column, the student writes the structure of the essay. For example, if they have identified the text they are reading as a problem-solution structure, they write problem and solution. In the main column, they write details, information and data from the text.
At the bottom of the page, I encourage students to write a rhetorical precis. This helps students evaluate the text they have read, getting them to think about the tone, the purpose and the intended audience.
I find this works becuase it makes students think about what they are reading, while also giving them a record of what they have read which they can use later. I encourage students to file these in a binder and we work with these texts and I can set them as homework; if I want my students to read an article at home I get them to provide me with their notes. It also provides me with a "zone of intervention" whereby I can read their notes and intervene if I feel they have misunderstood something, or have not got a complete idea. Students seem to like it because it is something they have produced and it gives them a more complete understanding of their reading.For international students beginning their university career in the UK, the amount of reading they need to do can be overwhelming and, for many students, understanding and critically evaluating academic texts can be challenging.
One response is to encourage students to have students use a framework such as a rhetorical precis to summarise the texts that they read. A rhetorical precis, developed by Margaret Woodworth in 1988, is a four sentence, structured summary of a complete text, consisting of the following information:
An example rhetorical precis might look like this:
"Houghton, in his article (2004), looks at different approaches to learning at university in the UK. He supports his research by comparing two approaches to learning identified by Marton and Saljo (1976): a deep approach and a surface approach. The author’s purpose is to explain how different approaches affect student success at university and he recommends that students take a deep approach to learning. The author writes in a formal style for a student audience."
Although this may be difficult for students at first, it can help students get to the bottom of a text, and begin to think crticially about how the intended audience can affect the tone of the article. I've tried it, though I think my delivery of it could do with some refining, I can certainly see value in it for my students.
Possibly my favourite website ever (no exaggeration) - the excellent referencing guide offered by the University of Portsmouth is the most comprehensive and user-friendly referencing guide out there.
Just choose which referencing standard you are using and the type of text you want to reference and click "go".
For my students (on an academic writing course), one of the biggest problems they have is to bring others' ideas into their own arguments without plagiarising. This site is really helpful as it is so clear and easy to use.
The Internet has come a long way in a short time and for students at university, it is now possible to do all required reading online. Blogs, news feeds, wikis and online academic journals are all rich sources of information and, used properly, can be a great source of information.
However, there is a danger that students don't evaluate critically the sources that they encounter online and they may also overrely on online sources, ignoring other key sources.
There is a need for students to be able to evaluate online sources so that they use appropriate sources for their assignments. Robert Harris developed a framework for evaluating online sources using the acronym CARS:
Accuracy
Reasonableness
Support
This framework has been tested quantitatively and qualitatively and has been shown to effect "lasting change" on students' use of online sources in academic assignments. Using a framework such as this can help students become better at evaluating online sources and ultimatley better, more independent learners.
Stephen Krashen is a brilliant academic, teacher and activist. In this short lecture, he demonstrates brilliantly his theory of comprehensible input. He makes language teaching look so easy.
"The only thing that seems to count, is getting messages you understand - comprehensible input"