Successful overseas students

Well, the pictures may not be very good, but I think the ideas they show are very important. We finished our summer course by thinking about the habits of successful overseas students. I think the most important things to take away from your summer school are a positive mental attitude and an awareness of how you can continue to improve your language skills.

Many students have commented that they want more listening practice and that we don't do enough in class. There is never enough time to do everything you want in class, so it may be true that listening is often one of the things overlooked. But, you can listen outside class! The link today is to the online lectures provided by the Self-Access Centre for Language Learning at Reading University. This is a wonderful collection of real lectures given to English language students at Reading, complete with clearly typed transcripts so you can read what the lecturer says (after listening!) when there are things you did not understand. What I really like about these lectures is their authenticity (which means they are real) and they are accessible to everyone - you don't need to be an expert on the topic to enjoy the lecture, they are aimed at a general audience. Here's the link to these lectures.

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Incorporating sources into your writing

I met some new international students yesterday and they were complaining about the weather in the UK. It's official - August this year was the worst August that we have ever had according to records, but that's not a bad thing if you are sitting in class! Brits try to make themselves feel better by saying things like "Maybe we'll have an Indian summer!" ( a warm period in autumn) but really we know the autumn will be equally dismal (and I think you can guess the meaning of 'dismal'!).

Referring to other people's ideas in your writing is a critical part of using English for Academic Purposes, and doing it well is hard! Today I am going to show you one way of structuring a paragraph which includes a reference to other people's work.

Here's an example paragraph in an essay discussing the difficulties faced by international students at universities:

One of the biggest difficulties facing overseas students in British universities is the issue of English language competence. Robertson et al (2000) report that overseas students were often unable to play a full role in classrooms because they were so conscious of their restricted command of English. Clearly any university which is serious about recruiting and teaching international students needs to make sure that those students receive adequate language support.

We can see that in this paragraph there is:

1. A topic sentence:
One of the biggest difficulties facing overseas students in British universities is the issue of English language competence.
This sentence clearly puts forward an idea (or thesis) . It is the topic for the whole sentence.

2. Evidence from an outside source which supports the topic sentence:
Robertson et al (2000) report that students were often unable to play a full role in classrooms because they were so conscious of their restricted command of English.

3. Input from the writer on the implications (effect, consequences) of the evidence and topic sentence:
Clearly any university which is serious about recruiting and teaching international students needs to make sure that those students receive adequate language support.

As usual I am pointing you to a resource which helps you practise this language point, and today this comes from the University of Victoria, Wellington. Their Academic Writing Module neatly encapsulates writing paragraphs in Academic English. The first units focus on topic sentences and building paragraphs and I particularly like section 3 on incorporating sources. This material is here.