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Internship report in the Rijksuniversiteit Muteber Boyraz

S3065731

MA Applied Linguistics 2017-2018 July 2018

Supervisor at the placement organization: Dr. Marjolijn Verspoor

Placement supervising lecturer: Merel Keijzer

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A DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON WORK PLACEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

1. Introduction to the Rijksuniversiteit

With more than 45 bachelor’s, and 100 master’s programs the University of Groningen, established in 1614, is one of the top 100 universities in the world and is listed as top 25 among the European universities. It is best known for its research opportunities and high quality education.

While applying for the Master’s degree in applied linguistics at this University, I was struck by the exciting opportunities they offered, and one of them was a placement. This golden opportunity allows students like me to apply their knowledge of linguistics to their work, and it was closely related to my future career. This chance to gain such valuable experience, has been a decisive factor in my choice of the internship.

The English Language and Culture department, where I had my internship, is one of the oldest and by far the best in the country, with courses being taught entirely in English. The first professor of the Netherlands received his professorship at this department in 1885. Since then, this institution continued to improve and is now widely recognized in the fields of literature and linguistics. Nowadays, students who are doing research in these fields are being supervised by highly experienced staff whose work has been published.

Along with two other interns, I was privileged to be assigned to two experienced lecturers.

Together with my fellow interns we worked as a team through this process. My role was to serve as an assistant instructor, in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Argumentation course. These classes taught by course lecturers and the two other interns, took place twice a week on Mondays and Tuesdays. We had regular weekly meetings on Wednesdays with our course instructors to track and discuss our progress.

The course was divided into two blocks, each consisting of four units (argumentation,

structure, coherence and cohesion, and a recap of these three units). Each unit contained a

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sociolinguistics related article with close reading questions, and a Nestor quiz. The close reading questions were intended to assist comprehension and support critical thinking,

whereas the Nestor quiz served as a tool to check student comprehension. Moreover, each unit had logically structured three seminars; Discussion, Writing workshop, and Peer feedback. In the discussion seminar, the focus was on deepening the understanding of the article, and practicing discussion skills. The writing workshop was aimed at introducing students the content and practicing to use it effectively. In the peer feedback seminar students were requested to read each other’s assignments and give feedback accordingly. The main objectives of this course were that students should be able to write a well-developed

sociolinguistics essay with sound argumentation by analyzing and synthesizing a variety of sources, and being able to effectively discuss different topics at CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) level C1. Finally, to prepare students to write a good argumentative essay, they were required to use each aspect of a unit in their writing assignment. Mock orals were used during the seminars to reflect on students’ discussion skills. In order to pass the course, they had to demonstrate sufficient abilities in writing and speaking according to the requirements on the rubric (see Appendix 1.A and 1.B).

2. Description of my assignments

Not having any teaching experience at all, one of my tasks was to observe the lecturers, interns, and the lessons. To train myself for my future career, this was a crucial step to take.

For the observations to be more effective, I was required to attend all groups. I kept notes during every stage of my observations to examine what was important in teaching and how it was implemented at an academic level. I was also offered to teach some parts of a lesson upon my observation.

In addition to observations I was assisting in making necessary changes in lesson

materials that had been prepared by interns in the previous years. This meant that we had to

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be familiar with the content knowledge to introduce changes. Significant alterations were negotiated during our regular meetings and the workload was distributed evenly. We had to update Nestor as well to inform students about all the materials.

We were also responsible for designing unit 3, since previous students evaluations revealed that last year’s article was found to be too challenging for students. This unit was about coherence and cohesion. There was some information available, however it was not sufficient to prepare three seminars. We used the same template that was used during the previous two units to construct the requested materials. Our aim was to present a unit that would be practical and interesting for students, and could be used in the upcoming academic years. The main objective of this unit was to help students to write a coherent and cohesive essay.

Another of our responsibilities involved assessing students’ assignments. We graded students’ written and oral exams using a rubric, and provided them with explicit feedback.

Prior to dividing their work among us, we performed standardization with the lecturers to check if our marking was close if not alike.

3. Evaluation of my learning goals

My learning goals were as followed; (1) observing a full EAP Argumentation course given by highly experienced lecturers, and regularly keeping journals (2) assisting in making changes to existing lesson materials, preparing a lesson and possibly teaching some parts of this (3) attending regular meetings with the EAP team and course tutors, (4) grading students’

written and oral exams and providing them feedback.

Despite my desire to teach, our main course tutors and I agreed that I should start

observing first. It would help me to master the fundamentals of preparing proper materials and

teaching in an academic environment. I had a perfect opportunity to observe two skillful

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lecturers, and two professional foreign language teachers. I was surprised to discover that although they were teaching the same course using exactly the same materials, every tutor had their own way of teaching. I strongly believe it comes with experience. You will find your own approach the more you teach. Thus, I realized that the teacher is a facilitator. Instead of just transmitting information, teachers act as facilitators to guide and shape students’

understanding and that this is when learning takes place. What’s more, by keeping journals during every observation I discovered how an academic lesson was set up. I developed an understanding of the aim of every stage (see Appendix 4) which helped me to prepare unit 3.

In terms of making adjustments to lesson materials, we proposed adding tasks or altering existing ones. This involved brainstorming together and suggesting improvements. Due to my lack of teaching experience, my contribution was initially minor in the beginning. However, after a few observations, teamwork, and meetings my contributions grew substantially. In my opinion, having elaborate discussions and receiving constructive feedback on my ideas from our main tutors and my fellow interns improved my way of formulating tasks. Consequently, I learned that the preliminary step to start with is asking yourself, “what do I want my students to take out of this exercise/lesson?”.

After several observations and meetings, I felt confident enough to design unit 3 with my fellow interns. Using the same template, we decided on an article and constructed close- reading reading questions and a Nestor quiz (Appendix 2.A, 2.B and 2.C). However, the article was quite challenging so we focused on broadening their knowledge in the discussion seminar (see Appendix 2.D). Results of the course evaluation showed that students perceived this as facilitating their understanding of the article (m= 3.25

1

, sd= 0.77) (see Appendix 3 for full statistics). Since the theme of our unit was coherence and cohesion, we introduced this topic and practiced patterns in the writing workshop seminar (see Appendix 2.E). Moreover,

1 Reponses of the questionnaire were recorded on a Likert scale from 1-5

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our aim was to encourage students to use various cohesive patterns to make their work coherent. In their final writing exam, we saw successful attempts of using these devices. In the peer feedback seminar we emphasized common issues in their writing assignments 2, and how they should improve this by giving clear instructions. In addition, our main goal here was to let them give feedback on their peers’ writing assignment 3, and practice their oral skills (see Appendix 2.F). This can also be seen as a self-assessment and would stimulate their performances before the written and oral exams. To conclude, having generated this unit encouraged me to teach.

Because we designed this unit, I was strongly inclined to teach the introduction part of the discussion seminar in two groups where I would do a recap of unit 1 and 2 using an online Socrative quiz. As I tried to conceal my nervousness, I kept my primary focus on the goal of the activity. In this case, my goal was to positively encourage students not to forget the main points of these units and to effectively use what had been taught. They carried this task out on their technological devices, in pairs. Due to my lack of experience with this online quiz, the answers were not visible, and yet I managed to improvise properly by having a question answer moment. When students had further questions related to the context, I threw these back at them to force them to think critically. I received some positive comments on this and on keeping control of what I was doing. However, the most challenging for me was classroom management, and my supervisor’s feedback was that I should observe the class first instead of an immediate attempt to silence them. In addition, I should not stick to standing behind the desk. Instead, sitting on a desk or walking around would be helpful for classroom

management. Also, what was notable for my supervisor, and what I should not forget is explaining the reason of doing an exercise because students are constantly curious about the importance of practicing certain tasks. To sum up, even if it was only a 45 minutes

experience, I relished every second and look forward to teaching.

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The most challenging task for me was grading students’ writing assignments using the rubric which we had revised before we started marking. It was quite convenient to work with this during assessments as it allows lecturers to make more objective judgements. Also, this was a tool that helped me to become a critical reader of students’ texts. In the beginning I felt quite unsure about giving negative comments, or low grades on their written assignments.

However, giving high grade on a low performance will cause students to struggle in the upcoming years. In the end, it is substantially better to inform them of their weaknesses and encourage improvement by giving relevant feedback. It is crucial to avoid underlining what was insufficient. Instead, comments made by markers have to be explicit because students have to fully understand what they can improve. While grading the very first time, I spent 40 minutes on each assignment. Additionally, I used to ask my fellow interns for confirmation on the feedback I gave. Through practice, I successfully minimized the time I spent to around 20 minutes, and I became more confident too. As for the oral exam, I was present but was not active in grading. Still, I believe I grasped the main points of grading oral exams. To my surprise, this seemed less difficult than marking the written assignments, yet more tiring. The aspects on the rubric were shortened and clear, so there was no sudden urge to look at the rubric repeatedly. Lecturers had to be very attentive during the discussions, and afterwards they would have a short reflection before making a decision. A recording was made in case they had to listen again.

4. Reflection on the process and learning goals

Undoubtedly, the benefits of having done my placement at the RUG is boundless. I

worked with the best team whose work was inspirational, and supportive. I had not

anticipated how professional this work would be, and this generates a restless excitement

about my future career. As the students who took EAP Argumentation, I gained knowledge

that I can apply to my work. While observing, I found myself in praising the teaching method,

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A DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON WORK PLACEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

provided information, and the value of the materials firsthand. Consequently, the academic proficiency of this organization where I am a student myself and have been an assistant instructor is indisputable.

Regarding my learning outcomes, it impresses me how my skills and contribution developed strongly over time, and how much knowledge I gained. It was obvious that I had no experience at all in the beginning. In my case, the idea of observing first has had a huge impact on my learning goals. What even enhanced this more was the opportunity to observe two qualified lecturers and teachers. This was supported by in depth discussions during several successful meetings. In addition, receiving constructive feedback on my development increased not only my efforts and productivity, but also strengthened my motivation and confidence which was evident in my progress.

As a final point, I am more than satisfied with the process and completion of my

internship. I have fully developed the fundamentals of teaching, such as the ability to design a unit or a lesson plan, or marking students’ exams in an academic setting. As a prospective course tutor, I would like to further reinforce these learning outcomes in the teaching

profession. Besides, I also would like to establish future goals like practicing and intensifying

my teaching skills, and especially working on the feedback I received when I taught. Lastly, I

am looking forward to applying and demonstrating my knowledge in different EAP courses,

and foreign language teaching. After a successful completion of my MA in the Applied

Linguistics program which is closely related to my internship, I will be fully prepared to work

in this field.

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Appendix 1.A (Assessment descriptors pair discussion)

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1.B (Assessment descriptors writing assignments)

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Appendix 2

2.A Article for unit 3 See references.

2.B Reading questions for Baker, Gabrielatos & McEnery (2013)

This article has been chosen for three reasons: 1) it gives an example of how corpus linguistic data can be used to understand trends in language and society; 2) it shows how to effectively represent large amounts of data and how to draw solid conclusions from them; 3) it is an example of a coherent and cohesive piece of writing, using not only linking words, but also a number of more sophisticated and subtle cohesive devices.

Before reading:

1. You might find it useful to watch this TEDx talk. Tony McEnery, the third author of the

article, explains what the research focused on and what conclusions they drew:

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A DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON WORK PLACEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRz6PBDHJqc

2. The study you are going to read uses several terms from corpus linguistics (a subdiscipline of linguistics which studies language through computer analysis of huge amounts of spoken and written text). Some of the terms may be unfamiliar to you, so they are listed here. Match them to their definitions:

Quantitative Collocation Discourse analysis Discourse prosody Tokens Collocates Types Lemma Qualitative

1. The study of written or spoken text in order to understand the relation between text and society

2. A phenomenon whereby two (or more) words occur together more often than chance would suggest. For example, heavy and rain tend to occur together, whereas hard and rain do not.

3. A type of analysis which relies on numeric data.

4. The individual words which make up a collocation.

5. The way that seemingly neutral words can carry negative or positive associations because of the words they collocate with. For example, cause may seem neutral, but usually collocates with negative words, e.g. accident, disaster.

6. The number of actual instances of a word in a text. For example, in the sentence The cat sat on the mat, there are two instances of the word the.

7. The number of different kinds of word in a text. For example, in the sentence The cat sat on the mat, there are five different kinds of word.

8. The dictionary form of a word. For example, run, runs, running and ran are parts of the same dictionary entry, with run as the dictionary form.

9. A type of analysis that focuses on non-numeric data.

Reading Abstract

1. As we said when reading Wingate (2012), reading the abstract is a valuable exercise to help orient yourself when reading the article.

● What argument do you expect the authors to make?

● What do you think the conclusions of the article will be?

● What analysis was used?

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Introduction

2. Read the “Introduction” section (page 255-257).

● Which paragraph states the purpose of the article?

● In this paragraph, the writers make reference to their methods. What are they?

(Don’t worry if you don’t understand them fully at this point.)

● The introduction section also contains three paragraphs about the readership of newspapers in the UK. Why is this included in the introduction?

3. Read the last paragraph of the “Introduction” section (page 257). The paragraph begins with “The following section”.

● What is the function of this paragraph?

● Using the paragraph, make a note of the sections you expect to encounter in the article.

● Now, quickly leaf through the article and find the headings you wrote down. How do these headings relate to each other to create overall coherence throughout the article?

● Look again at your notes on the overall structure. How does this fit the pattern of broad to specific?

Note that not all genres of writing require this kind of explanatory introductory

paragraph, and that for some writers and disciplines it is dispreferred. You should pay close attention to what other writers do in your discipline(s) and what your tutors think about this type of paragraph as well.

Research on media language and Islam

4. Read the first paragraph of this section (beginning “Research that has examined…”)

● There are several different devices in this paragraph which help to make it a cohesive paragraph. One of these is the use of linking words, but there are others as well. Study the paragraph carefully and pick out as many cohesive devices as you can find.

5. In the last paragraph of the research review (p.259, top of the page), Fairclough’s

textually oriented discourse analysis is said to provide: (a) description of the text, (b)

interpretation of discourse processes and the text, and (c) explanation of those processes

and society.

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A DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON WORK PLACEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

● How does this relate to the idea, stated in Chapman (2012), that language can act as an index to human behaviour?

Data and Methods

6. Read the “Data and Methods” Section.

● There are 5 paragraphs. What is the purpose of each one?

● How does each paragraph build on the previous one?

7. Read the paragraph on page 260 which begins “The first stage of the analysis”.

● If you are curious about what Sketch Engine is, you might want to watch this (short) video: https://www.sketchengine.co.uk

● In the same paragraph, there is an example using the word WOMAN. How does this demonstrate Sketch Engine’s capabilities? Why is it included?

8. Read the last paragraph of this section (“A word sketch is…”)

● “A word sketch is a somewhat broad brush approach.” (p.260). How does this phrase link to the introduction section, i.e. can you find it repeated in that section?

Results: Noun collocates of Muslim

9. Before reading the analysis of Table 1, it is worth spending a few moments getting to grips with the table first. Analyses are often much easier to read once you have interpreted the data yourself. You will be responsible for summarising the tables during class!

● What do the words in the left-hand column represent?

● “Frequency” is listed in the second column. However, frequency is relative: what is the overall size of the corpus in a) number of texts, and b) number of words? (Hint:

check the methods section if you didn’t note this down the first time round.)

● According to the table, what does “Salience” mean? (The calculation is quite technical so we won’t address it here.)

● Look again at the left-hand column. Can you see words which are related? How would you categorize them into meaningful groups?

● Woman is the third most common noun found with the adjective Muslim. Does this

surprise you? How does it compare with the frequency of the word man? Why do you

think woman is used so often with Muslim in the UK press?

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● The table shows only uses of the word Muslim as an adjective. What percentage is that of all the uses of the word Muslim in the corpus? (Hint: check the two paragraphs above the table).

10. Read table 2.

● How does the data in table 2 relate to the data in table 1?

● Were the categories decided on by the researchers or by a computer? (Hint: you might need to look in the text)

● Are these categories similar to the ones you created for Table 1?

● Directly above the table is a paragraph which starts “What emerges from…” (p.262).

Do you agree with the conclusions the researchers draw in this paragraph?

11. The following section (pages 263-265, top of page) describes each category in greater detail, providing excerpts from newspapers for each one. According to the text, how are these categories interconnected with one another?

12. Figures 2, 3 and 4 are related to each other. Knowing how they are related can help to deepen your understanding of what they show.

● In your own words, try to explain what Figure 2 shows, and how this data was collected from the database.

● Do the same with Figure 3.

● What is the difference between the data in Figure 2 and the data in Figure 3? (Hint:

pay attention to the difference between token and type. If you still aren’t sure, go back to the pre-reading exercises.)

● Figure 4 revisualizes the data from these two Figures in a different way. Check the names of the axes of Figure 4. Now go back to Figures 2 and 3. Which axis represents Figure 2? Which axis represents figure 3?

● The authors refer to the idea of “lexical richness”. What does this mean?

Results: Muslim world and Muslim community

13. Read the first two sentences of this section.

● What do you notice about how each sentence begins?

● How do these cohesive devices develop the argument in this section?

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A DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON WORK PLACEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

14. Look at Figure 5. Analyze it and interpret it in your own words.

● What is the authors’ explanation for the difference in frequency of the phrases Muslim community and Muslim world over the period from 1998 to 2009?

Conclusion

15. Read the Conclusion section.

● What is the function of the first three paragraphs of this section? Why are they written first, rather than later?

● Which paragraph states the findings of the study most effectively? Which two sentences can be considered the conclusion of the article?

● Scan through these paragraphs again. What words or phrases are used to cohesively link the points the authors are making?

● Look at the topic sentence of each paragraph. How do they work to summarize the research the authors have done?

Before you finish reading: below, we’ve included the question which you’ll have to discuss in class and write for Writing Assignment 3. You might find it useful to make some notes on this topic before you come to class.

How does the language used in British newspapers create a distinction between Muslims and the rest of society? You might want to consider:

● What evidence can you get from the data presented in the article (specifically tables and figures)?

● What arguments can your data support?

● Which arguments would be most useful in your discussion / writing assignment?

2.C Nestor quiz questions

1. This study was designed to select only a small sub-sample of texts about Muslims in the UK Media between 1998 and 2009. (untrue, It was supposed to be wholly representative.)

2. In terms of token frequency, which three categories appeared most frequently in the

corpus?

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a. Religion

b. Ethnic/national identity (see figure 2) c. Muslim community

d. Conflict (see figure 2)

e. Characterizing/differentiating attributes (see figure 2) f. Culture

g. Group/organization

3. Words related to the category ‘ethnic / national identity’ tended to occur relatively frequently, but also to rely on a small number of word types. (True, The number of tokens for this category was high (Figure 2: 36.7%), but the number of types was lower (Figure 3: 13.8%))

4. Noun collocates of Muslim describing religion and culture:

a. Did not occur with noun collocates from other categories.

b. Tended to overlap with noun collocates relating to conflict.

c. Were generally used in neutral contexts.

d. Always portrayed a negative attitude towards Islam.

5. The researchers found a spike in use of the phrase Muslim community after 2005. They attributed this to:

a. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

b. New editorial rules.

c. Declining interest in Muslims around the world.

d. An act of terrorism in the UK.

6. Which of the following is true?

a. Muslim world appeared 3,318 times more than Muslim community in the corpus.

b. Muslim world appeared 4,928 times more than Muslim community in the corpus.

c. Muslim community appeared 3,480 times more than Muslim world in the corpus.

d. No analysis was conducted of how often the two terms appeared in the corpus.

7. The extract quoted from the Daily Star about piggybanks is used to demonstrate that news stories about Muslims may be misinterpreted by readers. (True)

8. According to the authors of the article, what effect does the portrayal of Muslims in UK newspapers have?

a. It shows they are in conflict with the rest of the UK.

b. It creates the idea that they are separate from the rest of UK society.

c. It correlates to a growing Muslim population in the UK.

d. It increases fear and hatred towards Muslims.

9. What two legitimation strategies does the article mention as being used by UK newspapers?

a. Misinterpreting the original news stories.

b. Employing columnists whose opinions can be distanced from the

newspaper’s overall position.

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c. Publishing text messages from readers which contain negative portrayals of UK Muslims.

d. Depicting UK Muslims as a homogeneous group who do not belong to UK society.

10. What is the correct way to cite the article in APA?

a. Baker, P., McEnery, T., & Gabrielatos, C. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998-2009. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), 255-278.

b. Baker P., McEnery T., & Gabrielatos, C. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word 'Muslim' in the british press 1998-2009. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), 255-278.

c. P Baker, T McEnery, & C Gabrielatos. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998-2009. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), pp. 255-278.

d. Baker, P., McEnery, T., & Gabrielatos, C. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998-2009. Applied Linguistics 34(3) 255-278.

2.D Discussion seminar

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QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO RECAP UNIT 1 AND 2 (SOCRTAIVE QUIZ:

ARGUMENTATION AND STRUCTURE)

1. What is argument/argumentation in academic writing?

2. What are the three aspects of the essay writing framework suggested by Wingate (2012) to improve the teaching of argumentation?

 Selecting and using relevant information from sources

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 Establishing your own position

 Presenting your position in a coherent manner

3. What is the difference between school essays and academic writing essays?

 School essays consist of the thesis/antithesis/synthesis structure whereas academic writing essays are composed of several claims based on analysis of careful sources 4. The interaction elements in discussion skills are..

 Active listening

 Elaboration

 Paraphrasing

 Turn-taking

5. The macro structure of an essay should always move from general to specific. (False) 6. Give two examples of academic chunks you have used in your writing.

7. What is the term used for language which describes or analyses language? (Metalanguage) 8. What is the acronym used to help you elaborate during your discussions and what does each letter stand for? (Hint: …. your discussions!)

 Add

 Challenge

 Enquire

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2.E Writing workshop

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HANDOUT DURING SEMINAR FOR STUDENTS (1. COHESION PARAGRAPH)

Overall, the quantitative analysis found that Muslims were frequently constructed in terms of homogeneity and connected to conflict. This finding was echoed in the qualitative analysis that showed that Muslim community and Muslim world were frequently characterized as distinct, reasonably homogeneous entities that are quick to take offence, in tension with the UK or ‘the West’, rather than integrated, contain dangerous radical ‘elements’, and are threatened by a backlash. The terms help to create the idea of Muslims as belonging to a distinct and separate ‘imagined community’ at both the global and national level, and, thus, contribute towards a process of ‘othering’. Even articles that could be viewed as ‘well

meaning’, in that they stress the importance of integrating the Muslim community, rather than demonizing Muslims, still contribute towards this othering process.

Baker, P., McEnery, T., & Gabrielatos, C. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of

representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998-2009. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), 255-278.

Overall, the quantitative analysis found that Muslims were frequently constructed in terms of homogeneity and connected to conflict. This finding was echoed in the qualitative analysis that showed that Muslim community and Muslim world were frequently characterized as distinct, reasonably homogeneous entities that are quick to take offence, in tension with the UK or ‘the West’, rather than integrated, contain dangerous radical ‘elements’, and are threatened by a backlash. The terms help to create the idea of Muslims as belonging to a distinct and separate ‘imagined community’ at both the global and national level, and, thus, contribute towards a process of ‘othering’. Even articles that could be viewed as ‘well

meaning’, in that they stress the importance of integrating the Muslim community, rather than demonizing Muslims, still contribute towards this othering process.

Baker, P., McEnery, T., & Gabrielatos, C. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of

representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998-2009. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), 255-278.

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HANDOUT DURING SEMINAR FOR STUDENTS (2. THEMATIC PROGRESSION) Pattern 1

The issue of educational disadvantage has been widely studied in the developing world.

Countries such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan and many African nations have extremely poor levels of education compared to the developed countries. However, the Western world seems little concerned with its responsibility to shoulder the economic and humanitarian

consequences of continued poverty as a result of stagnant educational achievements.

Pattern 2

Rocks were originally used to carry carved or painted messages (Benson, 1990). Scrolled leather, onto which messages were crudely scratched, was used in later Neolithic times (Hardy, 1984). Heavy hand-copied parchment took over in the middle ages when monks had the leisure to embellish them with fine inks and costly gold leafing (Santos, 1996).

Pattern 3

There are three main categories of argument in relation to capital punishment: retributive arguments, utilitarian arguments and deterrence arguments. Retributive arguments basically pursue the religiously inspired ‘eye for an eye’ approach, arguing that a second person’s death avenges and cancels out the death of the first. Utilitarian arguments tend to be more sanguine, encompassing economic arguments related to the lesser costs of capital punishment as well as those based on a negative view of the perpetrator’s future usefulness to society. Deterrence arguments focus on the use of capital punishment as a preventative measure to dissuade others from committing capital crimes.

Extracted from:

http://writesite.elearn.usyd.edu.au/m3/m3u5/m3u5s3/m3u5s3_1.htm

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2.F Peer Feedback

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HANDOUT FOR STUDENTS (PARAGRAPH WORKSHOP)

First of all, left-wing supporters tend to link language use with intelligence.

Chapman’s (2012) research showed a difference between the complaints of language use between Obama and Palin. Whereas Obama received more partial complaints, Palin received more full complaints. In partial complaints, solely the language is criticized. However, in full complaints both the language and the candidates receive criticism (p. 197). This shows that left-wing supporters are more critical towards the use of language and are more likely to connect the use of language with the candidate. By contrast, commentators from the right may only criticize the language and not the candidate. This is strongly linked to the complaint tradition. The complaint tradition holds that it is acceptable to discriminate against people who use non-standard English, because there is only one correct way of speaking and

deviations from the norm are barbaric. So in other words, the left-wing commentators use the

full complaint tradition, whereas the right-wing commentators use only the first part of the

tradition.

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A DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON WORK PLACEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN Appendix 3 (Statistics course evaluation)

Table XX. Student evaluation data, mean scores and standard deviations

Question M SD

Please rate the extent to which you have mastered the following outcomes:

(1 = very unconfident, 4 = very confident) M SD

1. Being able to write a sociolinguistic essay 3.14 0.55

2. Being able to analyze and synthesize sources 3.27 0.52

3. Being able to discuss sociolinguistic issues in English 2.91 0.64

Please rate how much the following activities prepared you for the final exams:

(1 = unuseful, 4 = useful)

M SD

1. Reading questions 2.77 0.81

2. Nestor quizzes 2.80 0.77

3. Discussing articles 3.73 0.45

4. Writing workshops 3.55 0.63

5. Speaking workshops 3.43 0.63

6. Giving peer feedback 3.25 0.77

7. Receiving peer feedback 3.20 0.80

8. Receiving feedback from lecturers on written tasks 3.70 0.69

9. Completing written assignments 3.68 0.58

10. Mock oral exam 3.39 0.68

11. Mock speaking exam 3.55 0.54

Please rate the difficulty of the articles used in the course.

(1 = too easy, 4 = too difficult)

M SD

1. Wingate (2012) 2.27 0.55

2. Chapman 2.48 0.54

3. Baker, McEnery and Gabrielatos 2.61 0.59

4. Barrett 2.68 0.56

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Please rate your agreement with the following statements:

(1 = disagree, 5 = fully agree)

M SD

1. The seminars helped me to better understand the material 4.16 0.78

2. The seminars contributed to the development of my oral and writing skills 3.96 0.83 3. The course contributed to my ability to conduct independent research 3.13 1.08

4. The course taught me how I can present my work 3.75 0.84

5. The course was well-organised 4.30 0.63

6. In general, I was satisfied with this course 3.88 0.81

Please rate the following questions about Unit 3:

(1 = not well at all; 5 = very well)

M SD

1. How well did the article fit into the theme of the course? 4.09 0.77

2. How interesting was the content of the article? 3.95 1.04

3. How effectively did the reading questions support your understanding of the article? 3.36 0.84 4. How effectively did the reading questions guide your reading process? 3.07 0.95 5. How effectively did the reading questions draw attention to cohesion and coherence? 3.02 0.86 6. How effectively did the first seminar of the unit support your understanding of the article? 3.98 0.77 7. How effectively did unit 3 help you to understand cohesion and coherence? 3.95 0.70

8. How useful was it to learn about cohesion and coherence? 4.29 0.78

Note. N = 56.

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Appendix 4 INTRODUCTION (TODAY’S PLAN)

- Introducing students what’s on schedule.

- Having the aim of content explicitly stated will give students an idea of what they should expect from that days class.

o HOW

 This should take place in the beginning of the class.

 Summarizing the agenda in one or two sentences.

LESSON OBJECTIVES

- Goals to be achieved at the end of a class.

- Very important to have lesson objectives explicitly stated! Gives the students an idea of what they will be able to do at the end and they’ll focus on that during

lecture/seminar. It’s helpful for the tutor, because this way you keep in mind what you want them to learn/get out of this lesson.

o HOW

 Use action verbs when presenting because that is measurable.

RECAP

- Review of the previous input.

- In some cases, recap of the previous week’s class/unit will be beneficial.

- Reminds them not to forget the salient points of the content.

- Encouraging them to demonstrate what has been recapped.

o HOW

 Socrative quiz. Let them answer in groups!

 Mentimeter.com ACTIVATION/WARM-UP

- Activating existing or general knowledge of the subject. Helps the students to get ready for the tasks and any input. It’s important that this part of the lesson should be as interesting as possible.

o HOW

 Try to be creative in any way you can as this is the part where you need to catch their attention. For example, they had to read an article about drag queens. We started with showing them pictures of famous ones that were on a Drag Race show, and asked for definitions of

terminologies in drag culture.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (1. Discussion)

- It is crucial to understand the main points of the article, and answer in depth. Students might also find it helpful if the lecturer confirms their answer.

- This way we also push them to be more precise and to gain deeper knowledge of the

given content.

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- Have the discussion questions prepared on the ppt (or any material you use), as clearly as possible. Let them discuss in pairs or in groups! Pairing or grouping will have better effect on improving their skills. This way (pairing or grouping), talkative and less talkative people will have to engage, discuss, SPEAK in the target language, listen to one another, and practice their skills.

o HOW

 Divide comprehension questions among groups, and give each group a number to start with and work onwards from their starting point.

 Quiz game, first one to stand up gets to answer the question.

DISCUSSION PRACTICE (1. Discussion) - Prepares them for the oral exam.

- It’s an efficient exercise for self-assessment.

- By discussing the given question they will develop and/or improve their discussion skills, and deepen their knowledge of the article.

o HOW

 Each week focus on two not more skills, and explain what it is, and let them use it during their discussion.

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

- This question should be very clear on the ppt. To give students an idea where to begin with, give them ideas to work and elaborate on.

- Instructions should also be CLEAR.

TASKS RELATED TO THE ARTICLES

- What do we want students to get out of this? What do I aim for? What do I want them to know, and how are they going to use this in their study.

- Think about some activities we did; we gave them key terms (to reinforce their understanding of the article, to understand important terms in sociolinguistics, use body language when explaining those terms for better retention), chunks, paragraphs to edit..

READING QUESTIONS

- Make sure to scaffold them.

- Encourage them to do close-reading.

- Support critical thinking.

- Develop deeper understanding.

NESTOR QUIZ QUESTIONS

- To check comprehension and draw their attention to some points.

- For them to test their understanding of the article.

RUBRIC

- They will be aware of the aspects on the rubric which will give them an idea of what is important in discussions and writing assignments.

- And most importantly, what they will be graded on.

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References

1. University of Groningen: https://www.rug.nl/about-us/

2. The English language and culture department:

https://www.rug.nl/let/organization/bestuur-afdelingen-en- medewerkers/afdelingen/afdeling-engels/

3. Baker, P., McEnery, T., & Gabrielatos, C. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus

driven analysis of representations around the word 'Muslim' in the British press 1998-

2009. Applied Linguistics, 34(3), 255-278

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