Essay - Reflective writing
Learning outcome 1: Set shoe term and long range goals and to design an appropria plan of study;
Learning outcome 2: Identify techniques for building comprehension and retention;
Learning outcome 3: Acquire knowledge of leaning strategics and techniques to impro' memory retention and understanding how people learn;
Learning outcome 4: Use of library information and media services
TASK DESCRIPTION - Assignment 1
Assessment 1- Individual essay (1000 words maximum)
Read the article below and do further research to answer the questions that follow:
Listening skills in an academic context
Students need good listening skills to interpret what people are saying in various academic situations. For example, the need to be able to understand the content of a lecture at the speed it is delivered. Presentations also require good listening skills, as do seminars, where students are expected t understand and build on the contributions of others. Other events include tutorials, discussions, meetings with tutors an supervisors, group projects, and informal social interaction: In addition, students need good listening skills to interact with administration staff in the local context. In short, student exchange, discuss and apply critical thinking to a considerable amount of knowledge in oral/aural settings.
What are the challenges?
A lecture, for example, can present many linguistic challenges. These include speed of delivery, accent, academic and specialist vocabulary. There is also grammatical complexity such as false starts, long sentences, and complete noun phrases. An extract from a university medical lecture on stroke contains the following examples:
• False starts and repetitions: an honour= honorary
• Unnecessary words: So ifI'd like to just go, go...
• Long sequences with a number of items, including run-on sentences with multiple clauses which pile up layers of information: Furthermore, it's the third commonest cause of death, with a third of strokes being fatal; one in six people in the world will have a stroke in their lifetime, it's unlikely to get through life without knowing somebody, a first-degree relative or very close friend, who will not have a stroke.
• Technical terms which can be difficult to hear, understand, pronounce, and spell: hemicraniectomy, thrombolysis
• Words with dependent prepositions which express specific relational meanings: the impact on, of stroke on people
• Embedded references to items mentioned before/after in the text: as I've said
• Complex / convoluted structures such as noun phrases: the very exciting acute treatment which has now emerged over the past ten years as I've said with thrombolysis and hemicraniectomy
• Abbreviations and acronyms: AIDS, EU, TB
There are other challenges too, including culture, dealing with the content of the lecture, the cognitive processing of numbers and statistics, working out detail from the main points, and visual challenges such as the use of PowerPoint slides. Students also need to know why they are listening, and be able to make a record of the content for future use.
Questions:
1. Discuss three of the listening challenges mentioned in the article above.
2. Suggest three strategies teachers can use to help students improve their listening skills.
3. Describe some listening challenges you have experienced and the strategies that have helped you become a better listener.
Essay Structure:
Ensure that the essay has the following structure and contains the details outlined:
• Cover page: essay title, student ID, name of course and university
• Introduction
• Main body - consisting of well-written paragraphs
• Conclusion
• In-text citations throughout (Minimum 8)
• Reference List (minimum 6 references)
• Academic writing throughout