AES

Year 3 Degree English Programme for:

Economic and Social Administration.

Principles and Practices

A. Your primary need is for confidence in the use of the English you have rather than the need for higher level English teaching.

Most of you will have had English courses in school, collège, lycée and university since age 7 or 8…. more than 10 years.  The question is: ‘Do you have the confidence to use this learning in conversations and correspondence?’.  For the vast majority, the answer tends to be: ‘No, not really‘.

So, we need to use what you’ve already got and improve and develop it in the context of situations, topics and contexts which relate closely to your area of study.  For this we are NOT going to be following a classic English Language textbook page by page and exercise by exercise, rather I am going to create a series of ‘blocks’ which will involve ‘realistic work environment‘ tasks requiring you to interact with each other and with me as individuals, in teams and in groups.  This will of course test your understanding and oral and written production.  It will also get you ready for workplace situations in which you find you have to use your English.

B. There is no ‘high jump’ to ‘clear’: whatever your level – I will be marking your effort and improvement.

Those of you who have a lower level of English at entry to this programme are not suddenly going to leap up to the level of your colleagues because they will be moving ahead at about the same rate.  That is why I am interested in how you apply yourself to your learning and how you progress.

That said, you may be eligible to take a CLES English language certificate test (the results of which can, of course, go on your cv/résumé).  Now clearly that is a ‘high-jump’ with a minimum level to be achieved.

C. Go ahead – take a ‘risk’: try!  Launch out with your English! Make mistakes but say what you mean!

You need to learn that ‘communication is NOT about language perfection‘, rather it is about being clear enough to be understood correctly.  You may fracture the language in places, but if your meaning is abundantly clear, then you have, by definition communicated. Take my French, for example:

• too much of a funny accent for French ears
• occasionally screw up conditional and subjunctives
• in speaking, don’t have time to get the gender correct 100% of the time
• switch annoyingly between vouvoiement et tutoiement because this differentiation doesn’t exist in English
• strange turns of phrase where I might translate a phrase from English directly and too literally into French because I don’t know the French equivalent expression
• ‘lose’ / forget words mid-sentence (which the listener often gently supplies)

BUT… with all that, people are very understanding and are grateful I am trying to speak their language and not the other way round and my meaning is clear.  Gradually my fluency is improving, but, having come to France in my 40s, I don’t think I will ever eradicate these errors….. but that hasn’t stopped me from being understood.

SO… don’t worry about making such mistakes – I will not hold them against you as long as your meaning is clear.  In fact, the odd mistake gives me the opportunity to help you learn and improve – it shows me clearly where you need the help.  Your mistakes become my problem – not yours!

Remember, as a very authoritative source (my father!) used to say:

• « The one who never made a mistake never made anything ».
• « Making a mistake is not a crime – the crime would be not learning from it »!

D. Blocks

The programme will be divided up into a number of ‘Blocks’ of different sizes and durations, but there will be one underpinning logic: each will have THREE phases:

1. Set up. Background, explanations, instructions/guidance, tasks and expectations, tools.  This will be 100% led by me (and if necessary I will do it in English and in French to ensure everyone understands 100% of the what, why, how, when, where and who).
2. Development. You will be working on the Block tasks at home and in class.  I will be helping you and giving you formative feedback/advice etc.  (Obviously IF you work and bring me material in class, I can review it and give you comments and suggestions and corrections which might actually help you get a better mark). 50/50 me/you.
3. Production of required outputs. This is where you deliver to deadline in the require form / forms.  This might be a group brainstorm, a team presentation, individual contribution to a discussion/debate, an interview, a written personal profile, a cv, a letter, a report.  This is 100% you (with summative feedback from me).

E. Team and Group work and Marking.

There is clearly an upside and a downside about team and group work (as opposed to 100% individual). These are broadly:

Upside

1. it enables us to attack tasks which are more real, interesting and relate to your chosen future careers: economic and social policies, programmes, procedures, practices and performances (‘cascading’) are rarely conceived, developed and implemented by individuals operating on their own – they usually involve teams and groups from different levels pulling together and harnessing individuals’ strengths and overcoming their limitations. It may be more difficult to coordinate teams and come to agreement, but that is the nature of things – we have to get used to it at work, so we may as well get used to it in the classroom!
2. We can cover more ground.  You can play to your respective strengths and allocate your resources accordingly which means we can look at ‘bigger’ issues than we could if working individually which offers the possibility of wider, more specialised and extensive vocabulary and a greater learning opportunity for each individual
3. Synergy [2+2=5].  None of us knows it all – we need others to contribute their ideas and experience and they need us to ‘spin and spark off’ their contributions.  In that way we can become greater than the sum of our parts and perform better than we could independently.   In our case, we may find that those who may be weaker in language may well be better in developing ideas and coming up with solutions: which leads to a positive exchange for both parties.

Downside

1. The need for organisation.  It is not as simple as working on your own: it takes time and coordination…. but 1+2+3 above represent the payoff!
2. The risk of ‘overmarking’ or ‘undermarking’.  If one is stronger language wise, it is easy to think that others are getting a ‘free ride’.  You need to organise it so that this doesn’t happen – so those learning from and being helped by you linguistically are able to repay the favour perhaps in a little bit more research or other time where they have a stronger suit than you.  At work you will find the same situation: we all have strengths and weaknesses and we all have to work together – so get used to it!  In addition, although I might be giving a team BASE mark – but I will always reserve the right to moderate this according to ‘conspicuous individual contribution‘ (leadership, creativity etc) where differentiation is evident.   I also try to ensure that the team/group contribution is never more than 40% of the total unit mark.

So, all in all, I believe that the downside has its solutions and compensations and the upside is considerable!  So please be professional about it and manage group tasks recognising this.

F. Plagiarism and Translation tools.

I know there are a lot of things online.  I know that copying and pasting is so very easy.  BUT don’t ever be tempted to ‘cheat’ and put into your coursework material written and produced by others (even paraphrased) unless you are prepared to acknowledge the source in the text and give the full details in a bibliography/references list.  So what is plagiarism?  Simple:

PLAGIARISM = Citation without attribution.

So, if you are using someone else’s words or thoughts:

1. Cite them.  Put them in italics – it helps distinguish for the eye that this is different – this is someone else and not you . Put them in « quotation marks« . If it is a long-ish quote, indent it inside your paragraph.
2. Attribute them to the author.  This means tell the reader whose work you are citing, both in the text and in a bibliography. To do this, use a recognised referencing system like MLA (very French and very complicated IMHO) or Harvard (very American and pretty clear and simple) – if you choose Harvard, DO use the Harvard System guide produced by my old university: with its simple instructions you can cite anything from a quote from a book to a line from a clip on YouTube.  [Basically, in the text after the citation, you need the name of the author and the date so the reader can see how current it is and whether the name is a recognised authority on the matter in question.   In the bibliography/references you will need to provide the full details of the source so that, if the reader wanted, he could actually find the passage you are citing in its original context.]  You MUST cite and attribute.  If you do – we give you creadit for researching and finding and weaving good material into your work. If you do not, you risk being hauled up in front of the Disciplinary Committee as the university takes plagiarism VERY seriously (because effectively you are asking your teachers to give you marks for work which is not actually yours at all).  In the worst case scenario, students have failed units and courses and have been expelled from the university and blacklisted for 3 years from any university study (even from any ‘fonctionnaire posts’ and from state examinations – including the driving test!).  You have been warned!

Using automated, electronic translation tools is generally considered to be a form of plagiarism: it is the equivalent of getting another student to do your work for you.  It is worse than that. Translation software is not that good, frankly and makes characteristic, recognisable and horrible errors. an example.  You know the French expression « avoir l’esprit de l’escalier« , put that into Google translate and you get  » to have the spirit of the stairs« .  It is correct literally, but is not anywhere close to the meaning of the expression [if you don’t know, it means thinking of that brilliant, witty remark/response just after the perfect moment to deliver it has passed!].  Also, if you are using a translation tool, you are not actually learning or improving your own English – so it defeats the object.

Use dictionaries, by all means:  http://www.wordreference.com/   being a good one.

TIP: when you learn a new word or expression, say it to yourself two or three times and use it as soon as you can especially in conversation.  Once you have actually used it a couple of times, it usually ‘sticks’.

G. Assignments and marking.

1. Each Block will have an ‘output’ at the end (which will be assessed).
2. I may also assess your process/work in progress towards the final output.
3. Details of the assessed components of any block will be detailed in the Block set up both in class and on this website
4. You MUST hit deadlines for your assignments.  Unless you have a medical certificate or the Course Director notifies me of another valid reason to accept your work late, a penalty will be applied for late submission.  This is for two reasons. Firstly, this is not just an English Language course – it is about inter-cultural capability in English, and in the English-speaking world a deadline is a deadline and never passes without some kind of penalty.  Secondly you are on a programme leading to a professional career and in business projects and work generally are time-critical!
5. You MUST supply your work in the form prescribed.  If I say: ‘to be produced on paper and handed to me in class on this/that date‘, that does NOT mean you can send it to me a day late by email and expect me to print it out on my own home paper and print budget.  The form is, for me, as important as the deadline. They are instructions to be followed to the letter.
6. I promise to try to get your work back to you as soon as possible (usually within 2 weeks) – I believe that summative feedback is important not just to justify the mark I have awarded you, but also to clarify where things were good and where they might have been better.  Without this – how can you learn and improve?
7. It is not just your English…!  You are in L3 and delivering all elements of the task required is important.  You may be marked down if you don’t fully address all elements of the task.
8. In each semester there may be 4 or more assessed components… which means that if you do not do so well in one of them, better performance elsewhere should help you compensate.

The Last Chance Saloon!

You should treat this as the proverbial Last Chance Saloon [Think: the bar Clint Eastwood goes into before he heads off across the desert, or  ‘last filling station for 100km] for your English!  You are towards the end of your University career.  Your English tuition is ‘free’ (in the sense that it is wrapped into very low university enrolment fees) … BUT … once you leave, if you don’t possess a functional English capability and find you really do need it, you’ll have to do it the hard way with evening classes or personal tuition which will cost you 40/50 Euros an hour!  Better to bring it fully on line NOW: not because there is a mark for it, but because you might actually need it in your career.

So let go of your inhibitions about maybe making a mistake, launch out and try – the worst that can happen is that I might suggest a possible improvement, but I promise faithfully that I will never ‘cut you down’ or blame you for getting it a little ‘wrong’ – rather I will thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you and to help others who will almost certainly need to learn the same thing.

I want you to treat me as your ‘safety net’, but I need you to trust me and to take a chance with your English for that to work for us both……  OK?

Ready?  Here we go!  Block One!