by Kerry Boakes
This post introduces a resource titled Seeking Transparency in AI – From Black Boxes to Radical Possibilities (ed.ac.uk) to my colleagues at CALD.
Perceptions of Autonomy
by Rachel Wall
Last year, I embarked on a series of research projects which led me on a merry dance through the avenues and rabbit holes of autonomy. They led me to question my own practice and the precarious balance of appropriate scaffolding; dive into the baffling world of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT); experiment with coding; observe the language choices of my fellow tutors; design surveys and observation instruments and fundamentally left me wondering if autonomy can ever really exist. I’m not going to lie: the process ‘flawed’ me on many occasions – in both senses of the homophone – and forced me to rethink my own approach to life, as both a tutor and a citizen of this luscious planet. (more…)
East meets West: an international student’s observations of Confucian values within western teaching contexts
by Yen-En Kuo
Introduction
This blog was inspired by the writer’s observations of Eastern and Western students studying on her post-graduate course, focusing particularly on the experiences of Asian students within the UK higher education (HE) system. The author is an international student from Taiwan pursuing an MSc Management at the University of Bristol. (more…)
“Dear Miss Lady Doctor Tania” – The problem of inappropriately written emails in Higher Education
When I was first asked to write a blog post about completing my teaching diploma in Turkey, I was stumped. For me, the clear benefit had been the opportunity to revisit teaching general English to a monolingual group in a low-stakes environment. However, given that the diploma context was very different to that at CALD, how relevant would my observations and re-honed practices be?
The answer lay within a staff meeting where it was asked whether students needed extra support writing emails to members of university staff. This area directly coincided with research I conducted for one of my observed lessons, thereby giving me something to share. (more…)
“Grammaring with a twist” to suit the EAP classroom
If you, like me, learnt English, or any other language in fact, using Grammar Translation (a method which now generally enjoys a bad rap) at a time when communicative language teaching hadn’t perhaps quite taken off, this is the definition of grammar you will probably be most familiar with: (more…)
Data Science students in pursuit of an imperfect dream
by Mike Phipps
For students on our International Foundation Programme (IFP), technology and artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed their learning experiences. Translation tools can reduce language barriers, web programmes can provide worked solutions to maths problems, and for those who might flirt with academic misconduct, ChatGPT can even write whole assignments. For some, though, AI and the related domain of Data Science are not just a study tool but also an increasingly popular degree choice. We have seen this on our IFP, and in part to support them, we are developing a foundation module in Python programming. (more…)
Thinking around task design on the pre-sessional (summer of 2023)
by Grant Hartley and Tony Prince
Addressing a need
CALD’s pre-sessional courses attracted around 580 students this past year, with roughly 80% studying online, all with the hope of being better prepared for their PG or UG courses at the University of Bristol. As such, the focus of the course is on providing students with an experience where they can become more used to the demands and expectations they will meet in their disciplinary studies. With this in mind, students are taken through a weekly cycle of learning activities, starting with accessing academic texts receptively, before being asked to generate a response to that content. (more…)
ESL in Ukraine: my experiences
ESL in Ukraine: my experiences
It’s a hot afternoon in Lviv, Western Ukraine, as I make my way into an old soviet tower block on the outskirts of the city. “English class first floor,” the building’s porter tells me – he’s a boy of around ten years old. (more…)
Challenging chats: Exploring AI Literacy on a Pre-sessional Course
Introduction
This article was co-written by four international post-graduate students – Natt, Haoyuan, Yen-En, and Liming – and their pre-sessional teacher, Martha. It presents the students’ evolving perspectives on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT. They share their journey from casual engagement with AI to recognizing its value as a study aid. The article also highlights the teacher’s research project, which aimed to understand how to develop the students’ AI literacy on their 2023 pre-sessional course. (more…)
Global Citizen Photo Diary in EAP
Research reflections from the CALD PG Pre-sessional and IFP Text Response programmes
by Jo Kukuczka (Doctoral Student, Open University) & Donna MacLean (EAP Tutor, CALD, University of Bristol)
This blog post reflects on the fruits of our research and teaching collaboration across boundaries, and we don’t just mean institutional boundaries. The pedagogical research we report on here took place in the post-pandemic academic year of 2022/2023, the year disrupted by ongoing national HEI industrial action and the cost-of-living crisis affecting all involved. Only the support and dedication of CALD leadership and pre-sessional and IFP Text Response teams and students made this intervention possible under such circumstances, and ultimately enabled closer collaboration between the researcher (Jo) and the teacher (Donna) leading to this reflection. Read on to hear our story. (more…)