Putting Theory into Practice English Language Projects Wendy Anderson Lecturer, English Language, University of Glasgow

/ English Language projects Two pilot projects: 1. ESOL volunteer training project 2. Oral History fieldwork project

ESOL volunteer training pilot 8-week Volunteer Tutor course 6-month Volunteer Placement

ESOL volunteer training pilot Student 1: Female, Junior Honours Worked with a 19 year old Pakistani man, newly arrived in Glasgow Part of Red Cross Life Skills course Role included: helping him write a diary, work on job interview skills, communication skills

ESOL volunteer training pilot Student 2: Female, Senior Honours Worked with groups of 10 females, organised by Scottish Refugee Council, various ages, nationalities, educational backgrounds. Role: work on language survival skills, e.g. finding locations, vocabulary for food shopping, doctor visits, telling the time

ESOL volunteer training pilot Student motivations: Appeal of teaching; gaining experience First step towards a qualification Working with a voluntary organisation Relevance for: Degree course Job prospects General life skills

Oral history fieldwork project Training: Oral history fieldwork and interviews Recording equipment Ethics and copyright Transcription of speech data Fieldwork: Glasgow Womens Library Supporters Direct

Oral history fieldwork project Benefits to students: Connections with Departments Honours courses Students gain original spoken language data for dissertations etc. Experience in recording and transcribing Engagement with project and community group

Some challenges: Student expectations Maintaining momentum with a non-embedded course Workload (esp. with regard to sustainability beyond life of project)

Student feedback (from Oral History project): …it has been a great experience. … Carrying out the first interview in my life was rather nerve-wracking but I think I coped quite well. … Im expecting that having the project on my CV can help me stand out among others… I feel it has given me a chance to extend my learning and also see how the university curriculum can be applied to careers in the outside world - something which can often be hard to imagine during lectures! Professionalism Creative thinking (planning an interview) Persistence Confidence

Pilot projects and students HEA Employability Profile for English Use advanced literacy skills to communicate effectively in an appropriate style Apply sustained written and oral arguments coherently and persuasively Analyse and critically examine diverse forms of verbal and textual communication Adapt the critical methods of the discipline to a variety of working environments Gather, sift, interpret and organise substantial quantities of diverse information in structured ways Organise their time and workload as developed through the planning and delivery of written assignments, presentations and project work Exercise independent thought and judgement Comprehend and develop intricate concepts in an open-ended way that involves an understanding of aims and consequences Work with others through the presentation of ideas and information and the collective negotiation of solutions Understand, interrogate and apply a variety of theoretical positions and weigh the importance of alternative perspectives Handle information and argument in a critical and self-reflective manner Use IT effectively to retrieve, evaluate and present information

Pilot projects and students HEA Employability Profile for English Use advanced literacy skills to communicate effectively in an appropriate style Apply sustained written and oral arguments coherently and persuasively Analyse and critically examine diverse forms of verbal and textual communication Adapt the critical methods of the discipline to a variety of working environments Gather, sift, interpret and organise substantial quantities of diverse information in structured ways Organise their time and workload as developed through the planning and delivery of written assignments, presentations and project work Exercise independent thought and judgement Comprehend and develop intricate concepts in an open-ended way that involves an understanding of aims and consequences Work with others through the presentation of ideas and information and the collective negotiation of solutions Understand, interrogate and apply a variety of theoretical positions and weigh the importance of alternative perspectives Handle information and argument in a critical and self-reflective manner Use IT effectively to retrieve, evaluate and present information Adapt the critical methods of the discipline to a variety of working environments Gather, sift, interpret and organise substantial quantities of diverse information in structured ways. Work with others through the presentation of ideas and information and the collective negotiation of solutions.

Putting Theory into Practice English Language Projects Wendy Anderson Lecturer, English Language, University of Glasgow