UCL LANGUAGE CENTRE
Course Units 2011‐2012 Senior Coordinators Meeting ‐ Minutes Thursday 21 June 2012 17:30‐19:30 26 Bedford Way room 101 Staff present:
1. Anja Boeing Carmen Cabrera‐Balaguer Roberto D’Onofrio Luay Hasan Dr So Hiranuma 1.a Dr Christine Hoffmann Mireille Michel Jenny Rodgers James Sinclair‐Knopp Matters arising from Course Units Teaching Committee meeting (18 June 2012) – all action points addressed; RECEIVED 1.b All present received agenda; 2. Course Units Task Chains (material development carried out by all language teams this week): 2.a The template created by Language Centre SAC1 staff for language teams to base their work on does not work for Japanese; We will look at an alternative template for second script languages (Arabic, Japanese and Mandarin); 2.b For Arabic the task chains have been problematic as there is nobody to test them on (other tutors, students etc.); Students on the upcoming Summer Intensive Language course could be asked to try out the tasks. 2.c The ‘Elements of a beginners task chain’, created by SAC staff to be emailed to all language teams. 3. New course assessment: it was decided this year, and agreed with all in Course Units Teaching Committee on 18 June 2012 that instead of having two separate assessments: Grammar and Vocabulary assessment and the Listening course assessment, that there should be one assessment which integrates all of these skills, also worth 15% of the overall module result. The following assessment details were discussed and agreed:  As before, sample grammar and vocabulary tasks to include, gap‐filling, multiple choice, correcting mistakes;  Listening tasks to be divided into two parts: Part 1 (3 tasks): to extract/understand ideas (e.g. comprehension question, multiple‐choice, matching exercises); Part 2: to complete information (e.g. for levels A and B: add information to a table, gap‐filling, and for levels C and above: complete a report, add information to a table);  There will be one recording which will be played in two sections, for each part of the listening tasks; 1
UCL Language Centre Self‐Access Centre
Course Units Senior Coordinators Meeting 2012‐06‐21 ‐ Minutes  For levels A and B the recording must a maximum of 10 minutes in total, for levels C and above 10‐15 minutes in total;  For 1.0 course units, for example LCFR6034, level CD would take the same assessment as level C, but would have some exercises from level D, but for listening, the tasks would be slightly adapted so the lower levels could cope. The same recording as for level C would be used;  Duration: 90 minutes (approximately 45 minutes for grammar and vocabulary and 45 minutes for listening skills);  Assessment to take place in class during week of 28 January 2013;  Suggested name: Progress test; NB: the name was later changed to ‘In‐class Course Assessment’ to more accurately reflect what it actually is. It was later agreed by administration staff and Senior Coordinators that this first piece of assessment only covers some of the language learning skills and therefore the name ‘Progress test’ could give students a false impression of their general, overall progress in the language.  We will write up what has been discussed today and circulate something to all Coordinators for next week. 4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Any other business Summer Intensive Modern Foreign Language Courses and Outreach Language and Study Skills Summer School: 4.1.a Some tutors for these courses are to be confirmed:  German: for the Outreach programme Katrin Lessing is available only on some days – TBC;  Mandarin: we need to check whether one of our Evening Courses tutors would be available;  Spanish: we need to check how many hours both Juan Fernandez and Diego Flores‐Jaime still need. 4.1.b Coordinators to remind their team members who are teaching on the Summer Intensive courses to ask their students if they would be interested in attending an informal session on 11 July from 14:00‐15:00. This is to meet with the students from schools attending the Outreach language summers courses, to chat about why they are studying a language and the benefits of doing so. English for Academic Purposes Course Units: 4.2.a James Sinclair‐Knopp proposed that students taking the LCEN6001 English language skills course should now be instructed to begin thinking about their Researched Essay at the end of term 1, instead of at the start of term 2. All agreed. 4.2.b For the two Academic Writing Course Units (LCEN6801 and LCEN6802) the current, ‘Take‐Home Course Assessment’ taken in December will now be called, ‘Progress Test’ as this more accurately reflects what it is. All agreed. 4.2.c For the English Language Skills Course Unit (LCEN6001), the current ‘Linguistic Course Assessment’ taken in December and the ‘Listening Course Assessment’, taken in February will now also be replaced by one assessment also called, ‘ In‐class Course Assessment’, as with all foreign language courses units as discussed earlier. This will also take place during week of 28 January 2013. Appraisals: Appraisals need to be arranged for Senior Coordinators: these could take place now, in the next few weeks, or in September. To be arranged and confirmed with Director. Teaching and Learning award: It was proposed to use our financial reward from the recent Language Centre Teaching and Learning award for staff away days. The obvious time for these to take place would be mid‐September (between 10‐20 September), once all academic staff members are back after the summer, and before the academic year begins. These could be separate days for EAP academic staff, Course Units academic staff, Evening Courses academic staff and all administration staff; details and dates to be confirmed. Meeting closed at 19:30 Course Units Administrator +44 (0)20 7679 5481 22 June 2012 Course Units Senior Coordinators Meeting 2012‐06‐21 ‐ Minutes