Rachel Simpson
ADSHE Conference June 2013
Gaps in Knowledge
 Poor teaching in previous institution
 Insufficient application on previous courses
 Illnesses or absences from school/college
 Mature Student with a long gap since previous
studies
 Came through non A-Level route
Gaps in Skills
 Not accustomed to having to listen for long periods
 Has not learned to recognise discourse markers or
typical lecture structure
 Not accustomed to listening and taking notes
simultaneously
Poor Lecturing
 Not multi-sensory
 Talks too fast, or in a monotone, or in very long complex
sentences, or uses jargon which is not properly explained
 Lecture is not structured, has no clear discourse
markers, or deviates from the planned structure
 No opportunity for students to clarify points that are
unclear
Hearing & Vision
 Diagnosed/undiagnosed difficulties with hearing or
vision
General Learning Difficulties
 Has general difficulties with understanding concepts
and procedures
Stronger Visual and Practical
Abilities
 Has used strong Visual and/or Practical Abilities to
compensate for weaker Verbal Ability on previous
educational courses
Weak Working Memory
 Cannot hold information in head long enough and in
sufficient quantity to be able to access the meaning
of what the lecturer has said
 Understands each point, but forgets it rapidly once
new point is introduced so cannot follow the
cumulative thread
Slow Phonological Processing
Speed
 Takes time to match verbally presented language to
words and meaning stored in long-term memory.
 Because of delay in processing spoken information,
misses key information, or experiences overload and
loses concentration.
Inattention/Distractibility
 Has difficulty sustaining concentration in lectures
because of distractibility (by own thoughts or
external stimuli)
Slow Visual Processing Speed
& Weak Visual Memory
 Has difficulty copying or processing visual
information from slides, white board etc. Delays in
processing mean that visual aids become a
distraction
LIMITED/INACCURATE
VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE
AND GRAMMAR
 Resulting from any of the previously listed difficulties
and/or a reading or listening style which


Skips or ignores unfamiliar words or
Guesses at unfamiliar words
INITIAL QUESTIONS TO ASK
 By what route did the student arrive at university
 Were difficulties with comprehension of spoken
presentations apparent previously at school/college
 Are problems with comprehension present in all lectures,
or only specific ones
 If the problem is only present in specific lectures, do they
relate to one particular subject or one particular lecturer.
 At what point in a lecture does the student lose
concentration
 In ordinary conversation does the student often lose track
of what others are saying or experience a delay in
understanding
 Are visual aids provided in the lecture and if so does the
student find them helpful, or a distraction
 Is the student experiencing any difficulty with hearing o r
seeing in the lecture
 Are any drop-in or catch up sessions provided for the
modules in which the student is experiencing difficulty.
EXPLORATORY TASKS
 Ask the student to:
 talk you through the handouts from recent lectures
 read out loud a short passage from a relevant textbook
or journal and explain to you what it (and any key
vocabulary) means, sentence by sentence and overall
PREPARING IN ADVANCE
 Advance preparation increases the student’s
chances of understanding, remaining focussed and
remembering.
 Read lecture handouts (if available) together in
advance to identify
 Gaps in vocabulary knowledge
 Gaps in assumed previous knowledge
 Framework of the lecture
FILLING IN GAPS
 Model how to use lower level textbooks, a single
chapter from a current textbook, and/or the internet
to
 provide a framework for understanding
 fill in gaps in knowledge
 Model how to look up meaning and pronunciation of
any key vocabulary or jargon, and how to use visual,
auditory and kinaesthetic memory techniques to
learn the vocabulary
STRUCTURE AND
DISCOURSE MARKERS
 Help student to recognise
 Typical lecture structure for his/her subject
 Discourse markers which help identify structure (eg “ I
am going to talk about”, “five key points”, etc),
cause/effect relationships etc.
Writing Up a Scientific
Experiment






Reasons for undertaking the experiment
Hypothesis
Materials used
Method
Results
Conclusion
 Practical Implications
 Reaction from Scientific Community
 Subsequent adaptations/modifications
Physiological Approach
 Systems of the human body
 Cell Tissue  Organ  System
 Immune System
 Antibody  White Blood Cell Circulatory System
 Bacteria/Virus
 Molecular Structure  Attack at Cell level Attack at
system level
 Interraction between immune systems and
bacteria/virus
Developing an active
curiosity about language
 Exploring origins and interrelationships between,
words
 Encourage the student, when reading or listening, to
actively look out for and note down (for further
exploration) new vocabulary
Hypothesis – to
suppose
Thesis – to put
forth something
(idea/proposition)
Hypo = under
Hypothesis
NOTE-TAKING
 Emphasise that multi-sensory note-taking strategies
are an effective method of remaining actively
focussed and engaged through a two or three-hour
long lecture.
 Encourage and model re-reading of handouts and
notes soon after a lecture to identify specific items
not understood, and to assist embedding of
knowledge
ATTENTION
 Developing framework of understanding before the
lecture may reduce processing overload and
increase length of time the student can concentrate
 Bramham & Young (2007) ADHD in Adults: A
Psychological Guide to Practice Wiley, Chichester. have some excellent tips on ways of minimising
distractibility and maintaining focus.
Becoming Independent
Aim: to move from
 “I don’t understand the lectures” to
 “Please could you explain this point here”
Method: repeated modelling of
 Advance and post-lecture engagement with handouts, textbooks and
notes
 Use of structure and discourse markers
 Active engagement with language and with lectures
Outcomes:
 Student learns to identify for himself or herself specific points that
need further explanation and take those points to his or her subject
tutor.
 Lecturer/friends better able to explain and respond positively