Unit information: English Language and Academic Skills for Aspiring Clinicians in 2023/24

Unit name	English Language and Academic Skills for Aspiring Clinicians
Unit code	LANG00030
Credit points	20
Level of study	QCA-3
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Ms. Vanttinen-Newton
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	IELTS 7.0 overall and attainment of academic requirements for entry into the International Foundation Programme for Dentistry.
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	Enrolment on, and engagement with, the following units: Foundations of Chemistry; 40 credit points; CHEM00001 Foundations in Biomedical Sciences; 20 credit points; LANG00047 Personal and Professional Development (International Foundation); 40 credit points; ORDS00003
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	Centre for Academic Language and Development
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

English Language and Academic Skills for Aspiring Clinicians will provide you with the necessary language and academic skills to help you succeed on the International Foundation Programme for Dentistry.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study

Much of the work on this unit supports and connects the learning in the Personal and Professional Development (PPD) unit with English Language and Academic Skills for Aspiring Clinicians. You will learn how to re-genre, repurpose and mode switch in different texts depending on your audience and purpose.

Your learning on this unit

An overview of content

English Language and Academic Skills for Aspiring Clinicians is a 20-credit unit within the International Foundation Programme for Dentistry. Through an explicit focus on the changes in communication brought about by genre and mode switching, the unit’s overall aims are to develop the following:

• Academic literacies: concerned with students’ socialisation into the institution, discipline and subject-based discourses and genres
• Textual competence: concerned with students’ ability to master the linguistic code and to use textual, contextual and pragmatic knowledge to interpret and construct texts
• Social and cultural competence: concerned with the ability to identify, interpret, shift between, and exploit repertoires of professional workplace genres and modes in order to participate effectively in the activities of a specific professional community

How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit

English Language and Academic Skills for Aspiring Clinicians will provide you with the experience of writing different types of academic writing and during the classes you will write individually and collaboratively with your peers. You will leave the course with the skills and tools necessary to succeed in your writing in your undergraduate degree.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:

1. Discuss the impact of the audience and purpose on choices of content, organisation and language.
2. Compare and contrast the linguistic and structural features of different written and spoken genres.
3. Switch between genres for different audiences and purposes.
4. Use spoken and written language in a range of formats and styles appropriate for a university environment.

How you will learn

Learning is facilitated in weekly small group sessions with both individual and group-based work. In addition to a range of authentic texts, appropriate e-learning technologies will be used for self-study and self-assessment as well as work in class.

How you will be assessed

Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):

• Regular written assignments with feedback (0%, not required for credit)
• Regular feedback on oral communication skills (0%, not required for credit)

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

• Individual recorded reflection on poster project, 10 mins (20%) [ILO 1, 3]
• Comparative analysis essay of 2 pieces of work, 1,500 words (30%) [ILO 1, 2, 4]
• Re-purposing (genre-switching) of 1 piece of work, 1,500 words (50%) [ILO 1, 3, 4]

When assessment does not go to plan

Any student registered on the International Foundation Programme will be offered a conditional place on an undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol. If a student is significantly affected by exceptional circumstances, they may be permitted to re-take the relevant assessment at the next available opportunity, without penalty.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. LANG00030).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.