Reflections - Access to Languages (preparing for HE study)

The Access to Languages Programme has been running for many years at Stevenson College, currently Edinburgh College, and the teaching team provide servicing for three single SQA units and one double unit, namely Introduction to Literature, Literature One, Oral Presentation Skills and Communication Four.

As part of the team's commitment to providing an excellent teaching and learning service, the A2L students filled in a short questionnaire recently to outline their experiences on the Programme. The information below concerns the teaching of Oral Presentation Skills and Communication Four.

Supplementary to the discursive commentary noted below, a short reflective session was delivered by the lecturer to ascertain what the students had gained in terms of personal improvement, confidence building, suitable scaffolding for entry into HE, level of discourse, development of writing, research, referencing, application of theory to practice etc. That PP can be seen at the end of this post.

In addition to the very positive comments about the learning experience, organisation of lessons and levels of quality feedback, learners answered the following four questions and their responses are noted below.

When you first found out what Communication Four and Oral Presentation Skills involved, what were you hoping to gain from the teaching and learning of this subject?

• At first I was quite scared of the amount of things and skills we would have to learn! It wasn't long though before I knew that the lecturer was supportive and that the skills we would be learning would be of great help to me.
• I was hoping to improve my English skills, in particular writing.
• A better understanding of how to structure arguments in an essay format.
• The ability to gain more confidence in groupwork and presentations and to test my abilities.
• Better public speaking skills.
• Better written and spoken debating skills.
• A place at University.
• Better communication skills that will help me in my future.
• To pass the assessments and gain the Units that will help me for University entry.
• To master the ability of written arguments, structure my work effectively and develop my aptitude for investigation and presentation.
• Cohesive analysis of written work.
• To develop critical and analytical skills when dealing with any kind of communication.
• An opportunity to refresh and practise my analytical skills and develop public speaking.
• I wanted to improve my listening skills.
• I was hoping to learn about different methods of communication, that would be tested and in turn develop my abilities by working with the lecturer.
• Learning different ways how to communicate critically, to evaluate and expend my own skills and knowledge.
• How to structure my thoughts and arguments, sources of information.

To what extent did the Units and teaching fulfil these expectations?

• Gave me guidance and formulae to construct my presentations and arguments.
• The teaching introduced me to new methods of learning.
• Very good teaching helped me build my confidence.
• I feel my confidence has really grown thanks to the teaching and also the assessment content which was varied and relevant.
• We received detailed instructions regarding the assessments. We knew when the assessments would be and the feedback was quick and effective.
• I now realise that I am not as bad or insufficient as I first thought about my ability to perform tasks that are sometimes out of my comfort zone.
• Fully!
• I fulfilled and surpassed my expectations, thankfully!
• This helped me greatly.
• Presentations and general oral work improved the most. Essay writing has become more concise.
• My analytical skills have improved.
• I'm very happy with the course and the variety of subjects covered.

What was the best aspect of the Unit(s)?

• The people in the class who demonstrated excellent presentation skills on lots of different subjects.
• I really liked the film reviews, however I feel the best aspect was the variety of source materials that were used. It was never dry and highly entertaining!
• I most enjoyed the discussions we had in the class on a wide range of subjects. I found it helpful to bounce thoughts and ideas off other members of the course. The lecturer was really good at getting us to think creatively and independently and to think outside the box whilst remaining focused on the task in hand.
• Discussing work with the class and then being able to reflect on those opinions and use them to develop your own.
• Presentation skills. It helped me overcome my fears of public speaking and I really liked analysing the TED talks that the lecturer showed us. I always felt that my opinions were valid and the lecturer provided a forum to debate things that were appropriate to the topics we were analysing.
• I liked film reviews and presentation delivery.
• The interactive quality of the lessons. Participation was always encouraged and you were always made to feel as though your opinion was valued.
• Listening to other people's talks.
• To actually know that I can write effectively, listen, understand and communicate well in a second language.
• Really enjoyed the discussions and being introduced to the wonderful TED website!
• Comm 4 kept the learning interesting from the beginning. Good formative work that prepped us nicely for the assessments. The lecturer really put himself out there and gave us lots of sample answers, opinions and was happy to field any questions, either in class, via the blog or by e mail.
• Analytical skills.

Is there anything about the Units that you would like to see changed?

• No. Keep up the great work and thank you!
• I would like to see a better choice of films for the film reviews.
• Don't change anything and don't change your teaching style, you are inspiring and engaging.
• Nothing, and I want to thank the teacher of course for the amazing work and for helping me towards my University life.
• No 9am starts please and let us drink coffee in the class! The lecturer was a real stickler for both, which is fair enough I guess!
• Better rooms. Occasionally I felt like I hadn't been criticised ENOUGH in my work but this also built my confidence as I trusted the lecturer's judgement thoroughly. Perhaps on reflection I was underestimating my own ability!
• Nothing comes to mind as I thought the course was great, thank you.
• No, this course has been beneficial in my preparation for Univeristy.
• I would possibly like to see a couple more assessments done in semester one. I think it IS possible and would maybe take the pressure off the last 8 weeks.
• Nothing, thank you for a very enjoyable learning experience.

Reflections of our learning from Mark Hetherington