Multilingual Practices in Global Times – Assessment Task 3Melbourne Graduate School of Education Multilingual Practices in Global Times – Assessment Task 3 (2250 words, 45%, due date: 28 May, 11.59 pm) Discussion Essay: ‘Language Education in a Multilingual World: What are the Issues?’ Task and Assignment Rationale Assignment 3 is designed to help you tease out and think through the problems in language education in an increasingly multilingual world. Choose one context (any country, adult, tertiary, secondary, primary, private language schools, etc.) of language teaching (any language) that you can assess. What are the problems/issues? Discuss the consequences/effect/impact on the stakeholders in that context. Your argument(s) and supporting literature will be key here. Demonstrate you have thought about the issues and your argument critically. You can structure and label the text in any way you like but make sure these details are included: • Your argument(s): reflect on all of the issues we have discussed, your argument from the first assignment and your ongoing thoughts throughout the second half of the subject. What are the major issues facing language education in your context? You can choose one issue and go deep or you can choose two or three to assess. It’s up to you. Choose the key issues. • The context: Describe your chosen context. Provide as much detail about the place, people, practices etc as possible for the reader to gain a clear picture of your context. • Your assessment: Explain what the ‘problem’/issue is in your chosen context. What are the consequences/effects on certain groups of people? Give examples to clarify your argument. • Your proposal: Briefly suggest policies and pedagogical recommendations, i.e. teaching approaches, methods, teacher stances/dispositions (in line with your argument) that are linguistically, culturally and ethically appropriate for all stakeholders involved. Don't limit yourself to just these details. As you write you will probably need to include other information. This is just to get you started and to give you a sense of some of my basic expectations. (Again) General tips in writing assignments in my subjects: 1. There are many official and unofficial reasons for setting word counts. Students often think it’s not a big deal to just overwrite them in order to say what they want to say. Be prepared to deal with the penalties in your official mark and note I will not read anything above the word count limit (above 10% is ok). It’s tedious but you will see the more you are able to articulate your thoughts (within the word count!), the sharper your argument will be. Stick to the word count and you’ll be fine. 2. Always write with the understanding that your reader doesn’t know what you know. You shouldn’t just throw in a concept thinking that the reader can make sense of the concept him/herself. Your assignments are the one time that your lecturers gain a sense of the depth of your understanding. I want to know how you understand a concept and how those sit within your overall argument. I need to get a strong sense in your writing that you have read, understood and thought about the key debates here. Very vague citations here and there are not going to do the job. I have read thousands of papers. I know when students are trying to cover up their confusion or hide behind citations. Don’t insert anything you are unsure of as I can ask you one day what you mean. Citing doesn't mean you are writing a scholarly paper. If you don't know what the function of citing, quoting and referencing are, I suggest you find out ASAP. 3. Number of references. I don’t have any set requirements on the number of references. The important point is to use your sources carefully to support your argument or challenge previous research. Only through writing will you know how many is right for you. As a general guide though, for a 2000-word essay, I would say anywhere between 8 to 10 would be reasonable. Remember, I am looking for quality integration of quotes, citations and sources. I have been in academia long enough to know when students are being lazy thinkers, when they are doing overnight jobs. I consider this poor scholarship and meaningless in teacher education. 4. Mechanical things. I don’t like to be too prescriptive but with so many essays I need to mark over each semester for the many subjects that I teach, it helps me if students follow some guidelines on how they present their work. Here are my preferences: Proofreading: There is only so much time to spend on each assignment. I shouldn’t be spending my time making editorial comments. While I am not looking for grammatical accuracy, grammar is intertwined with the message you are trying to convey to the reader so if your sentences, punctuations etc. are sloppy then your ideas are sloppy. Paragraphs: Please present them in neat and tidy structures. It helps for you to review paragraph writing techniques. I like paragraphs with clear topic sentences, evidence to support your claims and lots of signposting. Referencing style: Make sure you use APA 7 th . Every period, italics, brackets, capitalization matters! Learn it, practice it, and master it! This is very basic master’s level knowledge. Don’t look at random websites from different universities. Go straight to the APA website for the most updated and trustworthy information: https://www.apastyle.org I have produced some handouts for you in Modules>Academic Writing and APA Referencing Resources. Cover pages: Not mandatory but you should always put your name in the header or footer Page numbers: Please add page numbers to your file. Total word count: Please state the total word count at the end of the paper just before the reference list. 5. Academic Skills Unit: If you aren’t familiar with the services offered at our library on building academic skills please look up the details online within the Academic Skills Unit (ASU) link. If you don't have time to go to ASU then try to pick up some books for self-study. I like this one Writing at University: A Guide for Students (3 rd edition) by Phyllis Creme & Mary Lea (2008) and Academic Writing is… (2010) by Terri Morley-Warner. 6. ALL papers must go through Turnitin as this is the official record the university keeps and the only place I can send you feedback. You cannot send me anything via email either because you forgot to attach a file or the submission deadline has passed. I will only read what you have submitted to Canvas. 7. Criteria: I have spent a lot of time creating the criteria. Please look at the criteria as you are writing. Don't make up your own criteria! |