Faculty of Education and Sport

Student Unit Handbook

2016-17

For further information, please contact:

Paul Owen Communication Skills Co-ordinator

J301, J block, Third Floor, Vicarage Street, Luton Campus
Tel: 01582 489093
Paul.Owen@beds.co.uk

The Language Centre Team: Kristina Narvet, Shanna Tran

J302, J block, Third Floor, Vicarage Street, Luton Campus
Tel: 01582 749032
languagecentre@beds.ac.uk www.beds.ac.uk/cs
www.facebook.com/bedscs
CONTENTS:
1. WELCOME TO OUR COMMUNITY.....................................................................................3

2. THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS PROGRAMME BOOSTS YOUR GRADES….3-4

3. THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS PROGRAMME BOOSTS YOUR

EMPLOYABILITY POTENTIAL…………………………………………………………….4

4. THE CS SYLLABUS (INDICATIVE)…………………………………………………………….4-

5

5. HOW COMMUNICATION SKILLS IS ORGANISED FOR YOU..…………………………..6-7

6. TIMETABLING AND TESTING FOR COMMUNICATION SKILLS...…………………………8

7. CENTRE FOR ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (CEFL)

………………....................8

8. CONTACTING THE CS TEAM……………………………………………………………….9-

10

9. THE LANGUAGE CENTRE...…..………………………………………………………………10

10. CS UNIT ELEARNING RESOURCES ON BREO..……………………………………...10-11

11. CODE OF CONDUCT FOR STUDENTS..………………………………………………..11-

12

12. STUDENT VOICE FOR CS STUDENTS..……………………………………………………12

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 1. Welcome to Our Community

Welcome to the University of Bedfordshire and to your Communication Skills Unit. We are
delighted that you have accepted our offer, and we wish you a very enjoyable and fruitful year.
We hope you enjoy your time here with us at the University, both academically and socially.
Communications Skills (CS) is an innovative, integrated University of Bedfordshire core
programme of academic support available to all international students at Luton, Bedford,
Aylesbury, Butterfield and UCMK campuses. Your Communication Skills unit is designed to help
you to achieve your full academic potential, as well as to develop your employability skills.

Do take the opportunity to make friends with people of different nationalities and cultural
backgrounds. This will help you to appreciate the many different perspectives that people can
have of the same thing.
This handbook provides you with details of your CS unit, how it is taught, how you can succeed and
where to look for additional support and guidance. Studying at university is a partnership
between you, your tutors and the university. Support will be provided but you will be expected to
take an increasing responsibility for your own learning.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information in this Handbook is correct, the University
may change units and other aspects of the course to ensure that your curriculum is constantly
kept relevant and up to date. You will be informed of any changes that occur and of the reasons
behind them.

2. The Communication Skills Programme boosts your grades

Above all, the number one objective of Communication Skills is to improve course grades
achieved on your University of Bedfordshire degree course. Thus, the CS course will give you
the opportunity to focus on actual assignments, essay or projects which you are being asked to
produce in your main course rather than just being given theoretical examples. To this end, you
are also encouraged to bring your concerns about how you are doing in your main course to the
attention of your Communication Skills tutor and get advice and support. CS assessments are
also set to give you further opportunities to improve. There are also numerous other longer term
benefits, which include the following:

 Fostering effective oral communication skills with focusing on

effective seminar and presentation;

 Developing intercultural competence, as well as engendering a

greater awareness and practical understanding of British academic
values

 Enhancing academic skills and performance

 CS is a core unit because the University is committed to sustaining and raising
academic standards within the University of Bedfordshire community and beyond. To
this end, all CS classes are compulsory for all first year international University of
Bedfordshire students and operate in conjunction with lectures from your chosen
subject area. The CS component of each student’s University of Bedfordshire study
programme usually consists of a three compulsory hours for all EU and international
students in their first year at the university, as well as homework tasks.

For more on CS generally, you can refer to:

http://www.beds.ac.uk/international/international-student-support/communications-skills

3. The Communication Skills Unit boosts your employability potential

Communication Skills Unit is designed to help you to achieve your full academic
potential, as well as to develop you professionally. Implicit in all Communication Skills
delivery is also the development of your linguistic ability in English.

CS workshops are structured to assist your adjustment to the British Higher Education
study environment and to make the most of your time at university. This will not only
improve the quality of the work you produce, but will also have a positive effect on your
employability prospects after graduation. CS therefore offers a combination of study
skills, intercultural awareness and language support, especially in the vocabulary of
their subject.

4. CS Indicative Syllabus

Topics
Listening to lectures and note-taking
Communicating at a UK university
Adopting an academic writing style
Reporting other people’s ideas
Sentence level paraphrasing
Writing summary paragraphs
Components
 Preparing for lectures
 Listening strategies
 Plenary lecture tasks
 Differences between academic cultures
 Appropriate forms of communication
 Features of formal English
 Academic register
 Discipline-specific vocabulary
 Reporting verbs/structures
 Combining sources
 Language for contrasting different
perspectives
 Finding appropriate synonyms
 Passive and active voice
 Converting noun phrases
 Recognizing the main ideas

4

Structuring paragraphs
Writing different types of
assignments
Drafting specific assignment
sections
Expressing caution in your writing
Critical and analytical reading
Commenting on what you have read
Writing to argue a point
Writing to compare ideas
Writing to discuss problems and
solutions
Contributing to seminars
Developing presentation skills
Career communication
 Summarizing a journal article/textbook
passage
 Topic sentences
 Transitions
 Coherence and cohesion
Dependent on CS stream
 Research papers/Essays
 Business reports/Lab reports/Marketing
plans
 Reflections/Literature reviews/Case
studies, etc. etc.
Dependent on CS stream
 Introductions and conclusions
 Methods/Results/Findings
 Executive summary/Terms of
reference/Recommendations
 Tentative structures
 Hedging adverbs/verbs/phrases
 Assessing arguments/reasoning
 Recognizing source
type/genre/reliability
 Identifying flaws
 Analyzing an article
 Synthesizing different perspectives
 Voicing critical thinking
 Expressing your opinion appropriately
 Structuring arguments
 Supporting claims with evidence
 Providing examples
 Linking devices
 Structures for comparison and contrast
 Describing scenarios
 Language of recommendation and
persuasion
 Presenting your ideas
 Agreeing and disagreeing meaningfully
 Interpreting non-verbal cues
 Signposting language
 Common pronunciation issues
 Body language
 Writing CVs and cover letters
 Identifying profession-specific
language
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5. How Communication Skills is organised for you

5.1. CS Weekly, timetabled workshops according to your subject area:

These Communication Skills programme of workshops afford language awareness-

raising and skills practice in order to develop a wider range of English Language and
communication skills as appropriate for British Higher Education. In short, CS
workshops can develop you in the following ways, summarised as ABCs...

Academic skills
These focus primarily on:
• Advice on preparing assignments from task title to task submission
• Paraphrasing, summarising, synthesizing and referencing
• Listening and note-taking skills
• Dissertation writing

British University Culture

These focus primarily on:
• Awareness of British university interaction and practice
• Seminar skills
• Approaches to independent study
• Avoidance of Plagiarism

Communicating Effectively Within Students’ Subject Areas

These focus primarily on:
• Presentation technique
• Appropriate formats and language for correspondence
• Subject-specific vocabulary
• English language improvement

For the CS Syllabus, see Course Content for Communication Skills, 4.2

For more on CS generally, refer to:

http://www.beds.ac.uk/international/international-student-support/communications-skills

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5.2. Weekly Communication Skills Plenary Lecture Programme

Your CS plenary lectures sit alongside your weekly, timetabled CS classes by

departmental cohort. The plenary lectures are compulsory and take place every
Wednesday at 5-6pm or 6-7pm, in each of the three semesters. These are well-
attended learning events in a large lecture theatre, at which students are given the
opportunity to practise taking notes, whilst attending a thought-provoking and
inspirational lecture on study, career and professional topics. On a weekly basis, in
response to the task set during each plenary lecture, you write an essay of 400 words in
length. Each essay is submitted using BREO/Turnitin via the section marked
“Assessment” in your CS BREO unit.

2Q feedback on plenary lecture submissions

The CS lecturer of the timetabled class for each student will provide you with valuable
constructive feedback from which you will be able to recognize improvements during the
course of the year. This is given in line with the university policy where feedback to
students is concerned. We try to give students the answer to two important questions in
our feedback, displayed on Turnitin, hence the ‘2Q feedback’:
Q1 How far/well this addressed the set task/question, and
Q2. How this work could be improved (to get a better grade).

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 6. Timetabling and Testing for Communication Skills

Attendance of your weekly, timetabled CS workshops is compulsory for all first year EU and
international students at the University of Bedfordshire, regardless of whether you are taking an
undergraduate or a postgraduate course.

By the start of semester one, as international students you should see CS appearing on your
individual timetable. This class must be attended on a regular, weekly basis as indicated on
your timetable. Let us know if your CS class is not visible on your individual timetable. You will
also be sent a CS timetable by a member of the CS team.

For all Communication Skills timetabling enquiries, contact the Language Centre team:

Kristina Narvet and Shanna Tran

The Language Centre, J block, 3rd Floor, Vicarage Street Luton Campus, J302

Tel: 01582 749032 Email: languagecentre@beds.ac.uk

7. The Centre for English as a Foreign Language (CEFL)

The department is mainly situated on the Luton Campus, most easily accessed via the Vicarage
Street entrance. Our offices are on the top floor. Communication Skills classes mostly take
place on the 3rd floor in Blocks “H” and “J”, except for those at Bedford and UCMK.
CEFL provides a range of different types of English course to suit different needs.
1. Pre-sessional English Courses
2. General EFL courses
3. Communication Skills
4. Bedfordshire Foundation Course
The Language Centre is the heart of the Centre for English as a Foreign Language, which is
staffed by experienced, TEFL-qualified colleagues who understand the needs of our
international students. The Language Centre deals with course timetables, testing, attendance
monitoring and reporting, rooming issues, keeping students’ records up-to-date, and other
similar activities. There are also some language learning resources available to students at the
Language Centre.

For advice and guidance, you can visit the Language Centre between 09.00 and 17.00 Monday
– Thursday and 09.00 and 16.30 on Fridays. Alternatively, you can use the self-access
materials and language learning software, which are available within the ‘Improve Your
Communication Skills’ community on BREO.

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 8. Contacting the CS team
You can contact the CS lecturer or co-ordinator in J301 outside of lecture hours. If you would like to
discuss a matter or make an appointment, you may telephone or email the person involved. You
will notice that there are CS lecturer specialists for each subject area Nursing/ Health/
Computers/ MBM/MBA/ICB/Psychology/ Law/ Finance/ Accounting/ Creative/ Science/ Media,
etc...
Remember to check in your CS Unit on BREO at regular intervals for announcements about the
Plenary Lectures and other matters, and also to find assessment instructions and learning
materials. From time to time we may send more urgent messages to students through BREO,
using their student email accounts. Please read your student email accounts regularly.

a. Your CS course team

Katy Robertson-Hohmann Room J307

The person with
Tel: 01582 743515
Director of Studies, CEFL overall
katy.robertson-hohmann@beds.ac.uk
responsibility for
the department.
Room J301
Paul Owen Tel: 01582 489093
A point of day-to-day
Paul.Owen@beds.ac.uk
Full-time CS co-ordinator contact for
support and
guidance for all
CS related
enquiries/.
Room J301
Rafael Cloete Tel: 01582 742103
Rafael.Cloete@beds.ac.uk A point of day-to-day
Full-time CS tutor contact for
support and
guidance about
CS unit.
01582 749032 (J302)
Kristina Narvet
Language Centre,
Language Centre Administrator For CS timetabling
Fourth Floor, Vicarage Street
enquiries and
languagecentre@beds.ac.uk
testing enquiries

01582 749032 (J302)

For all CS timetabling
Shanna Tran Language Centre, enquiries and
Language Centre Administrator testing enquiries
Fourth Floor, Vicarage Street
languagecentre@beds.ac.uk

Teaching Staff for CS

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 Liz Hulford-Wood PT Tutor, ELT (J301)
Monika Pietruch PT Tutor, ELT (J301)
Bruce Mortimer PT Tutor, ELT (J301)
Sakina Ayub Ali PT Tutor, ELT (J301)
Shauna Leigh-Thompson PT Tutor, ELT (J301)
Stella Tzampazi PT Tutor, ELT (J301)
Frank Breheny PT Tutor, ELT (J301)

9. The language Centre

We are very lucky to have a well-equipped facility within the Department of English Language and
Communication which is for the use of all students who need help with English Language and
Study Skills. The Language Centre is the responsibility of Kristina Narvet along with three other
members of staff, all of whom have been recruited from the MA Applied Linguistics course and
are thus qualified English Language teachers. For immediate and day-to-day concerns, such as
timetabling and rooming, you can contact the Language Centre team in J302, 3 rd Floor Vicarage
Street from 9-6pm Monday to Friday, or email: languagecentre@beds.ac.uk, or phone: 01582
749032.

Students can visit the Language Centre between the hours of 0830 and 1830 Monday –
Thursday and 0830 and 1800 on Fridays to gain access to self-access material on the
computers as well as hard copy. They can also meet other students in the lounge area, which is
equipped with large whiteboards. The Language Centre team keep a database of available
resources for students and teachers and you may find supplementary lesson material here if
you can’t find it in room H301. Full details of the services and resources available can be found
in the Language Centre handbook.

10. CS Unit ELearning Resources on CS BREO Area

Guided learning

The Guided Learning section on BREO provides you with access to some resources which are
particularly useful for independent learning.
The Study Hub Online is an extensive database of web pages and PDF brochures with advice
as well as practise tasks. Many of these deal with assignment writing and other language
related skills.
The Language Centre’s licences for Clarity English provide you with the opportunity to do
language practice activities related to verb tenses, pronunciation, IELTS exam preparation,
business writing, study skills and issues for discussion among others. In addition, links are
provided for you to useful external websites for self-access by students include
www.prepareforsuccess.org.uk and www.uefap.com .

Workshop slides

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 General PowerPoint and Prezi slides are stored under the Workshop Slides heading in the CS
BREO unit. These include effective writing, paraphrasing, making presentations, locating
information and principles of academic writing. You may refer to these in class or study with
these independently.

ELT Content for university VLE, known as BREO, under CS Communities (Self-access
materials)

As University of Bedfordshire students, you can also access the materials available on BREO within the
‘Improve your communication skills’ community from anywhere. The independent learning materials
cover IELTS preparation, academic skills, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. The majority of
the activities are interactive, so students can check their results straightaway. CLARITY (IELTS)/
BBC Learning/ E-Pax (Study Skills)

Sky Pronunciation software (under Language Centre supervision)

Installed on the PCs in the open IT suite area and the Language Lab, the software helps improve
pronunciation step by step: starting from individual sounds, word pronunciation and stress,
sentence stress and intonation, and finishing with connected speech practice.

11. Code of Conduct for Students

As a community we adhere to a code of conduct and we will expect you, in joining our
community, to abide by the code as well. Our code covers a range of issues including:
 Behaviour
 Respect for others
 Attendance and engagement
 Integrity
To ensure you enjoy your studies and get the most from the course, we expect you to:
 Attend classes regularly. If you are unable to attend a class for some reason, e.g.
due to illness, ensure that you contact your tutor and/or catch up with the work you
have missed
 Make use of your BREO site information for each unit and plenary lecture
submission via Turnitin
 Ensure you have access to a copy of the essential reading for each unit
 Prepare any set readings before coming to class so you can engage in discussions
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  Demonstrate further reading (beyond the set readings) and research in your
assessments
 Ensure you understand the University of Bedfordshire rules and regulations
regarding plagiarism and reference your work in the correct manner
 Be prepared to work in teams and with people from different cultures
 Where group work is part of your assessment, you must be prepared to meet
teammates at agreed times and make an equal contribution to the assessments.
 Turn off mobiles, laptops or other equipment during classes.
 When undertaking primary research, ensure you understand and work within clear
ethical guidelines.

12. Student Voice for Communication Skills students

You can express your opinions about Communication Skills classes and CS Plenary lectures in a
number of ways. As well as having your conversations with your departmental PAT, student
representatives from CS classes are regularly invited to attend departmental course
meetings so that they can air their views. Additionally, once a year at least, you can offer
your feedback in response to the Communication Skills online survey – see the CS BREO
Unit for that.
For immediate and day-to-day concerns, such as timetabling and rooming, you can contact
the Language Centre team in J302, 3rd Floor Vicarage Street from 9-6pm Monday to Friday,
or email: languagecentre@beds.ac.uk, or phone: 01582 749032.
For a more detailed discussion on any CS timetabled class or CS Plenary Lecture issue, contact
the CS Co-ordinator, Paul Owen in J301, or phone: 01582 489093, or alternatively, you
can email him at: paul.owen@beds.ac.uk. The best time to speak in person about CS
issues would be during Paul’s surgery time from 10-12 midday every Friday. However, you
are welcome to drop by at other times.
The Bedfordshire Unit Survey (the ‘BUS’) is another method for collecting your views
student views on university units, including Communication Skills Unit.

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