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BBC
Learning English
Talk
about English
Academic
Listening
Part
11 - Seminars and tutorials
This
programme was first broadcast in 2001.
This
is not an accurate word-for-word transcript of the programme.
ANNOUNCER:
It’s time for Academic
Listening - a series for students at English-speaking universities. Join
Susan Fearn and
members of the World Service class of 2001 who are focussing on seminars
and tutorials, the
most enjoyable and stimulating element in many students' degree course.
Susan:
Although students may be invited to ask questions at the end of a
lecture,
seminars provide a
much better opportunity for academic debate. Christine
Reeves teaches
English for Academic purposes at Bell Norwich in the east of
England and organises
practice seminars to help her students prepare for
university life.
CLIP:
Christine Reeves
Many students aren't
quite sure of the difference between a lecture and a seminar. If they go to
a lecture, basically
it's a talk by a speaker for a period of usually about an hour when the
students just listen
and possibly they might have time to ask questions at the end. A seminar is
much more
participative - the context is an academic context but the main aim is to
discuss and
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to discuss a
particular subject which may be led by a professor or a lecturer, but their
main role
is to be a chairman.
It is in fact a student who gives a presentation at a seminar, and the other
students who then
discuss the topic of the seminar between each other.
Susan:
At most universities seminars are held regularly throughout the
term and are
attended by 10 to 20
students. A tutor or lecturer will usually lead the seminar
and students will be
expected to have read around the subject in advance. You
may be asked to
present a subject you have researched to the class. If so you'll
need to think
carefully about how to present your ideas. Earlier in the series we
thought about the
structure and language of academic talks. We suggested that
good lecturers
organise their subject matter carefully with a beginning, a middle
and an end, using
marker phrases to signpost key points and changes of topic.
Your seminar
presentation should follow the same rules ! Christine Reeves
again.
CLIP:
Christine Reeves
You could start your
seminar by introducing your topic - using a phrase like 'what I'd like to
talk about today is...'
- and then your topic. It's very important to have a clear organisation in
your seminar, you
must list your points and you must make it clear that this is a main point that
you're giving, you
must make it clear that you're giving examples and you must make it clear to
your audience when
you've finished one point and are moving on to another main point - just
by using basic
phrases like 'now I'd like to move on to' or 'now I'd like to talk about'. And
of
course at the end you
should give a conclusion and a summary of your main points. If you use
this basic framework
for a seminar what you'll find is that it will give you much more
confidence and you'll
feel much happier about presenting something in front of other students.
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Susan:
Of course most seminars will be less demanding. It won't always be
you that's
giving the
presentation or leading the seminar. You may be listening to a
classmate's
presentation or taking part in a general class discussion. Time to
relax? Well not
according to Christine Reeves. You still need to think carefully
about your role in
the group and the language that you use.
CLIP:
Christine Reeves
Other problems that
you may have in a seminar could be for example giving your opinion using
other phrases, and
not just 'I think' or 'in my opinion' all the time. How to agree with a student
in a seminar - using
different phrases of agreement, and more importantly how to disagree, and
remember that when
you disagree, it's much more important to be polite and to use a phrase
that doesn't cause
offence to the students who you are disagreeing with.
Susan:
At many universities students are also expected to attend
tutorials. As a general
rule, these involve a
smaller group of students than a seminar class. In some
cases it will be a
one-to-one meeting between you and your tutor.
Before a tutorial,
students are expected to prepare thoroughly by reading
extensively and
preparing topics, and perhaps an essay, for discussion. Tutorials
are often more
intensive than seminars - if you haven't prepared sufficiently they
can be quite an
ordeal. But although you'll have to play an active role, tutorials
provide a wonderful
opportunity to test out ideas and question your tutor.
CLIP:
Student Randi and teacher Simon Williams
Randi:
…that sort of corresponds to my title which is 'Public History'.
Simon:
Ah yes…
Randi:
Public Histories are not only academic history…
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Susan:
Randi Redtroen is a PhD student studying Social History at
University College
London. Simon
Williams teaches English at the University's Language Centre
and at regular
tutorials he works with Randi, helping her with her thesis. Both
Simon and Randi agree
that successful tutorials depend largely on the
commitment and
enthusiasm of the student.
CLIP:
Student Randi and teacher Simon Williams
Randi:
If you want to get something out of your tutorials, you have to
prepare, you have to
write and you have to
read your stuff.
Simon:
You have to stimulate your supervisor to get them to react in some
way, it's like
keeping them
entertained - perhaps there's a bit of psychology there do you think - getting
to
know what elicits
some kind of spark out of them, what gets them started.
Randi:
I think you have to be rhetorical in a sense - try to persuade
them that you're writing
something they might
find interesting.
Susan:
Tutorials give you an opportunity to share your ideas and problems
with your
tutor. While
preparing for the tutorial, perhaps by writing an essay for
discussion, it's a
good idea to list any questions or problems that you have and
take them with you to
the tutorial. However experienced and understanding
your tutor is, he or
she will not be able to intuitively guess every problem you
problem you
experience. At post-graduate level the relationship between
student and tutor
will be fairly informal. The tutor will evaluate your ideas,
challenge your
thinking and help you to identify further areas for study. In turn,
students should
contribute new ideas to the tutorial. Some students find it
difficult to
contribute - at least at the beginning of their course. Natthapon is
from Thailand and is
studying for an MA in International Relations and
Diplomacy in London.
When he first attended seminars on his course Natthapon
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was surprised by the
behaviour of his classmates.
CLIP:
Student Natthapon
In Thai culture we
try not to interrupt people when talking, especially when the teacher talk we
never disagree to
what he say, but here the seminar class is different - we are equal in the
class,
your comments and
your idea are accepted. So whatever you say is acceptable, and people can
just interrupt you to
stop you if they want to say something different, you have to understand
that.
Susan:
You may find that communication styles are very different to those
in your own
country and that the
student tutor relationship is more informal than you expect.
Interacting in an
academic context can be difficult. You can take as long as you
like to read an
article or write an essay but in a seminar you'll have to react
quickly, understanding
the ideas of others and responding without preparation.
A good seminar will
be a real test of your language skills.
CLIP:
Student Natthapon
To be honest I can't
catch every single word or sentence they say, sometimes they speak too
fast. And when I can't
catch them all, there's a problem when I have to think through and come
up with my argument
and idea, and the problem again occur when I have to say something in
the class and I'm not
sure whether they want to listen to me or they just want to say shut up -
they don't want to
listen to me - I don't know.
Susan:
If you're feeling worried about your language ability, what can
you do to boost
your skills and your
self-confidence?
On intensive courses
such as a Masters degree, it's easy to lock yourself away,
reading, writing and
working alone. However it's vital that you spend time with
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other students. The
more speaking and listening practice you get, the easier you
will find seminars
and tutorials. You could meet with a few classmates before or
after each seminar to
discuss this week's topic - by doing so you'll become more
fluent, more
confident and more familiar with the subject. Remember - most
students will be
interested in your ideas and will want to listen to your
contributions.
Angelica Baschiera. is an Italian student studying for a PhD in
the UK.
CLIP:
Student Angelica
Everyone knows that
your English is foreign English, and they are not expecting you to have
the 'proper Oxford
accent'. But as long as you are able to communicate your ideas, that's what
they look for.
Susan:
But even if you're speeding through your reading lists and
dazzling your tutors,
you may experience
other kinds of problems. What if you become ill or need to
return to your
family? Can you change course if you decide to study another
subject? Such
questions and concerns can be taken to your personal tutor, the
person who can help
you to resolve academic and pastoral problems. In some
universities your
academic tutor will also be your personal tutor - in others
those roles are kept
separate. Louise Burton works in the Undergraduate
Admissions Office at
the London School of Economics.
CLIP:
Louise Burton
Tutors are available
to their particular tutees to talk about academic and pastoral problems or
issues but we also
have a network of other support services, including counsellors and so on
who are available to
students to deal with any difficulties they might have. If a student is
experiencing problems
and it appears that it's to do with their English language ability, then
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initially they would
see their tutor and he or she would arrange for them to have extra language
tuition at our
language centre which may help them with those problems.
Susan:
If you do have problems, academic, personal or linguistic, take
them to a tutor.
Support and advice is
available in almost every university - as long as you
discuss your problems
with the people who can help you.
ANNOUNCER:
And that brings us to
the end of today’s programme, in which we’ve focused on seminars and
tutorials. We’ve
talked about the role students play in seminars and tutorials and thought about
the structure and
language of student presentations. We've discussed some of the problems that
can prevent students
from participating fully in seminars and looked at some possible solutions.
Next time, it's the dreaded 'e'-word:
the 'exam'!
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