The National Seminar Series

DCU is delighted to host Professor Robert Adamson of the Education University of Hong Kong who will deliver a seminar entitled Teaching international students through a language other than their mother tongue in a Higher Education context. The event forms part of the National Seminar Series funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and takes place on the 29th March, 2019, in C104 Henry Grattan Building. The greater numbers of international students with diverse linguistic backgrounds in contemporary universities create challenges for learning and teaching through English. Frustration for students and lecturers can arise from communication problems, which encompass issues around achieving clarity of meaning in written and spoken discourse, as well as presenting and mastering specialist vocabulary Prof. Bob Adamson will model ways to structure the design and delivery of courses with the goal of making the students’ learning experience more successful, and of providing accessible quality learning to all students irrespective of their language background. Topics to be covered in the workshop include: incorporating linguistic principles into curriculum design; genre-based curriculum organisation, learning progression and assessment; and pedagogical strategies. The workshop will involve both hands-on activities, and presentation by the speaker. The workshop is open to all. Academics and university leaders involved in designing and delivering modules to linguistically diverse student cohorts are particularly welcome. By the end of the session, participants will have: a) A deeper awareness and understanding of the challenges facing international students and all learners studying through a language other than their mother tongue. b) Strategies which they can implement in designing and delivering courses which will support learning through a language other than the mother tongue. c) A deeper awareness of theories and principles of language learning in the context of curriculum design