A Pre-University Digital Literacy Course for B2-C1 users of English
Content and sequencing
Principle #1: Implicit teaching of language systems in a communicative, hybrid (reallife and virtual) setting. In order to ensure that our students are able to make sense of language creatively, as well as know the linguistic features that governs it, scrum teaching is structured so that the students are exposed to an environment where they, through negotiating for meaning, uncover generalizable linguistic features. A student reads and listens / views information individually before students come together in small groups discussing their findings. Ultimately the group will share their findings with the rest of the class to see what general features that has been discovered. The teacher functions as a facilitator and only adds linguistic features to the students who seem to have overlooked some essential aspects.
Format and presentation
Principle #2: Motivation through interaction with technology. By incorporating the Internet as a source of information, the Scrum Methodology and Trello technology in our teaching we hope to connect with the students, as well as reaping the many benefits that technology brings to the classroom: experiential learning, motivation, enhancing student achievements, authenticity, interaction, individualization, accessibility and global understanding while receiving and producing English as a global language. Also, the AWL Highlighter , AWL Finder, and AWL Tag Cloud may contribute greatly to students’ academic registers.
Monitoring and assessment
Principle #3: Frequent consideration of students’ needs. We also believe that our students’ needs should be assessed and taken into account on a regular basis. The information we gain through this ongoing assessment will be analyzed as the course progresses in order to make sure that the course suits our learners’ needs. This process may even lead to increased motivation among the students due to them being able to see their own progression while also having their voices heard.
By the end of this course the students will know more ins & outs of digital information literacy which they will need for success in academic study. Students will be able to…
o know the 5 competence areas of EU Digital Competence
o incorporate academic reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
o incorporate high-frequency academic vocabulary.
…to read critically and to be able to…
…to listen critically and to be able to…
…to write academically and be able to…
o recognise discourse patterns and employ them in their own writing. o incorporate an academic tone.
o incorporate high-frequency academic vocabulary.
…to express themselves orally in an academic setting and be able to…
o use academic vocabulary appropriately
o prepare and deliver a professional presentation.
o ask and answer relevant questions
o take their audience into consideration when making judgments
o participate in discussions effectively
By the end of this course the students will be equipped with the language learning strategies they need in order to continue to develop their academic language. Students will be able to…
o comment upon their own language use
o keep a reviewed vocabulary journal
o analyse different discourse-patterns
By the end of this course the students will know how to employ computer technology for academic purposes and be able to…
o expand their vocabulary by using
AWL highlighter to highlight all the AWL words in a text,
AWL tag cloud allowing representation of the words in a more visual way as a tag cloud.
o to find relevant sources online.
o cite electronic sources.
By the end of this course the students will have gained confidence in digesting academic texts by critical reading and listening and expressing themselves in speaking and writing by using academic language on themes of digital information literacy.
Needs Assessment Plan
Start the course with needs assessment activities that give both subjective and objective information about students’ current and future needs. The tables below gives an overview of the different activities that will be discussed in the following pages as well as their duration and when they will occur within the course.
|Evidence of learning|
|Dialogue Journals: how to keep track of your learning yourself: use the plenary check-ins&outs: |
1. What content have you learnt?
2. What skills have you worked on?
3. Which academic words have you added to your Personal Idiom File?
|Placemats on A-3 paper per group: 1 each lesson|
|Ongoing teacher observation|
|Check-In to Course Interactive powerpoint: intro to academic reading, writing, speaking, listening Intro to how to scrum Intro to Dialogue Journals Intro to the themes of Digital Literacy |
1. prioritise your own learning objectives within the rubric
2. What do you want to learn within these themes of digital literacy?
Critical Reading and Listening
Academic Writing Activities & Group Discussion
|First Lesson –> Whole Group|
|By reflecting on how and why they want to learn English, they will |
become more motivated and goal-oriented. Dialogue journals enable
the students to comment on what they have learned on content,
organization and their own language learning process while also
expressing their expectations to the lessons ahead.
|Small groups of 3-4|
|Every lesson has a continual placemat activity sharing the information found that lesson by reading and listening-viewing. Sources will have |
to be copied accurately. These placemats will be the basis of the final
|Every lesson begins and ends by collaboratively observing group |
discussions based on these questions: Which information have we got
so far that is relevant to teach other students in our final presentation,why is that information relevant, and what are the different sources of the information? Students also keep track of the group’s progress in
the order of the tasks: TO DO – DOING – DONE. The teacher indirectly
and informally assesses group dynamics and how their oral
proficiency is coming along. Students are discussing what information
is relevant enough to keep for the final product, where they found it,
how to build their final product while the teacher’s main focus point is how they back up their arguments and how they interact in groups.