Dear
All
It
has recently come to my notice that some students have voiced a complaint
before SAE over the reading list prescribed for the coming Midterm Test Part on
applied theory. To my surprise, they claimed that some topics had not been covered
in the tutorials and that there were too many readings to do. While I can
understand that exams are often a source of anxiety for everyone, there are one
or two things I feel I need to bring to your attention at this point.
After
reviewing class reports on the activities you have done with your tutors and
discussing the issue with them, we have been able to ascertain that the topics in
the tutorials were properly dealt with. Students were provided with study
guides specially designed to highlight the main issues and facilitate home
reading, and tutors covered the texts adequately in class, including
awareness-raising, discussion, analysis and application activities.
As
for the concerns about the length of the reading list, we must consider that it
covers at least six months’ work. The texts were assigned for home reading and
treated one at a time in the course of the lessons, as those of you who have followed
the coursework regularly will confirm. It is no less true, though, that in many
cases there has been poor compliance with the reading assignments according to
your assistant teachers’ reports and, of course, those students who fall behind
with their work or fail to study conscientiously will find
considerable difficulty tackling several readings at the last minute.
And
then again, still allowing that there are, in fact, a large number of texts to
read for the midterm, Language IV is no subject to be sitting through and just managing
a few deadlines. Upgrading one´s language level and acquiring a professional
discourse management is a complex matter that requires large exposure, steady
dedication and commitment. I must also remind you that as students towards the
end of our university course, we are expected to read extensively, unless we
are prepared to admit that students from the English course are less apt than those
from other degree courses in our school and others, where the reading load for
their midterms is just as heavy, if not heavier, than in our case.
Having
said this, we are willing to take a flexible approach and we have decided to postpone the date of the Midterm Test Part 2 to
Friday October 18th so as to allow time for revision of the key points and to
give everyone the opportunity to check their doubts both at lectures and
tutorials. In order to dispel your concerns, I would like you to know that the readings
are grouped around three central issues as follows, Discourse Genres, Discourse
and the News and Discourse, Ideology
and Power, and that the tasks and /or questions on the test will be
modelled after the tasks covered in the Tutorials and questions in the Study
Guides.
With
best wishes,
Prof.
Ana Moldero
