Handbook

This course is designed to equip you with the academic literacy and communication skills you require to succeed in your tertiary studies. It is intended for international and domestic undergraduate students who have met the required IELTS score or equivalent for entry into the UNSW Diploma Program.

Course materials are based on topics and issues which reflect the variety of disciplines you will go on to pursue as part of your future courses of study. Authentic tertiary input and resources are used where appropriate to ensure that learning activities are relevant and meaningful. The themes selected as the context for the learning activities reflect broad topics which may be studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The focus includes macro-language skills, discourse management and academic literacy skills. The course encourages collaborative and independent work with both peers and teacher to better prepare you for the Australian university context.

You will engage in practical task-oriented activities and assessment tasks, and are encouraged to analyse ideas, evaluate claims, and search for answers to self-generated questions. A range of academic spoken and written text types are addressed throughout the course. Some of these texts include: critical reviews, reflections, summaries, reports, annotated bibliographies, short-answer responses, tutorial discussions, presentations, simulations etc. The course, equating to a total of 48 learning hours, is delivered in a blended mode.