Read the following short case study:

"Li becomes anxious in advance of tutorials. His first language is Mandarin and although he understands what is being said most of the time, he doesn’t feel he benefits from tutorials and has in the past missed them. The discussion usually feels positive at tutorials but often the written feedback is not as good as he expected. When he attends tutorials he feels that there is a lot of discussion but is unclear how this relates to him, and to his work."

From what you have read now consider the following questions and propose some responses in relation to your own teaching practice:

What are the key issues the student is facing within this learning situation?
How as a teacher can you respond to support the student?
How could you adapt your teaching practice to pre-empt some of the challenges the student is facing?

Once you have thought through each question move on to the next page to explore some suggested strategies from the literature.

Reflections

The following audio provides some reflections from the session leader and a colleague discussing particular aspects of the case study.Drawing upon the wider research literature the following strategies have been identified as good practice examples for responding to the issues highlighted within the case study.

Suggested strategies:

Structured, written feedback from tutorials is essential for second language students. Include students in the write up process.
Encourage students to audio record tutorials.
It is important for second language students not to confuse a friendly supportive discussion with achieving learning goals. An indication (in writing) of predicted pass or fail is essential.
Make clear the hierarchy and relative importance of ideas, for example use phrases such as “this is a key area you need to improve”, or “It is important that you have more examples of ….”

Manage expectations:

Students should be aware of the purpose of the tutorial, while the generic purposes of tutorials are in the course handbook, it would be useful to contextualise the aims of specific tutorials, and make this information available on the VLE, to allow second language students to prepare and structure what they want to say or ask.If possible, students should be aware of when tutorials will happen and be able to prepare for them. Providing examples of some questions and discussion points in advance will allow second language students to prepare language. Questions should be relevant to the brief and intended learning outcomes.

To return to the case studies please click: Exploring Your Practice