1Before we start, Spiros and Hiroko,
2thanks for coming in today to talk about your recent study experiences
3and congratulations to you both in doing so well in your first semester exams!
4I'd like to discuss with you the value of the English for Academic Purposes course you did here last year
5before starting your university course.
6Spiros, if I could start with you,
7what parts of the programme have now proved to be particularly valuable to you?
8Um... I think that having to do a seminar presentation really helped me.
9For example, a couple of weeks ago in our marketing subject,
10when it was my turn to give a presentation I felt quite confident.
11Of course, I was still nervous but...
12because I had done one before, I knew what to expect.
13Also, I know I was well-prepared and I had practised my timing.
14In fact, I think that in relation to some of the other people in my group,
15I did quite a good job because my overall style was quite professional.
16What about you, Hiroko?
17Mmm, that's interesting.
18In my group, I was really surprised by the way the students did their presentations -
19they just read their notes aloud!
20Can you believe that?
21They didn't worry about their presentation style or keeping eye contact with their audience
22and I remember that these things were really stressed to us in the course here.
23So, how did you approach your presentation, Hiroko?
24Well, to speak frankly, I read my notes too!
25At the time, it was a relief to do it this way, but...
26actually, when I had finished, I didn't feel any real sense of satisfaction.
27I didn't feel positive about the experience at all.
28That's a pity.
29You know, although I was pleased with my presentation,
30I am not so pleased with my actual performance right now in the tutorials -
31during the whole semester, I've not said anything in our tutorial discussions.
32Not a word.
33Really, Spiros?
34Why's that?
35Do the other students talk too much?
36It's partly that,
37but it's mostly because I have had no confidence to speak out.
38Their style of speaking is so different.
39It's not the style we were used to during the course.
40They use so many colloquialisms,
41they're not very polite and sometimes there seems to be no order in their discussion.
42Also, they are very familiar with each other,
43so because they know each other's habits,
44they can let each other into the discussion.
45You're right, Spiros, I've experienced that too.
46For most of this semester, I've said absolutely nothing in tutorials.
47But recently, I've been trying to speak up more and I just jump in,
48and I've noticed an interesting thing.
49I've noticed that if they thought my point was interesting or new,
50then the next time they actually asked for my opinion,
51and then it was much easier for me to be part of the discussion.
52That's great, Hiroko!
53I hope that happens for me next semester.
54I'll have to work hard to find some interesting points.
55What helped you to find these ideas?
56I think that one thing that helped me with this was the reading.
57I've had to do so much reading this semester just to help me make sense of the lectures.
58At first, I couldn't understand what the lecturers were talking about,
59so I had to turn to the books and journals.
60Every night I read for hours,
61using the lists of references that were given, and I made pages of notes.
62At breakfast, I read and read my notes again.
63This habit has helped me to follow the ideas in the lectures,
64and it's also given me some ideas to use in the tutorials.
65But i did so much reading anyway.
66I don't think there's any time left over for anything extra.
67My reading speed is still quite slow,
68though I'm much better at dealing with vocabulary than I used to be.
69What else do you think we could add to the course program to help with this reading problem?
70There's not really anything because it's my problem.
71I remember we were given long articles to read.
72We didn't like that but now I realise that reading those long articles was good preparation for the things I need to read now.
73Also, in class, we regularly had speed-reading tasks to do,
74and we kept a record of our reading speed,
75so the teachers were encouraging us to work on that.
76That's true, Spiros,
77but what we read could have been different.
78Sometimes in the English class, I felt frustrated when I had to read articles about the environment or health or education,
79because I wanted to concentrate on my own field,
80but we didn't read anything about engineering.
81So, I think I wasted some time learning vocabulary I didn't need.
82Hmm... but surely the strategies you were taught for dealing with that vocabulary were helpful.
83Yes, but psychologically speaking,
84I would have felt much better working on reading from my own field.
85What do you think Spiros?
86Oh, I agree, that would have helped my confidence too
87and I would have been more motivated.
88It was good though that we could work on our own topics when we wrote the research assignments.
89Okay, let's move on to writing now...