2. Assignment Brief Design:
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D. Language
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" There was a void between them and us, a void in terminology. A stream of consciousness with lots of big words ... " |
Complexity
To ensure students’ interpretation of instructions is facilitated: Aim to use less complexly structured sentences in the brief. This makes the instructions more straightforward to interpret. Longer sentences with more than two subordinate clauses are more complexly structured. This makes them harder to interpret. For example, due to the fact that longer sentences with more than two subordinate clauses tend to be more complexly structured, thus making them harder to interpret, aim to use less complexly structured sentences in the brief so that they are as straightforward as possible to interpret. The previous sentence is an example of this. Similarly, avoid double or treble negatives. For example, ‘On no account should you not include a reference to at least one theoretical framework unless you provide a convincing rationale for not doing so’. Information Density To ensure students are not unnecessarily overloaded when processing instructions Aim to restrict information contained in a sentence to a single constituent of the assessment task rather than packing instructions about several constituents into one sentence. For example,’You are required to submit the essay, relating a theoretical discussion of a concept or author studied on the course, drawing on scholarly sources, (2,500 words plus/minus 10%, excluding bibliography) in week 11’. This sentence refers to several constituents of the brief: the text type, the core task, the research requirements, the word count requirements and the deadline. Cognitive Processes To ensure students’ current academic and assessment literacy knowledge is activated to support their task performance and to clarify what is expected: Aim to include the more commonly used key assignment task verbs such as the verbs ‘analyse’, ‘identify’, ‘argue’, ‘critically evaluate’. Using these verbs helps students recognise immediately what is expected and aids in the process of working towards a common understanding of assessment related language. Cognitive Products To ensure students’ current academic and assessment literacy knowledge is activated to support their task performance and to clarify what is expected: Aim where appropriate, when using phrases which describe the quality of work expected by the student, to unpack these by restating them in other more concrete ways, or referring students to where they can clarify their intended meaning. For example, such phrases as ‘quality sources’, ‘sound argument’, ‘robust treatment’, and ‘lucid exposition’. |
Frequency To ensure the language used for the assignment brief is as accessible as possible: Avoid words and expressions which are less frequently used by, and therefore potentially less accessible to, certain groups of students. For example, this language includes: Academese: unnecessarily rare words and phrases such as ‘concretise’. Verbs: ‘The essay should occupy no more than 4 pages’ Idioms: such as ‘bear in mind’, ‘not up to scratch’, ‘get to grips with’, ‘start from scratch’ and ‘in a nutshell’. Adjectives: such as ‘crisp summary’ or ‘long-winded account’. Latin terms: such as ‘critical analysis is the sine qua non of academic research…’ Or ‘you should, ceteribus paribus, complete your individual research before the group work stage begins’. Sociocultural References To ensure the cultural references used in the assignment brief are as accessible to the widest possible range of students: Avoid references to concepts requiring culturally specific knowledge not necessarily shared by all student groups and thus ensure inclusivity. For example, in a British academic environment, using terms such as ‘Orwellian’, ‘Fat cats’ or acronyms such as ‘NHS’. If, for the purposes of setting the assignment, the use of such terms is unavoidable, include an explanation. Assessment Jargon To ensure the terminology used for assessment is as accessible as possible to the full range of students: Make use of the more frequently used, generally accepted assessment terminology to refer to concepts such as ‘weighting’, ‘exemplar text’ and ‘feed forward’. To aid students’ assessment literacy development, at early stages of their studies, consider providing support in the interpretation of such assessment specific terminology in the brief itself by defining or explaining where necessary. Research Jargon To ensure the terminology used for research is as accessible as possible to the full range of students: Try to make use of research terminology in the brief, such as ‘critical evaluation’, ‘evidence based’ and ‘validity’. To aid students’ assessment literacy development, at early stages of their studies consider providing support in the interpretation of such research specific terminology in the brief itself by defining or explaining where necessary. If, at this stage of their academic literacy development students are expected to be fully conversant with the research terms used in the brief then this would not be necessary. |
Tone To ensure students’ processing of the assignment instructions is not adversely influenced by the use of language: Provide instructions, which, although direct, avoid a tone which might trigger a negative response in some students. This may adversely affect their processing of the instructions since their processing of information is influenced by their emotional state during reading. Such a response might also lower their subsequent motivation and engagement with the task as they may thus feel themselves to be a less worthy member of the academic community of practice. Avoid therefore the overuse of ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ type imperatives such, especially with capitals as in ‘DO NOT just describe’. Avoid the overuse of ‘will’ and ‘must’ in phrases, especially coupled with the use of capitals, as in ‘You WILL employ references in your essay’ and ‘You MUST demonstrate a range of critical thinking in your essay’. Avoid a tone that stresses the difficulty or the high stakes nature of the assessment task. For example: ‘putting together an argument with a logical progression of reasoning is not easy’ or ‘failure to provide references will lead to a severe penalty and result in failing the coursework’. Similarly, avoid the use of language such as: ‘Waffling will reduce your mark’, ‘Don’t be fooled into thinking….’ or ‘Avoid hot air’. These, apart from being highly infrequent idioms, have negative emotional connotations. |
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" Love it or hate it academic language gives you power - you want to push students but not exclude anyone ..."