Description

Psychological Concepts, Language and Study Skills

Description - summary of the module content

Module description

This module is designed to support your modules in the BSc in Psychology. It is part of the International Year One programme, which leads to a Certificate of Higher Education and counts as the first year of a degree in psychology. By taking this course you will become familiar with the language and concepts of the study of human behaviour and mental processes. In addition, you will develop the necessary language and study skills to approach assignments and tasks set in the discipline. These include researching psychological literature, participating in group presentations and seminars, taking notes, and developing skills for academic reading and written tasks.

 The module is suitable for students with a minimum overall ability in English as a foreign language equivalent to IELTS 6.0 (with a minimum of 5.5 in writing and listening, and 5.0 in other sub-skills).

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to provide you with the opportunity to develop and strengthen your linguistic skills for the study of psychology if you already have a degree of proficiency in spoken and written English. At the same time, it will provide substantial support in terms of language and concepts for the psychology modules you study alongside all other first year psychology students in the university.

With some exceptions all the work you do in this module is directly tied to the work you will be doing for your psychology modules. The core sessions (7 hours/week) provide essential information and content in support of your Psychology modules and your progression to Year 2. There is ample opportunity for questioning and discussion, both with peers and with tutors, to enhance language and thinking skills. The additional sessions (up to 3 hours/week) support other relevant areas of academic study and include smaller group workshops for statistics, introduction to psychological concepts, critical approaches, and language development. As a whole, the module aims to:

• Enhance your ability to take notes and understand lectures in psychology
• Develop your skills in reading and understanding psychological literature
• Support you in developing a good understanding of how to write essays and research reports for psychology
• Develop your confidence, fluency and accuracy in language use when participating in seminar discussions or giving a presentation
• Develop a good understanding of how to approach university examinations

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate adequate proficiency in spoken and written English language in the context of the study of psychology
• 2. Use language creatively and flexibly for a range of purposes and audiences
• 3. Engage actively in discussion of psychological issues, showing awareness of the communicative needs of others
• 4. Engage in analytical and evaluative thinking in the discipline of psychology
• 5. Research and select psychology source materials effectively
• 6. Extract and synthesise key information from a range of written and spoken sources in the discipline of psychology
• 7. Take accurate and effective notes from written and spoken texts
• 8. Organise and present ideas orally and in writing within the framework of a structured and reasoned argument
• 9. Use psychology source materials appropriately in your writing, avoiding plagiarism

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 10. Communicate effectively in the field of psychology using the full range of currently available methods
• 11. Participate effectively in key elements of your taught programme

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 12. Think independently, critically and creatively
• 13. Manage yourself effectively including autonomy, time management, self-teaching, self-reflection, seeking and using feedback, personal responsibility, self-criticism
• 14. Use technology relevant to your studies, e.g. library catalogues, word-processing packages, VLE, PowerPoint
• 15. Work co-operatively with others, interacting effectively within a group

Syllabus plan

Syllabus plan

Listening and Speaking skills

• Listening comprehension and note-taking skills for lectures in Psychology
• Group discussion skills: using language appropriately, flexibly, and creatively; formulating questions about what you have heard and read to initiate discussions; showing awareness of other people’s communicative needs by supporting and encouraging their contributions
• Presentation skills: presenting on a topic you have researched to your peers, having organised the material to ensure clarity and coherence

 Written language skills

 Reading skills for Psychology

• Understanding the structure and ideas of complex, unsimplified written text;
• Locating specific information from a variety of text types
• Engaging with text content; relating it to your own knowledge base in order to monitor your own understanding; adopting an analytical approach to text, e.g. comparing different writer’s views
• Building vocabulary in the field of psychology

 Writing and research skills for psychology:

• Locating and evaluating potential sources
• Effective note-taking and summary for writing of assignments
• Supporting argument using source material through summary and paraphrase
• Synthesising information from different sources and incorporating these into your own writing
• Referencing: using APA conventions to make correctly formatted references to sources, compiling bibliographies
• Analysis of essay titles and exam questions, establishing the focus required to answer these questions
• Planning and completing Psychology assignments in good time

Learning and teaching

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Re-assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for reasons judged legitimate by the Mitigation Committee, the applicable assessment will normally be deferred. See ‘Details of reassessment’ for the form that assessment usually takes. When deferral occurs there is ordinarily no change to the overall weighting of that assessment.

Resources

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Short J. (2010) English for Psychology in Higher Education Studies. Reading: Garnet.
• Vicary, A. (2014) Grammar for Writing. Reading: Garnet
• Patterson, K. (2013) Oxford Grammar for EAP. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hayes, N & Stratton, P. (2017) A students Dictionary of Psychology and Neuroscience. Oxon: Routledge.

Module has an active ELE page

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Set textbooks, ELEs and reading materials for psychology modules PSY1202, 1203, 1204, 1205. 1206 & 1207

Key words search

psychology, year one, IYOP, BSC Psychology