Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract:The dissonance between Eastern and Western learning approaches is regarded as an obstacle for Chinese students to adjust in Western education environments, and one of the reasons is the lack of an understanding of Chinese learning approaches, i.e., Chinese learners are uncritically perceived as rote learners. This paper investigates Chinese international foundation students' learning approaches when they were in China and here in the UK. Their experiences indicate that, similar to UK students, Chinese students learn with the intention of understanding, they use memorisation only when they fail to understand or have examination pressure. Consequently, Chinese students adjust well to Western teaching styles. Some difficulties they experienced in classrooms

Many undergraduate students find the production of an extended piece of academic writing challenging. This challenge is more acute in the sciences where production of extended texts is infrequent throughout undergraduate studies. This paper reports the development of a new English for Academic Purposes (EAP) workshop and associated resources for third year undergraduate chemists to support their dissertation module. The workshop is designed to utilise a searchable database of student texts (a corpus) developed as part of the FOCUS project at Durham University. This novel use of data-driven learning (DDL), common in second language pedagogy, transfers well to the chemistry classroom as the processes of research and discovery (of words rather than chemicals) involved in DDL parallel similar processes in chemistry research. Our workshop and online consolidation activities have been positively evaluated by both staff and our current cohort of students. The project is being rolled out across other departments at Durham as well as the corpus tool being utilised at other UK HEIs. This corpus-based approach to academic writing in chemistry offers a unique perspective on the interplay between language and scientific literacy.

S. (2013) 'Can I have a word please Strategies to enhance understanding of subject specic language in chemistry by international and non-traditional students.', New directions., 9 (1). pp. 8-13. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.11120/ndir.2013.00012Publisher's copyright statement:Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractIn this paper we discuss the outcomes of our research into effective teaching strategies to enhance understanding of subject specific language by international and non-traditional students.Teaching strategies with an emphasis on improving scientific literacy were trialled over the course of the academic year 2010/11 in foundation level chemistry. The outcomes from this research led to the development of an E-glossary to support the development of subject language understanding. The E-glossary was trialled over the academic year 2011/12. It consists of student generated content (with over 100 contributions) explaining scientific terms and concepts in a variety of ways at an appropriate level for foundation students. The outcomes of this research are considered in relation to the development of scientific literacy and conceptual understanding.

The quantity amount of substance (symbol "n") and its SI unit, the mole (symbol "mol"), are unfamiliar to novice chemistry students. Developing a good understanding of this quantity and its unit has previously been demonstrated to be problematic. In this paper, we analyze 14 different online resources in terms of how they define and apply the mole. Our findings show widespread use of the mole as a quantity rather than as a unit in mathematical expressions as well as in text. This leads to the absence of reference to the quantity amount of substance and is inconsistent with how other quantities (such as mass) and their units (g) are represented. This practice is also evident in wider pedagogic contexts and can cause confusion for students developing understanding of the mole. We provide recommendations to address this issue through the consistent use of the mole as a SI unit for the quantity amount of substance.

Traditionally career education in New Zealand secondary schools has been provided by a dedicated career advisor, but the effectiveness of this model is increasingly being questioned. This review examined approaches to career education in order to recommend a more appropriate model for the future. A review of 14 articles revealed that career education is increasingly important for secondary school students and that advantages exist in an integrated whole-school approach. The authors argue that such an approach is desirable, but acknowledge the issues to be addressed to ensure success. These include professional development for career advisors, principals and teachers, changing entrenched attitudes, reimagining the role of the career advisor and providing increased resourcing. While this review is focussed on New Zealand, it is apparent that other countries are grappling, similarly, with the issue of career education for secondary school students.