Skip to main content
Unit outline_

EDSE4512: TESOL Professional Experience

Intensive August, 2020 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

This unit of study will link fieldwork in Intensive English Centres or secondary school with an exploration of current language education research. Students will develop skills in linking their assessment of the abilities and needs of teenage and adult learners of English with programming. This unit aims to develop students' professional understanding and expertise as second language educators. It has relevance for teaching in Australia and overseas and focuses on the development of communicative competence.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit Education
Credit points 2
Prerequisites
? 
210 credit points including 24 credit points from one of (English, Linguistics or one of the foreign languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Modern Greek, Sanskrit, Spanish))
Corequisites
? 
None
Prohibitions
? 
EDGU2000 or EDGU3000 or EDGU4000 or EDSE3043
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

No

Teaching staff

Coordinator Andrew Ross, andrew.s.ross@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Placement Professional experience
Placement
100% - 12 days
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2

Assessment summary

  • Professional experience: The professional experience report is completed by the designated supervising teacher with the support of the university mentor and director of professional experience when required. It is signed by the student teacher and then submitted to the Office of Professional Experience.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name

Mark range

Description

High distinction

85 - 100

 

Distinction

75 - 84

 

Credit

65 - 74

 

Pass

50 - 64

 

Fail

0 - 49

When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

  • Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
  • After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

WK Topic Learning activity Learning outcomes

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: This unit requires attendance at a designated mainstream school/IEC placement site for 12 full teaching days (excluding public holidays). This is made up of 2 days of 'pre-prac' visits and a 10-day block of prac. The purpose of the pre-prac visits is to see the school/IEC, meet your supervising teacher and discuss what you will be teaching, and to observe classes (both those you will be teaching as well as others in order to get a sense of the different levels of students and styles of different teachers). You are not required to do any teaching on the pre-prac visits. Often there is more than one pair of students going to the same school, but it is not necessarily essential (or often possible) for all pairs to to do the pre-prac visits on the same day. This needs to be negotiated with the school. However, each pair must do their pre-prac visits together.

This year – 2020 – due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have some unique circumstances, and we can only allocate two days of our ‘class time’ for these to take place. So, please do your best to negotiate with your school for the visits to occur on these days. Andy will be happy to help try and organise this with the schools for you.

If you cannot do the visits on these days due to it not being suitable for the school, we will try to make other arrangements (let’s deal with this as it arises). 

For the 10-day block of teaching, you will typically start teaching from the first day (this can vary between schools, however). The Professional Experience Office stipulates that the teaching load should be a load of 0.5-0.6, which equates to approximately 12-16 lessons per week based on 40-minute periods. However, this will vary depending on what is happening in schools, and respective supervising teachers, and other school activities.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 2 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 40-50 hours of student effort in total.

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. demonstrate a graduate level of all national professional standards for teachers
  • LO2. demonstrate the fulfillment of the university’s requirements for the professional experience, including adequately documenting their planning for teaching using either written lesson plans or a day book, as prescribed by the faculty, and attending all the prescribed days for the internship placement for the full school day (unless faculty approval has been obtained for any other variation).

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1 Depth of disciplinary expertise

Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.

GQ2 Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.

GQ3 Oral and written communication

Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.

GQ4 Information and digital literacy

Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.

GQ5 Inventiveness

Generating novel ideas and solutions.

GQ6 Cultural competence

Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.

GQ7 Interdisciplinary effectiveness

Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

GQ8 Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity

An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.

GQ9 Influence

Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes Graduate qualities
GQ1 GQ2 GQ3 GQ4 GQ5 GQ6 GQ7 GQ8 GQ9

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No changes have been made since this unit was last offered.

Additional costs

There are no additional costs for this unit.

Site visit guidelines

There are no site visit guidelines for this unit.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.