1. Successful Pre-Sessionals
Jacqueline Douglas
Language Services Unit

2. Successful Pre-Sessionals
The UK situation and implications for intake
Students’ expectations
Bridging the gap
Everyday classroom successes
The future

3. The UK situation: two external factors
removal of the cap on university student intake
changes to UK Visas and Immigration regulations

4. Implications for Pre-Sessional Intake
smaller ‘pool’ of potential overseas students
commercial reality: lower language level
20,000 word families vs 4,000

5. Our Pre Sessional Students’ Expectations
I chose ARU because not many Chinese students. I want to improve my English, make new friends and know about this university
Crystal, China IELTS 5
Business Management

6. Our Pre Sessional Students’ Expectations
Mavis, China IELTS 4.5
Law
ARU gave me a chance, I hope to improve my writing and speaking, then my listening will, too

7. What will be useful for you on your degree course?
“vocabulary for business, it’s a very big problem for me…and how to write a paper” Mavis
“I have no idea, step by step, I’ll know what I must do” Crystal

8. ‘Bridging the Gap’ The Language Services Unit’s aim:
‘To improve our students’ skills and
understanding to a point where
they can function successfully on
their main course’
Steph Dimond-Bayir, Director of LSU

9. ‘Bridging the gap’ - specifics
Development of the four skills
Vocabulary development – Academic Word List
Working towards the LSU’s English Language Proficiency Test
Department-specific academic conventions – final two weeks

10. Our teachers’ voices
“our focus on independent study, group work, extended writing provides insights into how they’ll study as a normal part of university life, and we demand more of them as the course progresses” Jason Jerome
“they’re not the finished article when they progress to their department, but we give them confidence and encourage them to be more self-starting” Jane Turner
“we offer a pre-sessional culture shock to give them a taste” Jason Jerome
“they realise once they start their course what’s been beneficial” Anna Fisher

11. Everyday classroom successes
Foster learner independence with written accuracy – develop a tailored correction checklist
Take the class into the Library, help them find a subject-specific text, guide them in summary writing
Individual oral presentations within their subject, in a positive learning environment, with peer and tutor feedback
Group project work to encourage teamwork and negotiation

12. Our teachers are interested in every single question we asked
Our teachers are interested in every single question we asked. Also, every student has an individual tutor, and this is very helpful cause we can have chance to discuss our questions personally, get feed back our level of English and what we need to do. If I didn’t get PSE course doing master would be much more difficult, cause I wouldn’t have known how to make research the rules of academic writing and plagiarism, or what my lecturers’ expectations would be.

13. The future – a message to the university
“We are crucial to your success – you need students. We’re open to as much communication as you’re willing to engage in and are available to support faculties with overseas students – EFL is our speciality”