1. Increasing Engagement Through Structured Tutorials
Mike Groves

2. Outline
The problem
The theory
The “solution”
The data
The next steps

3. Background- BIA Pathways
Over 200 students
IELTS scores from 5.5 to 9
Target degrees Engineering, Business, Medicine, Law inter alia
Crowded curriculum
Slight marginalisation
4,6 and 10 hours per week. Tutorial every second week.

4. The Problem Some students lacking motivation and achievement Language
Other skills
Lack of development in terms ability to function effectively in a new academic environment

5. What causes this? Culture shock Teenageriness Lack of confidence
Over confidence
Peer pressure
Exhaustion
Too much English?
(Speculation & Experience, 2017)

6. Experience tells me
The problem with engagement activities…

7. Theoretical Background
Dornyei Dweck Fanghanel Holliday

8. Dornyei and Ideal L2 self motivation system
Ideal L2 Self “If the learner has a desired future image
Which is elaborate and vivid
Which is perceived as plausible and harmony with…the expectations of the learners family
Which is accompanied by relevant and effective procedural strategies
Which also contains elaborate information about the negative consequences”
(Dornyei,2009, p.27 My Bullets)

9. Dweck and The Mindset Fixed vs growth mindsets Entity vs incremental
That intellectual ability is a skill that needs to be nurtured.
The motivational difference between telling a student they are smart, and they worked hard.
(Dweck and Master, 2009)

10. Different perspectives on teaching in HE
Educational ideology in relation to teaching
Ideological perspective
Traditionalist/Liberal
Learning for its own sake. Advancing knowledge through intellectual enquiry
Vocationalist
Human capital. Establishing link between education and the needs of the economy
Progressive/ Emancipatory
Personal choice and growth
Social Constructionist/Critical
HE is a vehicle to transform society. .
(Fanghanel, 2009)

11. The nature of the space, “Culture of dealing”
Multiple related background influences
Multiple related background influences
Tourist Culture
Tourist trading culture
Interaction
“Interculture”- (Holliday, Hyde and Kulman, 2010)
Holliday, Hyde and Kullman, 2010

12. The nature of the space “Anglo” culture Home Culture
Freedom
Responsibility
Norms
Expectations
Home Culture
Freedom
Responsibility
Norms
Expectations
Educational Culture
Discipline
Criticality
Approach
Educational Culture
Discipline
Criticality
Approach
Foundation

13. In summary The need for a vision of self The need to encourage growth
The need for personal choice
The need to define the space from all sides
So, how?

14. Aims of the Guided Tutorials
To encourage students to develop an understanding of themselves as learners
To help students transition into independent and effective learners
To encourage students to reflect on areas where they need to develop
To encourage students to gain an insight into what is expected of them.

15. Format Each week, a reading text (around 1000 words) Reflective task
Discussion

16. Plan
TERM ONE
TERM TWO 1
First Tutorial- Skills Audit
Goal Setting 2
Term 1 Assessment feedback 3
Time Management 4
Vocabulary building 5
Reading and researching 6
Dealing with difference/Culture Shock 7
Mid Term Feedback 8
Essay Planning
Final Tutorial 9
Critical Thinking 10
Essay drafts 11
Assessment

17. Sample text (Vocabulary)
Being strategic It is important to have a strategy for improving your vocabulary. This will generally have three strands. Firstly, you need to identify the language that you know, or only partially know. Then you have to work out a way of recording it. Finally, you need to recycle it. This means using the new words so that they become part of your active vocabulary. Below are two students and the strategies that they use. Student A is a fairly competent user of English. She has a large vocabulary, but some of the more formal words are less familiar to her. She uses the following strategy to improve her vocabulary. She takes an article or a web page form her subject and runs it through lextutor ( She checks the words that are more academic (from the Academic Word List or AWL) and records any she doesn't feel 100% familiar with. Then she uses a word cloud ( to see the most common words. She also records any she is unfamiliar with in a notebook. Whenever she writes something, she tries to use the words in the notebook, ticking them when she does so. Student B is less confident with English. He knows that there is a large number of words that he needs to become more familiar with. Therefore, he carries a notebook with him, and every time he sees a word he is not sure of, he writes it down. Then, once a day, he transfers these words onto small index cards with their meanings and other information from the Oxford learners Dictionary: He then carries these cards around with him, and tests himself regularly. When he is sure he is familiar with a word, he puts it in a box. Once a week, he also goes through this box to make sure he remembers.

18. Sample Task Reflection How would you describe your vocabulary?
How often do you see words you don’t know?
Do you know all the parts of speech of words?
Do you know a lot of high level, sophisticated words?
How deep is your knowledge of subject specific vocabulary?
What have you done in the past to improve your vocabulary?
Read the section in the student guide about improving your vocabulary.
Strategies
Here are a number of strategies
Have two notebooks. Carry one around with you. When you see an important new word, record it. Then, every evening, transfer this into the other book you keep at home. Look up the word, and record lots of information about it.
Write the new words on index cards, which you carry round with you. Test yourself regularly.
Set up a personal section on Memorise or Quizlet. Invite a friend to join. Turn it into a game.
Create word clouds from electronic articles to see the commonly used vocabulary in your area.
Use your recorded vocabulary when you are writing.

19. Questionnaire 7 multi item Likert scales I found the tutorials useful
I took part in the tutorial tasks 
The tutorial tasks helped me develop 
The tasks helped me become a more reflective learner 
I am intrinsically motivated 
I have a strong future self idea 
I enjoyed the foundation course overall 
Plus demographic information (age, gender, nationality, pathway)
Designed according to Dorneyi (2007)

20. Results (n=29) Eliminated Cronbach’s alpha Scale title Mean (1-5) 1 1e
Eliminated
Cronbach’s alpha
Scale title
Mean (1-5) 1 1e
.717
I found the tutorials useful
3.01 2 2a
.735
I took part in the tutorial tasks 
3.39 3 3e
.855
The tutorial tasks helped me develop
3.46 4
n/a
.858
The tasks helped me become a more reflective learner
3.43 5
.739
I am intrinsically motivated
3.74 6
.727
I have a strong future self idea  7
8.14
I enjoyed the foundation course overall
3.99

21. Gender/Age/Nationality/Pathway
No statistically significant relationships found

22. Correlations between scales (n=29)
Sig
Develop
Reflective
.601
.000
Useful
.547
Intrinsic
Future self
.496
Positive
.457
.010
.420
.376
.007
.361
.002
.311

23. Discussion These are reasonably popular, but not to a great extent
Lack of evidence that these tasks help the most vulnerable students

24. Future directions The need for tutor and student buy in
Moving from tutorials to online and class discussions
Longitudinal study

25. References
Dornyei, Z. (2009) ‘The L2 motivational self system’ in E. Ushioda and Z Dornyei (eds) Motivation,, Language Identities and the L2 Self. Pp Bristol. Multimedia matters
Dweck, C and Master, A (2009) ‘Self Concept’ in W. Carey et al (eds) Developmental-Behavioral Paediatrics (Fourth Edition) pp Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier
Fanghanel, J. (2009) ‘The role of ideology in shaping academics’ conceptions of their discipline’, Teaching in Higher Education, 14(5) , pp , DOI: /
Dornyei, Z. (2007) Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Holliday, A, Hyde, M and Kullman, J (2010) Intercultural Communication: An advanced resource book for students. Abingdon, Routledge