Key

LESSON 2

Task 1.
1. C 6. C
2. A 7. C,E,F
3. B 8. C,E,F
4. B 9. C,E,F
5. A 10. textbook allowance
Script:
- Hello... are you Professor Van Diezen?
- Yes, I am. And who might you be?
- Oh! Sorry, my name is Tina. I’m a freshman here. They told me I should ask you for advice in
choosing courses.
- Well, that’s part of what I’m here for. Please come in and sit down. Now, what are your
questions?
- I, I almost don’t know! Everything is so confusing! Like what is a “specialised course”?
Oh, easy. A specialised course is one that is compulsory, meaning it's a requirement for your
major and regular, so you can’t place out by taking a proficiency exam.
- That sounds pretty strict. Then what are all these general courses? I seem to have to take so
many.
- Nothing to be alarmed over. These are courses open to all students and not directly related to
your major. The university offers these general courses to choose so that you can become more
well-rounded individuals. For example, I see you’re a Microbiology major. So it might be a good
idea to take some literature or history courses so that you can know something besides all
science.
- You mean these courses are, like, for fun?
- That might be one way to look at it, but don’t tell the literature professor such a thing. Think of a
general course as the opposite of a specified course. A specified course is one that pertains
directly to your major.
- So can I take any Microbiology course I want?
- Let’s see. Oh, those courses used to be open to Microbiology students only. The good thing is,
now it’s open to students on a flexible schedule, so it’s not only for full-time students. So the
answer is yes, if you have the instructor’s permission. May I ask you why you chose
Microbiology?
- Well, I also like plain old Biology, too. You know, fullsized animals. I might even become a
veterinarian. Could I take some Biology classes?
- Well, they are open to full-time students only, which I believe is what you are. I don’t know how a
freshman would get along with Microbiology, though. I mean, most of the students presently
looking into it are from off-campus.
Off-campus?
- Yes, you know, people who use it in their work at hospitals, laboratories, even a police detective.
Why did you choose Microbiology, if I may ask? I don’t think you quite answered that.
- Well, eventually I want to be a doctor. At least my dad tells me so.
If I may say so, young lady, you seem a little uncertain.
- Still, I think that might be a good idea for a career. Of course, if you're thinking about being either
a doctor or a vet, you should take some Medical Science classes before you even think of
applying to med school.
- Great! What should I take?
- There is one small problem. The new Medical Sciences building is under construction, so there
are no experimental facilities available until next year. I’m afraid you'll have to wait. But don’t
forget to take those courses at the first opportunity!
- Oh, bummer. Is there any other course you'd recommend for someone like me?
- Well, since you seem to like animals, have you ever thought about looking into Environmental
Science?
- No, I never really thought about it before. Is it worthwhile?
- Quite! In fact, it's the fastest growing subject on this campus.
- I’m sorry, I couldn’t help noticing the long list of classes you’ve written out there. May I have a
look?
 - Oh, sure.
- Medical Science, Statistics, Laboratory Techniques, Medicine, Mathematics, Computing. My, my,
a bit of everything here. Is it too much?
- For your first semester, yes. What I suggest is starting out by taking the compulsory courses. Like
we said before, the Medical Science can wait. Consider taking that in your sophomore year. I
think I’d put off Computing, too. I recommend to all freshmen that I talk to to get the compulsory
Mathematics out of the way as early as possible, so take that one. It’ll be one less difficult course
you have to focus on when the science lab opens next year, and you have to catch up on classes
like Laboratory Techniques. Your major also requires Statistics so you have to balance two Maths
classes, and no doubt you should take that. Otherwise, get your required Medicine course out of
the way by taking something theory-based.
- Oh, of course and your Environmental Science class if you’re interested. The others can wait,
though I think Computing is definitely a good idea, even though it’s not required. I see too, on
your paper there, you seem to have had high marks on the entrance exam.
- Uhhh, yeah. I guess so.
- Don’t be shy! Have you thought about applying for a scholarship?
- Do they have any? I mean, my dad is always complaining about how much money it costs him.
- In your department, there are actually three full scholarships available. They cover tuition and
provide $1,500 cash.
- $1,500 cash?! Party!
- Please, Miss. The money is intended more as a textbook allowance, not party money. If you
promise to behave,
- I’ll show you how to apply.
- Great, and thanks!

Task 2.
1. C 6. C, E (in either order)
2. B 7. D OR E IN EITHER ORDER
3. C 8. D OR E IN EITHER ORDER
4. A 9. C, E (in either order)
5. C, E (in either order) 10. C, E (in either order)
Script:
- So, the task I gave you both was to choose an article about a small-scale research project.
- Yes ...
- You were then required to try to reproduce the research procedures in your own context ... i.e. try it
out for yourselves.
- Yeah ... and that’s what we’ve done.
- Great. So I’d like you to tell me a bit about the article and why you chose it.
- Well, the article’s written by two university lecturers who had started using crosswords to help their
students revise terminology for exams .
- And the crosswords were designed and set on computers.
- And we selected the article because ... well it seemed an accessible topic, even though we weren’t
familiar with the technique ... you know ... using IT to design crosswords for higher education.
- That’s a good reason. So these lecturers wanted to see how well this innovation was received by
their students?
- Yes.
- So how did you go about reproducing the research?
- Well, we drew up a list of terms from one of our own modules ... and designed a crossword for
revising these terms.
- Then we asked our classmates to try out the crossword and give us feedback, you know, their
opinions, on how they felt about using the technique.
- Was it easy to find participants?
- It wasn’t easy at first. But then we convinced them that by taking part in the research they were
actually benefiting themselves by preparing for an exam which is coming up later this term.
- And it worked!
- Good. So how did you find out what the students thought about doing the crosswords?
- A questionnaire. The original article used a two-page long questionnaire. There were lots of
excellent questions on it but the whole section on difficulties using IT is now obsolete ... old-
fashioned even, even though it had only been written a couple of years ago.
- So you designed a shorter version?
- Yeah. Then we sent it to the forty students by email and got twenty-eight replies. I was taken aback
by the fact that everybody we talked to thought this was a good return! I mean the responses were
well written, you know, people had taken a lot of care, but I was really disappointed with the low
numbers.
- Yes, an important lesson to learn for an apprentice researcher .
- Yeah.
- So what results did you get?
- Well, basically the responses were extremely positive. The students said that doing the crossword
on a computer helped them really focus on the work in hand and not be distracted, which is
something that commonly happens with other ways of doing of revision.
- Yeah ... that was really clear. But something that struck me was that ‘having fun’ hardly featured in
their responses ... nor did anything to do with spelling of hard words ... which I thought would be an
obvious benefit.
- No? OK ...
- Respondents also said that doing the crossword hadn’t really increased their general motivation to
study but that it had highlighted the gaps in their memory so they knew what further work was
necessary.
- Right ... So how did your findings tally with those of the original researchers?
- There were lots of similarities but ...
- .there were probably two main differences. We found that more males than females liked the
technique, whereas the original study found the reverse.
- Also our respondents said they wouldn’t mind doing a crossword as a final official exam ... whereas
in the original study students said they would hate doing it even if it meant having a shorter test.
- But of course both sets of respondents said they’d be interested in doing more crosswords for
informal purposes, revision and so forth.
- Right, so let’s have a think about the whole project and what you’ve learned from doing it. Well ... it
was very time consuming!
- Yeah! And I don’t think we managed that aspect very well.
- It could have been worse ... I mean we didn’t have a lot of data so we didn’t have to spend ages
processing it. And of course, we’d already done a course on numerical data processing so there
wasn’t much new there.
- Yeah, that’s true. Anyway, I think we designed our questions well so that they gave us manageable
data.
- Yeah, it really helped having the original study to guide us, as it were ... and that helped us see
what a good research instrument is ....what a good questionnaire should be like.
- Absolutely - we got a lot from that. But when we were writing up the project, I’m not sure whether
we’ll know how to acknowledge the work of the original study ... you know, our referencing.
- No ... that’s something we’ll both have to work on in the future.
- Actually that part’s been great, finding ways to share and support another person.
- That’s the real plus from the project ... learning ways to do that.
- Well, it’s obviously been very successful ...

Task 3.
1. C 6. B OR E IN EITHER ORDER
2. C 7. C, D (in either order)
3. A 8. C, D (in either order)
4. B 9. B OR D IN EITHER ORDER
5. B OR E IN EITHER ORDER 10. B OR D IN EITHER ORDER
Script:
- Hi Howard ... I haven’t seen you for a while.
- Hi Joanne. Yeah, they’re keeping us really busy on the postgraduate programme. But how are
you? You’ll be starting your dissertation soon, won’t you?
- Yeah ... tutorials start next week ... I’ve got Dr Peterson. You’ll remember it all from last year, of
course!
- It’s not something you forget easily. But seriously, although I didn’t expect to enjoy writing my
dissertation ... and in fact I didn’t really find it much fun, I wouldn’t have missed the experience
... I found it really improved my understanding of the whole degree programme, you know, from
the first year on ...
- Right.
- So what are you doing yours on?
- Glaciated landscapes ... although I haven’t decided exactly what aspect yet.
- I did mine on climate systems, so I can’t help you much I’m afraid. But you’ll be fine once you
start your tutorials ... Dr Peterson’ll help you focus.
- I know, and he’ll set me deadlines for the different stages ... which is what I need. My concern is
that I’ve got tons of material on the topic, and I won’t be able to stick to the word limit, you know.
- Hmm. I remember I had different concerns when I was doing my dissertation.
- Last year?
- Yeah ... before my first tutorial I did a lot of fairly general reading ‘cause I hadn’t fixed on my topic
at that stage. I actually enjoyed that quite a lot and really improved my reading speed, you know,
so I was getting through a lot of material. I was frightened I wouldn’t remember it all though so I
got into the habit of making very detailed notes.
- So did you find your tutor helpful .in getting you started?
- Yeah we certainly had some interesting discussions but it’s funny ... I saw a brilliant programme
about climate change and it was that that really fired me up. It was talking about some recent
research which seemed to contradict some of the articles I’d been reading. Hmmm.
- So you say your tutorials start next week?
- Yeah.
- Well, the first month’s crucial. You’ve got to meet your tutor and decide on your focus but don’t
become too dependent on him...you know, don’t see him every week...only when you want to
check something.
- Right.
- Once you’ve got the focus you’ve got to get reading - it’s helpful to look through the bibliographies
for all the course modules relating to your topic. And get hold of any books you think you’ll need.
- I haven’t got much money ...
- I mean get the books from the library, far better.
- And I suppose I should prepare a detailed outline of the chapters?
- Yeah absolutely . but don’t feel you have to follow it slavishly . it’s meant to be flexible.
- Now, I’m someone who likes to get writing quickly ... I can’t just sit and read for a month.
- Not like me then ... but if that’s what suits you, you know, your natural approach, then you really
ought to start immediately and write the first chapter ...
- Right.
- Now Joanne, about the library ... it’s worthwhile getting on good terms with the staff ... they aren’t
always helpful with undergraduates .
- I suppose they focus on post-grads more.
- Maybe . but show them you’re serious about wanting to do good work.
- And what if I can’t find what I need?
- Well, there’s inter-library loans ...
- Borrowing books from other libraries ... but I’ve heard it isn’t all that reliable.
- You’re right.. .but you probably won’t need it anyway ... be positive, the library is likely to have
most things you need ... and during the dissertation writing period, you can take out fifteen
instead of the usual ten books.
- Should I look at previous years’ dissertations?
- You can do .
- But I won’t know which are the good ones.
- The library only keeps the best and the staff can advise you.
- Are they willing to do that?
- Oh yeah .
- And I’m worried about getting journal articles ... from the electronic library.
- Well, have you tried to find any yet?
- No.
- Well you should . it’s really straightforward.
- That’s obviously something I’ll have to look into.
- Dr Peterson will help.
- Yeah, I know I can go to him if I have any worries.
- Except he will be away in the second month - it’s the holidays. You should ask him what to do
while he’s away.
- Gosh, yeah ... but I suppose I can get a lot of support from coursemates ... I know a couple of
people who are thinking of doing the same topic as me.
- Take care, collaboration can become dependency. I think you’d better see how that works out
what the people are like.
- You’re probably right ... About other reading, I suppose Dr Peterson’ll recommend plenty of good
articles to get me started.
- One thing I’d find out is what his attitude is to internet sources.
- Surely not in this day and age? I’d better get that sorted out right at the beginning.
- I would if I were you.
- And I’ve also got some questions about the research sections - how much time I should spend
explaining the process.
- Well, I think that’s up to you ... you can see how it develops as you’re writing.
- OK.
- It’s the same with things like time management . that’s something a tutor can’t really help you
with.
- I agree!
- So is there anything else you need me to go over .

Task 4.
1. D 6. E
2. B 7. B OR E IN EITHER ORDER
3. A 8. B OR E IN EITHER ORDER
4. H 9. A OR C IN EITHER ORDER
5. F 10. A OR C IN EITHER ORDER
Script:
You will hear a business studies student called Sam talking to his tutor about an IT project he is going
to do for a local company called Turners.
- Hello Sam, come in and sit down ...
- Thanks.
- You’re here to discuss your company-based IT project aren’t you?
- Yes ... I’ve been to see the Manager and he’s given me a lot of ideas about projects that the
company would find useful. But I wanted to ask your opinion about them before I choose one.
- Yes, that’s fine. Now this company’s called Turners isn’t it?
- That’s right. It’s a small engineering company - they make machine components for trade use.
They’re well established - they started in nineteen seventy-six - but they’re a bit old fashioned.
- OK ... And what kind of projects did Turners suggest you could do for the company?
- Well, they want some improvements made to their customer database. The one that they’ve got
at the moment isn’t very useful in some ways. I had a quick look at it ...
- That would be a very straightforward project, and it’d be simple enough to evaluate, but I don’t
think you’d get enough out of a project like that. You wouldn’t learn anything new.
- Well another project they suggested is to do with their online sales catalogue. At the moment
customers can look at their products but they can’t actually order them online, which must affect
their competitiveness. But I said I thought it would take too long, it’s quite a big task.
- You’re right. It’s too much for the time you’ve got. It’s a pity though.
- Then they want some help with their payroll system. At the moment the way they calculate pay
involves a lot of manual accounting. I suggested they could have a system where employees
register electronically when they arrive and leave work, so the hours they do could be transferred
automatically.
- I think you’d get a lot out of a project like that - it would extend your skills but it wouldn’t be too
much to take on. A student did something similar a couple of years ago, but this is slightly
different.
- Well, then they need help with their stock inventory. They do everything manually ...
- Really?
- Yes! And it takes so much time.
- It’s probably very inaccurate too ... An electronic inventory would probably be the biggest single
benefit for the company. I’m surprised they haven’t had it done before.
- I know! Then they wanted to improve their internal security. The Manager had visited other
companies where the staff use swipe cards to access various areas of the building ... It sounded
useful, but the trouble is, I’m not really sure how to do it.
- Well, I think you’re right in that assessment. At the moment it’s probably a bit beyond your level of
knowledge. Is that all?
- Just one more ... Customer Service. They want to be able to collect feedback from their
customers in a more systematic way. At the moment it’s a bit of a mess, and they probably lose
business as a result.
- Would that involve you going to see customers at their own premises? Because in that case you
might have to do a fair amount of travelling, and that would incur expenses that haven’t been
agreed with these companies.
- I never thought of that ...
- Well it might not be a problem, but it’s something that needs clarifying ... Well I hope that’s been
helpful in narrowing down the options?
- Yes it has, thanks. I’ll be able to make a decision now. But while I’m here, can I talk to you about
coursework?
- Sure .
Sam: I’m not very happy about the way our group assignment is working. There are some problems .
Tutor: Oh dear. Are people just not getting on with each other? That’s the worst thing ...
Sam: Actually we’re all friends, it’s not that, but when we’re having a discussion about the assignment
one or two people end up doing all the talking, and the rest don’t say anything. It’s a bit frustrating,
because we need plenty of debate ...
Tutor: Well that’s a common observation. You’re studying in a group with people from all over
the world, and you all have your own ways of participating. In some places students are more used to
listening than talking, and vice versa.
Sam: Mmm. I suppose you’re right ... I’ll try to remember that ...
Tutor: Does everyone pull their weight as far as sharing the workload is concerned?
Sam: I’d say they do, yes. And our group elected a leader. She’s very good at making sure no one’s
overloaded ... But personally I feel that there are just too many of us in the group. Whenever we try to
arrange a meeting there’s always at least one person who can’t make it. It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s
just that we’ve all got slightly different timetables.
Tutor: Well I’m glad you’ve talked to me about it. Feedback is always useful. Is there anything
else you’re concerned about?
Sam: There are a couple of problems with lecturers that all the students are talking about ...
Tutor: Last semester we had negative feedback about the way lectures were organised. There were
several occasions when the wrong room had been booked, or the same room had been booked twice
... that sort of thing. Is that still a problem?
Sam: That hasn’t happened at all as far as I know ...
Tutor: Oh good, it’s sorted out then.
Sam: But ... I don’t know the reason, but some of the staff often turn up late, so we miss ten or fifteen
minutes of our lecture time ... It might be because they’ve been copying handouts for students, I think
there’s a queue for the machine sometimes ...
Tutor: Well I’ll look into that. Thank you for telling me. Anything else?
Sam: The other thing is that it can be very difficult to get to see a lecturer individually. They’re all very
supportive and friendly when you do manage to find them, but often they’re not in their office, even at
times when they’re meant to be available for consultation.
Tutor: OK ... That’s helpful ... Now before you leave, let me...

Task 5.
1. C 6. E
2. A 7. G
3. B 8. A
4. A 9. D
5. B 10. B
Script:
- So how did you get on with your school-based research, Phoebe?
- Well, it was exhausting but really valuable.
- Good. What was the specific focus you chose?
- My title is ‘Attitudes towards study among eleven-twelve year-old pupils’.
- Right. And what made you choose that focus?
- Well, that’s a bit difficult ... lots of my classmates decided on their focus really early on.. .mainly
on the basis of what they thought would help in their future career, you know, in their first year’s
teaching.
- So that’s what helped you decide?
- Actually, it was that I came across a book written by experienced teachers on student attitudes
and that motivated me to go for the topic.
- So what were your research questions or issues?
- Well I wanted to look at the ways students responded to different teachers particularly focusing
on whether very strict teachers made teenagers less motivated.
- And, from your research, did you find that was true?
- No, not from what I saw you know, from my five days’ observation, talking to people and so forth.
- OK ... We’ll talk about the actual research methods in a moment, but before that, can you briefly
summarise what your most striking findings are.
- Well, what really amazed me was the significant gender differences, I didn’t set out to focus on
that but I found that boys were much more positive about being at school ... girls were more
impatient, they talked a lot about wanting to grow up and leave school.
- Very interesting.
- Yeah ... it is. From doing the research it was clear to me that you might start out to focus on one
thing but you pick up lots of unexpected insights.
- Right. Did you get any insights into teaching?
- Yes, certainly. I was doing a lot of observations of the way kids with very different abilities
collaborate on certain tasks, you know, help each other and I began to realise that the lessons
were developing in really unexpected ways.
- So what conclusion do you draw from that?
- Well, I know it’s necessary for teachers to prepare lessons carefully but it’s great if they also allow
lessons to go their own ways.
- Good point. Now, I’m really pleased to see you doing this - analysing and drawing conclusions
based on data.
- But surely this isn’t proper data ...
- Because it’s derived from such small-scale research? Well, as long as you don’t make grand
claims for your findings, this data is entirely valid.
- Hmm .
- I like the way you’re already stepping back from the experience and thinking about what you’ve
learned about research ... well done.
- But I know I could have done it better.
- As you become more experienced you’ll find ways to reduce the risk of difficulties.
- OK.
Tony: So, let’s look in more detail at how you gathered your data. Let’s start with lesson observation.
Phoebe: Well, it generally went quite smoothly. I chose my focus and designed my checklist.
Then teachers allowed me into their classes without any problems, which surprised me. It was
afterwards that the gruelling work started!
Tony: Yeah, it’s very time consuming, isn’t it? Making sense of...analysing ... your observation notes.
Phoebe: Absolutely. Much more so than interview data, for example ... that was relatively easy
to process, though I wanted to make sure I used a high-quality recorder ... to make transcription
easier and I had to wait until one became available.
Tony: Right. And did you interview some kids as well?
Phoebe: In the end, yes, I talked to ten, and they were great. I’d imagined I’d be bored listening
to them, but.. .
Tony: So it was easy to concentrate?
Phoebe: Sure. One of the teachers was a bit worried about the ethics, you know, whether it was
right to interview young pupils, and it took a while for him to agree to let me talk to three of the kids in
his class but he relented in the end.
Tony: Good. What other methods did you use?
Phoebe: I experimented with questionnaires, but I really regret that now. I decided to share the
work with another student but we had such different agendas it ended up taking twice as long.
Tony: That’s a shame ... it might be worth you reflecting on ways you might improve on that for future
projects .
Phoebe: You’re right, yeah.
Tony: OK.
Phoebe: And the other thing I did was stills photography. I didn’t take as many pictures as I’d
hoped to.
Tony: Lack of time?
Phoebe: It’s pretty easy just snapping away ... but I wanted each snap to have a purpose, you
know, that would contribute to my research aims and I found that difficult.
Tony: Well, that’s understandable, but remember...