University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2022/23 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Arts > Centre for Academic Language and Development > International Foundation Programme Social Sciences and Law > Specification
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Programme code | 1LANG012U |
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Programme type | Undergraduate Non-Degree |
Programme director(s) |
Elizabeth Allen
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Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Centre for Academic Language and Development |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 1 years (full time) |
This section sets out why studying this programme is important, both in terms of inspiring you as an individual and in considering the challenges we face. It describes how this degree programme contributes to:
This programme aims to prepare international students for academic study at British higher education institutes. Its specific aims are:
The learning outcome statements shown below for your programme have been developed with reference to relevant national subject benchmarks (where they exist), national qualification descriptors (see the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) and professional body requirements.
Teaching, learning and assessment strategies are listed to show how you will be able to achieve and demonstrate the learning outcomes.
This programme provides opportunities for you to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas:
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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For the English-based units, learning is facilitated in small groups in which the approach and methods of the Communicative Language Teaching are employed. Students on the IFP+ Pathway are taught separately to those on the standard pathway for Academic English units. Where applicable, tutors set up the work / study context that students might encounter in their target situation and scaffold the students' learning. In addition to a range of authentic and semi-authentic texts which draw on the subject specific areas of the students as well as more general academic fields, considerable use is made of technology and web-enhanced language learning. Teaching / learning for the subject-related units follow the usual modes for those units; this is based on lectures, problem classes and small group delivery. Subject understanding is assisted by language tutors providing parallel subject-specific academic language support. |
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
For the English-based units, assessment includes research essays as well as examinations in language use (academic vocabulary and academic grammar) and in a range of language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Assessment methods include portfolio work, paper-based, online and oral presentation examination. Assessment for the subject-related units will follow the assessment modes of closed book examinations and coursework assessment, including laboratory-based work, film sequence analysis and oral presentations, where applicable. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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Students are involved in carrying out small-scale pieces of research, leading to the production of written work and oral presentations. The process is facilitated through classroom seminars and tutorials, during which students' skills in listening and reading, note-taking, critical evaluation skills, and academic literacy skills and academic language use are developed. Students are also explicitly taught how to participate in seminars and give presentations. Students are guided and scaffolded through this process towards a more independent approach of learning required for university study. |
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
For the English-based units, assessment is undertaken through performance on written work and final examinations in reading and writing as well as presentation skills. Assessment for the subject-related units will follow the usual modes of assessment for those units, typically closed book examinations and coursework assessment, including laboratory-based work, where applicable. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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A process writing approach involving planning, drafting and re-drafting (with formative feedback) is taken across the Centre's academic language and literacy units; this, plus peer assisted study sessions will assist them in producing the required text type. A variety of communicative tasks and activities is employed in creating the conditions for motivated social interaction. This is supported by a number of organised activities (e.g. guest lectures) taking place outside the class. |
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
Not formally assessed, although many dimensions of these skills are indirectly implicated in the more formal assessment of knowledge, understanding and intellectual skills. |
This section describes what is expected from you at each level of your programme. This illustrates increasing intellectual standards as you progress through the programme. These levels are mapped against the national level descriptors published by the Quality Assurance Agency.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
By the end of this level 3 Programme, students will have developed an appreciation of and the ability to make informed use of differences between registers of English (e.g. academic vs. colloquial) employed in different modes (e.g. speaking / written). They will have progressed from memorising and reproducing information more passively to a more critical approach to dealing with knowledge and ideas. In addition, they will have moved from processing shorter to longer format texts both receptively and productively and will have developed increased learner autonomy, enhanced academic literacy, and embarked upon the process of disciplinary enculturation. Students on the Standard Pathway will have reached an IELTS level of (or equivalent to) 6.5/7.0 depending on entry level. With respect to the subject-specific units, students will have reached a standard comparable to GCE Advanced Level in the equivalent subjects. All students are expected to be successful in their applications to undergraduate programmes at the University of Bristol or another UK university. |
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For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
UG Workload Statement
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive. At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits and a 20 credit unit broadly equates to about 200 hours of student input. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units.
A component of this is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments such as Blackboard Collaborate) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in concentrated periods of time.
Outside scheduled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include, reviewing lecture material, reading textbooks, working on examples sheets, completing coursework, writing up laboratory notes, preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time.
Professional Programmes
Many undergraduates in the Faculty of Health Sciences will be following the professional programmes of:
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curriculum activities. This may not be available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through the curricula there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme regulations. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside of the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent meaning that students will more oftentimes be engaged in revision activities and self-directed learning.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty Assessment and Feedback Statement for Undergraduate Students. University of Bristol access only.
The Foundation Programme is primarily intended to prepare students for entry to undergraduate studies at the University of Bristol. It is therefore a programme that directly facilitates the University's recruitment of high-calibre international students equipped with the subject knowledge, academic language and literacy skills as well as study skills required to succeed in a top-ranking British university.
Student workloads in the Arts Faculty are calculated on the basis of an average of 40 hours per week over the academic year. 10 credits therefore represents roughly 100 hours of student work. Part of this workload is made up of lectures, classes and other formal contact time, typically around 15-20 hours per week during each Teaching Block. The bulk of the workload is made up of preparation for and follow-up to class (normally 3-4 hours per contact hour) and work on assessment tasks (e.g. researching and writing coursework, revising for exams).
Language entry requirements for the IFP Social Sciences are minimum IELTS 5.5 overall with a minimum 5.0 in writing and minimum 5.0 in all other components. Students wishing to study IFP Law within this programme require minimum IELTS 6.0 overall, minimum 5.5 in writing and minimum 5.0 in all other components.
Students' future degree choice will guide the units studied on the Programme.
Director of the Centre for Academic Language and Development
Deputy Director/Head of IFP of the Centre for Academic Language and Development
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Students are required to take the following academic language and academic literacy units. | |||||
Text Response | LANG00010 | 30 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Academic Writing | LANG00006 | 30 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Instead of the above academic language and academic literacy units, students with a minimum IELTS 7.0 (overall) and a 6.0 in writing) will take the following units: | |||||
Accelerated Academic Language and Literacy | LANG00023 | 40 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Language and Communication Studies | LANG00017 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Students take a selection of units from the list below to reach a total of 120 credits on the programme (the team at the Centre for Academic Language and Development will advise what units are required for progression on to particular degree programmes): | |||||
Foundations of Finance and Economics | LANG00040 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Foundations of Management | LANG00041 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Foundations of Law and Politics | LANG00045 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Introduction to the Social Sciences | LANG00042 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
What Does it Mean to be Human? | LANG00046 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Foundations of Psychology | LANG00033 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Mathematics for Social Sciences | LANG00034 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Introductory Mathematics | LANG00036 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Essential Mathematics | LANG00037 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
International Foundation Programme Social Sciences and Law | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
University of Bristol,
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Bristol, BS8 1TH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 9000