Student placement - University of Birmingham School

Undergraduate English Language students Shannon Johnson and Anna Joppek discuss their work in our Professional Research Skills for Linguists module (PRSL):

PRSL gave us the opportunity to work with the University of Birmingham School to create recommendations and resources to inform a lesson about academic writing for Sixth Form students.

We used both quantitative and qualitative research methods and conducted a questionnaire and focus group interviews to compare Sixth Form students' abilities in academic writing to those of university students. Our findings demonstrated that the writing issues that Sixth Form students struggle with are similar to what University students wish they had known about before starting university. We used these findings to design a lesson plan and activities involving topics like referencing, structure, and academic research, which were topics repeatedly mentioned by both sets of students.

Working on this project taught us how to collaborate professionally, both with fellow students as well as with the employer. We learnt how to apply design-based thinking in developing an engaging and enjoyable activity to benefit students. Most importantly, we improved our leadership skills and learnt to take initiative. Each of us were responsible for leading and organising and taking minutes for our meetings, sending emails to the employer, and kept an up-to-date Gantt chart, which helped us stay on track throughout the project.

Our work in the PRSL module also benefited our future prospects as we go into our final year and begin to consider different career paths. The research process has prepared us for our research projects and dissertations in final year and working with the University of Birmingham School provided insight to what the education sector is like and helped us develop realistic expectations for when we become teachers ourselves. It allowed us to gain incredible experience and helped shape our professional profiles on LinkedIn. Moreover, the project aided group member Shannon’s application for the Teach First Programme and resulted in her success!

Overall, the project encouraged online communication and gave us an opportunity to socialise with fellow students during the pandemic, which made our second-year university experience more enjoyable. We benefitted greatly from working in the education sector, as we could approach our teaching aspirations from a different perspective, allowing us to make a difference in the teaching of academic writing that will support students on their journey to university. This work is especially important after the pandemic, where students have had difficult school experience. The impact of the PRSL module on our employability, experience and knowledge in the education sector is already apparent and we are grateful for the opportunities we would not have been provided with if not for the PRSL module.