TUN feedback - Modern languages

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_{Please note: comments and responses may have been edited. Information was correct at time of response but may have been superseded. We publish the comments in the language in which they have been submitted and the University's responses bilingually.}

 21/22 Semester 1

• REF:66-2112-1284809 - Enjoying module SP10820

  Your comment: SP10820 I find this course very engaging, fast paced and challenging. There is a lot to learn with a new language and we cover a lot at a fast pace, but I think with the exercises and homework I can keep up !

  Our response:

  Thank you for your comment. We are delighted to hear this.

 20/21 Semester 2

• REF:66-2104-5409413 - Timed exams

  Your comment: Our written exams in the Modern Languages department are being held in a way that gives us the time of the exam to complete the paper within a 24-hour period. However, I understand that other departments are allowing either a week to complete the exam with a time limit on the exam itself, or a 24-hour period without a time limit on the paper. These are not normal circumstances and so exams cannot be carried out in the normal ways. Our lecturers have said that they will accept an emailed submission of our paper within 10 minutes after our official end time, which I do appreciate; however this does not cover all bases. If the WiFi goes out, we may not be able to email, and in some exams we are expected to use a dictionary which for the majority of students will be online. When relying on technology, we cannot simply assume it will be okay with something as important as our exams. With issues of WiFi and noise, it is imperative that we are able to choose an appropriate time for us to do the exam, and reducing the slot in which we have to choose reduces the chance of us finding an appropriate time. It does not seem fair that other departments are allowing the same flexibility as with the assignments but not all departments are following the same procedures for the exams. I hope you take this into consideration. Thank you.

  Our response:

  Many thanks for your comments regarding examinations in Modern Languages and apologies if there has been any confusion. An update on our revised examination procedures was sent out to all students on 19th April by email and this should answer your query.

• REF:66-2104-6763513 - Timing of exams

  Your comments: Modules FR30130 and SP30130- oral exams should be more spread out. For students who study more than one language, they currently only have one or two days between each exam. In addition, final year Spanish students last year only had to learn four oral exam topics yet this year we are expected to learn six, despite having had a much more disruptive and unsettling year due to the pandemic. I think this needs to be taken into consideration. It has been a very difficult year as a finalist, and as well as the oral exams, the final exams are very demanding considering that none of us were able to complete what we had planned for our year abroad. Not having this experience to acquire knowledge could impact severely on our performance in the final exam.

  Our response:

  Many thanks for your comment. Every year we only have a 4 day window in which to conduct all oral examinations, for all languages at all levels. This is because they need to be conducted after teaching finishes but before the start of the official examination period for the university, and this week always falls on the week of the first May bank holiday. We make sure that different languages at the same level are not conducted on the same day but it is unavoidable that there will only be perhaps a day or two between two languages at the same level. This is the inevitability of taking two or more languages in a degree scheme and students should be expected to be able to manipulate between the languages in this way.

  The number of topics in final year reflects the level of learning achieved by students in their conversation classes during the year and has been agreed by external examiners as being effective in order to meet learning outcomes and fair given the current circumstances. All topics should have been covered during the weekly conversation classes

  The current circumstances and the difficulties faced by students will all be taken into account when final degree classifications are made.

• REF:66-2104-9588213 - Modern languages exams

  Your comment: A number of students feel that our exams this year are unfair and unacceptable. Although the pandemic has changed everything about university, wellbeing and life, the only thing that has changed about our exams is that they have been moved online. Modern Languages students often live together and therefore have the same exams. The wifi of a university student is often not strong enough to support this. I have five of us in my house and even when we are just scrolling through Facebook, the wifi plays up, so how are we expected to complete exams? Also, one of my lecturers said that marking will take longer this year, as things take longer to do online. However, this is surely not what they think when it comes to our work, as we have exactly the same material to do and time to do it in as previous student had. It is just extremely unfair that alternative solutions have been found for many of my friends on different courses, such as essays being open for a week, or even a day, but when it comes to languages, we are just given this unfair treatment. I believed that this kind of exam would only happen when absolutely necessary, and this is definitely not necessary for modern languages students, as there are many other ways to test us.

  Our response:

  Many thanks for your comments. I believe there is a possible misunderstanding. In Modern Languages it has been decided to use online testing for examinations for a number of reasons. First, we need to conform to the learning outcomes of each module due to university regulations and many of those outcomes require a certain level of language ability. Second, we need to uphold the strict regulations of the governing bodies who regulate academic standards in order to ensure that students are given the degree qualification they merit. In our case these academic standards are regulated by the QAA and we need to follow their subject benchmarks. These regulations require that students are properly tested for their language ability and this is not always possible in the subject of languages without timed assessments, whereas in other subjects such timed assessments may not be necessary to fulfil these regulations.

  But it is not true that the only difference is that the exams are online as these exams can be done within a 24 hour period and have been moderated to take into consideration the circumstances of the pandemic, and have been adapted to suit the restricted learning opportunities of this past year. All our examinations have been seen by external examiners from other institutions who have confirmed their efficacy and fairness.

  Although the examinations are timed once started, all our exams should be available to complete during a 24 hour period and students should have plenty of notice of the date of the exam. If Wi-Fi issues are likely to cause concern then there is the possibility of booking study spaces in the library in order to carry out such assessments with a reliable internet connection. Please see: Aberystwyth University - Information Services : Study spaces.

  As far as marking is concerned it is true that this takes somewhat longer to do online, as a few clicks of a mouse for each correction over the course of a single piece of work takes longer than a quick stroke of a pen. Multiply this by many pieces of work for each staff member and the workload does increase. However, all staff are aware of the 15 working day timeline for the return of assessed work and should still be adhering to that.

• REF:66-2104-5186013 - Adjustments to examinations

  Your comment: Modern Languages are unfair this year because there have been no adjustments made on neither time nor material/tasks to be completed during the exam, the exams have to be completed in one three-hour sitting with many internet worries not to mention the added difficulty of doing things online such as strain on eyesight and headaches etc. Furthermore, it is simply unfair in comparison to the other subjects within the university and we are completely dissatisfied with the thoughtless arrangement of these exams.

  Our response:

  Many thanks for your comments.

  Every year we have 4 days in which to complete all our oral examinations as they always fall in the week before the official exam week begins and during the bank holiday week. But the topics for these exams all come from the topics that students are asked to prepare throughout the year for their conversation classes and so students of three languages should not have to prepare 18 topics in one week as it is expected that students will already be able to converse on these topics by the end of the teaching period.

  Regarding the three hour timed exam: we have provided a major adjustment for students in that the exam will be conducted online. This means that students will have at their disposal all means of online language support aids, which would not be available during ‘normal’ circumstances. However, the department has consulted and there will be a number of adjustments made to assessment procedures. You will be informed of these shortly.

  Should students feel that their study environment is not conducive to taking these assessments then personal study spaces can be booked at the university: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/is/library-services/hughowen/studyspaces/

• REF:66-2103-9968916 - Staff office hours

  Your comment: It would be *really* helpful to be able to find out what staff's office hours are without having to ask each member of staff - either as part of their staff profile on the Aber website and/or in an automatic email signature. Very often I try to find out staff's office hours (without wanting to bother them just to find out when they are) but can't find this anywhere. (If this information is accessible somewhere, take my comment as it would be useful if this it was easier to find.) Thank you!

  Our response:

  Many thanks for your comment. The office hours are available to view on the BlackBoard Undergraduate information Site (under ‘Modern Languages: Undergraduate Information’) and under staff members’ profiles on the webpages. 

   

 20/21 Semester 1

• REF:66-2010-977315 - No year abroad

  Your comment: I am a final year student in the Modern Languages department. The other students in my year and I missed a significant proportion of our year abroad due to COVID-19. For those of us studying more than one language (which is the vast majority of us), for many of us this meant only one week in a country of one of our target languages, and for some no time at all. The year abroad is the year where our language skills are supposed to develop most considerably, meaning that we are now lacking the necessary skills for our final year. We are in desperate need of more contact time with our lecturers as individual study is by far less effective. Without additional in person support, I fear that we will graduate without the necessary knowledge and language abilities to work in our field.

  Our response: 

  Many thanks for your comments. It is unfortunate that some ML students missed out on their year abroad experience through no fault of their own or of the university. During the period from April-September students were given access to all Level 2 material in order to help them revise and prepare for final year as much as possible, although I understand that this does not replace the year abroad experience as nothing can. The ML department is adding one extra hour of contact time (through MS Teams) in order to help students catch up with their language learning. This will start next week. You will therefore have 5 contact hours per week for SP/FR/GE/IT30130 plus a host of material created by dedicated staff members and presented on BlackBoard. You also have the opportunity to contact any of your tutors during their feedback and advisory hours for one-to-one conversations (in the target language for practice if you prefer) or for advice on any aspect of your learning.