Module MLAC3996: Year Abroad Project

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures

MLAC3996: Year Abroad Project

Prerequisites

• Russian Language 2B (RUSS2012) OR Russian Language 2A (RUSS2191)

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To provide students with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of aspects of their studies linked to the target culture, by producing a research project in the target language (Russian). 
• By providing experience in planning, documenting, and writing an extended piece of work, the YAP will increase the facility of students to express themselves at a suitable academic level in the target language and will give them experience in presenting and referencing an extended piece of writing according to standard academic conventions. 
• The Year Abroad Project aims to develop and enhance strategies for independent learning and initiative; to foster a genuine commitment to research and the utilization of appropriate research methodologies; to develop the ability to organize and manage a longer project and the ability to write fluently and accurately in the target language. 
• By focusing on questions of intercultural awareness at an advanced intellectual level, the Year Abroad Project seeks to offer a forum for academic engagement and reflection in matters of critical interest relevant to the contexts and environments under discussion. 
• The Year Abroad Project seeks to enhance the employability of students by allowing them to demonstrate their ability as independent learners and researchers in the context of a research project that dovetails with the University’s principles for the development of the taught curriculum. Skills will be developed specifically through an extended enquiry-led activity that will provide students with the competences to succeed in the world of work and the ability to manage their own intellectual and professional development. By focusing specifically on questions of relevant intercultural interest, students will develop as international citizens so that they can make a positive contribution to an increasingly globalized society.

Content

• The Year Abroad Project in Russian involves researching and writing one reflective, research essay in the target language usually during the year abroad. This piece of work should be informed by the student’s intercultural awareness and knowledge of Russian or Russophone culture, and should be based on analysis of suitable primary materials (e.g. literary texts, films, visual culture, theatre, popular culture, mass media, historical or political texts, museum exhibition). 
• Students will choose a general topic area from a list issued by each of the two language areas and will work with their supervisor to define their topic, plan their approach, and identify suitable resources.
• Finalized copies must be submitted electronically by Monday of the third week of August in advance of Michaelmas Term of the final year of study. 
• Students will need to propose and discuss their topic with the supervisor within the first four weeks of their year abroad.

Learning Outcomes

• By completing the Year Abroad project students will have acquired greatly enhanced knowledge of a specialized subject and have gained considerably in their intercultural awareness. They will be familiar with both primary and secondary sources, and with the wider debates surrounding the cultural media/artefacts that form the basis of their analysis.

• By the end of this module, students will have developed their ability to express complex ideas in a suitable register in the target language and will have completed a research project envisaged specifically as preparation for the final-year core language, cultural and dissertation modules. They will also have had the opportunity to develop their information-finding skills in the target-language culture, in some cases in non-academic settings.

• By the end of this module, students will have developed their ability to research a subject independently using primary and secondary sources, plan a coherent argument with the evidence to support it, present arguments clearly and cogently in a sustained piece of writing, and conform to the norms of academic referencing in the target language.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Students will prepare for the Year Abroad Project by taking the relevant core language module at levels 1 and 2, and by attending the School’s Ongoing Induction programme, which focuses on the development of key research skills including academic writing, evaluating, and using sources, and approaches to textual analysis. Students will receive language-specific instruction as part of their second-year core language module. 
• A list of general topic areas will be made available to students in year 2. The specific topic of the YAP will be agreed with the supervisor, and students will follow an agreed programme of reading whilst supplementing their work by displaying evidence of independent research skills and initiative. 
• As students are expected to spend at least three months in the host culture, it is expected that they will engage with the YAP as soon as they arrive, and that they will work towards initial consultation with their supervisor within one month of arrival. 
• Supervisors will give feedback via email at two distinct phases of production: (a) a 500-word essay plan outlining an approach to the chosen topic area and the direction to be explored in the project and listing key bibliographic items that have already proven to be useful; and (b) a 500-word sample from the essay. 
• In each instance, comments and feedback will be given to the student on standardized YAP feedback forms. To ensure parity of treatment between students completing the YAP, supervisors will not read additional drafts or give any other form of additional guidance. 
• Any changes of topic must be approved by the supervisor. 
• Finalized Year Abroad Project must be submitted electronically by Monday of the third week of August in advance of Michaelmas Term. Students will receive written feedback by the second week of the Michaelmas Term. 
• Assessment will evaluate students’ ability to assimilate, understand and analyse critically the primary and secondary material associated with their topic; their intercultural awareness; their ability to present a sustained argument with suitable evidence; their ability to express themselves fluently and accurately in the target language, paying due attention to the relevant conventions of academic writing; and the extent to which their experience abroad has informed the project (if students went on their year abroad). 
• Students will also be expected to produce a full and properly presented bibliography. 
• Year Abroad Projects written in the target language shall be up to 2,000 words in length. 
• The Year Abroad Project is not credit-bearing, but students will receive a pass/fail mark, which will be a pre-requisite for their final-year language module. Students whose mark for the essay is at least 40% will have passed the YAP and will proceed to taking their final year core language module. Those whose mark is below 40% will be transferred to the non-year abroad version of the programme.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

To be e-mailed to supervisor: 200-word proposal, 500-word plan and 500-word sample (all in the target language)

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University