59718 Developing English: Studies of the Australian Natural Environment

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Subject level: Undergraduate

Requisite elaboration/waiver: Non-English-speaking background international, exchange or study abroad students who almost meet the requisite UTS English proficiency score for entry into a mainstream course but are required to undertake English language consolidation.

Description

This subject is designed to consolidate students' written and oral academic skills and literacies. These skills are developed through a range of studies that relate to Australia's natural environment, and may include: the meanings attached to land, landscape, beach and bush; to concepts of native, introduced, companion and feral species; to patterns of population, consumption and waste; and to the ways in which Australians participate in green cultures and organisations.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

As this is a stand-alone subject and not part of a specific degree program, the subject engages with the following Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Graduate Attributes:

1. Professional Readiness

2. Critical and Creative Inquiry

3. International and Intercultural Engagement

5. Active Citizenship

6. Effective Communication

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject features the following teaching and learning strategies:

1. Flipped learning, through use of UTS Online to provide pre-class readings and preview tasks, and post-lesson readings and reflection tasks.

2. Active learning experiences, through scaffolded independent and group work activities that involve guided discovery of language choices in academic texts and monitored practice of academic language skills.

3. Assessment for learning, through teacher-class dialogue about the learning goals of each assessment task and the assessment criteria that will apply, the use of exemplars, peer dialogue before submission about developing ideas on the content and organisation of each assessment task, and detailed teacher feedback on task achievement.

Content (topics)

Content covered in the subject includes: studies that relate to Australia’s natural environment; the meanings attached to land, landscape, beach and bush; to concepts of native, introduced, companion and feral species; to patterns of population, consumption and waste; and to the ways in which Australians participate in green cultures and organisations; strategies for research, writing, and presentation skills.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Essay plan and annotated reference list

Assessment task 2: Seminar presentation

Assessment task 3: Essay

Minimum requirements

Attendance at weekly classes is important for this subject because it is based on the interchange of ideas with other students and with the lecturer.