How to approach your assignments
Approaching your assignments
When you are ready to complete the assignment, we would recommend that you have enough time to complete it in one sitting. Your assignments are designed to continue your learning and so you can refer to your course book and other sources in order to complete your assignments. Please handwrite your assignment in black ink, unless otherwise specified. There are no assignments in this course that need to be taken under test conditions.
Speaking assignments
For Modules 1, 3 and 5, there is a Speaking assignment. This means that you will need to arrange a convenient time to call with your tutor. The assignment document gives you some questions to prepare and your assignment is then conducted via a call as a conversation. It's so important to have conversation practice and these assignments are friendly and informal. They are also a great opportunity to check any questions you have from that module.
Presentation Assignment
The final assignment is a presentation where you record yourself talking about a particular topic, given in the assignment. You should record your presentation and submit following the instructions for How to Submit Speaking Assignments under Important Course Resources.
Uploading your assignment and receiving feedback
You should upload your assignment to Canvas, ideally as a single file (this means scanning in all the pages and saving them as a single PDF).
Within 3–5 days, you will receive a notification to let you know that your assignment has been marked. When you look at your assignment feedback, make sure that you check the PDF (it may have been annotated by your tutor) as well as the general comments your tutor has given you (these may be written and/or an audio/video message).
Please do take time to reflect on your tutor’s feedback and take it on board in future assignments. This is a key part of the Wolsey Hall Oxford course as the feedback will be personal and tailored entirely to you. The feedback is designed to help you further both your knowledge and your skills in the subject.
Using a dictionary or thesaurus
We ask you to not use a dictionary, thesaurus or translation software to help you in your assignments. We also recommend you handwrite assignments but if for any reason you need to type your assignment, please ensure the spell checker is turned off. Your tutor will be assessing your spelling and use of punctuation.
Word limits
Each assignment contains an instruction as to how long the assignment should be – an upper word limit; for example, ‘your assignment should be a maximum of 250 words’. We set word limits so that you are aware of how much is expected of you and so that you can develop all the skills required to be able to write to a word limit.
English as a Second Language exam questions have a small word limit and it is important to show that you understand the question and can follow instructions by staying within the word count. It is a good skill to learn to write in a few words while also demonstrating your superb language skills! Sometimes it is easier to write more than it is to write less!
If you go over the word limit, we would suggest that you review what you have done and see whether you can make any revisions: could you have expressed yourself more concisely? Is everything you have said relevant to the question?
If you submit your assignment to your tutor and you are over the word limit, your tutor will not mark you down purely because you have gone over the limit. You may have a particular interest in that topic and we are pleased that you have explored it. Having said that, your tutor will review the skills shown in your assignment. If what you have written is not clearly focussed on the question, you may lose marks. Similarly, if you have not expressed yourself clearly or concisely, your tutor will highlight this to you in their feedback. These are all key skills in English and your tutor will provide feedback to help you develop those skills throughout the course. If your tutor suggests that you could have written more on a particular issue, but you were already at the word limit, they will also try to indicate to you the areas in which you could have said less or made your point more concisely.
Can I send in several assignments at the same time?
We ask that you do not submit multiple assignments at the same time. It is very important that you reflect on your tutor’s feedback before beginning each new assignment, so that you can incorporate their tips for improvement into each new piece of work.