Generic structure potential of course description

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER GENERIC STRUCTURE POTENTIAL OF COURSE DESCRIPTION Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm (PhD) Student: Hồ Tường Thanh Course: QH2016.F1.E1 HANOI – 2020 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOA NGƠN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HĨA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP TIỀM NĂNG CẤU TRÚC THỂ LOẠI CỦA GIỚI THIỆU KHÓA HỌC Giáo viên hướng dẫn: TS Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm Sinh viên: Hồ Tường Thanh Khóa: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2020 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Ho Tuong Thanh, class QH2016.F1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (programme) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Hanoi, May 11th, 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a pleasure of mine to work on this research and venture into a new and unfamiliar field of research I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my beloved supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Tam She has always been dedicated, supportive, and provided me with helpful guidance ever since the beginning of my thesis Had it not been for her devotion and her positivity, I would not have had the courage and persistence to complete this research I would also want to thank my family and friends, specifically my best friend Tung Linh, my military camp squad and my significant other They are the reason why I stay motivated and focused on this thesis Finally, all of my sincere thanks go to all the teachers I have met in my undergraduate study Without them, I would not have been so prepared intellectually and mentally to embark on such a journey i ABSTRACT This study investigated the generic structure potential (GSP) of course descriptions with the hope to enhance the quality of course description and assist students in choosing a suitable course Two research questions were raised, one concerning the GSP of the course description, the other one looking at the differences between a formal course description and an online one To answer these two questions, forty course descriptions were collected from faculty Y of university X and the online platform A The corpus was then analysed based on a fourteen-element analytical framework, with the frequency of the element’s occurrence recorded for the declaration of element status Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilised in the analysing process The findings revealed four more elements apart from those available in the original analytical framework Most importantly, the course description was discovered to play the role of both informing and promotional, yet the former role is still dominant With regards to the difference between conventional and online descriptions, virtual ones were found to possess a higher number of promotional elements, yet still focuses on informing students and promoting the course at the same time The sequence of these elements seems to resemble significantly the decisionmaking process of customers On the contrary, the traditional description focuses majorly on the informative purpose and shows negligence to the promotional aspects ii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 2.1 Classification of genres (Knapp & Watkins, 1994, p.26) Table 3.1 Proposed elements of the course description 13 Table 4.1 The new elements detected 16 Table 4.2 The total number of each element’s occurrence 17 Table 4.3 Statistical analysis of elements in the course introductions 18 Table 4.4 Optional elements of course descriptions from faculty Y, university X 23 Table 4.5 Course introduction from faculty Y: Longest generic structure 26 Table 4.6 Course introduction from faculty Y: Shortest generic structure 27 Table 4.7 Examples of element D and I in online descriptions 31 Table 4.8 Optional elements of online course descriptions 31 Table 4.9 Course introduction from platform A: Longest generic structure 34 Table 4.10 Course introduction from platform A: Shortest generic structure 37 Chart 4.1 Frequency of elements in course descriptions from faculty Y, university X 21 Chart 4.2 Frequency of elements in course descriptions from platform A 28 Figure 4.1 Buyer-readiness stages (Armstrong & Kotler, 2018, p.432) 41 iii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims, objectives and research questions 1.3 Scope of research 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Significance 1.6 Structure of the research CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND / LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Genre 2.2 Genre analysis 2.3 Generic Structure Potential 2.4 Course description as a kind of genre 2.5 Related studies 10 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 12 3.1 Corpus 12 3.2 Methods of the study 12 3.3 Analytical framework 12 3.4 Data analyzing procedure 14 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 16 4.1 General findings 16 4.2 Findings about course descriptions from faculty Y, university X 21 4.3 Findings about course descriptions from online course platform A 28 4.4 Discussion: Answers to the research question 38 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 43 5.1 Summary of key ideas 43 5.2 Implications 43 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 44 REFERENCES 45 iv APPENDIX 50 APPENDIX I: ANALYSIS OF COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM FACULTY Y, UNIVERSITY X 50 APPENDIX II: ANALYSIS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM COURSE PROVIDER A 65 APPENDIX III: ACTUAL STRUCTURES OF COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM FACULTY Y, UNIVERSITY X 106 APPENDIX IV: ACTUAL STRUCTURES OF COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM PLATFORM A 107 v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Critical voices have continuously been raised about the marketisation of education, which refers to the integration of commercial practices of the free market into school administration due to limited governmental funding (Kwong, 2000) Schools are becoming increasingly financially independent, which leads to a noticeable shift from their civic mission of human development and knowledge creation to increasing their revenue through numerous ways such as attracting fee-paying students or producing “marketable products” (Askehave, 2007; Mautner, 2005) This trend can be felt in the discursive practices, which has been realized by Fairclough (1995) when examining university prospectus These universitymade products seemed majorly aiming at “selling” the courses to prospective students in a highly competitive market (Fairclough, 1995) Bhati (2014, p 220) also stressed the dominance of the discourses of marketing and advertising in academic genres when he wrote: “Of all the genres which have invaded the territorial integrity of many professional and academic genres, ‘advertising’ clearly stands out to be the most predominant instrument of colonization.” In this research, the writer would like to investigate the genre of course description, an area that has received little attention from linguistic researchers yet has and can become a useful communicative and marketing tool Her choice of this data set stems directly from its importance There has been evidence that students’ course choice has a significant impact on their subsequent commitment and career The wrong choice of course has been cited innumerably by researchers as one of the main reasons for school drop-out (Yorke, 1999; Gibson & Walters, 2002; Borzovs, Niedrite, & Solodovnikova, 2016; Zajac & Komendant - Brodowska, 2018) Furthermore, the course content and structure is considered a prime criterion for choosing an institution (Maringe, 2006; Bhardwa, 2018) Therefore, a high-quality course description is likely to attract the ‘right’ students and enable students to make the ‘right’ choice for their courses 1.2 Aims, objectives and research questions The study aims at investigating the generic structure potential (GSP) of English course descriptions, through analysing the descriptions from a formal institution and an online course platform To unveil the generic patterns and differentiate between a conventional description and an online one, two questions are proposed to match these objectives What is the generic structure potential of the course description? How is the generic structure potential of the conventional university course description different from that of the online course description? 1.3 Scope of research The study collects 40 descriptions of courses with half of them coming from a conventional university, henceforth named X and another half from an online course provider site, henceforth called A These descriptions are all written in English 1.4 Methods of the study In this study, the qualitative method is the primary analysis tool, accompanied by the quantitative method The analytical framework was adopted from a range of frameworks proposed in the following studies: the “Why choose us” section in university websites (Yang, 2013), international students’ prospectus (Askehave, 2007), university brochures (Osman, 2008), research article (Paltridge, 1993), and introduction in entrepreneurship research articles (Osat, 2012) Regarding the analysing process, the data was first categorized in groups according to their sources, followed by textual analysis based on the proposed fourteen-element framework Emerging elements were then detected with their frequency rate being recorded, establishing the GSP of course description message, because very likely we will not read the rest of the story We don’t have the time to this, because there is yet another headline just a scroll away So the information presented to us is fragmented Different pieces are disconnected For example, the coverage of world politics focuses too often on individuals and personalities, just to make the story more interesting Indicating a gap And here is the truth most people don't know about: "Knowing facts is NOT the same as having knowledge, understanding and ability" What you mostly get by following the news are the simple facts of what happens, when, and who is involved Endorsing the By the end of this course, you will know that there are far more value the important questions to ask These include: of course ● Why things happen? ● Why political leaders act the way they do? ● Why states continue to act in certain ways even though we know from history that wars never bring any good? ● Why wars and conflicts continue to erupt regularly? ● Why issues such as Brexit develop in this particular way? Were they inevitable? ● What are the connections between different problems? Establishing Over the many years of researching and teaching international credentials politics, 93 Claim I am now convinced that these questions are 100 times more important than the simple ‘what happened and when’ kind of information Ensuring teaching quality What You Will Get in This Course Through this course, you will gain access to state-of-theart, research-informed tuition delivered through highly-engaging and easy-to-follow video lectures and practical exercises Describing the Inside you will learn: service ● Specific theories and concepts which will allow you to take most problems of international politics, such as Trump's foreign policy or Brexit, and speak about them confidently with more depth and understanding ● How the so-called 'Levels of Analysis' framework can enable you to fill the gaps left by most news stories you will read on the Internet ● The working basics of the three most fundamental Theories of International Relations, so that you can incorporate the principles of those theories to your arguments, or you can spot when others operate with those theories even without realizing it ● How to skyrocket the impact of your arguments with concepts like: system level, anarchy, balance of power, realism, liberalism, norms and values, social construction, bureaucratic behavior, cognitive biases ● Very specific, word-for-word examples of how you can instantly apply your powerful new knowledge to write and speak about international politics topics which interest you 94 ● How to take what you are about to learn in this course and start using it instantly To that end, in addition to illustrating each point with examples throughout the course, I have also prepared a number of case studies concerning some of the timeliest and most pressing international problems, including Islamic terrorism, Brexit and Trump’s foreign policy ● The university-level material which any teacher will take as a clear sign of your excellent preparation for the discussion or assessment ● The analytical framework which will automatically take your blog, articles or comments to the next level, demonstrating that you are indeed an expert ● How powerful but at the same time unacknowledged the concept of ‘anarchy’ is It is truly a ‘silent hero’ of international politics! ● How the seemingly boring idea of ‘bureaucracy’ can tell you significant things about how foreign policy develops ● How people think and act differently when working in groups, and what disastrous consequences this may have for foreign policy decisions ● The biases we all share, including Simplification Bias, Consistency Bias and Poor Estimation Bias, which can fundamentally impact foreign policy and international politics ● An ability to recognize the missing bits from the media coverage of international politics and to explain what is missing to other people 95 ● What books to read thanks to my Recommended Reading List, so that you can keep educating yourself with the right literature and really take your skills to the next level Establishing From a student: "Very thorough, well delivered and interesting credentials The effort put in is admirable." From a student: "This course is ideal for those who want a sturdy foundation in Political Science or International Relations and a great starting point for more advanced studies, or for those who want to discuss current events or the news on solid ground Highly recommended!" From a student: "This is a great course for anyone new to International Relations, or looking to brush up on the basic concepts They also mention avenues and reading to go further, which is helpful for students looking for more academic depth and challenging rigor The brief assignments challenge you to apply what was learned to real-life situations and examples This is an important course in our modern world of soundbites taken as stories and angry opinions taken as fact." From a student: "The teacher is a well-versed expert on the topic I've only recently started the course, but his thoughtful approach to the material and its delivery is very obvious I'm finding the course to be educational and very engaging." From a student: "Good course that will provide a decent set of basic toolbox for your politics analysis needs Very well structured and clearly explained with good samples Yes, it did get my blood boiling on a few analytical conclusions which we'll have to agree to disagree about but this is exactly what good politics could should be doing! I hope to revisit for updates on analytics on future subjects We live in a VERY interesting period 96 of political changes and the tools will come handy I can definitely see myself repeating the course in a few months/year to ensure the concepts remain fresh Thanks!" Ensuring My Promise to You teaching quality I promise that the tuition in this course is of the highest quality, based on genuine university-level research It is presented in a highly-accessible and engaging way, Indicating the designed specifically for those who not have prior university value the degree in Politics or International Relations of service Soliciting I invite you to send me a message if you have any questions about responses the content of this course Ensuring This is the first course of this kind and I am committed to make it teaching quality as useful for you as possible Soliciting So please feel free to get in touch with suggestions on how I can response improve this course Establishing About the Course Leader credentials I'm Mark Zwolsky, Ph.D I'm Associate Professor in International Politics and I've got over 10 years experience of research and teaching in International Relations I teach hundreds of students every year, and in 2015 my efforts were recognized with a prestigious Teaching Award for innovation in teaching international politics I am always friendly and approachable for my students, because I admire everyone open to learning new knowledge and skills 97 Offering With the 30-day 100% money back guarantee, attractive incentives Soliciting there is no reason why you should not try the course out right responses now Indicating the Who this course is for: value the of service ● Individuals interested in the problems of international politics, particularly those who regularly watch the news, read newspapers or follow on-line media ● Commentators, bloggers and journalists covering international politics ● Students of Politics and International Relations who want to consolidate their knowledge and improve their grades ● Policy practitioners who want to improve their analytical skills and better understand the context of their policy activities 18 United States History - Prehistory to Reconstruction Element Description Background James Joyce once said, "History is a nightmare from which I am information trying to awake." Many people, both living in the United States and around the world, are interested in the history of America Topic centrality A knowledge of history helps answer questions about how our country ended up where it is today, reveals the source of our diversity, and clarifies our current role and place in this vast world Ultimately, someone who understands American history understands America, and by extension themselves 98 Describing the This general survey course is intended to give participants a broad service understanding of US History from the arrival of native peoples to the end of the Reconstruction era that followed the Civil War ● The course is divided into 11 thematic sections that are chronologically ordered Each covers the people, places, ideas, and events that were most influential to our nations development Each of these sections includes; ● Multiple course lectures which combine carefully organized and outlined notes, images, and music to give you a broad overview of the topic ● A selection of carefully selected historic documents that provide the opportunity to read more about important events first-hand through the words of people who were there ● Each unit concludes with a quiz that tests your overall knowledge of the entire thematic unit Ensuring This course is comparable to a full semester of college-level U.S teaching quality History, but is simplified to ensure it remains relevant to the widest audience possible Indicating the It can also be completed at your own pace, value the of service Addressing so you can breeze through it in a few weeks, or carefully analyze needs it over a few months Indicating the Amateur historians, AP students looking for review material, value the people getting ready for vacation, and anyone else with a genuine service of interest in the presidents, military conflicts, social movements, 99 locations, and everything else that is a part of our nation's story will find this course to be especially rewarding Soliciting If you've ever wished you had a better understanding of our responses nation's origins, but don't want to suffer through a dry, boring textbook, this is the course for you! Indicating the Who this course is for: value the of service ● This course was originally constructed to help parents better support their student outside of the classroom ● It has also been enjoyed by candidates for citizenship, amature historians, and AP students looking for review material 19 Military History of the Classical Greek world Element Description Welcoming Hello and welcome to Military History of the Classical Greek remark World Describing the The course will cover Western Military History from service approximately 500 BC/BCE to 500 AD/CE With this lecture series we will be starting with the defining military science terms, then moving to the Greek classical period starting with the Persian Wars as fought between The Greek City States and Persia We will then discuss in Section , the Peloponnesian War in which Sparta and Athens fought each other for control of the Greek world, before moving to the conquests of Alexander the Great in Section 100 Indicating the For anyone interested in taking this class, there are a couple value the things to know Firstly, this course is for people who have at least of service a basic background in history, especially the classical Mediterranean world Describing the While I will be spending a little bit of time quickly summarizing service the backgrounds to certain conflicts and going into the histories of certain people groups, my main focus with this course will be on the conflicts themselves - individuals and states involved, the weapons and armor used, tactics and organization of armies, how the wars themselves played out, and the strategic significance of the outcomes Throughout the series, I will also stop to address the overarching changes in military technology that took place over this very notable 200-year period Throughout all of my lectures, I am going to be using a fair amount of terminology that while very common within the military and the fields of military history and military science, may not be widely known to people who have never studied any of those topics Ensuring So in a brief introductory lesson offered in tandem with the main teaching quality lectures, I will cover the basic definitions of certain military terms and concepts that appear in my lectures Also please note, unless specifically stated Indicating the If you are already familiar with certain military terms and value the concepts such as what a flanking attack is, what a casualty rate course of measures, what tactics are, what strategy is, the difference between tactics and strategy, the difference between conscripts & militia etc., you will have no problem understanding this course 101 Addressing If you are not clear on some or all of even the example terms I needs listed, but are interested in taking this course Ensuring please make sure to check out my introductory lesson on military teaching quality terminology Indicating the This course is perfect for anyone looking to learn more about the value the classical world, as well as a section of military history and the of service study of war in general Topic centrality Aside from being extremely interesting, I find that by understanding military history, one is able to have a much better grasp of the ways in which states rise and fall, and cultures become dominant or are diminished Moreover, I find that by understanding war, people can apply the same principles of working to achieve victory to problems or tasks in life After all, whether one is looking to win a specific battle, or complete a possibly career-starting project, concepts such as achieving objectives, developing a cohesive long-term strategy, and understanding tactics in order to accomplish specific tasks are perfectly applicable in both situations Soliciting So without any further ado, let us begin response Indicating the Who this course is for: value the service of ● This course is meant for people who are interested in warfare and/or history in general ● This course is most likely not for individuals who have yet to learn anything about the Classical Greek World prior to taking this class 102 20 How the European Union works: become easily an EU expert Element Description Background The European Union (or shorter: EU) has a big impact on the information lives of people living both inside and outside the EU Some professors say that over 70% of the laws of the EU countries are based on decisions of the EU However, very few citizens know or have the feeling they know what’s going on in ‘Brussels,’ the heart of the EU Who is important and who’s not? How big is the budget? Why are there lobbyists? Is it democratic? Can I make a difference? These are questions that are so basic that it’s difficult to imagine Claim there is no clear answer Indicating the A course for beginners value the of service Describing the And that's what you'll learn in this course: to explain what’s really going on service Indicating the It’s meant for persons who are interested in being able to follow value the and explain EU news of service Ensuring By explaining the EU step by step, with basic terms teaching quality Endorsing the you’ll learn who decides what and when value the of course 103 Addressing Students studying international politics may also be interested needs Describing the The course gives a thorough introduction of how the EU makes service decisions Ensuring At the end of each of the ten sections, there are relevant links to teaching quality learn more Describing the All the EU actors service You’ll start by learning the EU language and the main political actors in the first sections, how laws are voted in section followed by a section on the budget You’ll also learn why people dislike the EU, and the remaining actors are covered in the last sections You’ll also see a number of misconceptions and learn whether they are true or not For example, how big the EU's budget really is Or why EU countries aren't the only form of European Union Soliciting Enrol today! response Endorsing the By the end of the course, you'll be able to explain how the value the European Union makes its decisions, what impact Europe has on of course you in your everyday life, what impact you can have on the European Union, and how you can get most out of the EU Soliciting So let's get on the road to become an EU expert! responses Offering attractive You'll also get a free ebook to guide you in the course I guarantee: incentives ● Full, free lifetime access 104 ● All future extra lectures and upgrades are always included for free ● Closing remark Unconditional Udemy 30 day money-back guarantee Happy learning, Alain Indicating the Who this course is for: value the service of ● Persons that understand English and that want to learn how the European Union works ● Students wanting to understand European Union debates ● News readers who want more background on European Union news stories 105 APPENDIX III: ACTUAL STRUCTURES OF COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM FACULTY Y, UNIVERSITY X Description Actual structure no T^I^D^E^D^E D^EQ^E I^E^T^D D^E^I^E D^E^I^E D^I^D BI^D^E E^I^D E^I^D 10 D 11 D 12 I^D^E 13 D^E^D 14 D^E 15 D^E 16 D^T^E 17 D 18 D^T^SE^E 19 D 20 BI^D 106 APPENDIX IV: ACTUAL STRUCTURES OF COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM PLATFORM A Descriptio Actual structure n no BI^E^D^SP^D^I T^E^S^D^EQ^D^EQ^D^E^EC^E^S^I T^IG^S^EQ^D^E^SP^E^EQ^EC^I^EC^EQ^D^I DU^CA^S^BI^T^EQ^D^E^S^EQ^I^CA^S^I BI^E^DU^D^EQ^SP^I D^EQ^A^EQ^E^D^I^D D^A^E^D^I^EQ^I^DU^S^I^D^I^S D^EQ^D^BI^E^I I^D^I^EQ 10 EC^EQ^D^I^E^C 11 D^E^I 12 EC^BI^EQ^D^I 13 EQ^D^EQ^I 14 DU^EQ^OI^D^EQ^D^S^D^BI^EQ^I^EQ^I 15 EC^BI^SP^D^BI^SP^BI^EC^SP^E^EC^SP^BI^EQ^E^EC^I 16 BI^D^EQ^EC^EQ^I 17 D^EQ^E^SP^BI^DU^IG^E^EC^CA^EQ^D^EC^EQ^I^S^EQ^ S^ EC^OI^S^I 18 BI^T^D^EQ^I^A^I^S^I 19 W^D^I^D^EQ^I^A^EQ^I^T^S^I 20 BI^CA^I^D^I^EQ^E^A^D^EQ^D^S^E^S^OI^C^I 107 ... generic structure potential of the course description? How is the generic structure potential of the conventional university course description different from that of the online course description? ... that of the online course descriptions? The generic structure below is a display of elements commonly seen in a course description from a conventional university The generic structure potential of. .. GSP of course description 1.5 Significance The study aims at investigating the generic structure potential of course description, between courses from a conventional university and an online course