A genre analysis of reprint request emails written by EFL and physics professionals

The present study aimed to analyze reprint request e-mail messages written by postgraduates (MA students) of two fields of study, namely Physics and EFL, to realize the differences and similarities between the two email types. The results showed that the two corpora were much alike at the level of move schemata while there were some differences concerning strategies and microstructural features. The results showed that the two corpora were much alike at the level of move schemata while there were some differences concerning strategies and microstructural features. The email writers within each discipline were affected by their previously learned texts and the physics group was affected by the conventions of Persian letter writing. The email writers within each discipline were affected by their previously learned texts and the physics group was affected by the conventions of Persian letter writing

Physics practicals for distance education in an undergraduate engineering course

BACKGROUND : Providing engineering practicals to undergraduates by means of distance education is a significant challenge. The past 30 years have seen the rapid development of the distance education. For many years, Deakin University has offered a full Bachelor of Engineering degree programme via distance education. All first-year students study a unit in physics. This unit includes practicals. Providing practical experiences to students is distance education’s greatest challenge.

PURPOSE : The purpose of this work was to develop the means for off-campus students to complete practical exercises in first-year engineering physics. The solution to the problem also had to comply with accreditation requirements set by Engineers Australia.

METHOD : The long-term solution to the problem was running on-campus lab classes either on weekends or as part of the annual first-year residential school for engineering professional practice. Students work was assessed by means of standard laboratory reports. On-campus marks and off-campus lab marks have been collected and compared over the past 12 years.

RESULTS : The results indicate that the off-campus lab experience is similar to the on-campus experience. Marks for the two cohorts were comparable. Those few students who completed their pracs at home faced and overcame significant challenges.

CONCLUSIONS : We found that performance in their lab reports for off-campus students was similar to that of the on-campus students. Accreditation requirements has shifted the focus from developing activities that students could perform at home to offering timely and efficient on-campus lab classes for off-campus students. Future work will focus on on-campus lab classes in accordance with accreditation requirements and perhaps on-line broadcasts of prac classes for those students who cannot attend lab on-campus.

Teaching undergraduate physics: changing practices in Australia and Vietnam

The study found that notwithstanding some similarities, the teaching and learning of undergraduate physics in three Vietnamese universities and three Australian universities is significantly different in many aspects of practice. The differences in undergraduate teaching and learning of physics in particular and of other university courses in general arise mainly from differences in education systems, cultures, expectations, the views of quality and knowledge, the state of the respective economies, and the school infrastructures between the two countries.