59722 Neighbourhoods and Stories
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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 2018 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 8 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
This subject is part of the Australian Language and Culture Studies Program for international students in the School of International Studies. In the subject, students work in small groups to study aspects of the social, cultural, economic and linguistic landscape of a Sydney neighbourhood. Students conduct structured small-scale research in their chosen neighbourhood. This out-of-class work is supported by in-class work on basic approaches to data collection and the language needed to negotiate, conduct and report on a collaborative project. Students present their findings through a multimedia platform. As part of the assessment, they reflect, in writing and in seminars, on what they learned about Australian society and on their experience of the inquiry process.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| a. | Demonstrate a range of academic literacy skills to communicate effectively with different groups and in different linguistic registers |
|---|---|
| b. | Design and conduct independent, ethical, small scale research in and about Australian cultural contexts and society, engaging confidently with Australian cultures through site analysis |
| c. | Reflect critically on their learning practice |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (INT = International Studies CILOs):
- Communicate effectively using diverse modes and technologies (GTS 2, 3, 4) (6.1)
Teaching and learning strategies
This subject presents material comprising Sydney-based case studies in a range of formats including site visits, still and moving images, audio, material culture and written text. The subject deploys blended learning strategies, including a WordPress website, which functions as a week by week data bank of learning materials (podcasts, videos, texts, images, links to other websites and social media platforms) and as students’ blogging platform; face-to-face classes in UTS collaborative classrooms; and field trips to relevant sites.
Tutorials will involve group work, short presentations, scaffolded discussions of readings and modeling of case studies and, starting in Week 2, feedback on developing evaluation criteria and on adopting suitable approaches to carry out independent analysis. Tutorials will be complemented by independent student readings and fieldwork.
Students will develop their academic literacies by experimenting with different modes of:
- Writing (reflective, analytical, informative).
- Speaking and listening (communicating with different groups and individuals during their site-analysis, communicating with their teachers and peers, presenting in class).
- Reading (reading relevant required readings, reading non academic texts about selected sites).
- Understanding (cognitive, discoursive, sensory).
Students will learn how to design and conduct ethical, small scale research through
- Modeling of case studies in the subject’s website data bank of possible topics and methodologies.
- Class group activities (such as show and tell; brainstorming, mind mapping, SWOT analysis, buzz groups, Post-its, collective writing, scenarios building).
- Site-specific fieldwork (including observation, unstructured interviews, structured interviews, archival research, sensory ethnography, visual documentation).
Students will reflect on their learning experience in weekly blog posts. The subject WordPress website has the capability of being connected to Advance Writing Analytics (AWA), and students will receive formative feedback on their reflective writing (Assignment Task 1, from week 2 to week 10) from Week 2.
WordPress training will be offered to students and teaching staff at the beginning of term.
Content (topics)
In Neighborhoods and Stories students learn to analyze aspects of Sydney sites from a linguistic, social, cultural and historical point of view. Students will work in groups to choose a neighborhood in Sydney, an angle and topic of interest, and, with in-class language support, will conduct ethnographic and archival research and present their findings in a multimedia project using everyday technologies and platforms.
Students will learn about Australian culture and language(s) in site-specific and authentic situations which will encourage intellectual curiosity, develop valuable transferable intercultural skills and increase overall motivation. Students will develop a range of academic literacy skills: the use of an appropriate register for reporting to an academic audience; the use of a casual register for collecting spoken data from non-academic respondents; the integration of reading, listening, writing and speaking skills; the transfer and adaptation of language from written to spoken mode and vice versa; grammatical and lexical accuracy.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Weekly reflective blog posts
| Objective(s): | a and c | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 20% | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 100 words per post | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Site Analysis Project Proposal
| Objective(s): | a and b | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 30% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 15 minute presentation and a written 1000 word summary | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 3: Site Analysis Project
| Objective(s): | a, b and c | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 50% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 1000 words | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
References
Chern, C. -l. & Dooley, K., 2014. Learning English by walking down the street. ELT Journal, 68(2), pp.113–123. Available at: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/long/68/2/113 [Accessed October 4, 2016].
Dictionary of Sydney. Available at: http://home.dictionaryofsydney.org.
Iverson, H. & Sanders, R., 2009. The Neighborhood Narratives Project: New Dialogues with/in the Mediated City. In F. Eckardt et al., eds. MediaCity: Situations, Practices, Encounters. Berlin: Frank & Timme.
Low, K.E.Y., 2015. The sensuous city: Sensory methodologies in urban ethnographic research. Ethnography, 16(3), pp.295–312.
Massey, D., 1991. A Global Sense Of Place. Marxism Today, (June), pp.24–29.
Pink, S., 2007. Walking with video. Visual Studies, 22(3), pp.240–252. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725860701657142.
Other resources
For this subject students are expected to use everyday technologies, including phones, tablets and computers. No additional device or advanced skill is required.
Berry, V., 2016. Excavating St Peters. Sydney Review of Books. Available at: http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/excavating-st-peters/.
Berry, V., 2016. Mirror Sydney. Mirror Sydney. Available at: https://mirrorsydney.wordpress.com.
Clark, A. & Emmel, N., 2010. Using walking interviews, Available at: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/realities/resources/toolkits.
Clark, A. & Emmel, N., 2010. Using walking interviews, Available at: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/realities/resources/toolkits.
Krase, J. & Shortell, T., 2011. On the Spatial Semiotics of Vernacular Landscapes in Global Cities. Visual Communication, 10(3), pp.367–400. Available at: http://vcj.sagepub.com/content/10/3/367\nhttp://vcj.sagepub.com/content/10/3/367.abstract\nhttp://vcj.sagepub.com/content/10/3/367.full.pdf.
Krase, J., 2002. Navigating ethnic vernacular landscapes then and now. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 19(4), pp.274–281.
Macris, A., 2016. 394 Abercrombie Street. Sydney Review of Books. http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/394-abercrombie-street/
Park, R., 1988. Playing Beatie Bow Puffin Books., Ringwood.
Pink, S., 2008. An urban tour: The sensory sociality of ethnographic place-making. Ethnography, 9(2), pp.175–196. Available at: http://eth.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/1466138108089467.
Read, P., 20166. A History of Aboriginal Sydney. University of Sydney. Available at: https://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/about.
