ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The assessment of this subject is based on the Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4 to 6) for English Language jointly prepared by the Curriculum Development Council and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. The overall aim of the assessment is to evaluate candidates’ achievement of the learning targets and objectives of the curriculum. Candidates should refer to the Curriculum Guide for the forms and functions, skills and strategies, and attitudes that they are expected to achieve at the end of S6.


Formal conventions 1.1 Length
The length differs from course to course, but usually ranges from 7 to 12 pages of text.At the end of your term paper, you should provide a word count (e.g., Microsoft Word can perform an automatic word count).Title page, table of contents, the bibliography, and appendices are excluded from the word count.

Written papers Words Pages
Basismodule In order for your spell checker to work correctly, do not forget to set the language of your document to the language you actually use, e.g."Englisch (Vereinigtes Königreich)".

Title page
The first page of your paper should be the title page, which is unnumbered and provides the following pieces of information: Top part of the page: • Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg • TEFL -Teaching English as a Foreign Language / Fachdidaktik Englisch • type and title of seminar • module (Modulzuordnung) and ECTS points • name of the university teacher (with academic titles) • semester Central part of the page: • title of the seminar paper Bottom part of the page: • your name • your matriculation number (Matrikelnummer) • your subjects studied (with semester number) and course of study (e.g.Lehramt Gymnasium) • your postal address • your telephone number • your email address • the date of handing in your paper

Page layout
The page size of your paper should be A4 (portrait).Leave ample margins for comments and corrections (left and right at least 2.5 cm, top and bottom 2.5 cm).
Only choose fonts with a good legibility (e.g.Cambria or Times New Roman) sized 11 to 12 points for your running text.Do not mix different typefaces in your paper.
The line spacing (Zeilenabstand) of your running text should be set to 1.5.
Footnotes, longer quotations and bibliography (see below) should be singlespaced.
Your text should be justified on both sides (Blocksatz) and paragraphs should either have their first lines indented (1.27 cm) or have a small space of about 6 points between them.If you choose to indent the paragraphs, make sure that the first paragraph after a heading does not have such an indentation.
Each page (except for the title page and the table of contents) should have a page number.Note that in seminar papers and final theses, new chapters generally do not begin on a new page.Only the references section and the appendix are preceded by a page break (Seitenumbruch).
A subsection should contain more than one idea expressed in a single paragraph.
Each lower level should at least consist of two headings.Note that the references section and (optional) appendices are usually not numbered.

Italics and underlining
Italics are usually used to highlight words you want to emphasize, indicate titles of books, and mark foreign-language words or phrases.Remember that only titles of independent works, i.e. monographs, collections and journals, are italicized.Titles of journal articles, book chapters and the like must not be set in italics.Do not overuse italics for emphasizing words.Syntactic and lexical means are often more suitable to express emphasis.
If you have to italicize something within a stretch of italics, the type is normally switched back to roman type.Parentheses and brackets around italicized text should also be set in italics.
Some older style guides still suggest using underlining instead of italics.This goes back to the era of typewriters, which often could not produce italics -and is still useful in handwriting.As you will not be using a typewriter to produce your paper, there is absolutely no need for you to underline anything in your paper.

Quotation marks, apostrophes, hyphens, and dashes
Use typographically correct quotation marks in your paper.Opening and closing quotation marks in English look like a tiny 6 and a tiny 9 respectively ('…', "…").Do not use the inch sign (") as a replacement for quotation marks.
Double quotation marks are used for shorter quotations (see below) and (optionally) titles of journal articles or book chapters.Single quotation marks are used for meanings, definitions, and quotations within quotations.
e.g.The term 'task' refers to an activity that focuses on meaning, is related to real life, and has an outcome.
Never use quotation marks for emphasis.A reader of your paper is likely to interpret this usage as irony.The apostrophe (') looks like a closing single quotation mark.On a German standard keyboard it is found on the same key as the hash or pound sign (#).Do not use accents (´or `) as replacement for the apostrophe.
You should also distinguish between hyphens (-) and dashes (-).While hyphens are used to join words or syllables (e.g.twenty-three), dashes indicate parenthetical expressions -such as this one -and are also used for ranges of numerical values (e.g.pages 15-23).Dashes used in parenthetical expressions are surrounded by spaces, those indicating a range are not.

Proofreading
Do not forget to thoroughly proofread your paper, or even better, have someone else proofread it for you -ideally a native speaker.Although spell checkers have become quite good at what they do, they will never find all mistakes.You may also use artificial intelligence to support you during the proofreading process (see 2.6).
Make sure not to leave any notes and comments only intended for yourself in the final version of the paper.Come up with a consistent scheme for marking such comments (e.g.colour-coding or special characters) and search for these marks before handing in your paper.
Even a well-researched paper will appear sloppy and amateurish if sprinkled with typos and grammar mistakes and will therefore annoy your supervisor.No written work is ever completely error-free but you should make an effort to come as close to that ideal as you can.

Digital tools
Digital tools online can be very useful for writing your paper, translating text sections, and proofreading your paper.Be critical of the tools, however, as various technical terms are not necessarily translated appropriately for the German educational context.

The use of AI tools
Please note: The following guideline is based on the statement on "Using AI tools" developed by our Institute for English and American Studies in July 2023: You are encouraged to use AI tools in a responsible and ethical way.AI tools may be used for assistance in the process of reading and writing academic texts.This includes the use of AI tools for literature searches and answering specific research questions, as well as for assistance in structuring a paper and improving the use of language in written products.
Be aware that the uninformed use of AI tools can easily violate the rules of good research practice (e.g. through distribution of invented and unverified sources, theft of intellectual property, and spreading of misinformation and biases).You are therefore expected to have a comprehensive understanding of the capabilities, limitations, and ethical implications of AI tools before using them in your academic work.
Please note that the use of verbatim AI-produced texts in exams of any form (e.g. term papers, portfolios, presentations, handouts) is considered fraudulent.
Invented and unverified sources in academic work are treated as a violation of good academic practice.
If you choose to use AI tools, you are required to list them as well as the way you used them.You may include them along with the Appendix/References section of your paper.Be prepared to provide documentation of your use of AI tools (e.g.chat transcripts).

General elements
Consider your paper to be a little book.An academic paper always consists of these parts in this order: a title page, a table of contents, an introduction, the main part, a conclusion and finally an alphabetical list of the references you used.In some cases, you might need to add an appendix, which is usually the very last part of your paper.The appendix can include lists of suitable texts/materials, a lesson plan or a lesson sequence, sample materials, and worksheets.

Introduction
Every academic paper has an introduction.Its function is to guide the reader to the topic of the paper and give a brief outlook on what you are going to discuss and in which way you approach the topic.
The introduction always includes the following: • What is the main leading question you are going to answer in your paper?You should be able to summarize this question in one sentence.
• Which specific aspect(s) of your topic are you going to discuss?
• What is relevant and new in your approach to the topic, i.e. what is the problem that justifies or prompts your leading question?
• What is your approach to answer this question?Briefly outline the main chapters of your paper and your line of argument.
In addition to these points, the introduction can also include: • reasons why you have chosen that particular perspective on the topic • your particular school focus (or foci), e.g.primary/secondary/vocational school etc.

Main chapters
The structure and content of the main part of your paper depends, of course, on your topic and the type of paper (e.g.portfolio, seminar paper etc.).Generally, you ).Order all these aspects into a coherent line of argument that your reader can follow.Also, be critical.
Make sure there is a logical link between paragraphs and chapters so that each follows logically from the previous one; use conjunctions such as therefore, moreover, on the other hand, etc.Therefore, avoid one-sentence paragraphs.

Conclusion
The content part of the paper closes with a conclusion.It should include a summary of your thematic focus, your approach, and (depending on the type of paper) an overview of the most important results and the answer to the leading research question you raised in the introduction.Optionally, you can refer to issues that have not been discussed and aspects relevant for future research (e.g.future perspectives).

What to cite
Any sources used in your paper have to be presented in two places: the short reference within the running text and the list of references at the end of the paper.
Whenever you present an idea that is not your own and not common knowledge,

Managing your literature collection
Whenever you cite a source, you should immediately include it in your list of references.For shorter papers this can easily be done "by hand" in your word processor but for longer papers this method can quickly become confusing.The university offers the reference management software Zotero free of charge.

How to cite
Citation should generally be stated as Author (Year: Page) or as (Author Year: Page) in the text, rather than as a bibliographical entry in a footnote.
For citations with two or three authors, cite all author names (e.Always give all author names in the list of references.
It is absolutely unacceptable in scholarly work to change the form or content of a quotation, e.g.giving a translation or adding italics not present in the original work.
Additions or comments are inserted in square brackets and followed by your initials.
Changes in grammatical concord, e.g.changing the author's "I" to "[he]", and typographical adaptations, e.g.capitalization at the beginning of a quotation, are also indicated by using square brackets.Omissions within quotation marks are marked by three dots in square brackets "[…]".If there is a mistake in the original text, you may add "[sic]" (Latin sic erat scriptum for 'so it was written') immediately after the error.

Shorter and longer quotations
Shorter quotations within the text are marked by double quotation marks (see examples above).Longer quotations (three lines or more) begin in a new line, are single-spaced and indented either on the left or on both sides about 1.27 cm.Note that there are no quotation marks around longer quotations.

Example of shorter quotations embedded in the text:
In his article on the Lexico-Grammar Approach, Hutz claims that there traditionally has been a clear distinction between vocabulary and grammar.However, he argues that "this sharp distinction is misleading in many ways since there is a much greater closeness between both domains" (Hutz 2018: 133).

Example of a longer quotation:
There has been some debate on the distinction between grammar and vocabulary.
One recent claim is that the difference between grammar and vocabulary is not as clear cut as has been traditionally assumed: Words in discourse are held together by grammar, which in turn largely depends on sets of words or phrases that are frequently used with them.
Thus, grammar and vocabulary are intrinsically linked.The main idea of a lexico-grammar approach in language teaching is that vocabulary and grammar are not taught separately, but in combination.(Hutz 2018: 157)

Quotations in other languages and indirect quotations
If you quote in a language other than English, add a translation or summarize the key argument in your own words.Do not mix languages in one sentence.Examples are: As Gehring notes, "[t]here is a tendency in current teaching and learning materials to include more global content" (Gehring 2021: 172; own translation).

Or
Gehring also observed that teaching materials today tend to include more global content (Gehring 2021: 172).

Introducing quotations
Quotations should never speak for themselves.Whenever you include a paraphrase, summary, or direct quotation, you should introduce it to your reader using a signal phrase.A signal phrase usually states the name of the author, the year of publication and the page number if necessary and includes an appropriate verb.Examples are: As Gehring correctly observes, "…" (Gehring 2021: 172).
Remember you are quoting a text and not a person.This is also the reason why you generally use the present tense for introducing quotations, results and ideas from other sources.Phrases like "As Frank Haß wrote in his introductory guide to TEFL …" are unsuitable.

List of references
At the end of the paper (and before a potential appendix) a complete alphabetical list of the sources used for your work is placed, ordered according to the last names of the authors.It begins on a new page and is entitled "References".All Both in the titles of books and in the titles of articles, all words except prepositions, articles and conjunctions may be capitalized.If you choose to do so, do it consistently.
Use indentation (1.27 cm) of the second and following lines (hängender Einzug) and avoid overformatting such as automatic list functions with bullet points.
If two references agree in author and year, the letters "a", "b" etc. are added after the year -both in the references in the text and in the list of references.You may put the titles of journal articles and articles in collections in double quotation marks ("…").If you choose to do so, do it consistently.

Declaration
Attached to the paper, please submit the following declaration: Please note: If you wrote the paper in pairs or groups, make sure every student signs the declaration individually.
should discuss relevant pedagogic theories, concepts, and research focusing on up-to-date literature and material.Filter what is relevant to your topic in focus and quote the most important pieces of information from experts within the particular fields.Summarize different authors' arguments and express your own wellfounded thoughts on them.Find inconsistencies and contradictions in the authors' own arguments and be critical with regard to what they claim (e.g. based on research evidence, logical gaps in their line of argument, too few data from empirical studies etc. you are expected to cite it in the text.All sources have to be indicated, not only direct quotations.Every time you render an opinion or a result from the work of another scholar, you must indicate this by using "cf."(Latin confer 'compare') before name, year and page number.You should focus on citing up-to-date literature including journal articles for your seminar paper.Good starting points for your literature search are the MLA International Bibliography (https://www.mla.org/Publications/MLA-International-Bibliography), the digital library JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/)and the Bamberger Katalog (https://katalog.ub.uni-bamberg.de/ubg-www/Katalog/).
books and articles referred to in the text must be listed and, vice versa, all those listed in the references must be referred to in the text.If you use databases such as corpora, group your sources into databases and other sources.Wherever possible, you should provide the DOI (Digital Object Identifier).With this unique combination of numbers and letters, an object (e.g. a scientific article) can be identified and accessed reliably and permanently.Note that in the database JSTOR, the DOI is replaced by the "stable URL".
. 2020a.Englisch lernen in der Grundschule.Stuttgart: utb.DOI: 10.36198/9783838554723 Böttger, Heiner (ed.).2020b.Englisch: Didaktik für die Grundschule.6th ed.Berlin: Cornelsen.Zotero can produce a list of references according to this style automatically.You can select the styles APA or Chicago as they are quite close to the style you are required to use in your paper.

Table of Contents
You can include tables and figures in your paper to highlight certain aspects or summarize key features.However, remember that they do not speak for themselves.Each table and figure should be labelled, e.g."Table 1: Pedagogic Principles of ELT (based on …)" or "Table 1: … (own source)" (if you developed something yourself) and referred to in your written text.Spell Table and Figure with capital letters when you refer to them in the text: e.g."As the outline of pedagogic principles of ELT shows (see Table 1), …" If you include a lesson plan in your paper, you can either include it in the written text or in the appendix.Again, do not forget to label your lesson plan and refer to it in the paper: e.g."The lesson plan is illustrated in Table 2.It shows …" Do not let quotations or data speak for themselves.Always refer to them critically or summarize the arguments raised.Both are only the means that help you to prove your point, so tell your reader to what extent they support your hypothesis and which conclusions you draw from them.
Chapter headings should always give an indication of your line of argument.Do not use "Chapter 1" or "Main Part" and avoid using the title of your whole paper as a heading of a chapter: The title of the paper covers the complete work and not only one part of it.Chapter headings are short and precise; "precise" means that they should not promise more nor less than you actually deal with in the chapter, i.e. they should not be too general or cover only one aspect of what follows.Finally, be concise.Discuss only what is relevant to your leading question(s) and do not get side-tracked by matters like biographical information about a TEFL researcher or funny anecdotes that happened during your research.
Knowing how and what to quote is one of the essential skills required when writing The method presented here is one of the most commonly used and convenient both for the reader and the author of a paper.If you choose to use a different style of documentation, remember that you have to be consistent and precise, and you should check with your supervisor if this is acceptable.
an academic paper.Failure to use references and citations correctly can result in charges of plagiarism and academic dishonesty.It is vital that you present correct and complete information on the sources you use.There are different ways to document quoted material.
Declaration of Independent AuthorshipI hereby declare according to § 10 para. 4 APO that this paper is the result of my own independent scholarly work and that in all cases material from the work of others is acknowledged.Quotations and paraphrases are clearly indicated and no material or tools other than listed have been used.This written work has not been submitted at any university before.I understand that the use of sources whose authenticity cannot be verified is a serious violation of the principles of good academic practice (cf.https://www.unibamberg.de/studium/im-studium/studienorganisation/quellen/and https://www.uni-bamberg.de/forschung/profil/gute-wissenschaftlichepraxis/;only available in German).Furthermore, I declare that I have used text-or otherwise contentgenerating artificial intelligence (AI) software (e.g.ChatGPT) only after consultation and with the permission of my instructor/examiner and that I have noted this under "Tools".I am prepared to provide detailed documentation of my use of AI software (e.g.chat transcripts) if clarification