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All Outputs (14)

Peer-mentoring in a pandemic: an evaluation of a series of new departmental peer-mentor schemes created to support student belonging and transition during COVID-19 (2023)
Journal Article
Bruce, M., Gangoli, G., Mates, L., Millican, A. S., & Dodd-Reynolds, C. (2023). Peer-mentoring in a pandemic: an evaluation of a series of new departmental peer-mentor schemes created to support student belonging and transition during COVID-19. Student engagement in higher education journal, 5(1), 61-82

The rapid move to predominately online learning engendered by the COVID-19 crisis created an urgent need to rethink support mechanisms central to student engagement and transition, namely community-building and identity within the institution. One im... Read More about Peer-mentoring in a pandemic: an evaluation of a series of new departmental peer-mentor schemes created to support student belonging and transition during COVID-19.

"Don't write like that!" Avoiding contractions in academic writing (2022)
Book Chapter
Bruce, M. (2023). "Don't write like that!" Avoiding contractions in academic writing. In Teaching English with Corpora - A resource book. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/b22833-61

This chapter aims to identify common areas of informality in academic writing and suggest alternatives that are more appropriate. Focusing particularly on extended writing in the sciences, but with applicability to a wider range of contexts, it help... Read More about "Don't write like that!" Avoiding contractions in academic writing.

Finding your academic voice: Use of nominalisations in academic writing (2022)
Book Chapter
Bruce, M. (2023). Finding your academic voice: Use of nominalisations in academic writing. In Teaching English with Corpora: A Resource Book. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/b22833-68

This chapter explores how nominalizations (the use of noun forms) can operate alongside other techniques to increase the overall formality of a text. Drawing on searches using the Durham University FOCUS corpus, it guides students through some search... Read More about Finding your academic voice: Use of nominalisations in academic writing.

Inconsistent Language Use in Online Resources Explaining the Mole Has Implications for Students’ Understanding (2022)
Journal Article
Rees, S. W., & Bruce, M. (2022). Inconsistent Language Use in Online Resources Explaining the Mole Has Implications for Students’ Understanding. Journal of Chemical Education, 99(7), https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00199

The quantity amount of substance (symbol “n”) and its SI unit, the mole (symbol “mol”), are unfamiliar to novice chemistry students. Developing a good understanding of this quantity and its unit has previously been demonstrated to be problematic. In... Read More about Inconsistent Language Use in Online Resources Explaining the Mole Has Implications for Students’ Understanding.

Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing (2020)
Journal Article
Sequera, J., Bruce, M., Gill, A., & Simpson, R. (2020). Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing. Practice and evidence of the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education, 14(1), 18-36

This article outlines a collaboration between the Foundation Centre and the Education PGCE department at Durham University to support student teachers on a particular academic writing assignment (the Self Directed Study assignment). This project invo... Read More about Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing.

Language issues facing non-traditional students: some problems and solutions (2016)
Book Chapter
Bruce, M., Rees, S., & Wilson, J. (2016). Language issues facing non-traditional students: some problems and solutions. In C. Marshall, S. Nolan, & D. Newton (Eds.), Widening Participation, Higher Education and Non-Traditional Students: Supporting Transitions through Foundation Programmes. Palgrave Macmillan

Write on the edge: using a chemistry corpus to develop academic writing skills resources for undergraduate chemists (2016)
Journal Article
Bruce, M., Coffer, P., Rees, S., & Robson, J. (2016). Write on the edge: using a chemistry corpus to develop academic writing skills resources for undergraduate chemists. Chemistry education research and practice, 17, 580-589. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6rp00005c

Many undergraduate students find the production of an extended piece of academic writing challenging. This challenge is more acute in the sciences where production of extended texts is infrequent throughout undergraduate studies. This paper reports t... Read More about Write on the edge: using a chemistry corpus to develop academic writing skills resources for undergraduate chemists.

Utilising Data-driven Learning in Chemistry Teaching: a Shortcut to Improving Chemical Language Comprehension (2014)
Journal Article
Rees, S., Bruce, M., & Bradley, S. (2014). Utilising Data-driven Learning in Chemistry Teaching: a Shortcut to Improving Chemical Language Comprehension. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences, 10(1), 12-19. https://doi.org/10.11120/ndir.2014.00028

This article describes the development of the FOCUS project and specific pedagogical strategies to improve understanding of the language of chemistry. The importance of language comprehension skills for success in learning chemistry has recently been... Read More about Utilising Data-driven Learning in Chemistry Teaching: a Shortcut to Improving Chemical Language Comprehension.

Embedding language learning strategies within a Foundation Chemistry course using the FOCUS project (2014)
Journal Article
Rees, S., & Bruce, M. (online). Embedding language learning strategies within a Foundation Chemistry course using the FOCUS project. InForm, 12-14

This article outlines the development of a corpus of good quality student texts in chemistry (The FOCUS project) and how it has been used to develop language understanding within a foundation Chemistry course. The functionality of the concordancing t... Read More about Embedding language learning strategies within a Foundation Chemistry course using the FOCUS project.

Can I have a word please? - Supporting learning at Foundation level through use of a corpus of student-generated texts. (2013)
Journal Article
Bruce, M., & Rees, S. (2013). Can I have a word please? - Supporting learning at Foundation level through use of a corpus of student-generated texts. Online educational research journal, 4(12),

International students typically expect to encounter academic language problems and to have to acquire a new vocabulary for their studies. However, the need to expand their (native speaker) vocabulary to include general academic as well as discipline... Read More about Can I have a word please? - Supporting learning at Foundation level through use of a corpus of student-generated texts..

Challenging the Western stereotype: Do Chinese International Foundation students learn by rote? (2013)
Journal Article
Mathias, J., Bruce, M., & Newton, D. (2013). Challenging the Western stereotype: Do Chinese International Foundation students learn by rote?. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 18(3), 221-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2013.819257

The dissonance between Eastern and Western learning approaches is regarded as an obstacle for Chinese students in adjusting to Western education environments, and one of the reasons is the lack of an understanding of Chinese learning approaches, that... Read More about Challenging the Western stereotype: Do Chinese International Foundation students learn by rote?.

Can I Have a Word Please – Strategies to Enhance Understanding of Subject Specific Language in Chemistry by International and Non-traditional Students (2013)
Journal Article
Rees, S., Bruce, M., & Nolan, S. (2013). Can I Have a Word Please – Strategies to Enhance Understanding of Subject Specific Language in Chemistry by International and Non-traditional Students. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences, 9(1), 8-13. https://doi.org/10.11120/ndir.2013.00012

In this paper we discuss the outcomes of our research into effective teaching strategies to enhance understanding of subject specific language by international and non-traditional students. Teaching strategies with an emphasis on improving scientific... Read More about Can I Have a Word Please – Strategies to Enhance Understanding of Subject Specific Language in Chemistry by International and Non-traditional Students.