School: Medical and Health Sciences

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Language Difference: Implications for Clinical Practice
  • Unit Code

    SPE3112
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    3
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Natalie CICCONE

Description

The unit explores the impact of language difference on practice for speech pathologists and other professionals, with a focus on language use by Aboriginal Australians. Students will examine the roles of varieties of English and other languages in Australian society including standard and non-standard English and Indigenous languages. Students will analyse language difference, ranging from sound systems and grammar to story schemata and pragmatics, and will apply directly to clinical contexts. Skills addressed will include the ability to convey this knowledge in clinical contexts to influence service delivery models and the ability to develop culturally appropriate and secure individual management plans.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must have passed SPE1102

Co-Requisite Rule

Students must be enrolled Y02

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Advocate for improved professional practice using principles of language variety and language diversity.
  2. Create evidence-informed management plans for Aboriginal clients.
  3. Justify management decisions for individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds based on individual client factors, assessment data and research evidence.

Unit Content

  1. Multilingualism in Australian society.
  2. Standard and non-standard English.
  3. Intercultural communication.
  4. Aboriginal English and story schemas.
  5. Authentic and dynamic assessment and treatment with Aboriginal clients.
  6. Population health and family centered healthcare models in Australian Aboriginal communities.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 3 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Students will discover the relevance of unit information through active problem solving, group work, and case-based and situated learning. Some lectures will be delivered by guest experts in the field. Assignments will develop teamwork, oral and written communication and analytical abilities of students. Students will learn advocacy skills through designing and delivering a presentation for multidisciplinary peers that will inform and improve clinical practice with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Students will develop a management plan for an Aboriginal client and justify their decision-making based on a comprehensive language analysis and evidence-based principles. Students need to be actively engaged in the unit by reading the required readings, attending and/or listening to recorded lectures and participating in classroom discussion.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Due to the professional competency skill development associated with this Unit, student attendance/participation within listed in-class activities and/or online activities including discussion boards is compulsory. Students failing to meet participation standards as outlined in the unit information may be awarded an I Grade (Fail - incomplete). Students who are unable to meet this requirement for medical or other reasons must seek the approval of the unit coordinator.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
PresentationClinical Scenario of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity 40%
Assignment ^Case Based Language Analysis and Management Plan60%

^ Mandatory to Pass


Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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