Please click here to view the Letter from the Director.

CUE Textbook

Legg, M., et al. (2017). Academic English: Skills for Success. HKU Press. Revised Second Edition.

You will need to bring your textbook to every lesson.

CUE course website

There are five CUE sites:

• Central Course Moodle
• Academic Grammar edX
• Academic Vocabulary Moodle
• Academic Discussion Moodle
• Avoiding Plagiarism and Citation and Referencing Skills Moodle

To access these sites, log into your HKU Portal and then click on My eLearning.

The work you do in the online learning modules on the Vocabulary, Grammar and Speaking Moodle sites is not assessed. However, failure to complete the modules on the Avoiding Plagiarism and Developing Citation and Referencing Skills Moodle will lead to one sub-grade reduction of your final CUE grade (e.g. from B- to C+)​.

Independent Learning Tasks

You also need to complete the following Independent Learning Tasks. These are:

Tutorial Discussion

You will be assessed on the academic quality of the contribution you make in the discussion as well as your speaking skills. You will also be assessed on the academic quality of the sources you use in the discussion.

Grade Descriptors

You will find more details about the assessments on the CUE Course Moodle site.

Attendance

CAES expects students to attend 100% of classes (including the add/drop period). 20% absence is allowed for emergencies or sick leave. Students who do not meet the 80% attendance requirement for medical reasons should provide a medical certificate to the teacher. Those who fail to do so may be required to repeat the course at the discretion of the programme coordinator even if they have completed all the assessments of the course.

Students may risk failing the course if they miss a substantial proportion of the course without providing any legitimate reason or proof for their absence.

Students also have the responsibility to contact their teacher before the commencement of the course if they know in advance they have problems meeting the 80% attendance requirement. Examples of such cases include students who are pending faculty’s approval for their application for leave of absence. It is very important for the programme coordinator and/or the teacher concerned to be informed about this ahead of time so that they can make appropriate arrangements for these students.

If students have any special needs or circumstances that may affect their attendance or ability to complete course assignments on time, they are strongly encouraged to seek professional advice from HKU-CEDARS (https://www.cedars.hku.hk/).

Punctuality

We expect students to be punctual for all the scheduled classes and tutorials of CAES. Students may be marked as partially absent if they are late for 10 minutes or more for a class without a valid reason. Unexcused cases of lateness for two times may count as one absence.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as “the use of another person’s work (including but not limited to any materials, creations, ideas and data) as if one’s own without due acknowledgement, whether or not such work has been published and regardless of the intent to deceive” in the Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Curricular (116/1080).

Some common types of plagiarism include:

• paraphrasing and/or quoting without acknowledgement;
• inappropriate paraphrasing and/or quotation of sourced content, and
• inaccurate citation and/or reference list that mislead the readers/listeners as to the accuracy of the source materials.

Self-plagiarism

Self-plagiarism is defined as “the reuse of one’s own work without acknowledging that such work has been submitted elsewhere” in the Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Curricula (116/1080). Students should not submit the same piece of work for different courses (except for adjunct English-in-the-Discipline courses and with teachers’ permission). They should always check with the teacher if they are unsure.

Consequences of Plagiarism
In the University of Hong Kong, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. If a submission contains plagiarism, only the unplagiarised parts will be marked. This may result in the work being considered as incomplete, unstructured, lacking content and organization.

The link below contains information about consequences and disciplinary procedures concerning students who have committed plagiarism:
https://tl.hku.hk/plagiarism/consequences-of-plagiarism/

You are strongly advised to visit the following links about the University’s Policy on Plagiarism:
Examples of plagiarism:
https://tl.hku.hk/plagiarism/how-to-avoid-plagiarism/

Learning resources to help you avoid plagiarism:
https://tl.hku.hk/plagiarism/learning-resources/

Submission of Assignments

If students are sick and unable to hand in an assignment, they must contact their teacher to let them know and also provide a medical certificate. The following are general guidelines on penalties/policies for late submission of assignments for all CAES courses. Some courses may have different penalties/policies due to course-specific reasons.

• Assignments which are handed in up to four days late without any medical/legitimate reason will have one full letter grade deducted each day (e.g. a B- becomes a C- after one day late).
• If the assignment is submitted four days after the deadline without a legitimate reason, it will be treated as non-submission (N – 0 mark). It is up to the programme coordinator to decide whether such students should be given feedback on this assignment.
• Students who do not submit an assignment at all or miss an assessment without a medical certificate should be given an N.

Bad Weather
In the case of bad weather such as Black / Red Rain or Typhoon Signal 8, please follow the university guidelines (updated July 2019):

• Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 (or above) is hoisted; or
• Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 will be issued within two hours as announced by the Hong Kong Observatory; or
• “Extreme conditions” after super typhoons are in force (announced by the Government before the Hong Kong Observatory replaces Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 with Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3); or
• Black Rainstorm Signal is in force, the following arrangements will apply:

For classes and examinations not yet started:

For classes and examinations already started:

When Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3 or below or Red or Amber Rainstorm Signal is in force, it should be assumed that all classes and examinations will be held as scheduled unless an announcement to the contrary has been made by the University.

We offer:

• 1:1 consultations with trained peer consultants from a wide range of disciplines on written, spoken and digital assessments.
• Support at any stage of the assessment process.
• Video recording and editing resources (hardware, software) and technical advice on media production
• Workshops and discussion groups on writing and speaking skills and international language tests

Students are welcome to upload assignment instructions, notes, outlines and drafts before consultation.

GENERAL LANGUAGE ADVISING offers:

• Referrals required from teachers of either Core University English or Intensive English for Postgraduate students or by other forms of invitation
• A bespoke programme designed to support your specific learning needs and goals
• Conducted by trained and experienced CAES language teachers
• Focusing on language learning strategies for overall language enhancement

Students will attend induction workshops, submit learning evidence and co-plan a specifically tailored learning programme with their advisor based on their timetabling needs.

All activities are in Zone R, 2/F of Chi Wah Learning Commons. Book online at caes.hku.hk/css

It is important to CAES that every student has a successful learning experience in our courses.

If students feel that they have any special needs which might impair their ability to participate in activities or complete course assignments, they are encouraged to contact CEDARS and/or their course teacher and the course coordinator as soon as possible.

Teachers will make an effort to accommodate special needs students when arranging or conducting learning activities.

If students have any special needs that might impact their ability to complete any assessed task they should present documentation to CEDARS and ask that the course coordinator is informed so that special arrangements can be made if deemed appropriate.

The CEDARS webpage on accessibility support for students with disabilities is linked below:
https://www.cedars.hku.hk/
Additional information can be found at the HKU Equal Opportunities web-site:
http://www.eounit.hku.hk/eng/index.htm

CEDARS – Room 301-323, Main Building/3rd Floor, Meng Wah Complex

CEDARS-Counselling and Person Enrichment Section (CEDARS-CoPE) promotes attitudes and skills that are necessary for their success in the university environment and in their pursuit of productive, satisfying and psychologically healthy lives.

Smart Exam Preparation and Taking
http://wp.cedars.hku.hk/web/studysmart/

Counselling and Psychological Services
http://wp.cedars.hku.hk/web/cope/?p=78

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support
http://www.cedars.hku.hk/cope/sen

Careers and Placement advice
http://www.cedars.hku.hk/careers/home

You must take CUE in either the first or the second semester of your first year. The only students who may take CUE in their second year of study are those that have failed CUE in their first year.

You must sign up for a CUE class during the course enrollment period before the academic year begins. The system will give you a place in a class using the balloting system. You have to check your class selection results periodically and if you aren’t successful in getting a place, you need to go into the SIS system and choose another timeslot until you are given a place in a class. If you do not sign up for a CUE class at all during this period, the SIS system will automatically assign you to a class either in the first or second semester at the end of the course enrollment period.

The CUE course is 12 weeks long. The course is scheduled as either a single 3-hour class each week or a 1-hour class plus a 2-hour class each week.

You can download the course schedule from the Main CUE Course Moodle site.

If you want to change from one class group to another, you can only do this before the end of the add/drop period.

Up to the end of the first week of the add/drop period, you can change your class group through the SIS system freely.

If it is the second week of the add/drop period, you can only change class groups if the CUE class clashes with a core/prerequisite (not an elective) course you need to take for your degree.

To do this, you need to:

All 5 steps have to be completed by the end of the second week of the add/drop period.

Grade Appeals
Student appeals against the academic judgments of assessors will not be accepted.

This is based on HKU regulations which state:

‘There shall be no appeal against the results of examinations and all other forms of assessment…students may however request checking of the final course grade or the result of any assessment component of any course if they have reason to believe that there is any procedural irregularity or technical error in the determination of that result (e.g. an error in the recording, collating or aggregation of grades/marks which contribute to the final result).’ See document 111/511 – Procedures for Checking Assessment Results of Taught Courses.

The following procedures have been set up in CAES1000 to ensure that assessment practices are fair:

1. Detailed assessment criteria are written for each assessment task so that students and teachers have a clear and common understanding of the standards for A, B, C, D and fail work.
2. These assessment criteria are made available to students at the beginning of the course through the course Moodle site.
3. Before any students’ work is assessed for CAES1000, all teachers attend meetings where they are required to assess sample student work. This is to ensure that teachers are grading to the correct standard.
4. After students’ work has been assessed, the marks are checked by the course coordinator and then the results are reviewed and approved by the Board of Examiners of each faculty.

Calculation Appeals
If you suspect an error in the calculation of your final grade (or any component of that final grade), you can request that this calculation be checked after the release of the final grade.

Procedure for Calculation Appeals
It is University policy that grade re-calculation requests must go through faculties. Therefore, CAES cannot accept grade re-calculation requests directly from students. Students must apply in writing to their home Faculty Office within three weeks after the final grade results are announced, supplying the necessary information and application fee.

For full details of the application procedure, please refer to ‘Procedures for Checking of Assessment Results of Taught Courses’.

Applicants should note that as a result of the calculation checks, the original grade could increase, decrease or remain the same. The decision reached will be final.

For questions about the course content and assessment, you can contact your teacher or the CUE Course Coordinator, Dr. Parco Wong at pmtw2@hku.hk

For technical questions about the CUE Moodle sites, please email to caes@hku.hk