ebulletin: April 2008
The monthly Subject Centre e-bulletin gives information on events, news items and newly available resources. Register if you would like to receive notification of future e-bulletins via email.
General interest
Date: 9 June, 2008
Location: University of Bristol, School of Chemistry, Lecture Theatre 4
Event type: Workshop
Date: 14 May, 2008
Location: Open Learning Centre, King's College London, Strand Campus, Room -1.071
Event type: Workshop
Date: 8 May, 2008
Location: University of Glasgow (Melville Room)
Event type: Workshop
Languages
Date: 26 September, 2008
Location: University of Manchester
Event type: Conference
Date: 15 September, 2008 - 16 September, 2008
Location: School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Event type: Conference
Date: 25 April, 2008
Location: British Academy, London
Event type: Conference
Date: 16 June, 2008
Location: Nottingham Trent University, Djanogly International Centre
Event type: Symposium
The Centre for Excellence in Multimedia Language Learning, University of Ulster is organising its second symposium to highlight appropriate pedagogy and innovative teaching in the use of digital language labs. This free event aims to bring together digital lab practitioners as well as those involved in policy making and management, in order to share examples of good practice in the use of digital labs for language teaching. Discuss language teaching with peers and share practice-based research. The symposium is free to attend however registration is required by 5th June. For information, please visit the conference website.
Date: 22 May, 2008
Location: Institut Francais, London
Event type: Workshop
The first event organised jointly between Routes into Languages and the French embassy is taking place at the Institut Francais, London on Thursday 22nd May 2008. Plate-forme pour le français is aimed at lecturers of French working in the English higher education sector. The day consists of a series of presentations from leading French specialists followed by afternoon workshops. Lunch and refreshments are provided. There is no charge to attend, registration is essential as places are limited. For more information, please see the conference website.
Date: 21 May, 2008
Location: Sheffield Hallam University
Event type: Workshop
This event will be of interest to heads of language schools/departments/centres, heads of language programme areas and IWLPs and anyone else involved in responding to and anticipating change affecting the delivery of HE language and related programmes. The workshop will be followed by SCHML's final AGM as an independent organisation, before the merger with UCML. Workshop themes are: Strategic approaches to anticipating change in markets and institutional policies, Recognising ‘warning signs’ which might constitute threats to language operations, Recognising opportunities which could be maximised to the benefit of language operations, Managing change operationally. For more information, please see the conference website.
During 2007, LLAS funded a mini-project on English Language at undergraduate level. This study reviews the current place of undergraduate English Language in Higher Education institutions in the UK in light of a rapid expansion of the subject. It is based on the analysis of documents available from universities (e.g. prospectuses, brochures, e-mails) and on the web. It provides an overview of 49 single honours English Language programmes considering the ways they are labelled, their relationship with other disciplines, their rationale, content and structure. It also identifies and discusses the preferred teaching and learning methods, and assessment procedures in these programmes. Finally, it explores marketing procedures and recruitment trends for these degrees.
Date: 1 May, 2008
Location: University of Central Lancashire, Harris Park Conference Centre
Event type: Conference
This one day event will look at how students learn and experience Language and Literature in the undergraduate curriculum. As a follow-up to the successful English Subject Centre event "Teaching on the Language-Literature Border" organised by Richard Steadman-Jones and the English Subject Centre, this event at the University of Central Lancashire emphasises the learning of language and literature rather than how we as lecturers teach, although the two are, of course, deeply related. For more information, please see the conference website.
Date: 6 June, 2008
Location: S block, Room 2S601, School of Education, University of the West of England
Event type: Workshop
Date: 11 April, 2008 - 12 April, 2008
Location: at-Bristol, Bristol, UK
Event type: Conference
Date: 23 May, 2008
Location: The Ramsden Room, St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Event type: Workshop
Linguistics
Date: 15 September, 2008 - 16 September, 2008
Location: School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Event type: Conference
Date: 30 May, 2008
Location: CILT, London SE1
Event type: Seminar
Date: 9 July, 2008
Location: Research Beehive, Old Library Building, Newcastle University
Event type: Conference
Linguistics postgraduate students form all research areas are invited to present and discuss their research in an informal and intellectually stimulating setting. Professor Andrew Radford of University of Essex and Professor Mike Sharwood Smith of Heriot Watt University will be giving the guest lectures at this year's conference. We invite postgraduate students to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations on any area of linguistics, theoretical or applied. For more information, please see the conference website.
Date: 22 May, 2008
Location: Institut Francais, London
Event type: Workshop
The first event organised jointly between Routes into Languages and the French embassy is taking place at the Institut Francais, London on Thursday 22nd May 2008. Plate-forme pour le français is aimed at lecturers of French working in the English higher education sector. The day consists of a series of presentations from leading French specialists followed by afternoon workshops. Lunch and refreshments are provided. There is no charge to attend, registration is essential as places are limited. For more information, please see the conference website.
Date: 21 May, 2008
Location: Sheffield Hallam University
Event type: Workshop
This event will be of interest to heads of language schools/departments/centres, heads of language programme areas and IWLPs and anyone else involved in responding to and anticipating change affecting the delivery of HE language and related programmes. The workshop will be followed by SCHML's final AGM as an independent organisation, before the merger with UCML. Workshop themes are: Strategic approaches to anticipating change in markets and institutional policies, Recognising ‘warning signs’ which might constitute threats to language operations, Recognising opportunities which could be maximised to the benefit of language operations, Managing change operationally. For more information, please see the conference website.
During 2007, LLAS funded a mini-project on English Language at undergraduate level. This study reviews the current place of undergraduate English Language in Higher Education institutions in the UK in light of a rapid expansion of the subject. It is based on the analysis of documents available from universities (e.g. prospectuses, brochures, e-mails) and on the web. It provides an overview of 49 single honours English Language programmes considering the ways they are labelled, their relationship with other disciplines, their rationale, content and structure. It also identifies and discusses the preferred teaching and learning methods, and assessment procedures in these programmes. Finally, it explores marketing procedures and recruitment trends for these degrees.
Date: 1 May, 2008
Location: University of Central Lancashire, Harris Park Conference Centre
Event type: Conference
This one day event will look at how students learn and experience Language and Literature in the undergraduate curriculum. As a follow-up to the successful English Subject Centre event "Teaching on the Language-Literature Border" organised by Richard Steadman-Jones and the English Subject Centre, this event at the University of Central Lancashire emphasises the learning of language and literature rather than how we as lecturers teach, although the two are, of course, deeply related. For more information, please see the conference website.
Date: 20 June, 2008
Location: Essex University
Event type: Seminar
Area Studies
Funded by the Embassy of the United States of America, Discover American Studies is a free interactive CD-ROM designed to promote American Studies to students in schools and further education colleges in the UK. The CD was launched in Edinburgh at the annual conference of the British Association for American Studies on 29 March 2008. Based on the Why Study Languages? CD it contains presentations, essays, video clips and interactive features to demonstrate the benefits of studying for a degree in American Studies. The CD is being distributed to American Studies departments and members of the British Association for American Studies.
The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS), in partnership with the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies (PRS), has prepared a report for HEFCE on international approaches to Islamic Studies. The report examines the historical development and current state of Islamic Studies in eight countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, Malaysia and Turkey. It also presents perspectives on recent developments in Islamic Studies and the responses of governments, policy makers and funding bodies; interactions between institutions of higher education and faith-based organisations and communities; and case studies that highlight examples of innovative practice in relation to Islamic Studies in higher education. The report was commissioned by HEFCE to inform its activities relating to Islamic Studies, which was designated a Strategically Important Subject in June 2007.
Date: 11 April, 2008 - 12 April, 2008
Location: at-Bristol, Bristol, UK
Event type: Conference
Date: 23 May, 2008
Location: The Ramsden Room, St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Event type: Workshop
Other news
Congratulations also to Mike Kelly, Director of the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. Mike has bee awarded the title of Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the French Government for his contributions to language education.
The Subject Centre has established a network for all coordinators/tutors of student residence abroad, undertaken as part of degree programmes. Please join the "residence-abroad" Jiscmail list to stay informed about the Subject Centre's work in this area, share information, and discuss residence abroad issues with colleagues across the UK. You can also discuss residence abroad issues in the LLAS forum: www.llas.ac.uk/forum.
Nominations for most of posts on the UCML executive are now closed. The results will be published shortly. However, some positions received no nominations and we are still seeking candidates for these posts. To seek nomination for one of these positions, candidates should complete a nomination form and send it to Carol Churchouse at the LLAS Subject Centre by Friday 2 May 2008.
The JISC TechDis service provides advice and guidance on the use of technology to achieve a more accessible experience for students and staff in higher and further education. In order to assess their impact in the HE sector, and to inform their future work areas, they are undertaking a web-based survey. The survey can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3DTQFY - it should take between 2 and 10 minutes to complete, depending on the amount of information you wish to include in your responses.
A new poster from the Subject Centre's '700 reasons' suite of materials is available. The poster is accompanied by a set of post-it notes which can be used by learners to write down their own reasons for studying languages and which can be stuck onto or alongside the poster. Routes into Languages has purchased copies of the poster and is giving them away free to the first 1,000 people to sign up to their mailing list.
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