June 2013 e-bulletin - LLAS Centre for languages, linguistics and area studies
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News Bulletin |
Dear colleague,
Welcome to the LLAS e-bulletin for June 2013. Click here to see this email on the LLAS website.
Message from the Director 
It was with great pleasure that we were able to announce officially at the end of May that HEFCE has agreed to fund a 3-year programme for increasing the demand for languages in schools and university, building on the work of Routes into Languages. At a time when public funding for initiatives is sparse, this is a real indication that policy-makers are worried about the declining ability of British students to tackle other languages.
The refreshed Routes programme will have new ideas, new partners and some new priorities. In particular, it will be tasked with encouraging all students to spend a period of work and study abroad. This is not just aimed at language students, who constantly enthuse about the benefits of their year abroad, not only for their language skills, but more importantly for their personal development and career options. It is time that more students from other disciplines experienced those benefits.
The parlous state of Britain’s performance in languages comes in large measure from the false sense of security that the global role of English gives us. The fact is that large parts of the world, physical or virtual, function in other languages, and if we can’t understand them, we are effectively excluded. Conversely, the rest of the world now has good access to everything that is done in English, and we are consequently losing much of our language advantage as native speakers. Poor Johnny One-Note.
Meanwhile, the experience of LLAS in leading the Routes programme over the past 6 years confirms that collaboration is the best way of raising interest in languages. The Routes partners are doing their best to encourage sharing of ideas across regions and across languages, so that teachers can learn from each other. The success of this approach for raising the aspirations of students is very clear and we are delighted that the government, through HEFCE, has recognised its value.
Mike Kelly (follow Mike on Twitter at @ProfMikeKelly)
Director, LLAS Centre for languages, linguistics and area studies
This month's e-bulletin in brief
- In the news
- Meet the LLAS team: Zena Hilton and Sue Nash
- LLAS blog: In the loop: getting the most out of feedback
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LLAS events : Our events programme in full can be found at www.llas.ac.uk/events
IN FOCUS : Thriving for the public good, 11 September 2013, The British Medical Association, London
In the news
£3.1 million to boost student demand for modern foreign language courses
HEFCE has announced an additional £3.1 million to support a new programme of activity which will encourage more young people of all backgrounds to study languages at university. Find out more
Global Outlook - Digital Humanities: Global Digital Humanities Essay Prize
The University of Lethbridge and The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations is pleased to announce the first Global Digital Humanities Essay Competition. The competition is open to any interested party including students, graduate students, junior faculty, and researchers unaffiliated with a university or research institution. Find out more
Allaboutlinguistics.com 
AllAboutLinguistics.com was created by first-year linguistics students at the University of Sheffield, supported by staff in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics. The website formed part of the students assessment, after they completed a course called Introduction to Linguistics, and it aims to share the knowledge they gained from this module with anyone outside the University who is interested in language and its study - especially A-Level students thinking of going on to study linguistics at University. Find out more
Developing digital literacies and intercultural communicative competence for the ‘global graduate’ - Computer Mediated Communication for Interaction in Language Learning (#CWIL)
The Applied Research Group - Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature (PILL), Coventry University and the Language Centre at the University of Warwick with the support of the Higher Education Academy (Teaching Development Collaborative Grant) invite you to join a free, two-day summer conference on 26-27 June, 2013 at Coventry University. Find out more
LLAS e-learning symposium 2014 - Call for papers - OUT NOW!
Do you make innovative use of technology in delivering language teaching content or assessments? Do you use social networking sites, virtual worlds or mobile technology with your language students? Are you engaging students in the creation or use of open educational resources? If so, then the LLAS community would like to hear from you!
LLAS’s successful annual symposium on the use of technology in HE language education is a 2-day event of practical presentations, workshops and inspiring ideas to fuel the imagination.. Read more about the symposium on our scoop.it page at http://www.scoop.it/t/e-learning-symposium. To find out more and register to attend, please click here
LLAS/Routes into Languages 'Why study languages?' 2013 calendar !! 
This calendar is produced by LLAS Centre for languages, linguistics and area studies as part of the Routes into Languages programme. You can download all months for free at the beginning of each month at http://languagebox.ac.uk/3126
This year, languages featured include Italian, Arabic, Chinese, Tigrinya and more!
Read more news items on our Scoop.it page at www.scoop.it/u/llas-centre#curatedTopicsTabSelected
Meet the LLAS team
Zena Hilton
I joined the University of Southampton in 2007 after several years as a project manager in the Southampton City Council education department. I am a languages graduate and I was eager to work in the languages field as I graduated from Heriot-Watt University in 2002 with a degree in Applied Languages (French/Spanish) and Translation. Initially, I managed the government-funded Comenius and Links into Languages programmes in the South East, which provided professional development and support for language teachers in schools. Then in 2011, as part of the LLAS team, I established Languages South East to continue this work. One of the highlights in the calendar is the “legendary” ICT and Languages Conference (#ililc), which is now in its fourth year and attracts language teachers from across the UK and beyond, not to mention its twitter audience!
Throughout my time at the university, I have also been involved in outreach activities, such as the Routes in Languages Year 8 and Year 12 Able Linguist Days, which have attracted a record 450 school pupils this academic year. Since returning from maternity leave this spring, I’m continuing work on Languages South East, outreach activities and other projects in LLAS. I am also chair of governors in a Southampton special school, which is really enjoyable and provides me with a different perspective on schools and education. You can follow me on twitter @zenahilton and @lang_se
Sue Nash 
I started work at the University of Southampton in 1993 as an assistant within the Language Resources Centre and went on to support several externally funded projects, including CKS, CIEL and Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. My current role is senior administrator for LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. I am responsible for overseeing the work of the admin team and support the academic coordinators in all aspects of their work from events/workshops/conferences to funded projects. I am also personal assistant to Professor Michael Kelly, Director of LLAS and Routes into Languages. I am the main contact for all phone and email enquiries at LLAS and provided the main admin lead for several recent successful events e.g. BAAL2012 “Multilingual Theory and Practice in Applied Linguistics” / “Residence Abroad, Social Networks and Second Language Learning” / CEELBAS “Building the language base for research” and the e-learning symposium 2013. I also support projects such as FAVOR, OpenLIVES, SPEAQ and Silver Dreams, and work on the national Routes into Languages programme. Follow me on Twitter @37Nasher
LLAS blog 
In the loop: getting the most out of feedback - Laurence Georgin, LLAS
As part of our European-funded project SPEAQ (Sharing Practice in Enhancing and Assuring Quality), we have been working with 9 partners in European HEIs to develop initiatives to improve quality practice and culture within HE institutions. The initiative that we have chosen at the University of Southampton addresses feedback issues, which were raised in the first phase of the project by students, academic staff and quality staff. We have been developing online resources, which we will present to University of Southampton staff and students in the autumn through an interactive workshop.
Forthcoming events in the LLAS community
June 2013
Teaching in higher education through the medium of English
10 - 14 June, 2013 - University of Southampton
September 2013
IN FOCUS Thriving for the public good
11 September, 2013 - The British Medical Association, London
5th Annual workshop for Heads of Department and leaders in languages, linguistics and area studies
This event is supported by the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML).
Impact and public benefit are key priorities for the public funding of higher education. For example, the 2014 Research Evaluation Framework (REF) requires universities to demonstrate that their research has benefits outside the university as well as within the academic community. The strategies of AHRC and ESRC emphasise the commitment to interact with public life and bring benefits to the country. The Finch report has called for all publicly-funded research outputs to be open access so they can be read by anybody who wishes to read them without payment or library subscription. The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement promotes the free sharing and re-sharing of teaching resources without copyright restrictions and MOOCs (Mass Open Online Courses) attempt to reach new audiences all over the world. The public benefits universities provide to their local communities through outreach work, continuing education and public engagement is a key part of demonstrating impact outside academia. Universities also need to have access agreements in place to promote university study to groups who have traditionally found it difficult to access higher education.
Heads of Departments of languages and related studies face some well known challenges and some new ones. Student numbers and staff-student ratios persist as a key concern. Tightened immigration policies have made the recruitment of (non-EU) international students more difficult and in England changes in the constraints on student numbers have added further complexity to recruitment process. Technological developments and school curriculum changes mean that student expectations change more rapidly than ever. Changes in student funding, demographics, and the school curriculum have introduced great volatility, and longer term shifts in the patterns of international political and economic relations raise existential challenges for languages and other studies dealing with the wider world.
This workshop will cover :
Impact and public engagement
Strategic issues in languages and related studies
Student recruitment, numbers
Profile-raising within the institution
November 2013
Making Video for Language Learning and Teaching
16 November, 2013 - Centre for English Language Teaching, Vanbrugh College, University of York
January 2014
e-learning symposium 2014
23-24 January, 2014 - University of Southampton
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