Language diversity in Scottish universities: practical strategies to support teaching and learning

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This workshop has been jointly organised by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies and the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies (University of Glasgow). It will consider the importance of language diversity in Scottish universities and will also focus on practical issues involved in setting up and sustaining modules and programmes in lesser taught languages. It will cover themes such as getting started with a new module in a lesser taught language, teaching ab initio and introducing students to content modules. Participants will also have the opportunity to experience a taster session in a lesser taught language.

Workshop fee

There is no charge to attend for employees and postgraduate students of publicly funded UK educational institutions. The fee for employees and postgraduate students of private institutions/organisations and non-UK institutions is £40.
Lunch will be provided. We reserve the right to charge a £50.00 non-attendance fee.

Travel bursary

A travel bursary is available for this event. Closing date for applications is: 6th February 2009.

Abstracts

Keynote: The diversity of existence and persistence: Languages in Scottish universities
Alison Phipps, University of Glasgow

Language offerings in Scottish Universities are diverse and have their own acute sense of their situation. Some have a precarious hold, others are buoyant. In a research and teaching context increasingly determined by league tables and ‘power rankings’ this paper will consider other ways of knowing than those offered by metrics and consider the diversities of their existence and persistence. In particular it will examine some of the less visible aspects and informal forms of languaging which thrive or survive on campus.

Introducing Scottish Gaelic literature to ab initio students
Sheila Kidd, University of Glasgow

This paper will provide a brief overview of the teaching of Scottish Gaelic in Scotland’s Higher Education institutions, paying particular attention to the ab initio learner’s place within the programmes offered. It will then discuss some of the approaches we have adopted when introducing literature to this cohort with particular reference to the courses offered by the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
 

Taster Session in Japanese:  Nihongo o hanashimasho… 

Douglas Bell, University of Aberdeen

Japanese has the reputation of being a difficult, if not downright impossible, language for Westerners to learn. Be bold enough to tell people that you’re studying Japanese and the typical response will be, “Wow, you must be really clever” or “I bet you’re good at languages, right?”

As a non-European language, Japanese is quite different to say German, Spanish or French and the written script certainly brings its own challenges. However, in many ways, the bark of Japanese is far worse than its bite, and once people get past the formidable reputation, some aspects are actually quite easy.

Come along to this taster session and learn more about the language one 16th century Jesuit dubbed ‘the Devil’s Tongue’…
 

Taster Session in Latvian
Dace Praulins, University of Glasgow
Come and learn some basic phrases in Latvian: learn how to greet people and say goodbye, introduce yourself and give some basic information about yourself. With many Latvians now in Scotland, you never know when you might need this!
 

Keynote: Developing and Sustaining Expertise
Elisabeth Kendall, University of Edinburgh

Developing and sustaining expertise is the main goal of the UK government’s Language-Based Area Studies Initiative, launched with over £20m of public funding in 2005. While such investment has accelerated the development of expertise in certain languages (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Eastern European languages), it is already clear that funders need to accept much longer-term and broader goals. Too often, subject areas need to be classed vulnerable or of urgent national strategic importance before significant investment is made. This paper shows why and how expertise in so-called ‘difficult’ or less widely taught languages (such as Arabic, Turkish and Persian) might be developed and sustained, as well as offering a variety of takes on the notion of “expertise”.

Event Report

Report by Svetlana Skomorokhova, University of Warwick

The diversity of existence and persistence: Languages in Scottish universities

Professor Alison Phipps (University of Glasgow) gave an inspirational overview of the current situation in language teaching in Scottish HE Institutions. A picture of current trends in language teaching was logically laid out, with many appreciative remarks from the audience at the end. Having characterised the situation in language teaching as the one of ‘upheaval, crisis, and threat’, the speaker outlined a few relevant questions for the future of languages in the UK HEIs. Among them, were the issues of linguistic inclusion (Scots versus Gaelic), linguistic diversion as the result of global mobility, as well as more specific teaching methods, i.e. teaching in understaffed classrooms. The Scottish landscape for languages outlined was quite broad. The parallels of the past-present-future of language teaching are certainly very helpful in understanding the scope of the issues involved in language learning.

Setting up a course - how to get started in a lesser taught language: the examples of Estonian and Uzbek

Lea Kreinin (University of Glasgow) and Mohira Suyarkulova (University of St Andrews) shared some practical issues involved in setting up a course in two lesser taught languages. Both of their talks contained some very insightful advice and guidance for future implementation. Lea and Mohira also showed their curricula and supporting materials. The speakers gladly shared their syllabi with anyone expressing interest during the intervals.

Teaching ab initio - challenges and strategies. A comparative look at Russian, Catalan, Portuguese and Hungarian

Dr Margaret Tejerizo, Esther Tallada, Dr Luis Gomes, Dr Zsuzsanna Varga (University of Glasgow) shared some thoughts on issues involved in teaching ab initio. Their approaches were quite innovative, as in the teaching of Portuguese for beginners, where students are highly discouraged from writing at the initial stage of their learning because of potential problems in pronunciation, arising from their reading. The teaching of Catalan time, different to conventional quarter-half an hour-hour division was made easy by employing a very visual method of ‘building a cheese’ divided into four quarters.

Introducing students to content in lesser taught languages - the examples of Chinese and Gaelic

Dr Julian Ward (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Sheila Kidd (University of Glasgow) shared some common problems in their experience of teaching Chinese and Gaelic, i.e. the absence of relevant texts to teach from in modern Chinese, problems of finding communities of native speakers for language practice in Gaelic, as well as availability of texts which often go out of print quickly. An innovative approach seems to be the introduction of Gaelic songs to ab initio groups.

Language taster sessions included the following options:

• British Sign Language - Rita McDade, Heriot Watt University
• Japanese - Douglas Bell, University of Aberdeen
• Latvian - Dace Praulins, University of Glasgow
• Polish - Aneta Stepien, University of Glasgow

I attended the Polish taster session run by Aneta Stepien. It was carefully structured and was very interactive. By the end of the class, we knew the alphabet, could read some common words in Polish and were even exchanging introductory dialogues! The lecturer also did a good job of introducing Polish culture (a quiz as an ice-breaker with famous Poles, inventions, and food for us to answer or guess). At the end she showed a short film about Polish culture which introduced the Edinburgh festival, where Polish culture is also represented. It was interesting to see the interaction of Scottish and Polish cultures, with Scots commenting on Poles and their culture in general. The film helped to make the people and culture of the language feel much richer and more real to participants.

Developing and Sustaining Expertise

Developing and sustaining expertise in Arabic, Turkish and Persian was discussed by Elisabeth Kendall, (University of Edinburgh). She was viewing it within the context of the Language-Based Area Studies Initiative, which, she argued, needs to accept much longer-term and broader goals. The speaker gave examples of existing projects in Arabic as part of her presentation.

Supporting Scotland's linguistic capital inside and outside universities: meeting the challenges and moving forward

An example of a programme run in Aberdeen until recently was shared by Philippe Couineaux, Aberdeen City Council. In many ways, it was an innovative approach to teaching French through theatrical performances and was much appreciated by the audience.

The event was brought to a close by Professor David Smith, Co-Director of Department of Central and East European Studies of the University of Glasgow.