Materials development project

The Subject Centre's Materials Bank has been set up to encourage and facilitate the sharing of teaching materials in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. The Subject Centre is currently seeking to expand and develop this resource and has made funds available for the development of additional materials for the Bank.

After a competitive bidding process in Autumn 2004, the materials development project is currently funding the following seven projects.

Graded exercises to develop knowledge/awareness of the structure and function of English Language

Jill Cosh, Principal Lecturer, English Language
Anglia Polytechnic University

Graded exercises to develop knowledge/awareness of the structure and function of English Language

  • Glossary of terms
  • Diagnostic/self-assessment tasks
  • Word level and morphology tasks e.g. noun, countable noun, auxiliary verb etc.
  • Sentence structure//function tasks e.g. noun phrase, subject, complement etc.
  • Communicative/discourse function tasks e.g. how the present perfect aspect is used and why
  • Text analysis tasks applying the above to the analysis of simple texts
  • Error analysis recognition of common errors

Go the english grammar exercises

A language package which focuses on the varieties of the Italian language

Dr Cecilia Goria, Italian Language Tutor and Marisa Marmo, Italian Language Tutor
University of Nottingham

Linguistic analysis of material representative of the different varieties of Italian.

  • Colloquial vs. formal registers
  • The speech of the youth
  • The language of the media
  • The language of technology
  • Regional Italian with reference to the main dialectal varieties
  • The language of a selection of Italian films

University Challenge: a short orientation and listening course for international students

Roger Smith, Language Centre ~Deputy Director and Jo Parsons, Language Centre eLanguage Learning Co-ordinator
University of Bristol

Four short modules, each featuring a key study task: writing essays, understanding lectures, participating in seminars and tutorials, and reading/research skills.

Processing Instruction: grammar activities for Spanish and German

Dr Emma Marsden, Lecturer in Second Language Education
University of York

Four packages, two in each of two languages, relative pronouns and expression of possession in Spanish (Level 4) and gender agreement in noun phrases and adverb placement in German.

Presentation skills for international students

Rosemary Jane, Senior University Tutor
University of Portsmouth

Video: the basic structure of an academic presentation including useful words and phrases, signposting, the use of notes v. reading from a script, the importance of key content words.

Case Studies for learners of Business Spanish

Catherine McMahon, Lecturer in Spanish
Glasgow Caledonian University

Set of materials consisting of 4 case studies centred around 4 different branded Spanish and/or Latin American based products/companies recognisable to learners of Business Spanish.

Online resources for the teaching of British Sign Language

Helen Phillips and Mark Heaton, BSL/Deaf Studies Lecturers
University of Central Lancashire

A range of online visual, picture / photograph based materials for language teaching.