LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

The Languages of the Wider World CETL

- 15 May 2007

The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), Languages of the Wider World (LWW) is hosted jointly by the School for African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) and University College London (UCL). Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), it was set up in 2005 and is one of only two CETLs in the UK devoted to language learning and teaching and learning.

Promoting less-widely-taught languages. The outreach experience of the Foreign Language Awareness Group for Schools (FLAGS)

- 21 February 2007

In the current downward trend in the uptake of languages, and especially of less-widely-taught languages, FLAGS aims at enthusing sixth-formers with an interest in either Italian, Russian and / or Portuguese through a series of language sessions delivered through the Virtual Learning Environment WebCT. Pupils' progress is aided and monitored by University students, who act as language facilitators on a weekly basis. This paper assesses the outcomes at the end of the first year of FLAGS' life, as well as the challenges met during the project's setting-up period and throughout its duration.

Case study: The Cultural Twist Project: a language learning framework with cultural awareness activities

- 29 August 2006

The Cultural Twist Project attempted to offer solutions to the problems of 'Less Widely Used Lesser Taught Language (LWULT)' teachers (i.e. academic isolation, lack of expertise and materials) by providing a Cultural Awareness Materials Development Workshop and the Cultural Twist Website. The workshop provided the participants with cultural experience and helped them discover for themselves their implicit assumptions and sense of values that underlie their language use. Using the evaluation criteria and materials development framework, teachers were guided to produce their own language teaching materials with cultural awareness elements in them. The website was designed to offer all the necessary tools, sample materials, and useful links.

An introduction to South Asian Studies in the United Kingdom

Vibha Arora - 22 September 2005

The efflorescence of South Asian Studies in Higher Education is evident in the range and number of taught and research degrees, the number of language courses, and the popularity of South Asian options within other courses that are offered by Colleges and Universities in the United Kingdom. This article gives an overview of the range of options available to a student at the undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree level, lists the major centres of teaching and research on South Asian Studies, indicates the range of resources available for research and highlights the principal networks of academic exchange and research in the United Kingdom and the world.