LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Pedagogic research: Issues in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

- 7 October 2005

This article outlines issues about the status and nature of pedagogic research in the present intellectual and evaluative environment of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.

LATCOF: Lessons from a secondary/sixth-form - HE consultative forum for language teachers

Jocelyn Wyburd and Elinor Chicken and John Doherty - 11 January 2005

The University of Manchester has hosted a forum for dialogue between tertiary and secondary language teachers to share pedagogic and curricular experiences and realities with the aim of facilitating student progression and bridging the secondary-tertiary 'gaps'. Participants have been surveyed to assess the impact of the dialogue process on them and their practice and to start to identify issues of broader relevance to the sector as a whole. This paper reports the experience of participants and responses to the survey.

Teachers' roles and training in intercultural education

Inma Álvarez and Cecilia Garrido - 11 January 2005

Foreign language degree programmes have been engaged, more than ever, in an active dialogue with other disciplines. In addition, these programmes can now be delivered in various environments. These recent developments have enhanced the learning experience, but they have also highlighted important implications for the roles and responsibilities of foreign language teachers. Here the authors summarise their investigation into the extent to which new approaches to foreign language teaching have had an impact on current established models of teacher education, and in particular, on how effectively the intercultural agenda has been incorporated in language teacher education programmes.

Setting the context, highlighting the importance: Reflections on interculturality and pedagogy

- 6 April 2004

This is a report on the IALIC/Subject Centre Pedagogical Forum on "Intercultural Lessons: Locating the intercultural in an educational context". It highlights the importance of interculturality in pedagogy. It addresses how teachers are developing curricula and unpacking learning moments which challenge students to reflect critically on their own lived experience. The classroom should be the place where both cognitive and affective challenge materializes, and where both teachers and learners can take the opportunity to reflect on one's response. The Forum, too, was a space for reflection and challenge, and a valued opportunity for the exploration of interculturality and pedagogy.

Justifying selected uses of the learners first language in the foreign language classroom within communicative language teaching

Jeanne Rolin-Lanziti - 6 February 2003

The main objectives of the paper are: to contribute to the current methodological debate about the use of the learners' first language in foreign language teaching; to base the discussion on the examination of teacher classroom practices; to advocate the introduction of a controlled use of L1 in the foreign language classroom, through a careful consideration of variables such as materials and linguistic targets.

Mono- and multilingual reading circles

Tony Shannon-Little and Veronica Brock and Ana Martiarena - 6 February 2003

This paper aims to: describe the research and findings; explore issues around this type of task in HE; describe a small-scale research project to encourage students to read and discuss extensively outside class time.

Spanish students in British universities: developing a support resource to improve their academic writing skills

Maria Carmen Gil Ortega - 5 February 2003

A substantial number of Spanish students enter British universities each year. Those students, like other international students, have to adapt not only to a new academic environment, but also to a new culture and a new way of communicating in a language that is not their native one. This piece of PhD research has analysed the difficulties that Spanish students have to face when studying in higher education in Britain.

Text Modification in Foreign Language Teaching

Rocio Ortega de Toro - 20 December 2002

The key points to the paper: introduction: research in progress; the importance of reading comprehension; authentic vs. modified: previous studies; criteria for modifications; preparations for the first experiment; conclusions so far.

Using the Virtual Campus for language learning: A case study in pedagogical and practical approach to using ICT

Anu Bissonauth-Bedford and Tricia Coverdale-Jones - 18 December 2002

This paper considers the ways in which a learning platform can be used for language classes within the higher education context. The platform, the Virtual Campus, incorporates a number of features and facilities including the use of the multimedia platform for final year French materials, and the discussion lists for second-year students of English as a Foreign Language. In an attempt to explore possible ways in which information and communications technology (ICT) could be used in an innovative manner in the final level French classes, a research project was piloted at the University of Lincoln (formerly the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside) in 2000-2001.

Task-based learning

Martin Bygate - 18 October 2002

Tasks have a major role within language pedagogy, for educational as well as linguistic reasons. Courses studying task-based learning tend to explore the topic in terms of five major themes - the basis for using tasks; empirical research into tasks; in terms of socio-cultural and cognitive approaches; tasks and interpersonal engagements; tasks and tests; and task complexity. The entry summarises the range of teaching procedures that can be used to study the topic.

Design of a pedagogic grammar

- 18 October 2002

The main elements which influence the design of a pedagogic grammar are the audience (first language background, level of existing knowledge, knowledge of terminology), linguistic theory and learning theory.

WWW-based stylistics teaching

Mick Short - 27 September 2002

This paper describes the development of an interactive, learning should be fun, WWW-based introductory undergraduate course in stylistics and a pedagogical experiment to be undertaken involving the course. The WWW-based course is itself derived from a more traditional lecture-seminar course and the aim is to compare student reactions to, and performance on, the two different versions of the course. The pedagogical principles underlying the two versions of the course are discussed, as well as the design of the experiment. Stylistics teachers in other HE institutions are invited to take part in the pedagogical experiment.

Education and linguistics

- 27 September 2002

This article considers the relationship between linguistics and education. It outlines the key differences between the two disciplines, briefly summarises the history of linguistics within Education teaching in HE, and lists the ways in which linguistics informs both general educational practice, and the methodology of teaching languages.