LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Survey of 'non-specialist' language learners

LLAS with support from UCML are carrying out a survey on the motivations of 'non-specialists' studying languages in UK higher education and the languages and types of study on offer. The survey has been funded by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

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

Storm clouds with a silver lining: New opportunities for language programmes
Although university language programmes have undergone many difficulties during recent years, there have also been success stories. In this paper, the author balances the negative and the positive, encourages institutions to face the commercial argument head-on and provides a list of perspectives which language course providers can use to promote take-up.

Making languages pay - academic integrity and commercial reality
Over recent years, university language programmes have, by necessity, increased the emphasis on revenue-generating activity, which in some cases may be seen as creating a division between the academic and the non-academic. Here, the author shows out some of the benefits that this can bring, via three case studies, and makes the point that increased commercialisation can strengthen the foundations for future development.

Mono- and multilingual reading circles

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.

LICS from CATS - a managed approach to the curriculum

This paper discusses how reviewing the curriculum can help in dealing with some of the pressures faced by language departments; considers how the needs of many kinds of students can be incorporated into, and satisfied by, a unified curriculum; considers how the Common European Framework can be used for Curriculum Review.

An integrated on-line/classroom-based language-learning environment

The University of Cambridge believes that languages should be available to all, and has decided that the best way to nurture the learning of languages is to integrate classroom teaching with on-line learning. This paper describes the language programme (CULP) that the University runs.

French: E-pack (sample)
These materials represent a sample of the interactive online exercises developed at London Metropolitan University for beginners in French. The exercises combine sound, image and text in a single activity and provide instant feedback. They cover the main language learning skills of listening, reading, writing and grammar and involve a variety of activities, such as matching, reordering and games.

General introduction to modern languages in today's UK universities
Drawing on a wide range of official data, this survey provides a clear, comprehensive and reliable picture of student numbers in LLAS between 1994 and 2001. It reveals a significant downwards trend in some subject areas, particularly with respect to the uptake of certain single subject degrees, but shows that this is balanced by growth elsewhere and by an increasing variety in available subject combinations. The article explains how the figures are derived, and their limitations (especially for combined subjects). An appendix analyses key factors in student choice and highlights areas in which myth (e.g. exam difficulty) may prevail over an encouraging reality (employability).

Institution wide language programmes
Institution Wide Language Programmes emerged in the 1980s to 'service' growing demand for tuition from non-specialist language learners. Today they operate in various guises in the majority of UK universities. Many report buoyant numbers, but they are financially exposed for organisational and funding reasons. The best examples of IWLPs succeed in offsetting a natural tendency to uniformity through clever design of modules and by making available a wide range of resources, often through a Language Centre, to meet individual needs.

The Languages Box

Resources for Institution Wide Language Programmes
Event date: 12 December, 2001
Location: CILT, London