LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Teach for Success: supporting international students in the classroom
Event date: 15 February, 2012
Location: MHG15 Main House, Bath Spa University

Intercultural dialogue: the way forward
Event date: 11 April, 2008 - 12 April, 2008
Location: at-Bristol, Bristol, UK

Interpersonal skills across cultures (21 June 06)
Event date: 21 June, 2006
Location: CILT, London

IALIC/Subject Centre Pedagogical Forum (13 Nov 2004)
Event date: 13 November, 2004
Location: Dublin City University, Republic of Ireland

Resources and activities for developing intercultural competence (26 Nov 2003)
Event date: 26 November, 2003
Location: CILT,

IALIC/Subject Centre Pedagogical Forum (16 Dec 2003)
Event date: 16 December, 2003
Location: George Fox Building, Lancaster University

Area Studies conference (24 March 2004)
Event date: 29 March, 2004 - 30 March, 2004
Location: Woburn House, 20 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HB

Interdisciplinarity and inter-cultural learning in Area Studies curricula
Event date: 6 May, 2003
Location: CILT, London

Intercultural learning and the role of visual media
Event date: 31 January, 2003
Location: CiLT

LARA Workshops
Event date: 6 March, 2002
Location: CILT, London

Languages and war
'Foreign Affairs are no longer really foreign. What happens elsewhere increasingly affects us at home' (Jack Straw). This paper argues that there is a (so far) hidden languages history in international events. Using material on wars and occupation from 1943 up to Iraq today, the paper examines how foreign languages have been (and are being) represented in international conflict situations, looking at such questions as: how are participants in a conflict prepared linguistically? What importance do languages have in the process of occupation/regime change? What role do interpreters/translators have 'on the ground'? The paper concludes that the ways in which languages are represented in conflicts are key to our understanding of international relations today, and have important public policy implications.

Education for Sustainable Development: Languages and Sustainability
Alison Phipps discusses how an education for sustainability might be fostered within the field of languages and intercultural studies. This is part of the Subject Centre's Education for Sustainable Development Project.

Identifying student needs for the year abroad preparation
The author examines student needs in preparing for the year abroad, looking at the relationship between metacognitive learning strategies and linguistic development during the year abroad, and how students' subjectivities relate to their linguistic development. The author summarises her findings by producing a list of steps that would ideally be included in a year abroad preparation course.

Teachers' roles and training in intercultural education
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.

A Snapshot of Intercultural Communication Courses: An International Analysis
This essay reflects upon an ongoing study by Lengel and Talkington (2003) examining intercultural communication course outlines in order to determine the current status of the field of intercultural communication within the U.S.A., its territories, Britain, and Western Europe. The essay focuses on four key assessment questions about those courses, with particular attention given to languages and intercultural communication, and to critical intercultural communication studies.

Why the UK Needs Area Studies
This keynote speech was originally presented at the Area Studies Project conference: Understanding the world: Developing interdisciplinary area studies to meet the needs of the 21st century. The day began with an impassioned plea by former UK Ambassador to Iraq Sir Harold Walker that it is in the national interest that Area Studies programmes are maintained in the UK. In light of current events in Iraq and Afghanistan it is imperative that universities produce graduates who understand the languages and cultures of regions such as the Middle East.

Critical incidents across cultures

The paper describes a critical incident development project that took place in an intercultural communications course in Hong Kong. In this experiential program, students developed two critical incidents. One focused on the perspective of a Hong Konger who had experienced a confusing or troubling encounter with an American/Canadian; the other one required them to interview a sojourner from the States/Canada to write about a cross-cultural incident that the interviewee found confusing in Hong Kong. The project heightened the students’ awareness of their own culture and the ways in which differing expectations, values, and behavior can affect communication across cultures.

Developing intercultural competence for the knowledge society: The Open University A buen puerto website

This paper aims to provide evidence of how ICT can contribute to the development of inter-cultural competence and develop the sense of belonging to a learning community in the context of distance education.

Resources and activities for developing intercultural competence
Organised through CILT's partnership with the Subject Centre, the next in a series of resources events will take place at CILT, home of the Higher Education Resources Collection, on 26 November 2003. Previous events have looked at the use of virtual environments for language teaching, resources for the teaching and learning of linguistics, commercialising home-grown materials and resources to support institution-wide language programmes. The next event in this series will look at resources and activities for developing intercultural competence.

Intercultural Learning and the role of Visual Media
Workshop: 31st January, CILT, Covent Garden, London

Politeness
Politeness theory is currently attracting a great interest amongst scholars and is developing at breakneck speed. Notions of politeness are perhaps best taught using a pincer movement combining intellectual understanding (through linguistics lectures) and practical exercises (in language classes).

Intercultural issues in foreign language learning and ethnographic approaches to study abroad
The article outlines current emphases on interculturality, ideas of the 'intercultural speaker' and revised approaches to language-and-culture learning. Related research activity in the UK is described. The content and method of ethnographic courses for language learners are outlined and there is detailed consideration of the implications for learners and teachers of ethnographic preparation for periods of residence abroad.

Work and Study Abroad
This website is the product of the FDTL Residence Abroad Project (University of Portsmouth) and was produced in collaboration with the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. It contains advice for both staff and students and includes a taxonomy of objectives devised by Professor Jim Coleman (Project Director) which covers the following aspects of Residence Abroad: Academic; Cultural; Intercultural; Linguistic; Personal; Professional.

Spanish: accelerated reading and writing in Spanish
The materials are devoted to the development of lexical structures in Spanish. They contain explanations, descriptions and exercises which will help the learner build up a solid lexical structure. The coursebook is made of 15 dual units (Spanish-English) for accelerated vocabulary acquisition. During the first 10 units the most productive processes for word recognition and word derivation are presented. The second 5 units add more advanced passages, taken from the literature of the Spanish-speaking world, and present vocabulary of high frequency and practical use. The materials in the course go from survival to Advanced Creative Spanish. The first 10 units consist of a Basic Passage, based on survival lexicon and intercultural issues, followed by a Reading Passage connected in topic but at a higher level. The last 5 units present a more literary style followed by practical exercises aimed at using this type of structures and vocabulary.