LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Runner-up of the student award 2010: My future employability: the benefits of a languages, linguistics or area studies degree

Ciaran Roe, a 4th year Italian and English Literature student at the University of Edinburgh, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student award competition 2010.

Winner of the student award: Encouraging school pupils to study languages, linguistics or area studies at university

The winner of the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2010 is Daniel Finch-Race, a 3rd year Modern European Languages student at the University of Edinburgh. Daniel’s winning entry is a promotional article aimed at encouraging school pupils to study languages, linguistics or area studies at university.

Autonomous acquisition of Italian culture within language learning: the experience of CAMILLE (Cultural Awareness Modules to Improve Language Learning Experience)

This contribution focuses on an innovative e-learning project recently initiated at the University of Manchester. CAMILLE (Cultural Awareness Modules to Improve Language Learning Experience) aims to design, develop and implement innovative e-learning resources to enhance students’ awareness of Italian culture (understood in the widest sense) in support of their language learning experience. The paper presents some of the content and resources that have been developed for the project, and discusses how this innovative e-learning approach to teaching Italian culture fits into the language learning experience of different groups of students.

Liaison interpreting as a teaching technique for Italian

This article is based on my own experience as a tutor of liaison interpreting as a final-year option in the Department of Italian, Leeds University. First, a definition of liaison interpreting will be given, followed by a short comparison between liaison and consecutive as well as simultaneous interpreting.  Particular attention will be dedicated to how liaison interpreting can be a very useful method of language teaching.  Afterwards, I will talk about how this module is delivered in the Department of Italian, Leeds University.  Issues such as group size, methodology adopted to deliver the module, strategies and skills that are necessary to teach this subject will be underlined. I will discuss the importance of giving regular feedback and the types of feedback which may be most useful to students on this type of module.  Lastly, this paper will deal with assessment procedures and difficulties encountered by students/problems specific to Italian.  The conclusion will underline the benefits of this course as a learning and teaching exercise as well as a way of encouraging students to consider further training leading to a possible career in interpreting.

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

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.

Plans and e-plans: integrating personal development planning into the languages curriculum
This paper will illustrate how the integration of voice tools and subtitling software in conjunction with the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) into the teaching and learning of Italian have enabled staff at Coventry University to explore innovative ways of delivering the syllabus and created more opportunities for students to engage with work-related activities and simulations in line with the government's drive towards an employability agenda for HE. The presentation will also show how the new tools have boosted students engagement and motivation. The major features of the voice tools and subtitling software will be demonstrated and examples will be given of activities carried out with learners of Italian from absolute beginner to advanced level. Examples will also be given on how the voice tools could be used to create spoken entries for an e-portfolio.

Developing online self-access materials for subject specific language courses at an advanced level (SAM Project)
The Language Centre at the University of Bristol is committed to providing students with up-to-date and innovative learning opportunities. Over the course of the academic year 2004-2005 the applied foreign language team developed a range of online language learning materials in French, German, Italian and Japanese for Engineers, Scientists and Social Scientists studying language at advanced and intermediate levels.

Content and language integrated university course: A task-based approach
The presentation discusses the results of an experimental study carried out at UCL, Italian Department, aiming at finding an acquisitional model in order to abolish the barrier between content courses and language courses through a task-based approach to teaching/learning, and at creating a bridge between language and content courses. The presentation shows how an input, relevant to the learner (i.e. related to content courses) to be processed through tasks, raises motivation and allows a rapid interlanguage change and development. Results of a two year experiment will be presented, acquisitional models will be discussed and operational solutions will be proposed.

The gruppo 62 Italian project: undergraduate collaboration between the universities of Hull and Leeds

This paper reports quite briefly on a project in progress, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) through the Collaboration Programme in Modern Languages proposed by the University Council for Modern Languages (UCML) and directed by Professor David Robey.

Challenging cultural stereotypes through contemporary Italian films

This paper aims to demonstrate how cinema, as a visual aid, provides insights into contemporary Italian culture and society and at the same time how it can bring students into direct contact with an authentic use of Italian language and idioms.

Student study day: analysing Dante's poetry
Event date: 6 December, 2008
Location: Leeds Humanities Research Institute, University of Leeds

Italian: Le Varietà dell'italiano

Materials for advanced (post A-levels) students of Italian which comprise a language package which focuses on the varieties of the Italian language. The aim is to develop students' awareness of the different registers of the standard language, of the main features of regional Italian, of the linguistic tools employed in the sectoral language and of the most significant linguistic aspects that characterize the speech of a number of selected Italian films.

Italian: E-pack (sample)
These materials represent a sample of the interactive online exercises developed at London Metropolitan University for beginners in Italian. 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.

Language Testing: Dialang: Diagnostic Tests for Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish

DIALANG offers validated tests of different language skills, together with a range of feedback and expert advice on how to improve your skills. It also offers scientifically validated self-assessment activities and allows users to determine their language level, strengths and weaknesses as well as to increase their awareness of current skills and of what it means to know a language. It has been developed by more than 20 major European institutions, with the backing of the European Commission and is based on the Council of Europe's "Common European Framework of reference", which has become established throughout Europe as the most widely recognized frame of reference in the field of language learning.

Italian degrees under threat at Exeter
An article on the BBC news website, 24th November 2004, reports that Exeter University students have met the vice-chancellor to air their concerns over proposed closures of some courses. Italian is among the courses under threat.