LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Call for contributions: European Journal of Language Policy

Proposals are invited for contributions to the European Journal of Language Policy / Revue européenne de politique linguistique, which is published by Liverpool University Press, in association with the Conseil européen pour les langues / European Language Council, and edited by Michael Kelly (University of Southampton, UK).

Call for papers - special issue of Language Learning Journal

Papers are invited for a forthcoming special issue of the Language Learning Journal, the official journal of the Association for Language Learning (ALL), on Languages of the Wider World: Valuing Diversity.

MPs reveal language skills
An article on the BBC news website, 14th May 2004, reveals the languages politicians speak - and those they would like to speak.

Head teachers call for compulsory languages
A BBC article, on 13th Oct 2003, reports that head teacher have said Foreign languages should be compulsory for sixth formers doing the diploma that is set to replace A-levels and GCSEs.

Languages tough out hard times
An article in the Australian, on 15th October 2003, discusses the status of various languages in Australian Higher Education.

The language of success
A news article in the Independent, on 9th October 2003, states that new research shows that children who speak at least two languages do better at school than those who speak only one. Why is it, then, that so many teachers still see multilingualism as a problem rather than an asset?

ECML Call for proposals 2004-2007
The European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML) in Austria deadline for submission is 30 June 2003. The second medium-term programme of the ECML will be running from 2004 to 2007 and is placed under the title: “Languages for social cohesion: language education in a multilingual and multicultural Europe”.

Consultation: language learning and linguistic diversity
As a part of its ongoing work to promote a multilingual Europe, the European Commission is undertaking a public consultation about language learning and linguistic diversity in Europe.

Promoting and evaluating the use of the ELP (9 Feb 2004)
Event date: 9 February, 2004
Location: CILT,

The End of Babel? Meeting the Challenge of global English in a Multilingual Society
Event date: 26 September, 2001
Location: University of Southampton

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.

Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the norm in the world, monolingualism is an exception. Language and nationalism, language dominance, language loss and shift are characteristics of multilingual nations, in particular those with a colonial history.

Bilingualism / multilingualism
The approach to the topic will depend on the target audience. Students of Linguistics do not necessarily have an indepth knowledge of a foreign language, which can make it more difficult for them to understand what it means to be bilingual/multilingual. They may benefit from an approach which stresses the similarities between being bidialectal and bilingual. Students of Modern Languages are often better able to understand what it means to use two or more languages in daily life. With these students it is possible and preferable to study concrete examples of bilingual speech.