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Languages, linguistics and area studies students in the National Student Survey 2010
The attached document displays the results of the 2010 National Student Survey in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.

Languages, linguistics and area studies students in the National Student Survey 2009: an analysis by subject and gender
This analysis was undertaken by Gosia Kulej-Turner, a consultant employed by the Higher Education Academy.

Guide to languages, linguistics and area studies in the National Student Survey

The National Student Survey is a census of final year undergraduate students in the UK. Conducted since 2005, the 2009 survey asks students 22 questions about their learning experience at university. Each institution's results are broken down by discipline and made publicly available on the Unistats website.

Online self-study - the way forward
The author describes the "e-packs", as developed by London Metropolitan University, and the rationales behind them. Developed for online use by autonomous language learners, they are also used to supplement taught classes. Although the e-packs have been successful, the author reports that tighter integration with taught material would be beneficial and that both learner and teacher training would be necessary to secure this.

Online languages and reflective learning
This paper describes a programme of university language courses, delivered as a combination of both online and face-to-face teaching. The authors believe that the approach taken can promote learner reflection. Evaluation studies reported a good level of student satisfaction and focus groups indicated an increased quality of student work. Further work to foster greater reflection is discussed.

Widening horizons: Charting progress the Aston way
This paper discusses Aston University's Widening Participation project, providing pathways into the University via Foundation Degrees, with a view to creating a new service and knowledge-based workforce in the Birmingham region. Languages form an important part of the knowledge economy and the Languages For Life project, launched in 2001, is described. Current Aston undergraduates are recruited as ambassadors for local schools and a supporting conference was held. Ways in which the project can be developed further are discussed.

Go forth and multiply: the University of Ulster (UU) experience of extending language provision at Magee Campus
Magee Campus has developed new diplomas and undergraduate degree courses in modern languages in response to the perceived decline in demand for language places at university level. This article will assess circumstances prevailing in Northern Ireland with regard to language provision, then examine the specific experience of language provision at UU, the Magee campus in particular: previous language provision, centred around one course, has been extended to combine with new options from subjects within Arts, Business, Social and Health Sciences. It will reflect on the reservations of some languages staff and others to this new association. It offers an insight into the changes and pressures imposed on languages staff UK-wide, within - as reflected in the title - an environment of adapt or perish.

Before navigating: Grief and the new landscape for Languages
This paper engages critically with the futures we are presently imagining in terms of the language of 'employability', 'service teaching', and 'skills'. It engages the energy of grief as of key structural import and argues that for us to learn to navigate anew, for us to be people who language and who bring the intellectual delight and the trouble of languages to life, in the university, then collective grief and the sense of loss are not marginal affairs. Indeed, the authors argue, this is the ground from which innovation, hope and imagination grow.

Undergraduate Language programmes: A personal perspective
Undergraduate language programmes that lead to qualified teacher status may be an interesting, alternative route into teaching, especially for students who do not match the typical profile. Such students, who tend to be older and to have interesting work and life experiences, are a valuable addition to our languages classrooms

Ab initio language teaching in Scottish universities
This paper is based on a research project which reviewed the provision and operation of a range of ab initio language courses in Scottish universities. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews helped sketch a picture of the Scottish situation. It was found that the current provision demonstrates a number of features highlighted in earlier UK research and that it is possible for students who start as beginners to exit as successful Honours graduates in the language. It may be, however, that the success of these students depends on a curriculum that is not appropriate for all students who take an ab initio course.

'Sharing Words': Conversation, collaboration and cultural connections
This paper examines the way in which native speakers of taught languages can be mobilised by universities for use in outreach activities. The authors suggest an empowering approach to facilitate cross-cultural communication. A questionnaire following such a scheme was administered to AS and A2 students, the results of which showed several benefits to the learners.

New contexts for university languages: the Bologna Process, globalisation and employability
So far, the Bologna Process is changing university studies in all countries except the UK. However, the author posits that the globalisation and commercialisation of HE may overtake the Bologna agenda and goes on to discuss this paradox. Prior strategies for emphasising employability have perhaps been badly-implemented and so suggestions for future improvement are included.