LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Higher Education Academy Discipline-based workshop - Workshop news

The University of Hull, Department of Modern Languages
Tuesday 8 May 2012

The British Council would like to highlight this unique opportunity for schools to have a FREE Chinese Language Assistant (CLA) in their school for the 2012-13 year.

Spreading the word on Modern Language learning and teaching research

http://researchml.wordpress.com/

LLAS has been awarded funding from the British Academy to write an online statistics textbook for humanities students.

LLAS has produced its well-known 'Why study languages...?' calendar in a monthly, downloadable format

Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education, edited By Paula Jones, David Selby and Stephen Sterling.

Classics in the Subject Centre (CSC) at the Higher Education Academy is supporting research for a project entitled: Mapping Internationalisation in the Classics.

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).

The call for nominations for the individual awards of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) is now open, with a closing date of 3 February 2010. The awards aim to raise the profile of learning and teaching in England and Northern Ireland.

Baroness Cousins has won a ballot for a 15 minute speech followed by debate in the House of Lords on languages for employability on 3rd December at 11:30.

The QCDA are currently looking for HE lecturers who would like to be involved in reviewing principal learning qualifications. The feedback from HE lecturers has always been well regarded by awarding bodies and their involvement will help to ensure that the qualifications are as robust as possible, and hence more likely to be successful. All HE lecturers receive a £250 honorarium following completion of the review and attendance at the focus groups.

The Centre of Excellence in Multimedia Language Learning (CEMLL) is conducting a survey on the use of multimedia technologies in language teaching as a follow up to the survey undertaken with The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies in 2006.

The Higher Education Academy’s ESD Project invites applications for the funding of small grants designed to develop small-scale work in the area of interdisciplinarity.

The Higher Education Academy is working to establish a network for academics working in Islamic Studies. We are seeking an Academic Coordinator with the skills and experience to manage this work and lead a team of colleagues from across the Academy. Responsibilities will include managing the project, coordinating the Network, communicating and reporting to stakeholders - which includes Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and acting as a spokesperson for this important project.

The (LAGB) Linguistics Association of Great Britain would like to invite those of you who teach first-year undergraduates to take part in a very brief audit of school-leavers' (explicit) grammatical knowledge. The audit uses a short two-part questionnaire which was first used in 1986, then again in 1997, so the results will reveal long-term trends as well as informing your teaching.

A new publication called The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy, edited by Arran Stibbe was funded by the Higher Education Academy for Sustainable Development Project and conducted by the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire Centre for Active Learning, the University of Brighton and the UNU RCE (Severn).

The Language and Film Talent Awards (LAFTAs) is a competition for 13-21 year olds, run by CILT, the National Centre for Languages.

A revamped version of the Council of Europe's European Day of Languages website, including a restructured EDL calendar of events, has been launched.

Following recommendations from HEFCE, a team from across the Higher Education Academy's subject network is working to build a national Islamic Studies network.

From October 2009 (SOAS) the School of Oriental and African Studies in association with the Languages of the Wider World CETL will be running a new Postgraduate Certificate in teaching languages of the wider world.

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) call for 2009-10 project bids is now available.

A review has been commissioned by HEFCE to investigate the health of modern foreign languages provision in English higher education (HE).

The Higher Education Academy is tendering to contract an individual to lead in the establishment and ongoing development of the TALIS project in association with the Prime Minister's Initiative and UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA).
 

The work of the Faroes project is coming to an end - to be taken forward in a new project (OneShare). To celebrate the hard work and help of the language-teaching community in helping us to develop the Language Box, the project are running a competition with £1000 worth of prizes to be won!

In memory of Dr Vivien Law (1954-2002), and thanks to her generosity, a prize has been established for the best essay submitted on any topic within the history of linguistics. The closing date for submissions is 30 September.

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).

The Centre for Excellence in Multimedia Language Learning (CEMLL) invites proposals for the development of projects that facilitate language teaching and learning in a multimedia laboratory.

LLAS runs an annual student essay competition open to anyone studying languages, linguistics or area studies as part of their HE course.

Do you teach philosophical or religious studies (PRS) outside a dedicated PRS department? The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies (PRS) are beginning a scoping study of PRS provision in non-PRS departments. (‘PRS’ subjects include philosophy; theology; religious studies; history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine.

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.

Début: The Undergraduate Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies is an online peer-reviewed journal for undergraduate students of languages, linguistics and area studies. It aims to showcase scholarship carried out by undergraduate students in these subject areas. The first issue was launched in June 2010.

The Centre for Excellence in Multimedia Language Learning at the University of Ulster aims to develop appropriate teaching methods that fully engage students in their own learning through the integration of Information and Communication Technology into classroom teaching. The Centre would like to invite proposals for the development of projects that would facilitate language teaching and learning in a multimedia laboratory. Project proposals are welcome from individuals as well as teams. Successful applicants will receive an award of a maximum of £3000, depending on the scope of the project. This funding may used for development of course materials or software creation, for example.

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) invites institutions to submit funding proposals for projects to be funded through an additional strand of its Digitisation Programme. This particular strand, which has funding of up to £2 million, is aimed at developing the range and quality of digital resources available to the JISC community by digitising analogue collections and enhancing existing digital collections for use in learning, teaching and research.

Time is running out to nominate an outstanding language initiative to receive a European Award for Languages. The deadline for this year’s Awards is 1 February 2008. The most innovative language initiatives will receive one of the prestigious awards, which recognise creativity in improving the quality of language teaching, and the ability to motivate students and maximise available resources. The Award is part of a Europe-wide scheme supported by the European Commission, with CILT, the National Centre for Languages as the UK co-ordinator. Applications are invited from primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, universities, businesses and all other institutions engaged in innovative and effective foreign language teaching.

The winner of the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2008 is Siobhan Tebbs Wesley, a final year student studying a Combined Honours in Arts (Arabic, French, Russian and Sociology) at Durham University.

The individual strand of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) recognises and rewards individual excellence in teaching in higher education in England and Northern Ireland. Fifty individual awards of £10,000 will be made to recognise individual excellence. The award may be used for Fellows' personal and/or professional development in teaching and learning and aspects of pedagogy. Nominations for the NTFS Individual Awards 2008 are now open.

Proposals are invited for this year’s Workshop to Go programme. Workshops dealing with key themes for this year include assessment, supporting new staff and engaging with employers will be particularly welcome. The successful applicant will be required to produce a training pack and run two regional training sessions for HE staff. Participants at the workshop will then be expected to 'cascade' the training within their institutions.

The revised benchmark statements for Languages, Linguistics and related studies are now available for consultation.

CILT, along with its research partner, InterAct International, have now completed their research into the effects on the European economy of shortages of foreign language skills in enterprise.

CILT's SSDA-funded project to develop new National Occupational Standards in Translation is completed.

The Academy has developed a new Professional Recognition Scheme. The scheme has been designed to support the implementation of the sector-owned UK Professional Standards Framework.

In September 2006, the Secretary of State asked Lord Dearing to advise him on how a recovery from the falling take-up of Languages at Key Stage 4 might be achieved. The interim consultation and final report have now been published.

The HE Academy Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Group invites bids for up to £8,000 each for two small-scale projects. Practitioners from any discipline in UK higher education are welcome to apply.

The Routes into Languages Programme is a HEFCE funded initiative to increase and widen participation in language study in higher education. It also aims to support the national role of HE languages as a motor of economic and civic regeneration. The Programme has been developed by the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML), the HE Academy Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS) and CILT, the National Centre for Languages.

Funding targets greater understanding of China, Japan, Eastern Europe and Arabic-speaking world.

The Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT) is carrying out a survey aimed at all arts and humanities researchers in Higher Education Institutions in the UK. It aims to capture and analyse information about current use of information and communications technology (ICT) and future needs.

The HE Academy Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Group invites bids for up to £7,500 each for two small-scale projects. Practitioners from any discipline in UK higher education are welcome to apply.

The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies is inviting bids to develop training packs for enhancing staff and students in the relevant subject areas. The successful applicant will be required to produce a training pack and run two regional training sessions for HE staff. Participants at the workshop will then be expected to 'cascade' the training within their institutions.

Extracts from the House of Lords debate on what action the Government is taking to encourage British students in United Kingdom universities to study Middle Eastern and Central Asian languages (21 January 2004).

Atlas is the Area Studies Project Bulletin, published by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. It includes articles which provide examples of good practice, disseminate, news and publicises events of interest to the Area Studies community.

Free marketing materials available.

Unfortunately this event has been cancelled. The Subject Centre and the School of Art, Media & Design, University of Gloucester are looking for contributions to our forthcoming event on 1st November 2003. This conference is aimed at those who teach cultural material as part of Anglophone Area studies programmes in the Higher Education sector (particularly American, Australian and Canadian Studies) as well as those involved in teaching elements of Anglophone cultures in Education, Film, History, Media/Media Communications, Human Geography, Postcolonial Studies and Sociology courses. The focus of the conference is on classroom practice.

The monthly Subject Centre e-bulletin gives information on events, news items and newly available resources.

The monthly Subject Centre e-bulletin gives information on events, news items and newly available resources.

Download further information including project proposal form (rtf)

Congratulations to the following colleagues who are among the twenty lecturers from universities and colleges of higher education across England who have this week been awarded National Teaching Fellowships worth 50,000.

This report consists of a mapping survey of ab initio degree provision in England and Scotland.

A review of literature on Modern Foreign Languages and mobile learning at Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on the importance of the context on students’ learning experience

Modern Foreign Language departments at Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom are considered to be in a precarious situation, with declining enrolments on specialist language degree courses, in a context of an ever-increasing diversification of the student population.

At the same time, many universities have launched programmes and developed strategies to expand the use of e-learning and mobile learning within their departments with a view to maximise students’ learning experience.

This paper will define mobile learning in the context of Modern Foreign Languages and will consider the importance of the learning context, based on theories of collaborative learning.

India-Chloe Woof, a 3rd year French and Linguistics student at the University of Sheffield, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student award competition 2010.

Rosie Shimmin, a 4th year German and Politics student at Cardiff University, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student award competition 2010.

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.

Sarah Louise Badrock, a 1st year Middle Eastern and Modern European Language student at the University of Manchester, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student award competition 2010.

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.

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.

This paper was written by two students about the exciting and informative experience of studying phonetics at university.

This paper was written by a student about their experiences of studying 'typology' within their linguistics degree at university.

‘Marketing and the Media in France’ is a final-year undergraduate module which integrates the development of key or transferable skills with the acquisition of subject-specific knowledge (of marketing and the advertising media in France) and the development of all four language skills. This case study provides an outline of the module, its aims and assessment methods, introduces some of the resources used to support the module and reviews student responses regarding the challenges and benefits of integrating key skills into a final-year module as they prepare to make the transition into the world of work.

What is the place of linguistics and sociolinguistics in the undergraduate French programme? For 20 years, I taught a second-year undergraduate module (10 weeks, 2 hours/ week) on ‘The making of the modern French language’, chosen by about 20 students each year. The course was modified to take account of research, seminar discussions, students’ work, and feedback questionnaires. This description of the course is intended as an encouragement to colleagues teaching French to undergraduates to consider offering a course on similar (or different!) lines, or to consider including in an existing course some of the topics and/or approaches outlined here.

This paper presents a web-based, cross-cultural project designed to develop foreign language students’ awareness of both their own culture and the target culture. In addition to the cultural sensitising aspect of the project, students also benefited in terms of their language learning, in particular their reading and writing skills in the foreign language. This was a joint project with Karl-Franzens University, Graz.

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.

The Aimhigher Kent and Medway Languages Project was initiated in 2005 as a response to the growing concern about falling numbers of students choosing languages at GCSE and continuing with post-compulsory language study in an area (the Thames Gateway and the Channel area) where demographic changes and the proximity to the rest of Europe makes international opportunities relevant to its economic regeneration. The aim was to raise awareness of the potential of language learning and the importance of intercultural awareness among KS3 students in Aimhigher schools by increasing motivation and self-confidence through a programme of activities including interactive workshops and online social learning platforms. It also aims to raise aspirations and understanding of progression and careers in MFL among students and their families. The project is currently led by the Open University in the South East under the Aimhigher consortium, in collaboration with the University of Kent and eleven schools in Kent and Medway.

This paper describes a number of initiatives developed by the project, the results achieved so far, and the findings of the research into language perceptions that has been carried out in partner schools. The Languages Project aims to create a model which can be replicated elsewhere.

Every year the schools in the two national networks, translation and interpreting (NNT and NNI), receive representatives from various agencies who are looking into recruiting our postgraduate students not just for work in translation but in jobs classed as ‘translation projects’ where linguists are expected to fulfil such functions as project managers, terminologists, translators, localisers, revisers, editors and publishers. The interpreting services of international organisations talk to our students about remote and ‘chat room’ interpreting, where interpreters reproduce a verbal exchange on a computer screen. And if subtitling used to be exclusively the job of the translator with knowledge of specialised software, nowadays subtitling agencies are keen to recruit simultaneous interpreters. The discussion in this presentation will focus on the diversity of language services.

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.

The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies is coordinating a two-year European Socrates Lingua 1 funded project exploring informal and socially situated language learning for adults. The Language Café project draws on the existing and growing café culture around Europe and aims to create an expanding network of Language Cafés which take place in real cafes and other publicly accessible social spaces. This paper outlines the background to the Language Café project, reports on progress to date, and discusses the major successes and challenges encountered in setting up and sustaining a Language Café.

With the transition from school to Higher Education students are expected to adapt to a new learning environment and to new demands and expectations. As a consequence, during their first year in a Modern Languages Department some learners may have problems learning the language efficiently. They may either be unaware of the new demands, or have difficulties learning in the new situation. Based on the changes in the learning situation caused by the transition from school to university, I shall use a single case study in order to describe some possible negative effects of a mismatch between institutional and students' expectations on the motivational disposition of the students.

Training to be a teacher is a stressful undertaking but for trainee language teachers, whose linguistic skills are under constant and close scrutiny from mentors, tutors and pupils, this can be a particularly challenging time. Many students, for a variety of personal and professional reasons, allow their language competence and confidence to decline. This study investigates ways of reactivating lapsed language skills in the context of a PGCE programme where students have been invited to take part in a reflective activity to identify effective ways of regaining their former linguistic competence and to contemplate useful strategies to maximise their language memory and ways to develop effective learning styles. This research project is nearing the end of its initial stage and it is intended that the findings will form the basis for a guided learning programme for the next cohort of modern foreign languages trainee teachers.

This paper presents initiatives recently introduced at the University of Liverpool to engage employers in a range of activities in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies. The paper shows how employers have contributed to the School’s employability agenda outside of a formal career management module. It also demonstrates the importance of a partnership between an academic department and a careers service in order to develop and maintain links with employers.

When Erasmus and Study Abroad students come to the UK they are exposed to a great deal of language in their new environment. This exposure presents them with a wealth of listening opportunities, many of which can be exploited for learning and skills development. This paper explains why the Listening Log was introduced and what it entails. Samples of Listening Log entries will be used to illustrate how keeping a Listening Log can encourage learners to apply skills covered on the course and reflect on their own performance, thus achieving autonomy.

Amelia Villiers-Stuart, a 1st year French and English Literature student at the University of Edinburgh, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2009.

Vladislav Mackevic, a 2nd year International Relations and English student at Aston University, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2009.

Deborah Adams, 4th year Humanities with English Language student at the Open University, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2009.

The winner of the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2009 was Laura Gent, a 4th year Modern Languages student at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The SOAS-UCL CETL for ‘Languages of the Wider World’ (LWW CETL) aims to promote excellence in the teaching and learning of languages that do not have a large presence in higher education in the United Kingdom but which are of increasing strategic importance locally and globally. A key objective of the CETL is to support blended language learning, the combination of face-to-face learning and self-study, using multimedia materials.
LWW CETL has launched the Flexi-Pack project to create a whole range of mobile learning (M-learning) materials with a fully-integrated approach between traditional lessons and self-study. This paper will present the pedagogical rationale behind the Flexi-Packs and will also recommend further developments in relation to them (e.g., collaborative learning) in order to maximise students’ motivations.
 

This paper was written by a student about their experiences of studying linguistics at university.

This paper was written by a student about their experiences of studying linguistics at university.

Widening access to higher education has implications for modern foreign language learning, teaching and assessment. This paper addresses dilemmas when assessing increasingly diverse cohorts of students. It draws on analysis of questionnaires with 88 students taking free modules at ab initio level at University of Worcester in 2007-08. The aim was to study students’ previous language learning experiences. The paper considers the benefits and drawbacks of a portfolio-based approach to assessment, assessing students with visual impairment and dyslexia, and questions how to encourage students of diverse backgrounds to enter into language learning whilst maintaining rigorous standards of assessment.

To follow

Marta Dados, a second year French, Spanish and English student at the University of Glasgow, is a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2008.

Caroline Smith, a final year Linguistics student at the University of Cambridge, was a runner up in the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2008.

The winner of the Subject Centre's undergraduate student essay competition 2008 was Siobhan Tebbs Wesley, a final year student studying a Combined Honours in Arts (Arabic, French, Russian and Sociology) at Durham University.

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.

A number of small projects undertaken in this institution have assessed the extent to which Personal Development Planning enhances student learning and impacts on achievement and progression. Having provided an overview of PDP in the Languages Department, this paper will describe the support mechanisms in place (including the institutional Progress File) and provide statistical data comparing levels of engagement with PDP and overall student achievement. Staff and student perceptions of the value of PDP mechanisms in supporting independent learning will be reported and a pilot scheme for early induction to PDP processes evaluated.

This paper was presented at the joint LLAS - English Subject Centre event, Enhancing environmental awareness through Literatures, Languages and Area Studies. It provides an overview of possible opportunities for integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into languages and area studies curricula. It is a much-extended version of the report 'ESD: Report into activity of LLAS'.

This paper aims to explore differences in presenting picture-based narratives between two distinct language and cultural groups - native English students (ES) and native Chinese students (CS) whose L2 is English. It compares narratives in English L1, English L2 and Chinese L1. The degree of specificity and elaboration of ES and CS texts differs significantly in various aspects of orientation. ES texts are more specific in character identification, whereas CS texts are more specific in time orientation. The differences reflect the influence of L1 culture. Findings help raise writer's awareness of areas of differences when writing for readers of different cultures.

The following paper describes the module Observing Culture which is offered as part of the undergraduate language provision at Leeds Metropolitan University. The aim of the module is to prepare students for the year abroad and to enhance their cultural sensitivity by exploring shared cultural knowledge, values and beliefs. By observing and critically examining their own cultural practices, students are encouraged to become more aware of certain patterns under the surface of life, which should help them to gain a better understanding of their own and others' cultural worlds. The module incorporates an introduction to anthropological and sociolinguistic concepts, ethnographic research, reflective learning and ethnographic writing.

The main objectives of the paper are: to contribute to the current methodological debate about the use of the learners' first language in foreign language teaching; to base the discussion on the examination of teacher classroom practices; to advocate the introduction of a controlled use of L1 in the foreign language classroom, through a careful consideration of variables such as materials and linguistic targets.

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.

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.

The Language and Culture for Business (LCB) Programme at the University of Luton (UoL), partially funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), has designed innovative business language programmes targeted at Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and focused on widening access to learning for learners from rural areas and time challenged business students. In this paper we will report on the success of the LCB programmes in relation to academic achievement and qualifications, and discuss issues on 'Best Practice' related to two programmes: LCB’s Videoconferencing delivery which is the teaching and learning of business language skills via an inter-active two-way video link between tutor and learners, replicating a classroom situation. LCB’s ATLAS which is an on-line distance learning programme providing opportunities for independent learning in a networked environment.

A substantial number of Spanish students enter British universities each year. Those students, like other international students, have to adapt not only to a new academic environment, but also to a new culture and a new way of communicating in a language that is not their native one. This piece of PhD research has analysed the difficulties that Spanish students have to face when studying in higher education in Britain.

This paper aims to: demonstrate how a VLE has been exploited to include a variety of media and to provide a range of attractive learning materials to satisfy the needs of language learners; outline the practicalities & implications involved in setting up courses using a VLE; report on staff and student feedback on the project.

The paper aims to discuss: the use of an authoring package designed to produce interactive web-based CALL materials that integrate text and the spoken word; provide hands-on experience in the use of the authoring package; the integration of interactive web-based language teaching material into daily practice.

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.

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.

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.

This paper discusses the student experience of Lagelands, an on-line Dutch course for beginners. It will compare the experiences of students who took this course in combination with face-to-face teaching as part of their degree at the University of Hull, with that of students who took the course completely on-line. Before embarking upon the comparison itself, the Lagelands course and the two learning contexts in which it is offered will be briefly outlined.

The aims of this paper are to: present a strategy-training module taught at Newcastle University; evaluate it in the areas of writing and speaking skills; discuss the relationship between strategy awareness and language performance. It also aims to demonstrate how an observational approach to strategy research could be developed on the basis of student performance data. The data presented here was compiled at the end of the academic year (i.e. only a few weeks before this paper was given). Therefore it should be regarded as a preliminary communication rather than hard evidence of specific findings. Nevertheless, it was thought that an early glimpse into the nature of the information that can be obtained by this method could be of use to other researchers in the field, and might generate fruitful discussion at this initial stage.

This paper discusses the potential advantage that bilinguals have over monolinguals and the attitudes of the English towards foreign language learning. It summarises the findings of the Nuffield Enquiry and the Government's response, and suggests that attitudes need to change along with a political commitment to promote plurilingualism.

German Studies at Queen's University has developed a second degree pathway called 'Business Communication: German for European Industry', which we now teach in addition to the traditional pathway 'German Language and Literature'. This new pathway is a response to the changes in the job market in this country and internationally and includes an industrial placement with leading companies in Germany during the year abroad. In this paper, I would like to give a basic description of the new pathway and some background information about why we felt it was necessary to develop this alternative. I then want to give more detail about what is special about this modern language course, and what the benefits are for students. Finally, as evidence of the success of this approach to date, I would like to quote some of our students' feedback about the pathway and in particular about their industrial placement.

The affective side of language learning has been attracting more and more attention in recent years. Results from studies carried out with undergraduate language learners in the late 1990s into affect in language learning have indicated 'substantial links among affective measures and achievement' (Gardner, Tremblay and Masgoret, 1997: 344) and have highlighted the 'interdependent role that linguistics, cognition and affect play in FL and SL learning' (Yang, 1999: 246). However, most research on affective learner variables concentrates on classroom-based learners, and there is very little on those learning in other contexts. This paper therefore: reviews the literature on affective variables and its relevance for independent language learning contexts; examines some of the interrelationships between affective variables, and their links with cognitive styles and strategies; explores briefly the issues raised with regard to pedagogic intervention in independent learning contexts and the development of learner autonomy.

The explosion of access to electronic texts and information about languages and cultures on the Internet offers wonderful new resources for linguists. However, the texts available often present themselves to the researcher as a bewildering choice of unfiltered data. The Oxford Text Archive (OTA) is centrally funded as the centre of expertise in the creation and use of electronic texts for languages, literature and linguistics in the UK academic community, as part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS). This paper describes the ways in which the OTA (http://www.ota.ahds.ac.uk ) is currently working in particular to improve the service which it provides specifically for people working in the subject field of linguistics in the UK Higher and Further Education communities. The AHDS is a UK national service funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB). Organised via an Executive at King's College London, and five service providers from various Higher Education institutions, the AHDS aids the discovery, creation and preservation of digital collections in the arts and humanities.

The key points to the paper: introduction: research in progress; the importance of reading comprehension; authentic vs. modified: previous studies; criteria for modifications; preparations for the first experiment; conclusions so far.

The objectives of this paper are to; present a teaching and learning framework which provides the foundation for the effective acquisition and mediation of intercultural communication skills in the modern language classroom; balance the theory with practical examples of teaching methodology, materials and activities. The framework presented here merges theories of learning from the fields of intercultural education, intercultural communication studies and educational psychology.

This paper aims to examine the management of a diversity of learning strategies in the language classroom and looks at how past learning experiences influence current teaching practice.

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.

This paper considers the ways in which a learning platform can be used for language classes within the higher education context. The platform, the Virtual Campus, incorporates a number of features and facilities including the use of the multimedia platform for final year French materials, and the discussion lists for second-year students of English as a Foreign Language. In an attempt to explore possible ways in which information and communications technology (ICT) could be used in an innovative manner in the final level French classes, a research project was piloted at the University of Lincoln (formerly the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside) in 2000-2001.

This paper aims to: explore writing strategies in bilingual writers; compare first and second language writing strategies; discuss the results of the study and its implications in teaching second language writing.

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.

This objectives of this paper are to: present a case study of what an international organisation like the ECML can do to address current needs in language teaching and learning; outline the major issues involved in such an initiative.

This paper focuses on the learning outcomes of residence abroad. It analyses for the first time qualitative data from the Residence Abroad Project (RAP) within the context of earlier quantitative findings from both RAP and the earlier European Language Proficiency Survey (ELPS).

These materials concern a protest in Bagua, Peru on 5 June 2009 against a free trade agreement with the USA. According to official sources, 34 people (10 civilians and 24 police) lost their lives during an attempt by 600 Peruvian soldiers and riot-police to remove an indigenous blockade of the Belaunde Terry Highway at Devil's Curve in the northern Peruvian Amazon. They are based on an article published in Social Movement Studies: Hughes, N (2010) Indigenous Protest in Peru: the 'Orchard Dog Bites Back' Vol 9, No1, pp85-90, January. The materials are an example of how easy-to-use and cheap technologies can be used by lecturers to address the nexus between teaching, research and technology.

Book reviews appear in a variety of publications including academic journals, magazines, newspapers and on websites. However, surprisingly little has been written about how a book review should be written. These activities, aimed primarily at postgraduate research students focus on writing book reviews for academic journals, though the principles can be applied to writing other kinds of book reviews too.

In this learning object you will be given the opportunity to practise paraphrasing and synthesising, which means using more than one source to support your arguments. It will provide practise in using synonyms to write effective paraphrases; raise awareness of the essential elements of a good paraphrase; suggest useful techniques when paraphrasing from a published source, and suggest ways that sources can be synthesised to support your arguments.

In this series of exercises, the vocabulary for the various punctuation marks will be checked, then their function will be explored. Finally, there will be some texts to punctuate in the correct way. This learning materials will: check that the vocabulary to refer to punctuation is fully understood; raise awareness of the correct function of various punctuation marks, and provide an opportunity to practise using punctuation marks correctly.

The focus of this learning object is on how the vocabulary and grammatical choices you make affect the register (the degree of formality) of your finished piece of academic writing. It will give you a greater awareness of the formality that is appropriate to academic writing; assist you in choosing formal vocabulary, so as to adopt an academic style; introduce the Academic Word List and its educational purpose, and assist you in selecting alternatives to the overuse of personal pronouns.

In this series of activities, you will become familiar with the most widely used system of referencing; discover how to reference websites and articles in periodicals correctly, and learn what some common Latin abbreviations mean and when they are used in referencing.

This resource contains a powerpoint presentation and videos originally given as part of a training event for new language tutors. This resource can be used to highlight the issues of motivation and participation for new language staff.

These learning object activities will help you to understand how questions are structured and give you practice in recognising key components of essay questions. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

This learning object activity is on the German language. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in German.

In these learning object activities, you will consider how to recognise and translate subordinating conjunctions and will practise locating the verb in a subordinate clause. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

After completing the tasks provided in thsi learning object, lecturers should; understand the basic concepts that make up Web 2.0, improve their knowledge of social networks, be able to evaluate different social networks for educational purposes, be confident in designing a task using social network. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

This learning object is on the Spanish language. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is in entirely in Spanish.

In this learning object, you will learn;  to identify the myths and realities about taking exams, to gain practice in using your memory for revision; to investigate what to do before, during and after an exam. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

After completing the tasks in this learning object, you should; understand what online education is about, increase your confidence in moderating courses online, improve your skills in designing online courses. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

In this learning object activity, you will learn to; practise ways of avoiding wasting time, Provide opportunities for improving your time management skills and look at ways of prioritising your time. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

In this learning object activity, you will have a closer look at a literature review chapter from a published journal article. The following tasks will introduce you to what content goes into a literature review, how you can structure it and what kind of expressions you can use in English, when you write your own literature review chapter (LRC). Examples and some tasks and references are oriented specifically at undergraduate business students for whom English is a foreign language.

These learning object activities are to be used for a Reading Class in German after you have completed approximately 30 hours of tuition. You will revise and practice past participles, and you will learn vocabulary relevant to a particular period in history. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in German.

The aim of this exercise is to help you revise expressions you can use to greet someone, to introduce yourself and to ask questions about someone you have met for the first time. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

In this learning object exercise you will read a postcard that was published by jetzt.de in June 2007, learn some new expressions that are typical for the region it was sent from, answer some questions and finally write your own postcard. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

This learning object aims to provide an introduction to False Friends. False Friends, Falsche Freunde or Faux amis (they are commonly known by the French phrase) are words that look or sound alike in two languages. However, they are not what they seem. In these activities, you will be made aware of the most frequently occurring German False Friends (A-N), and practise translating them correctly into English. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

This learning object aims to provide an introduction to discussion board software and websites for lecturers. After completing the tasks provided, lecturers should; Have a better understanding of what a discussion board is, Increase their confidence in setting up a discussion board, Improve their skills in designing tasks for discussion boards. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing.

The SOAS-UCL CETL for ‘Languages of the Wider World’ (LWW CETL) aims to promote excellence in the teaching and learning of languages that do not have a large presence in higher education in the United Kingdom but which are of increasing strategic importance locally and globally. A key objective of the CETL is to support blended language learning, the combination of face-to-face learning and self-study, using multimedia materials.
LWW CETL has launched the Flexi-Pack project to create a whole range of mobile learning (M-learning) materials with a fully-integrated approach between traditional lessons and self-study. This paper will present the pedagogical rationale behind the Flexi-Packs and will also recommend further developments in relation to them (e.g., collaborative learning) in order to maximise students’ motivations.
 

This learning object uses a video clip on YouTube relating to the use of gestures by Spanish speakers. It is intended to help improve audio comprehension, vocabulary and intercultural competence. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in Spanish.

This learning object looks at a story by the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar who was writing in difficult and oppressive political times during the last military dictatorship in Argentina which ended in 1983 just one year before his death.

This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in Spanish.

En esta unidad leerás el cuento Graffiti de Julio Cortázar (escritor argentino 1914-1984), el cual trata del flirteo de una pareja de enamorados durante los años de la última dictadura militar en Argentina (1976-1983). Aprenderás cómo se pudo haber sentido el ciudadano común en una época de represión cuando los actos más ingenuos se convertían en peligrosos y subversivos. Además de leer el cuento, podrás escucharlo en las grabaciones al principio de cada parte. El acento que escucharás es el de una nativa de Argentina.

This learning object will be looking at Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for the teaching of Spanish. This learning object has been subject to peer review and editing, and is entirely in Spanish.

En esta unidad Ud. reflexionará acerca del Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE), conocido en inglés como Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Se cubrirán algunos de los principios fundamentales que sustentan la práctica áulica en AICLE, con tareas para pensar. La unidad propone lineamientos para una secuencia didáctica sobre el tema de los insectos, arácnidos y moluscos, en la que se ofrece contenido curricular y el lenguaje para expresar algunos de los conceptos. Se sugiere la implementación de la secuencia en la escuela primaria con alumnos ELE

This online introductory course to the tools and techniques of formal analysis is aimed at students and anyone interested in art. It is freely available for anyone to use, and assumes no particular prior knowledge of the visual arts. The course guides you through some of the key aspects of form - from the colours in the painting to the materials used to paint it - and explores a number of examples through guided activities.

French Urban Space helps you read and study the Paris novels of the nineteenth century. Its key aims are to improve your reading strategies for French literature. The activities show you how to generate essay questions, develop arguments and create your own original material for writing papers. You can work through the whole package over a semester whilst reading the French novels of the nineteenth century, guided by your lecturer.

These online materials are a set of resources that encourage undergraduates to engage with area studies through French language and through French literary studies. The materials developed do not simply use web technologies to add interactivity to the learning objects (LOs) but also equip humanities students with an introductory understanding of the emerging technologies of mark-up for handling digital texts in the Web 2.0 era of The Semantic Web.

A review unit for students of phonology and phonetics

These materials are a course pack commissioned by the Subject Centre for use by education developers (workshop mode) or by individual staff (online mode). The materials provide reflective activities designed to engage teachers with some of the key issues in working with international students and practical ideas for ways in which these can be addressed. They will be of particular interest to new staff or anyone new to working with international students. Learning outcomes include; increased awareness of areas of the UK learning experience that may present challenges for international students, Strategies for improving the learning experience of international students.

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.

These materials can be used for a range of BSL teaching, as students will be able to develop many features from using these in and outside of class. From looking at these pictures and signing the storylines, students are able to improve their BSL aspects, including Placement, Role shifting, Direction, Movement and Referencing. For more general BSL study, students are able to establish a better knowledge of Vocabulary, Classifiers, Handshapes and Sign order. Students studying at all levels of BSL are able to develop their BSL grammar and acquire better understanding of the topic-comment structure, several parts of aspect and manner such as speed, duration and intensity.

These videos are designed to be used either in the classroom or for self-study. The video deals with the basic structure of an academic presentation including useful words and phrases, signposting, the use of notes vs. reading from a script, the importance of key content words.

This development project was to design an introductory set of electronic exercises for Year 2 undergraduates approaching medieval literature for the first time. The reusable learning objects provide a phenomenological approach to the material existence of the book as it appeared in the early 1400s in France. The aim of the objects is to communicate the state of book- and script technologies at that time. The resource pack contains interactive exercises for use on the mobile smart-phone or PDA.

This instructional booklet is for students who wish to learn to write Arabic. It is designed for independent study using a step-by-step approach. Each manageable unit has plenty of references to other materials. Dr Randal Holme, University of Durham Language Centre, directed the project.

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.

This is a specialist language course for students with an advanced knowledge of Spanish.The materials cover the history of the Spanish language from pre-history to modern times. Language artefacts are taken from disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, history, historical linguistics and popular media. The course looks into geographical and social varieties of Spanish from a historical as well as from a linguistic perspective.

This is a specialist online language and culture course for students who have achieved an advanced level in Spanish because they are in the final year of their University degree, have spent time in a Spanish-speaking country or are false native speakers. The course has been devised to reinforce and develop the language through reading, writing and speaking. The materials in the components follow each other closely and complement vocabulary expansion with development of linguistic structures. The contents of the course cover contemporary cultural issues such as TV, cinema, family and work, and linguistic minorities in the Spanish-speaking world. The cultural-linguistic diversity of Spain and Latin America is exploited through a selection of authentic materials showing different styles, accents and media. The course is structured to develop transferable as well as language skills through hands - on experience of IT use and language activities. The materials can be easily adapted to meet the requirements of students in secondary schools, sixth form colleges or Higher Education. The website also contains pages to help teachers to adapt their own materials or to produce their own courses.

The study of the Middle East in UK universities dates back at least to the seventeenth century. The Middle East is taught and researched by scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines and student numbers studying Middle Eastern languages and area studies have substantially increased in the last few years.

The Cultural Twist Project attempted to offer solutions to the problems of 'Less Widely Used Lesser Taught Language (LWULT)' teachers (i.e. academic isolation, lack of expertise and materials) by providing a Cultural Awareness Materials Development Workshop and the Cultural Twist Website. The workshop provided the participants with cultural experience and helped them discover for themselves their implicit assumptions and sense of values that underlie their language use. Using the evaluation criteria and materials development framework, teachers were guided to produce their own language teaching materials with cultural awareness elements in them. The website was designed to offer all the necessary tools, sample materials, and useful links.

Online teachers need different skills than those normally employed by tutors trained to teach languages in a face-to-face classroom and they also require different skills compared to online teachers of other subjects. Research shows that the medium influences the form of communication and interaction (see e.g. Hutchby 2001). The asynchronicity of communication in written conferencing and the lack of non-verbal clues in audio-conferencing are examples of new challenges for online language tutors.

Higher Education is under pressure to produce graduates with the knowledge and skills for working in a globalised world and with the values and attitudes to behave as global citizens. Are Area Studies students developing these 'global perspectives' through their studies? A scoping study at the Royal Geographical Society (with with the Institute of British Geographers) has investigated the current status of the global dimension. The research project examined how global perspectives are manifest at three different levels within Higher Education: disciplines/subject areas, departments/teaching teams and institutions. In Area Studies, the picture is generally encouraging, with many of the building blocks for developing and strengthening global perspectives already in place. The long-term objective is for a holistic approach where all the components contributing to global perspectives are integrated and embedded into the ethos, structures, activities and daily life of Higher Education institutions.

Translation Studies in the UK is a small but expanding field of study. Programmes are primarily at postgraduate level though some elements of translation studies are included in first degree programmes in ancient and modern languages. The cultural approach to translation is the most recent development in a field that has been growing steadily since the 1970s. What distinguishes Translation Studies from translating is the emphasis on cultural history and the role and function of translation in the broader socio-cultural context.

If there is a single academic core for a Masters programme, it should probably rest with descriptive Linguistics, but a pedagogic core should rest with the needs of the participants. The tension and potential conflict between these are explored, with particular reference to a succession of only partially successful attempts to make descriptive work directly relevant to language teaching and other applied concerns. This paper will also try to show some associated ways of making the overall course both coherent and genuinely research-based.

Residence or study abroad can be the most rewarding element of a degree programme, bringing enhanced maturity, cultural insights and valuable transferable skills as well as improved language proficiency. This article traces the development of student residence abroad, summarises research findings, describes how best to implement a programme, and points to the many resources available to help staff and students involved in residence abroad.

Focusing on the IT skills required increasingly of staff in areas of administration, research and classroom practice, this article distinguishes generic core skills from those required in more specialist situations (such as applied language study and areas of linguistics). A number of key sources of information and training are given, together with a brief review of forms of certification. Best practice is seen as knowing how to define clearly the skills one needs to develop and, having aquired a new capability, being able to show that one can use it effectively.

A portfolio of independent learning has been introduced to post A-level students at various levels in the three languages of Spanish, French and German at UCE. The Translang Approach has been chosen as a framework for development of transferable skills.

Reading in a second language calls for fast, automatic word decoding and access to the mental lexicon (dictionary); this means working on building speed and fluency and on learning to recognise at least 10,000 words in the new language. Learners can build speed and fluency by learning vocabulary systematically and by doing lots of easy (‘extensive’) reading. Learners will also read better in their second language if they learn about text characteristics, and if they know how to handle a variety of strategies for getting meaning from texts. Background knowledge about the second-language culture will make comprehension easier as well.

This handbook discusses individual learning styles and how best to support them; the selection and design of self access independent language learning materials; the types of resources available along with their location and organisation; and also tandem learning; the role of the language assistant and language exchanges.

This article outlines the main methodological and theoretical issues within research on sociolinguistic variation. It covers the origins of the subject, data collection, quantification and the linguistic variable, correlations of social and linguistic variation and language change. It ends by considering recent social constructionist approaches to variation and change. A bibliography is included.

This article introduces dialectology - the study of accents and dialects. It includes discussions of what it is, how it has evolved and how it is done, as well as considering recent developments in the field. The article argues that being a competent fieldworker and data collector is an essential skill in dialectology. A bibliography and list of dialectology web sites is included.

The purpose of this general overview article is to outline how research into second language acquisition (SLA) over the last few decades has fed into our understanding of learning and teaching in foreign language classrooms. After a very brief overview of SLA research findings concerning both route and rate of L2 development, theoretical models attempting to explain these findings are presented, ranging from purely linguistic to cognitive models and social/interactionist models. The relationship between SLA research and second language pedagogy is then explored. Finally, recent developments investigating specifically the relationship between instruction and L2 development are outlined.

A general overview of the nature and variety of American Studies degree courses in United Kingdom universities, including notes on the differing structures and content of degree courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, opportunities for study abroad and the wide range of resources available for students and lecturers in American Studies.

This section lists different resources widely available on the web and can contribute to the teaching of linguistics. It also refers to customised web resources specifically developed to teach or test linguistics on-line, often with restricted access. Some urls are provided as examples. Different models of integration are considered as are issues related to quality control and assurance.

A survey of Scandinavian studies teaching in UK universities from interdisciplinary and single discipline perspectives, including history, literature, and the culture of Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries.

About a one-term introductory course on English Grammar which teaches BA students to analyse most of the syntactic structure of any sentence in any text; it uses Word Grammar analyses.

Language is central to everything we do; it is what makes us human. This article situates language at the centre of the intellectual universe, showing its relations with maths and medicine, with logic and literature. Whether your interest is in the use of language to determine a suspect's guilt or innocence, the problem of how babies can acquire language and stroke victims lose it, or just how many languages there are in the world, linguistics will give you guidance.