Key strategic issues for language-based area studies

1. Key strategic issues for language-based area studies Anne Pauwels School of Oriental Studies and African Studies

2. Is language an essential component of Area Studies? • A no-brainer? • Does global English and English as a lingua franca diminish the importance of skills in other languages for area studies? • Impact felt on surface level interaction • Less obvious for in depth interaction • Starting point for this lecture: language continues to be a desirable, even essential component of LBAS

3. The ambivalent discourses and attitudes towards language learning • Move to more public discourses in support of the value of foreign language learning • ‘Overwhelming support for foreign languages plan’ DfE Nov2012 • ‘All children should learn foreign languages, say peers’ BBCNews March 2012 • The yo-yo approach to languages policy • Yes-no-yes to primary school foreign language learning • Yes or no to compulsory foreign language learning at secondary level • The numerous reviews and reports on the status, situation and role of languages and language learning in the past 2 decades

4. The divisive character of foreign language learning debates • FLL is (good) for the elite: social-cultural and intellectual • All languages are equal but some languages are more equal than others • The semilingualism of heritage language speakers • Bilingualism as a problem for heritage language speakers and as an asset for majority language speakers

5. The university language learning scene • Fee restructure and its negative impact on enrolments in language degrees • Interesting interpretations of Worton (2009) report re the role of HEFCE and Universities in the sustainability of languages • The support and advocacy for languages by AHRC (ESRC) and British Academy • The increased vulnerability of less widely taught languages

6. Maintaining and strengthening language provision in LBAS with specific attention to Less Widely Taught Languages • The strength and positive influence of the Centres of Excellence in LBAS • The essence of cooperation, sharing among and moving beyond the Centres • Easily accessible language repositories • Tackling the challenge of expertise and resources for LWT

7. Elements in the language learning process

8. Impacts and challenges for the language learning process in a global context • The learner: e.g., diversity in linguistic profiles, histories and trajectories, orientation, motivation, aptitude • The teacher: e.g, diversity in linguistic profiles, histories and trajectories, training, orientation, pedagogical aptitude • The curriculum approach: e.g., communicative orientation, intercultural, re-balancing the four skills, new modes of communication, new genres/registers • The resources : explosion in potential learning resources – the web & internet • The modes of delivery : beyond the traditional language classroom into content-based (partial) immersion, country immersion, virtual classroom, blended learning • The outcomes: defining outcomes by reference to framework (e.g. CEFR), moving beyond the native-speaker model

9. Language teaching in 21st Century? • ‘ Unedidactiqueplurilinguedans le sensprofond du terme… viseraitmoinsce qui est, et plutôtcequ’on fait et comment accéderàune position qui permet de faire. Donc, moins un enseignement de la langue, de la culture, de l’identité, maisplutôtune formation qui tientcompte des pratiqueslangagières, ainsique des ideologies, des intérêts et des relations de pouvoir qui les sous-tendent’ (Heller 2003)

10. The learners • ‘…language learners cannot be conceived any longer as individuals affiliated to a single territory, language and culture. Rather, they participate in the constant flow of ideas and people of which today’s mobile society is made. Like the post-national citizen envisaged by Urry, language learners can be seen as learners on the move, in-between nationalities and constantly constructing their own personal trajectories… ‘ ( RosiSolé& Fenoulhet2010)

11. The teachers “Since postgraduate research [in language departments] still tends to be dominated by social science, literary, and cultural topics, the academic background of most staff in language departments, especially the older ones, is non-linguistic, and there may therefore be no tradition or culture of language pedagogy. While some have sympathy, in principle, with the view that all language teachers ought to be introduced to, for example, the rudiments of instructed second language acquisition, in practice there are few at subject level able or willing to organise and deliver such training.” Klapper (2001)

12. Particular challenges and issues for LWT in universities • The profile of the learners • The profile of the teachers • The learning resources • The curriculum • The modes of delivery • The outcomes

13. The LWT learners

14. Learner Issues • Ability to actively draw upon previous language learning experiences • The transferability of learning strategies: e.g., paraphrasing, simplification, recognition of formulaic language, hypothesis testing, scaffolding processes • Reduction in levels of anxiety • Increased ability for contextualisation • Heightened awareness of intercultural aspects • Is this taking into account when constructing a programme/

15. Teacher Issues

16. Cooperation in addressing Teacher Issues for LWT • Support across LBAS Centres and universities : sharing insights e.g., in language pedagogy, second language acquisition and learning, developing learning resources, approaches to language teaching • Examples of Good Practice • Professional Development Training Workshop on Teaching Slavonic Languages in Universities (CEELBAS) • Training Opportunities for Arabic Teachers (CASAW) • Certificates/ Diplomas in Arabic, Chinese, South Asian Languages (SOAS)

17. The learning resources • Minimal supply of traditional learning resources • Preparation of learning resources: training, time, sources, sharing, repositories • The role of LBAS centres of excellence and affiliated agencies

18. Modes of delivery • The challenge of sustaining ‘super-small’ classes • The opportunities of collaboration in alternative modes of delivery • ‘Summer school’ - intensive weekends • Blended and e-learning – strong support available • On line: Virtual language classes • Hindi – NYU • Sanskrit – SOAS • Cooperative models: ‘teacher travels’ – ‘student travels’

19. Outcomes • Moving beyond the aim of ‘native –like’ proficiency • The new language environment • What is native-like proficiency? • Few course descriptions have clear criteria (if any) re (proficiency outcomes • Limited knowledge or understanding of the European Framework • The need to address this absence