Previous Events and Seminars
 
2006 - 2009
 
   
May 2009 Community Languages:
Recent Developments, and Signs of Hope?
Dr Mahendra Verma (University of York)
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April 2009 Multilingualism, Regional & Minority Languages:
Paradigms for ‘Languages of the Wider World’
16 th – 17 th April 2009
Brunei Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG

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April 2009 Integrating online learning in distance language courses
Dr Ursula Stickler - Open University
  The presentation will show three different ways in which the Open University has used its Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in language courses: a) in a fully online pilot course, b) in a blended course with content presented in print and interactive elements online, and c) in a course with content in print and online. In all language courses at the Open University tutorials and online work form a voluntary part of students’ distance learning experience. Course materials and assessment strategies encourage students to collaborate with each other via forums, wikis, glossaries and synchronous audio/video-conferencing.
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March 2009
Russian for Research: New Perspectives on Postgraduate Language Teaching
Dr James Wilson
  This seminar reports on research carried out at the University of Sheffield into the market for and specific demands of postgraduate training in Russian language at institutions of the Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS). The exploratory project had three primary aims: (1) to assess existing postgraduate language training provided within CEELBAS; (2) to identify the current demand for postgraduate language training; and (3) to explore innovative modes of delivery, with emphasis on distance learning.
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February 2009
Islamic Studies as a Strategic Subject in UK Higher Education
Dr John Canning (HEA Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies)
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January 2009
Globalisation and Language Teaching
Dr David Block (Institute of Education, University of London)
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December 2008
Dialogic inquiry in the foreign language classroom: “She made us think and ask questions rather than feeding information”
Dr Noriko Iwasaki (SOAS, University of London)
Download the PowerPoint presentation
November 2008

Language Learning and Air: an Elementary Pedagogy
Professor Alison Phipps (University of Glasgow)
Language is a life, is our life and the life of the things. (Merleau-Ponty)
La metaphysicien serait trafiquant d’airs (Irigaray)

What are we doing when we teach others to speak another language? The history of language pedagogy gives us various answers at once ideological, cultural, functional and symbolic. In this paper Alison Phipps turns to consider the place of air in language pedagogy arguing for a phenomenological, ecological and metaphorical understanding of the practical and physical act of learning and teaching another language.
Watch the Video

November 2008

Perspectives on Script: A Special Interest Event for Language Teachers and Researchers interested in issues concerning script

Any attempt to promote the learning of Languages of the Wider World must include a discussion of the issues surrounding the teaching and learning of different scripts and alphabet systems.  For further details click here.
October 2008
A Rough Guide to Immigrant Acculturation: Hassles, Stress and Support
Professor Saba Safdar (University of Guelph, Canada )
  The presentation will focus on psychological and socio-cultural adaptation of immigrants. The results of several studies will be presented where core factors in the adaptation of immigrants have been examined. These studies indicate that personal resilience (i.e., positive psychological functioning), linguistic competence and cultural competence are associated with lower psycho-physical distress and the experience of hassles and discrimination are associated with higher psycho-physical distress. An acculturation model will be presented that encompasses and describes the relations between all the above factors as well as ethnic identity, social support, and acculturation attitudes. Additionally, the demographic variation of the samples and the complexity of the societal context of North America and Europe will be discussed.
Watch the Video Download the PowerPoint presentation
A related article
October 2008
Recognition of Multiple Languages and Identities in the Field of Language Teaching and Learning
Professor Genevieve Zarate
(Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales - INALCO - Paris)
 
In the context of the 93 languages taught at the French National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations (INALCO), Professor Geneviève Zarate, who is leading the French research team PLIDAM (Pluralité des Langues et des Identités en Didactique : Acquisition, Mediations) to London, shall present a pluridisciplinary framework through which plurilingualism and multilingualism take place and explore the complex links between acquired languages and identities. Through the case study of an INALCO student, she shall explore such disciplines as sociology of mobility, sociology of culture, life studies, sociolinguistics, and geopolitics, which together could be useful in the analysis of student profiles. The presentation will broaden its scope by examining the conceptual and illustrated backgrounds of the just published Précis du plurilinguisme et du pluriculturalisme.
Watch the Video
September 2008
International Conference
Languages of the Wider World: Valuing Diversity
15th-16th September 2008, SOAS, University of London
  Day 1, Monday 15th September
Learning and teaching languages of the wider world: practitioner perspectives
Day 2, Tuesday 16th September
Responding to the challenges of linguistic hyper-diversity

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May 2008

Sensible Use of L1 in the L2 Classroom
Mario Rinvolucri
   
April 2008
Languages of the Wider World and the Media
  Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Nigel Chapman
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February 2008
Cultural meanings in textbooks for the teaching of English as an international language
  Dr John Gray (University of East London)
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December 2007 Learning Cultures in Online Education less-commonly considered dimensions of electronic learning
  Prof Marie-Noëlle Lamy and Dr Robin Goodfellow (Open University)
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November 2007 Is there a place for ICC on Language Teaching Programmes?
  Dr Tony Young (Newcastle University)
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October 2007 What do we do with an International Year of Languages?
  Professor David Crystal  
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June 2007 From Beginners to Heritage Speakers: Teaching Somali to Undergraduates
  Dr Martin Orwin (SOAS)  
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April 2007 What makes the Chinese language difficult?
  Dr Lianyi Song (SOAS)  
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March 2007 The Communication of Emotions in Foreign Languages
  Dr Jean-marc Dewaele (Birkbeck, University of London)  
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January 2007 Rethinking language learning for the digital age: Possibilities and Constrains of on-line Environments
  Dr Regine Hampel (Open University)  
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December 2006 New Ethnicities and Language Use: Young people of South Asia descent in London
  Dr Roxy Harris (King’s College London)  
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November 2006 Being intercultural through texts: The cultuurtekst approach
  Gerdi Quist (UCL)  
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October 2006 Researching L2 Motivation
  Professor Zoltan Dornyei (University of Nottingham)  
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  THE LWW - CETL FORUM  
Join our on-line forum and continue your discussions about the issues raised in the event you attended. CLICK HERE  

 

 

 
 
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