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‘Less Commonly Taught ’ Languages in Higher Education: Challenges and Responses

‘Less Commonly Taught ’ Languages in Higher Education: Challenges and Responses. Marta Jenkala UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies University of Cambridge Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies. Perceptions and euphemisms. minority languages

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‘Less Commonly Taught ’ Languages in Higher Education: Challenges and Responses

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  1. ‘Less Commonly Taught’ Languagesin Higher Education:Challenges and Responses Marta Jenkala UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies University of Cambridge Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  2. Perceptions and euphemisms • minority languages • languages of the wider world • vulnerable languages • less commonly available languages • less commonly taught languages. Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  3. Current HE provisionfor ‘less commonly taught’ languages • undergraduate language courses as a main component of a language and culture degree • undergraduate language courses as a minor component of a degree in another language or discipline • postgraduate courses as components of Masters degrees in political sciences, history, culture etc. • courses to support PhD students and researchers needing to access archives and authentic materials • university-run outreach courses. Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  4. Types of courses • comprehensive courses for language specialists, covering all skills, with a 3-year progression, leading to an undergraduate degree with the name of the language in the degree title • comprehensive for-credit courses for non-language-specialist students, aimed at raising interest in the learning of languages • reading courses, either with productive skills taught purely for functional purposesor with assessed speaking/writing • teacher-led online courses, currently being piloted, targeted mainly at postgraduates and researchers from the institution and beyond • open or evening outreach courses, with a predominantly, but not exclusively, communicative focus. Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  5. Challenges • funding for delivery of courses • loss of government funding to support minority subjects • apparently low student demand • diffuse demand for courses across UK universities • limited availability of suitable teaching resources • status of language teachers in higher education • additional challenges faced by teachers of ‘less commonly taught’ languages. Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  6. Responses • enhancing quality of teaching through training and support for teachers of ‘less commonly taught languages’ • raising profile of teachers of these languages • creating new resources and showcasing them • making full use of funding opportunities available • being aware of, and engaging with, new initiatives and new technology, specifically e-learning • sharing knowledge and experience • reaching out to a wide spectrum of potential language learners • lobbying governments and education ministries to introduce certified official testing of the languages as foreign languages • demonstrating enthusiasm for and interest in promoting the study of the languages. Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  7. Current trends • provision of language support for postgraduate study and research • open access • sustainability over the longer term • e-learning • use of new technologies in teaching • ‘value for money’ • interdisciplinarityand collaboration • knowledge sharing and exchange. Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  8. The CEELBAS Language Repositoryhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/ceelbas/repositoryssees-ceelbas@ucl.ac.uk Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  9. A resource for teachershttp://slavonic.group.shef.ac.uk/ Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  10. FAVOR: Finding a Voice through Open Resourceshttp://languagebox.ac.uk/ Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  11. Cambridge University Language Centre‘Open Courseware’http://www.langcen.cam.ac.uk/opencourseware/ Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  12. Setting up one’s own resourceswww.ukrainianlanguage.org.uk Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

  13. Дякую!Дзякуй!Thank you! Belarusian and Ukrainian Studies in Britain University of Warwick, 14 June 2014

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