Autonomy in language centres: myth or reality?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-66
Author(s):  
Anne Chateau ◽  
Maria Giovanna Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Learning Modalities ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Tandem Learning ◽  
Learning Schemes ◽  
Pedagogical Goal

Abstract Autonomy in language learning is for many language centres in higher education a pedagogical goal. However, although autonomy is a concept that has been associated with language learning for almost 40 years, both the understanding of that concept and its implementation in classroom-settings and in self-access language centres vary considerably. In 2017 and 2018 the Cercles Focus Group on Autonomy worked on a survey that was circulated among Cercles language centres, in order to discover to what extent autonomy is part of the language curriculum. Approximately one fifth of the language centres answered the questionnaire, representing 18 different countries. The results of this survey show that autonomous learning schemes are provided in various centres in the form of self-access language learning modalities, blended learning, learning advising as support for independent and cooperative learning, tutoring and tandem learning. However, the understanding of the notion of autonomy and therefore the pedagogical practices vary considerably. In this article, we illustrate the results of the survey, highlight similarities and differences emerging from it, and critically reflect upon issues addressed by the answers. In addition, we briefly discuss the results of some interviews conducted after the survey with stakeholders at different language centres. Recommendations for the future conclude the paper.

Fostering engagement with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the European Language Portfolio: Learning from good practice in university language centres

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna Carson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Trinity College ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
European Language ◽  
Trinity College Dublin ◽  
The Common

AbstractThis article begins with a brief overview of the aims and activities of the CercleS CEFR/ELP Focus Group. It goes on to report on some of the outcomes of the 2015 CercleS CEFR/ELP seminar hosted by the Centre for Language and Communication Studies at Trinity College Dublin. The five examples presented during the seminar’s plenary sessions are summarised, illustrating how the CEFR and ELP have been used in university language centres both to foster student engagement and reflection and to meet the increasingly urgent need for benchmarking language learning outcomes in higher education.

scholarly journals Towards new cultures of learning: Personal learning environments as a developmental perspective for improving higher education language courses

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilona Laakkonen ◽  
Peppi Taalas
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
New Media ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Digital Literacies ◽  
Personal Learning

AbstractThis article provides readers with an understanding of the concept of the personal learning environment (PLE). It suggests that PLEs can be used in two complementary ways: as a developmental lens for integrating ICT and creating new pedagogical practices and digital literacies for academic language learning, and as a context in which learners can practise and develop core skills such as digital literacies, team and knowledge work, and interactional skills – skills that are needed for success in today’s knowledge economy. The article places PLEs within the broader development related to the cultural changes brought on by the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies – participation, teamwork and co-design – and considers PLEs in relation to digital literacies and 21st-century skills. It then reports on a research-and-development project that makes use of design-based research and creates tools and models for learner-centred technology integration on the basis of a rich set of data and experiments. The article presents theoretical as well as practical insights into implementing PLEs in higher education (HE) language centre teaching and outlines principles for implementation in formal education. It concludes by expressing the need to purposefully balance the structure provided by traditional approaches to learning against ways of organising it with the nearly unlimited resources and participatory aspects afforded by the new media.

Use of translation and plurilingual practices in language learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria González-Davies ◽  
David Soler Ortínez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
School Context ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
High Complexity ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Professional Translator

Abstract Here we will present a pedagogical framework for the implementation of an Integrated Plurilingual Approach (IPA) to language learning that has emerged from research and observation of best practices in primary, secondary, and higher education. Researchers, teachers, and students collaborated in three interconnected projects (2012–2015; 2015–2019) whose main aims were to help teachers and learners move towards acknowledging and explicitly connecting their linguistic repertoires to reframe their current classroom practices and engage in new ones. This implied a reformulation of their pedagogical practices, including the use of translation to acquire interlinguistic, intercultural and mediation skills in contexts other than professional translator training (TOLC). Two instruments resulted: one to help the teachers transform their perceptions and, so, their performance, regarding the plurilingual paradigm, a four-phase collaborative reflective cycle; and another to guide their instructional design, the five-dimensional instructional framework (IPA-5DIF). Some classroom examples will be presented here, with special reference to a high-complexity secondary school context (118 students, 4 teachers).

Can-Do descriptors – Realigning English Language Curriculum at Higher Education Institution to CEFR

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Erda Wati Bakar
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
English Curriculum ◽  
The Common ◽  
The University

The Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR) has become the standard used to describe and evaluate students’ command of a second or foreign language. It is an internationally acknowledged standard language proficiency framework which many countries have adopted such as China, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan. Malaysia Ministry of Education is aware and realise the need for the current English language curriculum to be validated as to reach the international standard as prescribed by the CEFR. The implementation of CEFR has begun at primary and secondary level since 2017 and now higher education institutions are urged to align their English Language Curriculum to CEFR as part of preparation in receiving students who have been taught using CEFR-aligned curriculum at schools by year 2022. This critical reflection article elucidates the meticulous processes that we have embarked on in re-aligning our English Language Curriculum to the standard and requirements of CEFR. The paper concludes with a remark that the alignment of the English curriculum at the university needs full support from the management in ensuring that all the stakeholders are fully prepared, informed and familiar with the framework.

Assessment : Basic Concepts, Thoughtful Decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Milton Raul Licona Luna ◽  
Elizabeth Alvarado Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Continuous Assessment ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Education In Mexico

Institutions from basic to higher education in Mexico that offer courses of English as a Foreign Language rely heavily on the administering of assessment, usually a formal type of assessment. However, the literature shows how important it is the involvement of other types of assessment in the classroom for effective language learning to take place. For instance, assessment for learning, which consist of a continuous assessment where learners receive feedback so greater learning occurs, what is more, it enables teachers to modify their teaching ways as they reflect on the learners’ progress. To show how assessment is carried out in our context, this research project focuses on a case study within the CAADI from FOD in the UANL.

Education of undergraduate: Epistemic and cultural beliefs as obstacles to technology

2021 ◽  
pp. 002072092098431
Author(s):  
Fahad SS Alfallaj ◽  
Ahmed AH Al-Ma'amari ◽  
Fahad IA Aldhali
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Language Curriculum

This study aims to identify the epistemological and cultural beliefs that act as barriers in English learning by Saudi undergraduate learners. English is a compulsory component of education from the early school years in Saudi Arabia, and the Ministry of Education invests a great deal of workforce and financial resources in this sector in a concerted effort to ensure that Saudi students attain language proficiency. The study employed a mixed-method research design and was conducted with 85 undergraduate learners at Qassim University. It used a questionnaire and interviews to obtain insight into the factors that inhibit the English learning experience. Results revealed that the respondents' resistance to the learning of others' culture stems mainly from the epistemic and cultural barriers embedded in English language learning. Implications of the study will provide the basis to policymakers, educationists, institutions, and learners for contextualizing the English language curriculum of Saudi Arabia.

Starting Early with Language Learning. Enhancing Human Capital and Improving the Integration of Migrant Families in the Danube Region. Examples from Bavaria

Südosteuropa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-263
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Skoglund ◽  
Astrid Bretthauer
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Federal State ◽  
German Language ◽  
German Population ◽  
Migrant Families ◽  
Danube Region ◽  
Similarities And Differences

AbstractGermany is an important destination for migrants from other European countries. That is particularly true of the Danube region, a European Union (EU) macroregion with deep economic and historical interconnections. Immigrants tend to be younger than the average of the German population, with children accounting for 15% of all migrants. The authors start with a short overview of the theoretical and empirical literature on preschool and early education as a tool for acquisition by immigrant children of the host country’s language. The focus is then shifted to the policy sphere, with the example of Germany and in particular the federal state of Bavaria, in the context of the challenges and best practices used to tackle the integration of such children. The article considers Regensburg, the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria, and the Landkreis (district) Kelheim to the southwest of Regensburg as case studies to illustrate the similarities and differences of their municipal approaches to the promotion of German language acquisition by immigrant children and their parents.

scholarly journals Online Foreign Language Learning in Higher Education and Its Correlates during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 781
Author(s):  
Maria-Anca Maican ◽  
Elena Cocoradă
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
Student Relationship

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the online learning of foreign languages at higher education level has represented a way to adapt to the restrictions imposed worldwide. The aim of the present article is to analyse university students’ behaviours, emotions and perceptions associated to online foreign language learning during the pandemic and their correlates by using a mixed approach. The research used the Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) scale and tools developed by the authors, focusing on task value, self-perceived foreign language proficiency, stressors and responses in online foreign language learning during the pandemic. Some of the results, such as the negative association between anxiety and FLE, are consistent with those revealed in studies conducted in normal times. Other results are novel, such as the protective role of retrospective enjoyment in trying times or the higher level of enjoyment with lower-achieving students. Reference is made to students’ preferences for certain online resources during the pandemic (e.g., preference for PowerPoint presentations) and to their opinions regarding the use of entirely or partially online foreign language teaching in the post-COVID period. The quantitative results are fostered by the respondents’ voices in the qualitative research. The consequences of these results are discussed with respect to the teacher-student relationship in the online environment and to the implications for sustainable online foreign language learning.

Tandem language learning via e-mail: from motivation to autonomy

ReCALL ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMA USHIODA
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Affective Learning ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Affective Dimension ◽  
Tandem Learning ◽  
E Mail

This paper examines the affective dimension of tandem language learning via e-mail. It begins by highlighting some of the obstacles to this mode of learning, including organisational and pedagogical issues as well as the particular issues confronting learners. Drawing on a small body of empirical data, it explores the interactions between these issues and what learners perceive to be intrinsically motivating about tandem learning. It concludes by suggesting that affective learning experience has a potentially powerful role to play in fostering the development of learner autonomy through the reciprocity on which successful tandem learning is founded.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document