Repurposing virtual reality assets: from health sciences to Italian language learning

This paper reports on the rationale for the implementation of a pilot project using a scenario-based Virtual Reality (VR) resource, originally developed by Health Sciences at Coventry University and now being repurposed for Italian language learning as a collaborative project with Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Southampton. The original aim of the resource was to prepare health care students for home visits by allowing them to experience a semi-linear conversation with a virtual Non-player Character (NPC). The authors will discuss how they are planning to repurpose the resource for Italian language learning and teaching and will analyse the potential pedagogical uses within the modern language curriculum, including emotional language, employability skills, and the year abroad.

Face-to-face to online: PhD academic writing @Maastricht University

Maastricht University (UM) has a distinct global perspective and a strong focus on innovation. UM offers an array of PhD courses to distance and campus based students who have access to elective, credit bearing modules and the language needs of these students are catered for by the Language Centre. Many PhD candidates choose to take an academic writing course in their first or second year of their degree. In recent years, demand for a more student focused, flexible academic writing course has grown. In line with UM’s policy of supporting innovative teaching practices, the Language Centre’s face-to-face PhD academic writing course, PhD Writing 1, has been transformed into a fully online course containing eight interactive webinar sessions named Online PhD Writing, which runs in addition to the face-to-face rendition. On the back of the success of this course, coupled with increased demand for a follow up course, this author was tasked with creating an advanced online PhD academic writing course to cater for global students with diverse time zones and schedules. This paper evaluates the challenges posed and the advances made in constructing both online courses and explores the technologies used in implementing them.

Treasuring and preserving languages: how the inclusive design in MOOCs might help

This paper reflects on the inclusive design features of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and how these might support and encourage language learning. It considers what inclusivity in the context of MOOCs means, and some of the features of MOOCs which might be inherently inclusive and of value in supporting languages. It presents an example of inclusive design from a MOOC created at the University of Southampton: English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) for Academics, a professional development course for teachers. It shows how this course was particularly designed to appeal to the broadest audience possible, and indicates how this might be relevant in language learning contexts. It considers the challenges of creating inclusive open content, and how MOOC design encourages the treasuring and preserving of languages through global reach and low barriers to access.

Treasuring languages: an introduction

This volume collects selected papers from the 9th annual conference in the Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University series (InnoConf), which was hosted by the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Southampton on the 28th of June 2019. The theme of the conference was ‘Treasuring languages: innovative and creative approaches in Higher Education (HE)’. The conference aimed to address the consistent decline in recent years in applications to study languages at UK universities by igniting discussions and seeking innovative and creative approaches to raising awareness about the value of learning languages.

Enabling students to articulate the value of language skills in an ever-changing work environment

This paper shares some of the findings of an evaluative research project funded by the Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence (Brown et al., 2018). The project explored the value of ‘Broadening’ as part of the Leeds Curriculum and the value of language learning in the context of Institution-Wide Language Provision (IWLP). The paper focuses on the data gathered from interviews with employers and presents the findings around employer expectations of graduates and their perceptions of the value of language skills and cultural awareness. It considers how to enable students to articulate the knowledge, skills, and experience gained during their undergraduate journey. It identifies the value of language skills beyond linguistic competence and maps this to employer expectations. It proposes an end-of-module reflective task for any language module to enable students to articulate their personal ‘brand’ based on their knowledge and social capital, thus evidencing the breadth of their employability.

Developing intercultural competence: building on the year abroad in oral classes

This paper provides an analytical account of a speaking activity, which was designed and delivered by the authors in order to help modern languages finalist students to further develop their intercultural competence. It argues that even finalists coming back from their year abroad might struggle with making sense of cultural differences. The paper presents an activity that builds on their year abroad to facilitate deeper cultural understanding. Through an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates recent recommendations of the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) as well as scholarly work on cultural studies and intercultural pedagogy, this paper offers a concrete example of how a language curriculum can be adapted to meet the challenges of today’s culturally complex and ever changing world.

Effective feedback for language assessment

The provision of effective feedback is challenging and remains a much-criticised element of the Higher Education (HE) student experience. This case study examines innovative approaches to providing feedback for modern foreign language assessment, based upon a small scale study at the University of Manchester (UoM). We identify problematic areas in current practice, and propose creative solutions not only to help staff produce clear, useful feedback in a sustainable way, but also to raise student’s awareness and guide them in how to make the most of our provision, in turn becoming efficient language learners.

Suitable activities for independent learning

Working independently helps students develop a series of skills and strategies that will continue to be useful in their future professional careers. Teachers in Higher Education (HE) have a role in facilitating Independent Learning (IL) for their students. When creating opportunities for students to develop autonomy in learning, teachers may wish to provide learners with the appropriate resources by offering adequate bibliographies, finding and adapting existing resources to their needs, or even creating their own materials. Learning materials that teachers make available for their students’ IL should meet the learning outcomes of the course, both in terms of the content they present and the skills to which they contribute. Teachers will, thus, be helping students use resources that enhance targeted learning while working independently, as well as developing the higher order skills expected at university level. In this article, we report on our research study that focuses on the benefits of using scaffolding strategies for students’ IL materials. Such strategies overcome some of the problems usually linked to conventional resources designed for IL, namely loss of students’ confidence in themselves and lack of room for creativity.

Designing escape game activities for language classes

Escape games are an increasingly popular leisure activity involving a group of players completing tasks to achieve a pre-defined goal, which is usually escaping from a room. In this chapter, I briefly outline the educational potential of escape game activities in language classes within the frameworks of gamification, pervasive learning, and ‘serious games’, and in relation to transferable skills. This is followed by a description and evaluation of an escape game I developed for a grammar class on the idiomatic uses of German modal verbs. This was piloted with a first-year undergraduate class at Lancaster University. I conclude by discussing student feedback and considerations for similar activities in the future.

Developing criticality and critical cultural awareness in modern languages

The chapter reports on a doctoral study exploring the complexity behind the separation of language and content within modern language degree programmes, placing particular focus on implications for students’ development of criticality (Barnett, 1997) and intercultural competence (Byram, 1997). The study investigated implications of the division as experienced by German studies staff and students in two American and two British universities. The findings suggest that students who are prompted to critically reflect upon both the target language and the target culture have greater opportunities to develop into ‘good’ interculturalists in line with the view that students require an ‘intercultural education’ in order to maximise the benefits (Holmes, Bavieri, & Ganassin, 2015).