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| Wednesday 30 June - Thursday 1 July 2004 School of Oriental and African Studies University of London |
Programme
Download: provisional conference programme (rich text format, 62Kb).
Aims
The conference aims to bring together all those concerned with the development of policy, strategy and the curriculum in languages and related studies (including linguistics) in higher education, both in the UK and internationally.
These are challenging times for languages and related studies. The recent report 'A new landscape for languages', funded by the Nuffield Foundation, mapped current trends and demonstrated that they are not confined to the UK. Among the key needs it identified were: the effective management of more differentiated provision; increased collaboration between education sectors and institutions; and clearer rationales for the study of languages.
These needs are set in the context of the contracting range of universities offering languages, the increasing range of languages available and the shrinking numbers of students studying specialist language degrees.
The conference will address national, international and institutional policy issues as well as innovation, with respect to curriculum design, content and delivery.
Themes
The programme includes a wide choice of presentations and workshop sessions covering the following themes:
1. Collaboration with other sectors of education/marketing and recruitment
- outreach activities with schools and colleges;
- issues related to school curricula e.g. English language A level and linguistics programmes, use of ICT in schools;
- strategies for maintaining and strengthening less widely taught languages;
- promotional campaigns and marketing strategies.
2. Income generation
- commercialisation of language services;
- private language service providers: collaboration or competition?
- capitalising on external funding sources.
3. Accreditation and recognition schemes
- alternative qualifications;
- experiences in using portfolios including personal development plans (PDPs) and the European language Portfolio;
- the Common European Framework of Reference in action;
- employability and recognition of transferable skills.
4. Innovation in curriculum structure and content
- development of new degree programmes; e.g. foundation degrees, modes of integrating language study into other degree programmes, joint degrees in languages and linguistics;
- innovation in the development of Master's programmes;
- pedagogical innovation, including the use of ICT;
- developments related to residence abroad.
The working language of the conference will be English.