The articles contained in this issue provide a wide spectrum of perspectives:
Anne-Lise Bécavin demonstrates the range of projects that Foreign Language Assistants can implement, given appropriate support and flexibility, and provides some handy tips for future assistants!
Robert Neal takes up the vexing issue of teaching Mandarin tones to Anglophone learners, a topic which was also discussed in an earlier SLR edition (Tsai 2012 - Teaching and learning the tones of Mandarin Chinese)
Sibylle Ratz and Christine Penman, in writing about the module developed at their university to assess the progress and gains made by students during their residence abroad, similarly pick up on a previous SLR article (Giraud-Johnstone 2012 – Assessing the work placement abroad)
Many of our articles are effectively reports from language teachers on their action research. However, in this edition, Anne Burns and Nur Kurtoglu-Hooton highlight the support that can be provided by university language professionals to help teachers’ efforts in implementing and evaluating such projects.
Lastly, we have a ‘call to arms’ for more strategic and sustained cross-sector collaboration between language professionals in schools and universities. Angela Gallagher-Brett, Hannah Doughty and Heather McGuinness report on the successes and challenges of the ‘Routes into Languages’ initiative in England and Wales, and consider its potential for Scotland.
You will also find abstracts and weblinks to relevant recent languages-related publications and please have a look at the free-to-download articles from other language journals. The Selected Events section serves as a handy summary guide to upcoming language seminars and conferences up to December 2014.
SLR issue 27 - download entire issue
Call for papers
Do you have something to say about language learning/teaching or language policy, in Scotland or in other parts of the world? Would you like to bring your action research project to a wider audience? Do you want to respond to an article in this or a previous edition? We accept submissions at any time but if you want your paper to be considered for the next edition, please contact the editor.
The SLR is read by linguists as well as educational stakeholders across the country and beyond, so your article can really make an impact! Hannah Doughty, Editor.