The spring 2009 edition comes from our new home at the University of Strathclyde. Due to the move the publication of the edition is slightly later than usual – please accept our apologies!
We have a real mix of articles in this issue.
James Coleman has contributed a short footnote to the article by Robin Adamson in Issue 16, tracing a missing link in the development of the teaching of French at Scottish universities from the early 1980s.
Hans-Jan Bosscha reports on his research on the perceptions from students and staff in a Scottish university regarding the usefulness of language and intercultural skills in employment, and contrasting this with some real-life case-studies.
Dominique Vanneste and her colleagues enlighten us on the importance accorded to language and intercultural learning as part of tourism education programmes at a Flemish university.
Continuing our Curriculum for Excellence strand, we have two practitioner contributions. John Lumsden reports on his efforts to teach French to primary school children with autism.
Sharon McQuillan gives a vivid account of using ‘Glow’, the flagship intranet for teachers and learners in Scotland, as part of an interdisciplinary project.
Language teaching lessons from the past: a footnote to Robin Adamson’s SUFLRP Saga
by James Coleman
James Coleman has contributed a short footnote to the article by Robin Adamson in Issue 16, tracing a missing link in the development of the teaching of French at Scottish universities from the early 1980s.
Robin Adamson’s The SUFLRP Saga (Adamson 2007) recalled many memories of collaboration in the Scottish University French Departments in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, we have seen first an expansion of numbers and curricula in French across British Higher Education, and then a contraction which has decimated all but the most prestigious departments, ironically preserving above all the traditional literary courses, though enhanced these days with insights from cultural, area and applied language studies, and with a more contemporary focus which also embraces film and other media. Robin Adamson described many of the innovations exemplified by Le Français en Faculté (Adamson et al. 1980) and its experimental successors, including a needs-based curriculum, authentic inputs, communicative objectives, target language classroom management, and structured independent learning. However, there exists one thread of influence from those days which she has not traced, and which is very much alive.
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The Competitive Advantages of Language Education and Cultural Knowledge for Graduates
by Hans J Bosscha
This article is based on research conducted for a dissertation as part of an honours degree course. The main part of the study consisted of an online questionnaire sent to recent alumni members of a Scottish university seeking their views on the competitiveness of graduates with additional language skills. These findings were complemented by questionnaires with members of staff from the same institution, to identify commonalities and differences. The majority of respondents believed that language skills would be of advantage to them and some who had not studied languages as part of their degree course were now seeking to obtain these skills in other settings. The views expressed by the university’s alumni and staff are discussed within the context of published literature on the use and significance of language skills within vocational settings.
View full article - The Competitive Advantages of Language Education and Cultural Knowledge for Grad
Languages and aspects of tourism education and training in Flanders
by Dominique Vanneste
The Flemish MSc Tourism programme does not include language courses. Although the students come from different educational backgrounds, it can be taken for granted that its students are trilingual (Dutch, French and English). Proof is provided by describing the broader context of, and the interplay between the higher education tourism programmes, the secondary school foreign languages outcomes, the foreign languages policy of the regional government, the language curriculum for professional tourist guides and tour managers. We also focus on opportunities and threats regarding this unique state of affairs.
View full article - Languages and aspects of tourism education and training in Flanders
Modern Languages and Autism
by John Lumsden
I work in Ruchill Autism Unit as a class teacher and would like to relate the experience of introducing French into our pupils’ curriculum over the course of a school year. Ruchill Autism Unit is one of four Autism units which serves one of four geographical sectors in the City of Glasgow and is run by Glasgow City Education Department. It shares a campus with Ruchill Primary School and at present has a school roll of twenty four pupils, five teaching staff and seven Pupil Support Assistants. Children attending the unit have a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder, the implications of which are well documented and Greater Glasgow Health Board issued a working document to interested parties explaining the condition and selected extracts with localised statistics for the inner city
View full article - Modern Languages and Autism
Au Café – A Curriculum for Excellence Project
by Sharon McQuillan
In April 2007 I had been asked by a Curriculum for Excellence Modern Foreign Language (MFL) local authority working group to trial the following MFL draft outcome:
I have worked with others using ICT where appropriate and can contribute successfully to a presentation in English supported by the use of the language I am learning on an aspect of life in the country where the language I am learning is spoken.
After discussion with both Primary 7 (P7) teachers we decided that the trial would centre on the cross-cutting theme of food. This was already part of our French P7 curriculum. We decided to take what was already good, build upon it and enhance it by developing the four capacities. We decided also to work in an ‘interdisciplinary’ manner. (All outcomes and activities undertaken are detailed in the planning document attached to this report). This was to be done with both P7 classes from April to June 2008.
View full article - Au Café – A Curriculum for Excellence Project