James A. Coleman

English-medium teaching in European higher education

In the global debates on English as international lingua franca or as ‘killer language’, the adoption of English as medium of instruction in Higher Education is raising increasing concern. Plurilingualism and multilingualism are embedded in the official policies of the European Union and Council of Europe, and the Bologna Process for harmonizing Higher Education promises ‘proper provision for linguistic diversity’. But even enthusiasts acknowledge the problems of implementing such policies in the face of an inexorable increase in the use of English. This survey draws on the most recent and sometimes disparate sources in an attempt to paint a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the spread of English-medium teaching in Europes universities. The article sets the changes in the context of accelerating globalization and marketization, and analyses the forces which are driving the adoption of English, and some of the problems which accelerating ‘Englishization’ of European Higher Education might create.

Modern Languages in British Universities Past and present

This article profiles Modern Language studies in United Kingdom universities in a sometimes polemical way, drawing on the author’s experiences, insights and reflections as well as on published sources. It portrays the unique features of Modern Languages as a university discipline, and how curricula and their delivery have evolved. As national and international higher education contexts change more fundamentally and more rapidly than ever before, it seeks to draw on recent and current data to describe the impact of student choice and to identify trends, particularly with regard to the place of literature.

A survey of internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education in china

In all educational contexts, technological developments and changes in pedagogical theory mean that any picture of current practice and attitudes must be dynamic. In many countries, the learning outcomes of foreign language courses now include intercultural communicative competence (ICC), although the precise model for teaching ICC varies even across the English-speaking world. Internet-mediated approaches are widely used to support intercultural learning. In China, the geographical scale of the country and the speed and extent of contemporary socio-economic evolution, allied to long-established and distinctive cultures of learning, make the interface of new technologies and intercultural learning objectives particularly interesting and significant. A small-scale study of college teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of intercultural classroom instruction, with a special focus on Internet mediation, was conducted in mid-2007, using questionnaires and semi-structured questions, to explore the professional, personal and technical issues associated with Internet-mediated learning of languages and cultures. The results show that textbooks remain the predominant authority, while Internet tools are used as a source of information rather than a means of communication. Findings suggest recognition by teachers and students of the potential of the medium, and of the validity of intercultural goals for foreign language classes, although there are some divergences between the views of teachers and students. However, it is suggested that national policy, local incentives and resources and above all educational traditions do not yet allow optimal use of Internet-mediated approaches.

Learners’ anxiety in audiographic conferences: A discursive psychology approach to emotion talk

Success and failure in language learning are partly determined by the learners’ ability to regulate their emotions. Negative feelings are more likely to frustrate progress, while positive ones make the task of learning a second language (L2) a more effective experience. To date no significant body of research has been carried out into the role of anxiety in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The present study adopts discursive psychology (DP) as its methodological approach to examine anxiety not as a psychological state, but as a social construct in the context of an audiographic conferencing tool. After interviewing a sample of learners of Spanish at the Open University (OU), our findings reveal a strong connection between emotion and learner beliefs.

CALL from the margins: effective dissemination of CALL research and good practices

The symbolic location of EUROCALLs 2004 conference in Vienna offered to both new members from Eastern Europe and established members from the West an opportunity to review the relationship between computer assisted language learning (CALL) and language teaching in general. CALL is defined as an ‘academic field that explores the role of information and communication technologies in language learning and teaching’ (EUROCALL 1999; for a discussion of CALL as an interdisciplinary research domain, see Levy, 1997). CALL practitioners and researchers have long been aware of the importance of recognition within the broader discipline of language learning and teaching, as the joint EUROCALL/CALICO/IALL Research Policy Statement (EUROCALL 1999) explicitly noted. Yet CALL in fact remains marginalised in several ways which this article will explore. In seeking to promote more effective dissemination of good teaching practices and especially of research in CALL, the article will evoke the UKs predominant role in introducing Quality Assurance (QA) to higher education teaching and research – a trend which the Bologna Process will surely intensify throughout Europe. The author will draw on his current role as language research coordinator at the UKs Open University, and on substantial experience as a QA insider in both teaching and research, to analyse successes and failures in dissemination of both research and good teaching/learning practices. He will propose strategies for moving CALL from the margins towards the centre of language learning. In so doing, he will also provide an incidental overview of some key journals and conferences in the domain.

The UK language learning crisis in the public media: a critical analysis

Low levels of foreign language learning in the United Kingdom have been attributed to a lack of interest and motivation which, it is claimed, is partly fostered by the media. The present study examines 90 UK newspaper articles that contributed to the public debate on the language learning crisis in the UK between February 2010 and February 2012. Articles were drawn from both national (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and regional newspapers via Nexis UK. Adopting a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) theoretical perspective, the authors analyse the themes mentioned in different newspapers, before relating the findings to the target readership demographics of individual newspapers, in order to show how themes identified in particular publications, as well as in the press of the four UK nations, relate to the target readerships and the political context of language policies within England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Modern Languages in the United Kingdom

The article supplies an overview of UK modern languages education at school and university level. It attends particularly to trends over recent years, with regard both to numbers and to social elitism, and reflects on perceptions of language learning in the wider culture and the importance of gaining wider recognition of the value of languages education.

Dymplexity: new theories, new contexts and new labels for mobile students

In their article ‘A guide to interculturality for international and exchange students: an example of Hostipitality’, Fred Dervin and Heidi Layne discuss two locally-produced documents designed to help international and exchange students acclimatise to life in Finland. Drawing on Derrida, Bauman, Bakhtin and other theoretical approaches to cultures, to interculturality and to discourse analysis, they find that the documents seek to impose on visiting students the norms of an essentialised Finnishness. In this response, I adopt a simpler theoretical position to reflect on theoretical neologisms, and to challenge what is fundamentally a binary statement of the issue, and one which potentially misrepresents the documents by drawing on concepts which are no longer apt, and by ignoring some key factors of the context of their production and use. I suggest that dymplexity might be a more appropriate term than hostipidality for considering intercultural aspects of student mobility.

Young pupils’ perceptions of their foreign language learning lessons: the innovative use of drawings as a research tool

ABSTRACT Classroom research involving young participants’ perceptions is difficult and therefore not frequently undertaken. This article describes how an innovative use of drawings supported by pupil clarification of content can diminish difficulties and, more importantly, provide valid and in-depth reliable qualitative data for analysis. The study investigated primary school pupils’ perceptions of their foreign language (FL) lessons (English) involving the teaching taking place in the classroom, i.e. approach, methods, strategies and tools used, and pupils’ perceptions of English per se. The data of 48 drawings were collected at two primary schools in Austria and analysed through the lens of general and FL learning theories. Finally, a critical comparison with Austrian education policies was made. The findings showed that teachers’ classroom practice and their FL ability (pronunciation, grammar) are reflected clearly in the children’s drawings and in their attitudes to and enjoyment of the English lessons.

Sticking With Spanish: Reasons for Study and Motivation Maintenance in Adult Beginner Distance Language Learners

Abstract This paper examines the reasons for study of adult beginner distance learners of Spanish and the relationships between those reasons and motivation maintenance. A survey of 563 Open University UK students found motivational orientations distinct from those of young people in earlier studies. Adult learners who maintained their motivation also demonstrated a greater number of reasons for study. Their motivation embraced intrinsic and extrinsic, integrative and instrumental orientations, short-term and long-term ambitions, and an L2 self both ideal and realistically attainable. During their course module they focused more consistently than others on the language skills they had targeted, and expressed increased enjoyment of the learning experience. This study suggests that achieving ‘softer’ short-term goals encourages persistence towards longer-term goals which reflect the ideal L2 self.