Key strategic issues for languagebased area studies
Anne Pauwels
School of Oriental Studies and African Studies
Is language an essential component
of Area Studies?
 A no-brainer?
 Does global English and English as a lingua franca
diminish the importance of skills in other languages
for area studies?
 Impact felt on surface level interaction
 Less obvious for in depth interaction
 Starting point for this lecture: language continues to
be a desirable, even essential component of LBAS
The ambivalent discourses and
attitudes towards language learning
 Move to more public discourses in support of the
value of foreign language learning

‘Overwhelming support for foreign languages plan’ DfE Nov2012

‘All children should learn foreign languages, say peers’ BBCNews March
2012
 The yo-yo approach to languages policy
 Yes-no-yes to primary school foreign language learning
 Yes or no to compulsory foreign language learning at secondary
level
 The numerous reviews and reports on the status, situation and
role of languages and language learning in the past 2 decades
The divisive character of foreign
language learning debates
 FLL is (good) for the elite: social-cultural and
intellectual
 All languages are equal but some languages are
more equal than others
 The semilingualism of heritage language speakers
 Bilingualism as a problem for heritage language
speakers and as an asset for majority language
speakers
The university language learning scene
 Fee restructure and its negative impact on
enrolments in language degrees
 Interesting interpretations of Worton (2009) report
re the role of HEFCE and Universities in the
sustainability of languages
 The support and advocacy for languages by AHRC
(ESRC) and British Academy
 The increased vulnerability of less widely taught
languages
Maintaining and strengthening language
provision in LBAS with specific attention
to Less Widely Taught Languages
 The strength and positive influence of the Centres of
Excellence in LBAS
 The essence of cooperation, sharing among and
moving beyond the Centres
 Easily accessible language repositories
 Tackling the challenge of expertise and resources for
LWT
Elements in the language
learning process
learner
outcomes
delivery
teacher
curriculum
+ resources
Impacts and challenges for the
language learning process in a global
context

The learner: e.g., diversity in linguistic profiles, histories and trajectories,
orientation, motivation, aptitude

The teacher: e.g, diversity in linguistic profiles, histories and trajectories,
training, orientation, pedagogical aptitude

The curriculum approach: e.g., communicative orientation, intercultural,
re-balancing the four skills, new modes of communication, new
genres/registers

The resources : explosion in potential learning resources – the web &
internet

The modes of delivery : beyond the traditional language classroom into
content-based (partial) immersion, country immersion, virtual classroom,
blended learning

The outcomes: defining outcomes by reference to framework (e.g. CEFR),
moving beyond the native-speaker model
Language teaching in 21st Century?
 ‘ Une didactique plurilingue dans le sens profond
du terme… viserait moins ce qui est, et plutôt ce
qu’on fait et comment accéder à une position qui
permet de faire. Donc, moins un enseignement de la
langue, de la culture, de l’identité, mais plutôt une
formation qui tient compte des pratiques
langagières, ainsi que des ideologies, des intérêts et
des relations de pouvoir qui les sous-tendent’
(Heller 2003)
The learners
 ‘…language learners cannot be conceived any
longer as individuals affiliated to a single territory,
language and culture. Rather, they participate in the
constant flow of ideas and people of which today’s
mobile society is made. Like the post-national
citizen envisaged by Urry, language learners can be
seen as learners on the move, in-between
nationalities and constantly constructing their own
personal trajectories… ‘
( Ros i Solé & Fenoulhet 2010)
The teachers
“Since postgraduate research [in language departments]
still tends to be dominated by social science, literary,
and cultural topics, the academic background of most
staff in language departments, especially the older
ones, is non-linguistic, and there may therefore be no
tradition or culture of language pedagogy. While some
have sympathy, in principle, with the view that all
language teachers ought to be introduced to, for
example, the rudiments of instructed second language
acquisition, in practice there are few at subject level
able or willing to organise and deliver such training.”
Klapper (2001)
Particular challenges and issues for LWT in
universities
 The profile of the learners
 The profile of the teachers
 The learning resources
 The curriculum
 The modes of delivery
 The outcomes
The LWT learners
Previous formal LL experience with cognate
and non-cognate languages
Previous linguistic immersion
experience
Ab Initio
Learner Issues
 Ability to actively draw upon previous language
learning experiences
 The transferability of learning strategies: e.g.,
paraphrasing, simplification, recognition of formulaic
language, hypothesis testing, scaffolding processes
 Reduction in levels of anxiety
 Increased ability for contextualisation
 Heightened awareness of intercultural aspects
 Is this taking into account when constructing a
programme/
Teacher Issues
Supply
Status within HE
Linguistic background and
trajectories
Discipline focus
Language Pedagogy
Cooperation in addressing
Teacher Issues for LWT
 Support across LBAS Centres and universities : sharing
insights e.g., in language pedagogy, second language
acquisition and learning, developing learning resources,
approaches to language teaching
 Examples of Good Practice
 Professional Development Training Workshop on
Teaching Slavonic Languages in Universities (CEELBAS)
 Training Opportunities for Arabic Teachers (CASAW)
 Certificates/ Diplomas in Arabic, Chinese, South Asian
Languages (SOAS)
The learning resources
 Minimal supply of traditional learning
resources
 Preparation of learning resources:
training, time, sources, sharing,
repositories
 The role of LBAS centres of excellence
and affiliated agencies
Modes of delivery
 The challenge of sustaining ‘super-small’ classes
 The opportunities of collaboration in alternative
modes of delivery
 ‘Summer school’ - intensive weekends
 Blended and e-learning – strong support available
 On line: Virtual language classes

Hindi – NYU
 Sanskrit – SOAS
 Cooperative models: ‘teacher travels’ – ‘student
travels’
Outcomes
 Moving beyond the aim of ‘native –like’ proficiency
 The new language environment
 What is native-like proficiency?
 Few course descriptions have clear criteria (if any) re
(proficiency outcomes
 Limited knowledge or understanding of the
European Framework
 The need to address this absence