Liaison Magazine - LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and ...

news
LLAS news
Subject Centre activity continues apace, with much to report on and much to look
forward to. Here we highlight just some of our activity – events, resources, projects and
publications – from the past year.
events
The LLAS calendar has been busy and diverse of late, with
events taking place in venues across the UK and speakers
addressing capacity audiences. Bringing people together at
workshops, conferences and seminars, to discuss key
themes in teaching and learning in higher education, is at
the heart of what LLAS does and described below is just a
taste of our events from this academic year.
A series of pedagogic research methods workshops have
been held in London and Glasgow, designed to introduce
colleagues to both theory and practice in this area.
Coupled with this, we have now commissioned a cycle of
action research projects (action research being “a practical
way of looking at your own work to check that it is as you
would like it to be”), which are due to report next year.
January saw the one-day event Texts in Translation take
place in Sheffield, organised in collaboration with the
English Subject Centre.The day was opened by Professor
Peter France of the University of Edinburgh, who gave a
masterly overview of the history of literature in translation,
followed by a range of speakers addressing theoretical and
practical issues relating to using translated texts in literature
classes. Many issues were raised, including ways to use
electronic texts to engage students with reading in a
second language, and translation from text to screen, or
from film to stage; topics that could usefully become the
focus of future LLAS events.
In April, LLAS organised a day-conference in conjunction
with UCML, Agendas for Research in Modern Languages,
which reported on the Review of Modern Languages
Research commissioned by the AHRC in 2006.The
conference examined new and continuing agendas for
modern languages research and also focused on raising the
international profile of UK research.The report itself is
available here: www.ahrc.ac.uk/images/
modern_languages_review.pdf
In partnership with the University of the West of England
and Bristol City Council, LLAS ran a two-day conference
Intercultural Dialogue: the Way Forward (11th-12th April).
Aimed at academics, community workers, voluntary
organisations and other interested groups, the conference
drew on research and practice in the field of intercultural
communication.The conference also coincided with the
launch of Bristol’s Abolition 200 Legacy Commission which
took place on the evening of 11th April.
Around 15 recently appointed lecturers attended a
workshop for new academic staff on 15th April at Clare
College Cambridge.The workshop took a holistic view of
the academic career, examining teaching, research and
service to the university and broader subject community.
The workshop will run again in the 2008-9 academic year.
Student employability is now a major topic within HE, and
is a named priority for the Higher Education Academy. As
such, LLAS organised a CETL dissemination event on this
very theme, which took place in April at Sheffield Hallam
University.The aim was to provide CETLs the opportunity
to present their work in this area and network with
colleagues.The well-attended day saw a broad range of
presentations - including some excellent contributions from
students – that discussed such topics as: the shifting
meaning of employability; subject-specific endeavours;
theoretical approaches to resources development; and
innovative employer engagement.
All LLAS events are listed here: www.llas.ac.uk/events
Liaison magazine • llas.ac.uk •5