A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

342 ❘
Teaching in the disciplines
Interrogating practice
Compare the approaches outlined in Case study 3 with your own
department’s first-year language programme. What differences are there?
• Does your department teach any aspects more effectively?
• Is there anything in the case study which your department could learn
from?
OVERVIEW
HE language teachers need to respond both to recent changes in the understanding of how
languages are learned and to developments in the secondary education system which
provides their raw material. Perhaps the most significant change of focus in recent years
has been towards content-based, meaning-driven language learning within which
students are encouraged to explore topics relevant to their needs and interests via mixedskill
activities. This is in contrast to the traditional grammar-led approach focusing on the
written language, which is now out of step with the prior learning experiences of many
incoming students. The strengths and weaknesses of these students need to be addressed
within a flexible learning package, which encourages language acquisition, develops
transferable learning skills, promotes learner autonomy, and identifies and tackles
individual formal weaknesses. As Case study 3 shows, C&IT can be a valuable tool in
providing individual support for learners in this process, encouraging an independent
approach to the all-important grammar drilling. Where translation remains part of the
language curriculum, attention needs to be paid as much to the process as to the product.
REFERENCES
Beekes, W (2006) ‘The “Millionaire” method for encouraging participation’, Active Learning
in Higher Education, 7(1): 25–36.
Broady, E (2002) ‘Understanding and developing listening in a foreign language’, DELPHI
distance-learning module. Available online at http://www.delphi.bham.ac.uk
(accessed 20 April 2007).
Butzkamm, W (2003) ‘We only learn language once. The role of the mother tongue in FL
classrooms: death of a dogma’, Language Learning Journal, 28: 29–39.
Byrne, N and Abbott, J (2006) Survey on University Students Choosing a Language Course as an
Extra-Curricular Activity: Results from the First Year of a Planned Three-year Survey Conducted
by AULC on Behalf of DfES, London: Department for Education and Skills/Association of
University Language Centres.
CILT (2006) ‘Higher education statistics’. Available online at http://www.cilt.org.uk/
research/statistics/education/higher.htm (accessed 20 April 2007).