CSW2506adc21eb555a90686949a0b328ef4fd.pdf

The 25th Communication Skills Workshop
Managing Diversity: Theory and Practice
24–26 May 2012
Hotel Viru, Tallinn, Estonia

CONTENTS
Welcome 3
CSW Committee 3
Sponsors 3
Liability 3
Conference Programme 4
Parallel Sessions 5
Plenary Speakers 7
Themes 8
Abstracts by Themes 9
page
Useful Phrases in Estonian 20
Internet: http://communicationskillsworkshop.pbworks.com
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Editor and photo: Leena Evesti

WELCOME
Dear Workshop Participants
It gives us great pleasure to welcome you all to Tallinn to the 25th Communication
Skills Workshop. The Workshop is a meeting point for teachers of all languages,
language revisers and administrators in Finnish and Estonian language centres and
language departments alike. The event brings together a diverse group of delegates,
to gain new insights and brainstorm ideas on the areas of language teaching
and learning, and related topics. The working language of the workshop is English.
We hope you will enjoy our time together in Tallinn!
CSW COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2010-12
Ene Alas (Chair) Tallinn University
Eva Braidwood University of Oulu
Leena Evesti (Treasurer) University of Helsinki
Colette Gattoni Åbo Akademi
Tuija Junkkari Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences
Heather Kannasmaa University of Oulu
Suliko Liiv Tallinn University
Jen MacArthur (Website) University of Vaasa
Eha Mängel (Secretary) Tallinn University
Karen Niskanen University of Oulu
Kari Pitkänen University of Helsinki
Kärt Rummel Estonian Information Technology College
Taija Swanström Aalto University
SPONSORS
Allecto AS
Tallinn University Institute of Germanic and Romance Languages and Cultures
US Embassy in Tallinn
Liability
By registering for the conference, participants agree that neither CSW nor the
CSW Committee assumes any responsibility for damage or injury to persons or
property during the conference. Participants are advised to organize their own
health, travel and personal insurance.
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Conference Programme
Thursday, May 24, 2012
14.00–15.00 Registration & coffee Conference Centre Lobby, 2nd floor
15.00–16.30 Plenary I Developing academic literacy skills.
Clare Furneaux Grande I+II.
17.30 Optional tour of the Tallinn Old Town
Friday, May 25, 2012
9.00–10.30 Plenary II Catering for a wide variety of student needs in an
EAP context.
Clare Furneaux Grande I+II
10.30–11.00 Coffee break Conference Centre Lobby, 2nd floor
11.00–13.00 Parallel Sessions. See timetable on pages 5–6.
Bolero I, Bolero II, Allegro
13.00–14.00 Lunch 2nd floor buffet restaurant
14.00–16.00 Parallel Sessions. See timetable on pages 5–6.
Bolero I, Bolero II, Allegro
19.30 Conference Dinner Merineitsi Restaurant, 2nd floor
Saturday, May 26, 2012
9.30–10.30 Plenary III English-medium programmes and the use of
English as an academic lingua franca.
Niina Hynninen Grande I+II
10.30–11.00 Coffee break Conference Centre Lobby, 2nd floor
11.00–12.00 Conclusion: final comments, election of the new
committee, book raffle Grande I+II
12.00–13.00 Lunch 2nd floor buffet restaurant
Allecto book sale: Friday 9.00–16.30 and Saturday 9.00–12.30
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Timetable for parallel sessions, Friday 11:00–13:00
Time Bolero 1 Bolero 2 Allegro
1.1 New Way of Working: 6.1 A CLIL experiment 8.1 Oral Proficiency
Responding to Student
Interviewers as Agents of
11. 00 – and Teacher Needs at the
Diversity
11. 30 LUT LC
11.30 –
12.00
12. 00 –
12. 30
12. 30 –
13.00
13. 00 –
14.00
Paula Haapanen
1.2 Helping Learners who
Struggle with University
Foreign Language Requirements
Heather Kannasmaa
1.3 Practical Examples of
Use of Multimedia in Elearning
Alain Thibault
1.4 Out of the Corner of
the Eye: Creative
Writing as an Advanced
EAPS Course
Paul Graves
Jane Honka
6.2 Promoting Content
and Language Integrated
learning Among Estonian
Teachers of English
Liljana Scopinskaja & Suliko
Liiv
6.3 UniTIE: The Hidden
Pearl
Paula Haapanen & Karen
Niskanen
6.4 Video Conferencing:
Creating International
Connections
Kirby Vincent & Sandro
Amendolara
Ene Alas
8.2 Reflections and
Research into University-
Level Exemption Testing in
Finland
Jonathon Martin & Fergal
Bradley & Sandro Amendolara
2.1 Teaching Emotional
Intelligence in an English
Communication Course
Pia Lappalainen
2.2 Application of a Communicative
Competence
Model for Written
Discourse to Enhance the
Learning of Students
Writing in their Discipline
Suzy McAnsh & Eva Braidwood
Lunch Lunch Lunch
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Timetable for parallel sessions, Friday 14:00–16:00
14. 00 –
14. 30
14. 30 –
15.00
15. 00 –
15.30
15. 30 –
16.00
5.1 Resistances and
Pragmatics: Norwegian
Academics and the HiOA
Writing Course
Ann Torday Gulden
4.1 Strategies to Support
Multicultural Students in
Content Classes
Henno Erikson Parks
4.2 Cultural Identity and
Second Language
Acquisition: A Narrative
Analysis Approach
Karen Niskanen
4.3 Literature in English as
a Means of Raising Cultural
Awareness and Teaching
Diversity at the University
Level (English Philology
and Teacher Education)
Julia Tofantšuk & Paul
Rüsse
6.5 A Thematic Approach
to Academic Courses
Kirby Vincent
6.6 The need for more
support: surveying
academic writing and
communication at the
University of Tartu
Djuddah Leijen & Ele Sepp
6.7 Diversities in
Teaching the Latin
Language and Culture to
students of Philology
Merike Ristikivi & Maris
Valtin
1.5 The exchange experience
at Åbo Akademi,
Finland since Bologna:
Perspectives on pedagogical
issues and learner
realities
Colette Gattoni
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3.1 Strategies for
Successful Organisation of
Independent Work
Irina Petrova
3.2 Student profiles in
ALMS
Satu von Boehm
7.1 Revision vs. Teaching:
Are they Compatible?
Julie Uusinarkaus
7.2 The merits of
discourse-oriented EAP
writing instruction in enhancing
the communicative
quality of non-native
writers’ texts
Kärt Rummel

Plenary speakers
Clare Furneaux
Clare Furneaux is a British National Teaching Fellow and a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics
at the University of Reading, UK, where she teaches on MAs in English Language
Teaching (campus-based and distance study) and an undergraduate programme in English
Language for home students. She directs the MA ELT by Distance Study. She teaches
modules on literacy and English language teaching, especially language curriculum design
and written language. Clare’s research interests are concerned with developing second
language writing skills (especially in English for Academic Purposes contexts) and on-line/
distance learning. She also supervises research in the areas of curriculum design. She attended
CSW in 2006 and is delighted to have the opportunity to participate once more.
Plenary 1 Developing academic literacy skills
In this plenary I will discuss the development of academic writing in post-graduate students
in an international context, where students come from a professional background
and they have been out of study for some time. I shall talk about a study I conducted with
a group of such students as they make the transition into Masters level study. The study explores
how they learned what the academic writing requirements were for the first term,
focusing on how they responded to advice from tutors, their reactions to the feedback
provided and how they used it. Themes that emerged from the exploration of the development
of academic writing in this context include: the influence of background (academic,
professional, discipline, linguistic); personal characteristics (such as expectations and motivations)
and the role of literacy brokers. I will argue that the issues raised apply to students
in all academic contexts, not just the post-graduate one.
Plenary 2 Catering for a wide variety of student needs in an EAP context
English-medium universities now cater for students from a wide range of international
backgrounds and studying in different discipline areas. How can pre-sessional courses help
prepare students to go on to study their own subject in English? Drawing insights from
teachers and students, I will ask you to engage with some of the central issues here, identifying
challenges and offering some solutions.
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Niina Hynninen
Since the autumn of 2007, Niina Hynninen has been working on her PhD thesis on language
regulation in English as a lingua franca (ELF). Over the course of her studies, Niina
has been involved in different ELF-related projects and research communities. Currently
she participates in the Global English (GlobE) project (www.uef.fi/globe) and the Lingua
Francas and Plurilingualism research community, and is a member of the ELF research
team (www.helsinki.fi/elfa). Her research interests include English as a lingua franca, normativity
in language, discourse analysis, and spoken interaction.
Plenary 3 English-medium programmes and the use of English as an academic lingua
franca
In universities and other higher-education institutions outside English-speaking countries,
more and more study programmes are run in English. On the one hand, this trend reflects
the global use of English as a lingua franca – a shared language used for communication
between speakers of different first languages. The use of English is defended as a prerequisite
for the internationalisation of higher education institutions. On the other hand,
the use of English also reinforces the status of English as the language of science and academia,
and it is seen to weaken the position of national languages as the languages of
science and higher education. But what does it mean for the students and teachers in the
study programmes to use English as an academic lingua franca? And what implications
does the use of English in international contexts have on the English language itself? In this
presentation, I address these two questions by drawing on my research on English as an
academic lingua franca.
Parallel sessions: themes
1. catering for a variety of student and teacher needs in terms of teaching styles /
learning styles
2. skills development
3. learner autonomy
4. handling cultural differences
5. English as a Lingua Franca in academic settings
6. needs analysis; developing curricula; course content; feedback
7. thesis supervision; editing/revising academic texts
8. testing language skills.
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1. CATERINg FOR A vARIETy OF STuDENT AND TEAChER NEEDS IN
TERMS OF TEAChINg STyLES / LEARNINg STyLES
1.1
Title of paper: A new way of working: responding to student and teacher
needs at the LuT Language Centre
Presenter: Paula Haapanen, Lecturer, Paula.Haapanen@lut.fi
Affiliation: Lappeenranta University of Technology Language Centre
Key words: team teaching, collaborative learning, modules, case studies,
social media, learning to learn, curriculum planning
Today’s students are different to those of 20 years ago; they are mobile, master technology
and seek information on a ‘on needs’ basis. This translates into asynchronous, fragmented
and ‘easy access’ learning style that the traditional twice-weekly contact lesson is hard
pressed to satisfy. Today’s language teachers are different as well; they deal with skyrocketing
classroom enrollment and subsequently, increased workloads which may affect
quality and how teachers cope. We at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT)
Language Centre have tried to respond to both constituents’ needs by reorganizing the
learning experience. This has resulted in the ongoing development of an asynchronous,
modular communication skills course in English that incorporates new tools and authentic
project work in the learning experience in order to stimulate students and teachers to
work differently.
1.2
Title of paper: helping learners who struggle with university foreign language
requirements
Presenter: Heather Kannasmaa, Lecturer, Heather.Kannasmaa@oulu.fi
Affiliation: University of Oulu, Extension School, Languages and
Communication
Key words: learning difficulties, dyslexia, affect, language learning, remedial
course, learning to learn, learner identity
This presentation begins by describing my recent work to better understand the obstacles
to language learning faced by a small but significant minority of university students; source
data is provided by 17 volunteers interviewed in autumn 2009 about their struggles with
English. Their commentaries yield a set of “common ground” factors, both cognitive and
psychological, that would seem to warrant special attention when we work with dyslexics
and other special learners. I will then briefly describe the August 2011 implementation of
a remedial English course targeted primarily at freshmen entering Oulu University, where
I have attempted to address several issues common to special learners. Finally, I present
some sample comments from written course feedback and from a closing discussion to
help clarify shifts towards students’ having more positive self-views as learners, and as
evidence of increased metacognitive awareness with regard to language learning.
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1.3
Title of paper: Practical examples of use of multimedia in E-learning
Presenter: Alain Thibault, lehtori, Tievie kouluttaja, alain.thibault@aalto.fi
Affiliation: Aalto University
Key words: E-learning , use of flash technology, Dreamweaver, multimedia
material, self-learning material, Internet pedagogy
In the presentation I was considering to introduce as an example:
1/ A French course mainly based on a mainly multimedia material (included videos) that
advanced students are using to learn how to sell and buy their technology, in the case they
are building a company for that purpose. I will try to show the pedagogy behind it, from a
teacher point of view, in order to increase their motivation, their skills, and some tricks to
make sure that they really do what they are expected.
2/ For years I also worked on national Radio/TV to develop material for teaching through
the medias, therefore I would like to show some concrete examples, already on the internet,
how they were planned, how they were developed, which systems were used (Flash,
premiere pro, Dreamweaver, etc.).
I could show some documents developed in order to teach some special grammatical skills, and
other ones aiming to introduce a socio-cultural situation that would be used by the student to
work at home, in order to analyze the document and then produce an oral or written presentation.
I would also produce some test results showing that the French (and German courses)
using this possibilities had much better results than previously, without that kind of support.
1.4
Title of paper: Out of the Corner of the Eye: Creative Writing as an Advanced EAPS
Course
Presenter: Paul Graves, University Lecturer, paul.graves@helsinki.fi
Affiliation: University of Helsinki Language Centre
Key words: creative writing, stories, poems, peer critiquing, critical discussion
I mean to discuss the usefulness of offering a creative writing workshop among other
advanced EAPS courses. Instead of explicitly imitating or shadowing students’ academic
tasks, the course invites students to the pleasure and freedom of assuming complete authority
over their own stories and poems. At the same time, it forces students to subject
every submitted text to an open peer-critique discussion. This procedure can be useful in
advancing two aims: (1) widening the range of English the students have as a resource,
since mastery of narrative and an ear for the language are immeasurable aids in linguistic
flexibility, precision and fluency; and (2) enhancing students’ academically relevant skills
and confidence in writing and critical discussion while the students are focused on narrative
and the sounds of words.
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1.5
Title of paper: The exchange experience at Åbo Akademi, Finland since Bologna:
Perspectives on pedagogical issues and learner realities
Presenter: Colette Gattoni, Lecturer in English Language, colette.gattoni@abo.fi
Affiliation: Åbo Akademi University, Centre for Language and Communication
Key words: Bologna reforms, Erasmus exchange, Finland, attitudes, language
proficiency, internationalisation
Åbo Akademi (ÅAU) in Turku is unique as the only university catering for the Swedishspeaking
minority in Finland. The official language of instruction is Swedish but English is
used increasingly, as a result of the setting up of international master’s programmes. The
Centre for Language and Communication (CSK) at ÅAU receives growing numbers of exchange
students who come through Erasmus and other international programmes.
The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a small-scale study consisting of attitude
surveys and interviews of the exchange experience from the perspective of various stakeholders,
including that of the incoming students themselves, the local student population,
the receiving administration, the subject teaching staff of various departments and
language teaching staff at the CSK. To date, this seems to be a relatively under-researched
area in Finland and it is hoped that this snapshot of the current situation in ÅAU and the
CSK will initiate debate and shed light on both pedagogical issues and learner realities in
the wake of the Bologna reforms initiated in 2005.
2. SKILLS DEvELOPMENT
2.1
Title of paper: Teaching emotional intelligence skills in an English communication
course
Presenter: Pia Lappalainen, Lecturer, pia.lappalainen@aalto.fi
Affiliation: Aalto University Language Centre
Key words: emotional intelligence, social competence, engineering education,
language studies
As working conditions, methods and tools in industries as well as the related competences
have changed drastically as a result of accelerated technological advancement and globalization,
work communities have started to look for ways to respond to these new requirements.
Industries are increasingly acknowledging the potential of social competence,
materializing in the way modern employees lead themselves and their teams and interact
and communicate with those around.
As employees’ social competence impacts organizational performance through the application
of so-called intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, universities are facing pressure to
revise their curricula by integrating soft skills more systematically into their core offerings.
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As one solution, this paper proposes the incorporation of emotional intelligence and social
competence themes and training in graduate syllabi. It also reports experiences from a
course experimenting with new methodology in communications education directed to
engineering students. The proposed pedagogy addresses classroom management strategies
drawing from problem-based learning, student empowerment, and collaborative
learning, and so-called socially competent teachership founded on teacher immediacy and
perceived caring, all constituting strategies moving away from student compliance and
teacher modelling.
2.2
Title of paper: Application of a Communicative Competence Model for Written
Discourse to Enhance the Learning of Students Writing in their
Disciplines
Presenters: Suzy McAnsh, M.A. , suzy.mcansh@oulu.fi
Eva Braidwood, Ph.D., eva.braidwood@oulu.fi
Affiliation: University of Oulu, Extension School
Key words: communicative competence, written discourse, writing in the
disciplines, scientific writing, self-assessment, feedback
This presentation introduces a model of communicative competence for written discourse
consisting of six components of competence, at work simultaneously or in turn during
the writing process. The six components represented in the model indicate the various
types of knowledge and skills needed by a writer to create a successful contribution to
the discourse of their discipline. Awareness of the various components, we believe, empowers
novice writers who face the challenge of producing scientific articles that meet
the requirements of the gatekeepers. In this presentation we describe how we apply the
model in scientific writing courses both in the instructional and the feedback phase. In addition,
we discuss the students’ reaction and their development as writers as evidenced
from their self-assessment. Through the classroom use of this model, we hope to encourage
students to recognise the complexity of considerations to be taken into account when
writing and to identify for themselves the features of written communication requiring
deliberation during writing tasks even beyond the course.
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3. LEARNER AuTONOMy
3.1
Title of paper: Strategies for Successful Organization of Independent Work
Presenter: Irina Petrova, M.A., nc0444@gmail.com
Affiliation: Virumaa College of Tallinn University of Technology
Key words: autonomous learning, e-learning, motivation, engagement, learner
support
Autonomous learning, distant courses, independent study skills, life-long education, and
other related concepts have been buzzwords for quite a while. Unsurprisingly, the amount
of homework at schools and universities has been increasing to such an extent that now
there are subjects that are acquired partially or completely outside the classroom without
the physical presence of the teacher. Studies show that courses conducted via the Internet
can be as efficient as traditional learning. However, in case of students with initially low
levels of motivation for self-study or lack of self-discipline, additional effort and trick are
required on the teacher’s part to “help” the students practice in a language regularly. For
example, a student who took part in an English course where the elements of traditional
and electronic education were combined expressed the following concern (the original
language is kept): “For me this way (working in WebCT) is not good. I thing this way of
education for the students which is on the first course, is unsuitable. In a first course I cant
work individually without control because if no one is forcing me to teach, I leave everything
on the last day.” The aim of the talk is, thus, to discuss possible ways of maintaining
learners’ engagement throughout the course.
3.2
Title of paper: Student profiles in ALMS
Presenter: Satu von Boehm, M.A., satu.vonboehm@helsinki.fi
Affiliation: University of Helsinki Language Centre
Key words: learner autonomy, learner history, reflection, learner awareness,
counselling, advising
ALMS (Autonomous Learning Modules) is an optional way to study English at the Language
Centre of the University of Helsinki. ALMS offers an autonomous way of study, one where
the students play the central role: they set their own goals, carry out their projects and
evaluate their own learning. ALMS students are provided with guidance from teachers in
the form of two group sessions on learner-awareness and with three one-to-one counselling
sessions.
One of the core elements in ALMS is reflection. Students are asked to consider how their past,
present and future interact, what their needs in English are and how they learn best. For this
purpose, they are asked to write a profile of themselves as language learners. The students may
either opt to write a free-form reflection text or to use a learning-to-learn website, Kaleidoscope.
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This presentation discusses the role of the profile in ALMS counselling and how the tools
provided for it function. In 2009, students using Kaleidoscope were studied, and in 2011-
2012, a similar study is being conducted on the students choosing the reflection text. Results
from the two studies will be presented.
4. hANDLINg CuLTuRAL DIFFERENCES
4.1
Title of paper: Strategies to Support Multicultural Students in Content Classes
Presenter: Henno Erikson Parks, Lecturer in English and Communication Skills,
henno.parks@utu.fi
Affiliation: University of Turku
Key words: Multicultural, Cultural Community, Learning Patterns, Negotiating
Ideas, Classroom Strategies
Each time we teach a course, it is essentially a new ballgame. The content changes over
time, our students change, and we change. The complex dynamics involved in the processes
of teaching and learning take on new layers of meaning when we stop to consider
the ways in which we are similar as well as different from one another.
Therefore, every classroom is a cultural community reflective of the disciplines and perspectives
studied, the authors, the students, and the professor. A student can also learn
that there are various patterns of values, speech, preferences, and behaviors associated
with different cultures, and they can learn that there are as many differences within cultural
groups as there are across different cultures. This helps the students break down
cultural stereotypes in society as a whole.
Using these methods, students learn that they each may have a unique learning pattern
and this realization of their own “multiple subjectivities” can help them understand the
multiple and interlocking identities in the people and groups around them. The classroom
then becomes a living laboratory for negotiating individual and group differences, as well
as for negotiating ideas about the content and concepts of the class. Not all negotiations
are easy, but the work to listen and to learn across both similarities and differences can
only produce better and more effective learning for all students in a multicultural world.
4.2
Title of paper: Cultural identity and second language acquisition: a narrative analysis
approach
Presenter: Karen Niskanen, M.A., Karen.Niskanen@oulu.fi
Affiliation: University of Oulu Extension School (Languages and Communication)
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Key words: cultural identity, interviews, narrative analysis, international students,
transnational identity
As a method for the study of identity, narrative analysis is used in a broad range of social
science fields, e.g. psychology, history, anthropology, medicine, etc. In the first phase of
this study, statistical correlations of variables in SLA indicate that linguistic and cultural
identities, and especially transnational identities, play a significant role in the language acquisition
process. This paper describes the follow-up study, in which thematic and structural
narrative methods are used to examine how identity is represented in semi-structured
interviews with 10 international baccalaureate students.
4.3
Title of paper: Literature in English as a Means of Raising Cultural Awareness and
Teaching Diversity at the university Level (English Philology and
Teacher Education)
Presenters: Julia Tofantšuk, PhD, Associate Professor
Paul Rüsse, MA, Lecturer, paul@tlu.ee
Affiliation: Tallinn University, Estonia
Key words: teaching literature at university level; intercultural awareness;
postcolonial literatures in English
Literature is an indispensable part of foreign language learning and thus occupies a strong
place in the university curriculum of English philology. It is also important in teacher education
for a variety of reasons, both traditional (medium of teaching grammar, vocabulary,
communicating ideas, raising general erudition) and relevant in the present-day world,
namely as a means of promoting cultural awareness and reflecting the complexity and
diversity of present-day, particularly English-speaking, culture.
Various scholars (Bakhtin, Ricoeur, Narančić-Kovać, Kaltenbacher, Fenner) have pointed
out ‘the dialogic nature of literary texts’ and the consequent role of literature as dialogue
between the learner’s and target culture. In our paper, we shall focus on the specific nature
of contemporary literature in English as avenue for more global communication – between
the learner and the inner differences, impurity (in Stuart Hall’s terms) and hybridity
of no-longer-homogenous British and American cultures. We shall draw upon examples we
use in our own teaching practice at Tallinn University – texts from Native American, Black
American, Black British, and Asian British literatures.
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5. ENgLISh AS A LINguA FRANCA IN ACADEMIC SETTINgS
5.1
Title of paper: Resistances and Pragmatics: Norwegian Academics and the HiOA
Writing Course
Presenter: Ann Torday Gulden, Associate professor, AnnTorday.Gulden@hioa.no
Affiliation: Centre for Pedagogical Research and Development, Oslo and Akershus
University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA), Norway
Key words: ESP, resistance, academic staff, L2 researcher identity
ELF in Norwegian academia is often met with ambivalence. There appears to be more
resistance in the ‘soft’ than in the ‘hard’ sciences. The writing course for academic staff
in Oslo is participant-centred, and the main objective being to deliver a toolkit differentiated
enough for use in the diverse disciplines represented. Participants work with their
manuscripts throughout the course, cumulatively integrating course material into their
texts as the various ‘tools’ are introduced. This paper will address some factors contributing
to national resistances to ELF, and show means by which the academic writing course
manoeuvres amongst resistances through acknowledgment and aims to enable a happier
development of academic identity in ‘somebody else’s language’. The complex role of the
ESP course-holder as colleague, facilitator, manager of diversity and ‘expert’ will be discussed.
The presentation draws on social constructivist perspectives with regard to elements
of reciprocal learning in the group, using participants’ needs analyses and reflection
statements which are an integral part of the academic writing course in Oslo.
6. NEEDS ANALySIS; DEvELOPINg CuRRICuLA; COuRSE CONTENT;
FEEDBACK
6.1
Title of paper: A CLIL experiment
Presenter: Jane Honka, Lecturer, jahonka@utu.fi
Affiliation: University of Turku, Language Centre
Key words: CLIL, master’s thesis, academic writing, language support
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has a dual aim: learning the subject matter
(content) for a course of study, and learning the second/foreign language used as the medium
of instruction for the content. This presentation describes an adjunct CLIL English language
support course (for thesis writing) developed for students on the two-year Faculty of Education
(English) Master’s degree programme in Learning, Learning Environments and Educational
Systems (LLEES). The course consists of a mixture of group sessions on aspects of academic
writing, based on the results of a Webropol student and staff questionnaire; guided
self-study; and consultations with a tutor and with the teacher. Perspectives from the three
participating parties (LLEES staff, LLEES students and English lecturer) will be presented. The
course started in spring 2011 and is continuing, but this is still very much work in progress.
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6.2
Title of paper: Promoting Content and Language Integrated Learning Among
Estonian Teachers of English
Presenters: Liljana Skopinskaja, Associate Professor, liljana@tlu.ee
Suliko Liiv, Professor, liiv@tlu.ee
Affiliation: Tallinn University, Institute of Germanic and Romance Languages and
Cultures
Key words: content and language integrated learning, CLIL teacher profile,
questionnaire study, English instruction, Estonian context
The report discusses the application of English-based content and language integrated
learning (CLIL) in Estonian classroom context focusing on a questionnaire study carried
out among Estonian CLIL teachers that allows the authors to establish some fundamental
aspects of an Estonian CLIL teacher profile. The questionnaire consists of three sections
of questions. The aim of the first set is to gather some general information about Estonian
CLIL teachers, such as their length of service and CLIL experience; the second set
investigates implementation procedures of the CLIL methodology and strategies employed
by teachers, and the last set of questions examines teachers’ self-evaluation of their CLIL
competences.
The findings regarding CLIL teachers’ perception of their command of the CLIL methodology
are seen as a necessary step towards a more systematic expansion of CLIL programming
and implementation at different levels (secondary and tertiary) of the English instruction
in Estonia and building more teacher awareness of the processes taking place in the CLIL
classroom.
This research has been supported by grant no. 9037 of the Estonian Science Foundation.
6.3
Title of paper: uniTIE: the hidden Pearl
Presenters: Paula Haapanen, Lecturer, paula.haapanen@lut.fi
Karen Niskanen, Lecturer, karen.niskanen@oulu.fi
Affiliation: Lappeenranta University of Technology & University of Oulu
Key words: learning outcomes, assessment, descriptors, academic writing,
presentations, intercultural communication
Although university level ESP/EAP courses in Finland commonly assess students’ competences
in academic writing, giving presentations and intercultural communication, there
has been no common pool of core learning outcomes and assessment descriptors on
which all teachers of English could draw. Following on from the previous ‘Transparency in
English’ project (TIE), the UniTIE project was set up in 2009 to remedy this deficiency. Com-
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ining efforts across institutional borders in order to save resources, UniTIE has produced a
set of descriptors describing possible learning outcomes for each of the above three areas.
These learning outcomes are intended as standard anchors which colleagues can utilise
during the process of course design.
However, at the Language Centre days in Tampere in 2011, it became clear to the members
of the project that the product resulting from UniTIE had remained somewhat of a ‘hidden
pearl’, despite efforts to disseminate information about it.
The purpose of this presentation is to briefly describe the results of the project thus far, to
discuss the benefits and potential of the descriptors in course description and assessment,
and finally, to explore future directions for the initiative.
6.4
Title of paper: Video Conferencing: Creating International Connections
Presenters: Kirby Vincent, University Teacher, kirby.vincent@helsinki.fi
Sandro Amendolara, University Teacher, sandro.amendolara@helsinki.fi
Fergal Bradley, University Teacher, fergal.bradley@helsinki.fi
Affiliation: University of Helsinki Language Centre
Key Words: Video Conferencing, curriculum, internationalization
In today’s world, technology has become central to communication in work and also increasingly
in education. In our teaching at the Language Centre of the University of Helsinki,
we have started to incorporate video conferencing (VC) as a means of internationalizing
our classes and reflecting real-world work practices. This project began two years ago
through contacts with the Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech Republic. In the beginning,
VC was used with law students in both countries and has now expanded to include
students studying Cross-Cultural Communications. We are currently experimenting with
various ways of incorporating VC into our courses, including having it as an optional extra
on a course, as an integral element within a course, or also as the focus of an entire course.
We will discuss the variety of activities that we currently do in the VC sessions and how
students have responded to them. In addition, we will outline what potential we see for
further development of both activities and future cooperation with partners from other
universities, as well as the possibilities and limitations of the technology. The student feedback
from our sessions has been extremely positive and has encouraged us to further
develop these courses.
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6.5
Title of paper: A thematic approach to Academic courses
Presenter: Kirby Vincent, English Lecturer, kirby.vincent@helsinki.fi
Affiliation: University of Helsinki Language Centre
Key words: Curriculum, student needs, skills development, course development,
Internet
Students who take a subject course held in English are required to read extensively about
one topic , to listen to a series of lectures on the same topic and then often to produce
a piece of writing based on what they have read and listened to. My courses at the University
of Helsinki do not actually incorporate these extensive elements and, as a result,
may not be meeting the real needs of the students. I have, therefore, piloted a course in
which students worked with extended texts, both written and spoken, and produced written
tasks centered around the content of two online video courses. These online courses
are subject specific and provided additional materials we worked with. I will present the
syllabus and basic structuring for this course, report on the how the course was received,
and how I plan to develop it.
6.6
Title of paper: The need for more support: surveying academic writing and
communication at the University of Tartu
Presenters: Djuddah Leijen, djuddah.leijen@ut.ee
Ele Sepp, ele.sepp@ut.ee
Affiliation: Language Centre, Tartu University
Key words: academic writing, communication, language centre
The Language Centre of the University of Tartu, Estonia administered a university wide
survey investigating needs and requirements for establishing a centre for academic writing
and communication. The main aim of the survey was to map current academic writing
and communication practices and gain insight into student and teacher attitudes towards
current efforts made by the university to support and develop these skills. The survey
has provided an insight into different viewpoints regarding academic writing and communication
among the four major academic streams: social sciences, humanities, natural
sciences, and medical sciences. Evidence from the survey confirms the need for students
to receive support for their academic writing and communication. Currently, the centre of
academic writing and communication is making efforts to support these needs by organizing
the following: to prepare and organize courses; to create a collection of resources and
websites in the field of academic writing and communication skills; to train tutors for the
consultation of academic writing and communication skills. At the conference we wish to
elaborate on our centre’s main aims and elaborate on the benefits and discuss the problems
encountered.
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6.7
Title of paper: Diversities in teaching the Latin language and culture to students of
philology
Presenters: Merike Ristikivi, PhD, merike.ristikivi@gmail.com
Maris Valtin, MA, maris.valtin@hotmail.com
Affiliation: Tallinn University, Institute of Germanic and Romance Languages and
Cultures
Key words: language area studies, language contacts, language and culture,
development of course content, non-native language acquisition,
methods and tools
The presentation concentrates on the diversities, possibilities and methods in teaching
the Latin language and Roman culture to the students of philology. At Tallinn University a
course in Latin has traditionally been part of the syllabus for the students of philology. It
was usually taught in the first year as an obligatory course for two semesters. In 2010 the
curriculum was reformed and Latin began to be taught in combination with Roman culture
in one semester. Hours of classroom work still remained the same.
Attention will be paid to the following topics:
• Development of the new course content, combining the acquisition of language and the
cultural background.
• Diversities and differences in teaching Latin and culture to the students of Germanic and
Romance languages.
• Diversities in choosing the teaching methods and styles considering the different studylevels
of the students (first-year students and third-year students in the same study group).
• Diversities in teaching and learning methods considering the development of the individual
skills and interests of the students.
7. ThESIS SuPERvISION; EDITINg/REvISINg ACADEMIC TExTS
7.1
Title of paper: Revision vs. Teaching: Are They Compatible?
Presenter: Julie Uusinarkaus, Revisor, julie.uusinarkaus@helsinki.fi
Affiliation: University of Helsinki Language Centre/Language Services
Key words: revision, author’s editing, situated learning, cognitive apprenticeship,
client–provider relationship, correction
Can revision and teaching be compatible?
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Revision, or author’s editing, is modeling the correct form of a text, for example, an article
meant to be published in a journal. It is not done in the classroom or as a part of a
formal learning situation, but supports a task of writing required in an actual work situation.
The concepts of situated learning and cognitive apprenticeship and the influence of the
relationship between the revisor and the client and how these relate to revision and learning
will be discussed. Situated learning is learning in an authentic context that involves
collaboration. Cognitive apprenticeship is a form of learning that includes modeling, scaffolding,
fading and coaching. The context of revision at the University of Helsinki is a client–provider
relationship, and as such, the client is “in the driver’s seat.” In the revision
process, the client has the final decision, and the corrections are done with the client’s
permission within the process. The difference between demonstrating corrections as a
teacher and as a revisor will also be examined.
7.2
Title of paper: The merits of discourse-oriented EAP writing instruction in enhancing
the communicative quality of non-native writers’ texts
Presenter: Kärt Rummel, PhD, Docent, kart@itcollege.ee
Affiliation: The Estonian Information Technology College and Tallinn University of
Technology, Language Centre
Key words: academic writing, text and discourse, socio-cultural aspects of
discourse knowledge bases and competences of writing
The need to communicate knowledge in the global English-speaking academia has motivated
non-native authors to write increasingly more texts in English. However, non-native
writers often lack awareness of the socio-culturally different norms and conventions of the
Anglo-American writing style and competences in writing necessary for them to succeed in
the target community. Non-native writers tend to consider mastery of grammar and lexis
as one of the key contributors to the production of effective English texts and attribute less
significance to the textual aspects of discourse.
This presentation addresses the merits of discourse-oriented EAP writing instruction in
raising writers’ communicative competence in English writing. The presentation is based on
the findings of a study (2004-2008) conducted in three tertiary settings of Estonia (Tallinn
University of Technology, Educational Advising Center of Northern American Universities
and Estonian Information Technology College) with students at two L2 proficiencies (Levels
B2 and C1, CEFR) in two test samples, taught in an experimental discourse-oriented EAP
writing course, and two control samples, taught under traditional L2 instructional methods.
Data obtained through pre- and post-course questionnaires and expert reader evaluation
of student pre- and post-course texts appear to confirm the efficacy of discourse-oriented
writing instruction. Discourse-oriented instruction can encourage writers to switch
their attention away from sentence-level writing and focus on text-level writing instead.
Discourse-oriented instruction can benefit also writers at lower levels of L2 proficiency.
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8. TESTINg LANguAgE SKILLS
8.1
Title of Paper: Oral Proficiency Interviewers as Agents of Diversity
Presenter: Ene Alas, Ph.D., Lecturer, enealas@tlu.ee
Affiliation: Tallinn University
Key words: validity, intra-rater reliability, inter-rater reliability, interviewer
characteristics, standardisation
The presentation will focus on research that has investigated interviewer characteristics
that appear to affect interviewer behaviour during the oral proficiency interview. It will
also report on research conducted in Estonia to report on the patterns of behaviour that
interviewers display within the context of a scripted interview. The overwhelming majority
of the interviewers observed introduced deviations to the script. The deviations seemed
to have been motivated either by a lack of familiarity with the script, the attempt to vary
the otherwise tedious repetition of the script language from one candidate to the next,
or the attempt to provide assistance to the candidate. The interviewers employed accommodating
techniques for clarification purposes such as reiteration, over-enunciation and
slowing down of the tempo of their speech. They increased the accessibility of prompts
by resorting to paraphrase, additional questions, allowing prolonged student commentary
on the topic of their choice, and finishing student turns. Interviewers used particular
techniques to establish rapport, signal dominance and vary the level of directness in their
interaction. Certain features of the interviewer behaviour seemed to be culture-specific
or gender-specific or depend on the school-type. There were also a number of behaviours
that unfortunately testified to a somewhat substandard level of interviewer proficiency.
This research has been supported by grant no. 9037 of the Estonian Science Foundation.
8.2
Title of paper: Reflections and research into university-level exemption testing in
Finland
Presenters: Jonathon Martin, University Teacher, jonathon.martin@helsinki.fi
Fergal Bradley, University Teacher, fergal.bradley@helsinki.fi
Sandro Amendolara, University Teacher, sandro.amendolara@helsinki.fi
Affiliation: University of Helsinki Language Centre
Key words: language testing, exemption testing, language requirements for
degrees, CEFR, AHOT, APOEL
Students at many universities are able to gain exemption from compulsory language courses
by taking an exemption test. We will report findings from a research project into exemption
testing undertaken at the University of Helsinki with the aim of investigating how the
English unit should conduct these tests most effectively. This includes issues such as what
the appropriate exemption level should be and whether it should be linked to the CEFR
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scales; whether or not it is necessary to test passive skills since we hypothesized that productive
skills are generally weaker in the Finnish system; how to efficiently administer the
tests (including issues concerning the length of oral interviews and essays, and the merits
of using a portfolio system); and the potential advantages and disadvantages of setting up
a dedicated testing unit. Finally, we propose a list of criteria by which any exemption testing
procedure can be evaluated, and invite discussion on exemption testing procedures at
other language centres.
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useful Phrases in Estonian
Tere! Hello!
Nägemist! Bye.
Ja. Yes.
Ei. No.
Palun. Please. / Here you are.
Aitäh! Thanks.
Ei, aitäh! No, thanks.
Vabandust. Sorry. / Excuse me.
Ma ei saa aru. I don’t understand
Kus on .....? Where is ...
Viru hotell Viru hotel
bussipeatus busstop
trammipeatus tramstop
taksopeatus taxistop
ülikool university
sadam port/harbour
lennujaam airport
kesklinn town centre
vanalinn old town
WC (pronounced: veetsee) toilet
restoran restaurant
kohvik cafè
Internet the Internet
Minu nimi on ... My name is ...
Väga meeldiv! Very pleased (to meet you) / pleasant.
Kohtumiseni. See you later.
Palun, näidake mulle seda! Please, show it to me.
Mis see maksab? How much does it cost?
Jah, ma võtan selle. Yes, I’ll take it.
Ei ma ei soovi seda. No, I don’t want that.
Palun mulle üks ... Could I have one ...
kohv coffee
tee tea
vesi water
õlu beer
klaas valget/punast veini glass of white/red wine
Ma olen taimetoitlane. I am a vegetarian.
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