CONTENTS Page 3. About the Language Centre and Introduction Page 4. Academic Development & Training for International Students Page 6. Cambridge University Language Programmes Page 8. Advising & Support for Independent Learners Page 10. Development of Online Learning Materials Page 12. Outreach Activities Page 14. The Language Centre’s Service to the Wider University Page 16. External Profile of the Language Centre Page 18. Resources & Administration Page 20. Language Centre Financial Statement 2017-18 Page 21. A.J. Pressland Fund
About the Language Centre
The Language Centre is dedicated to providing all members of the University community with the essential linguistic and academic literacy skills required for academic success, with an emphasis on research and fieldwork needs and support for international students. We also respond to ever more diverse demands for language and cultural skills to foster global citizenship, (future) employability and personal enrichment. The mission of the Language Centre is to increase multilingualism amongst students and staff of the University; and to promote, encourage and support the learning of languages for personal, academic and professional purposes. To achieve our mission, the Language Centre aims to: Ensure access to outstanding language teaching and support for
language learning for all current members of the University; Support the highest levels of academic achievement by students whose first language is not English; Exploit the latest technologies and pedagogies to develop bespoke language teaching and learning materials, for use across the University; Foster learner autonomy in language learners, whether studying independently and/or attending courses within the University; Provide bespoke professional advisory services to support individual language learners; Provide high quality learning resources in multiple media, both physical and virtual, in a wide range of languages; Collaborate and share expertise with other language learning providers within the University and in other organisations nationally and internationally;. Promote language learning and access to university language study to students in schools and colleges.
Introduction to the Annual Report 2017-18 The Centre is anticipating greater demand for language skills in preparation for the implications of Brexit, but the financial burden on students of the fees that it needs to charge is challenging take-up. As language learning in UK schools continues to decline, there is ever greater need to deliver the language skills which (particularly graduate) students need to pursue their research, for which there is some funding from two Schools. Supporting the admission of international graduate students in relation to the ‘language condition’ at a time of planned growth is driving an ever greater need to formalise assessment systems, which the Centre hopes to do in cooperation with Cambridge Assessment. Demand for provision was largely steady in 2017-18 but with fluctuations within programmes. The increased focus on targeted provision for academic purposes was recognised positively by the Panel conducting the Centre’s Learning and Teaching Review in 2018. To assist with financial viability and health, some CULP Long Vacation courses were opened to the wider public for the first time as recommended by the Panel, and this initiative will continue into 2018-19, under close scrutiny of its impact.
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Bespoke provision and support for other institutions Our focus this year has been on further enhancing the range of bespoke provision that the section offers to Departments/Faculties as well as further strengthening our In-Sessional Support Programme. In addition to the courses and workshops that we have previously developed and which all continued this year, we have also designed and delivered the following new initiatives in 2017-2018 in ADTIS:
two plenary lectures (The Impact of English on Other Languages and The Impact of Other Languages on English) for the Institute of Continuing Education’s (ICE) International Summer Programme; a workshop on Academic Research and Writing Skills for the MPhil in Conservation Leadership; and individual editing mentoring for final-stage PhD students.
In-Sessional Programme On the In-Sessional, we strengthened our provision of Coaching sessions, the aim of which is to facilitate self-directed learning, personal growth and improved performance. Topics explored by coachees so far include:
improving focus and time management; working confidently in groups; overcoming anxiety; beating study block, procrastination and perfectionism; building assertiveness; effective communication; developing leadership skills; and making the transition to UK culture and higher education.
Assessments Overall, assessment numbers remained the same as last year, but with a notable increase in ones for the ICE Diploma and Certificate courses and visiting students. Pre-Sessional Programme Enrolments on the Pre-Sessional were down this year, with 47 students from 16 countries, on account, we suspect, of difficulties in the processing times at the GAO. Numbers on the In-Sessional were, however, a lot higher. Feedback “I have to say the course was excellent, over my expectations. It is really important for international students to understand what is expected in academic English and the course gave us useful tools.” Pre-Sessional student.
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Specific purposes provision We delivered Languages for Academic Purposes (LAP) courses in French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Spanish to graduate students in School of Arts and Humanities and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. We ran a total of 22 courses in Michaelmas and Lent (and some in Easter too) for the benefit of 212 students. We also continue to provide courses as required by a range of MPhil programmes in the Faculties of History and Divinity, and for the Centre of Latin-American Studies. We diversified our approach to delivering courses explicitly for the Clinical School, to fit changes in their organisation of placement blocks and self-selected components, attracting 46 students who took classes in French, Spanish, Japanese, Russian and German. In collaboration with the Faculty of Music we have successfully delivered a co-taught IB Tripos module in Italian Opera (with focus on Don Giovanni). General Enrolment numbers were down slightly, reflecting national fluctuations. We have introduced Turkish at Basic 1 and 2 levels for the first time. These courses are offered in conjunction with the Faculty of History and are supported by the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centre in London. We ran successful courses leading to externally examined CULP Awards in Advanced French, German, Spanish and Russian. Feedback "I was particularly impressed by some of the presentations given by candidates during the oral examinations, which demonstrated their ability to use German appropriately in an academic context and to speak intelligently and accurately about a range of diverse and highly thought-provoking topics." -External Examiner, CULP Award "I am happy to confirm that the Advanced Russian Programmes continues to deliver exceptionally high standard of teaching and students' achievements in a very well structured and challenging format." -External Examiner, CULP Award.
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ADVISING AND SUPPORT FOR INDEPENDENT LANGUAGE LEARNING Support for Language Centre programmes Our speaking practice activities had a very positive impact on CULP learners. We increased our series of Conversation Hours with new Arabic and Japanese groups, and across the five languages other than English, almost half of participants were from CULP. The volunteer speaking sessions enjoyed good attendance from ADTIS students, and advising appointments were booked by students from both Language Centre programmes, frequently to discuss learning strategies for speaking. Language Learning for Fieldwork This scheme is in its infancy but again attracted committed first year PhD students attending regular advising appointments. Languages studied included Chichewa, Portuguese and Tunisian Arabic. One ab initio student reached upper-intermediate level within a year. Entirely self-directed in fieldwork language preparation, the students develop extraordinary resourcefulness, strategic learning and mileage. The John Trim Centre resources We have continued with two of our long-term projects: our review and development of the video server progressed well; and the project to digitally preserve lesser-learned language resources has reached the halfway stage. Learners responded positively to a new John Trim Centre survey. Regarding resources, the majority were largely content with the range. Suggestions for areas of growth were speaking, reading and vocabulary development. Raising wider awareness of the learning centre continues to be a necessity. External Initiative We established a John Trim Centre membership scheme for non-University members a few years ago. This summer we started a project to increase participation, producing promotional materials and starting to widen our communications. We look forward to seeing how this develops in the coming year. Feedback "I learned Lingala for fieldwork in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As it's not a language that is commonly taught, the Language Centre helped me to find useful resources to help me learn on my own, and provided me with a space where I could come to consult the resources and practice.” -PhD Social Anthropologist "I can't thank you enough for the support provided throughout the year - I don't think I would have worked so hard had it not been for your tips and cookies :).” -PhD Social Anthropology, learner of Malinké. "Nothing has boosted my confidence and enjoyment so much as having a Conversation Exchange partner.” -Staff member
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DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE LEARNING MATERIALS A range of learning objects containing video and audio materials have been updated to remove reliance on Flash-players in web browsers. The online intermediate Chinese course has been completely updated with a new look and a reimplementation of all activities. The Undergraduate English Language Online Course has undergone a complete redesign and substantial changes to its administration module. The Online Essay-Writing Toolkit for Linguistic Students, developed in collaboration with the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, has been completed. The development of intermediate-level Russian learning objects has been completed. Updates are planned in the light of users’ feedback after the first year of regular use. A set of learning objects supporting the acquisition of reading skills in Chinese is nearing completion. This work is based on collaboration with colleagues from Tsinghua and Zhengzhou Universities . Most of our online learning materials are made available as open courseware under a Commons Creative License. The figures below represent downloads of these materials from our Open Courseware Site, they do not include access to these materials directly on our own servers (restricted to Raven access). Language
Downloads 2017-18
2016-17
German
21 996
27 553
Chinese
39 468
11 966
Russian
2 496
3 564
French
4 628
3 499
Italian
8 424
1 627
Arabic
38 012
1 048
Others
8 736
1 069
123 760
50 326
Total
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MATERIALS DEVELOPED IN 2017-18
New Chinese Basic 2 course.
Intermediate Russian resources developed in partnership with the Department of Slavonic Studies.
Chinese reading materials (pre-release).
New learning objects developed to support students on our Academic Development and Training for International Students.
Italian materials developed in partnership with the Department of Italian
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OUTREACH ACTIVITIES We delivered the third and final year of the whynotlangs@cam2 collaborative Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) / Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) / Language Centre project, which we led. We took responsibility for all the administration of events in Cambridge, while MML colleagues ran the events in Manchester and Sheffield. No host school could be found for an event in Newcastle and the event in Manchester faced challenges due to widespread issues with languages in the secondary sector, but was delivered in a more flexible format nonetheless. Sessions for all the events were delivered by a variety of staff from the Language Centre, MML and AMES. Feedback has continued to demonstrate the particularly striking impact on the lower age groups. During 2017-18, the Language Centre has continued to work with the Faculties of MML and AMES in the joint Languages Outreach Steering Group and supported the employment of the joint Languages Outreach Coordinator. The Steering Group successfully applied for one year of further funding of whynotlangs@cam from the Widening Participation Project Fund for 2018-19. We have contributed in various ways to a number of other outreach activities organised by Colleges and, once again, to the FAMES Sutton Trust summer school.
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THE LANGUAGE CENTRE’S SERVICE TO THE WIDER UNIVERSITY The Language Centre has been developing numerous initiatives, resources and types of provision on behalf of other institutions across the University, as reported in previous sections. This is very much in line with our strategic priorities to embed the Centre and its expertise further within the Collegiate University. The Centre is also increasingly active in other cross-University activities and governance, as outlined below. International Admissions Dr Karen Ottewell, ADTIS Director, on behalf of the Language Centre, liaises closely with the Graduate Admissions Office on graduate admissions matters in relation to the University’s Language Condition for international students. She and the ADTIS team conduct supplementary assessments for admissions processes for the GAO as well as for ICE (Dip/Cert; MST; PG Medical Certificate; ISP), the International Student Team (ERASMUS; Visiting Students) and Clinical School (Medical Elective). She has also supported international undergraduate admissions by carrying out language assessments on request for Colleges. Membership of Boards and Committees Jocelyn Wyburd, Director, serves as an elected member of the University’s Council and is also a member of the Council Committee for the Supervision of the Students’ Unions, the University’s Prevent Committee, the Standing Committee for Appointments in the UAS, and was additionally appointed to the University and Assistants Joint Board in 2018. In 2017-18 she was a member of the Council’s Divestment Working Group. Jocelyn is also ex officio a member of the Council of the School of Arts & Humanities, the Faculty Boards of MML and AMES and the Engineering Department Language Unit’s (ELU) Management Committee. Dr Karen Ottewell, ADTIS Director, was nominated to serve in the University’s Proctors Office from October 2017, serving for three years . In the first two of these three years, she will be Secretary of the Board of Scrutiny and a member of the Board of Examinations (the latter until October 2018).
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Other roles Jackie Bow, Pedro Barriuso-Algar, Paul Hoegger and Hazel Zheng (CULP Coordinators) continue to act as ‘second assessors’ for the ELU’s courses in French, Spanish, German and Chinese respectively. Paul Hoegger has been appointed Director of Studies in Modern Languages (Part IB) at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge as well as Affiliated Lecturer in MML’s German Section of the University of Cambridge. Paul teaches Faculty classes in translation out of and into German for final year (4th year) Germanists . Jocelyn Wyburd continues to act as Academic Director for ICE’s language courses for the wider public. Bespoke Courses CULP "Thanks so much for joining me at the Clinical School away day. I was so gratified by how much vocal support there was for the medical languages programme you have developed. The Dean was delighted to be able to showcase the work and recognises it as a clear "feather in the cap" for Cambridge medical students. It is an absolute pleasure for us to work with you and your colleagues.” - Dr Jonathan Fuld, School of Clinical Medicine. ADTIS 'Excellent feedback from students. We'd like to expand what you do for us.” Client Institution 'We will certainly be looking into offering this workshop again next year to the new cohort of PhDs." - Client institution
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EXTERNAL PROFILE OF THE LANGUAGE CENTRE: INTERNATIONAL The Language Centre is regularly asked to collaborate with or provide consultation to a range of Higher Education Institutions internationally. Individual members of staff engage regularly with international conferences and projects within their specific disciplines: Karen Ottewell, ADTIS Director
The Cultural Craft of Academic Argument, NATE Russia XXIVth ESL/ EFL Conference at the University of Samara Why academic writing is hard, Keynote: NATE Russia XXIVth ESL/ EFL Conference at the University of Samara Invited to write a short paper for HERB (Higher Education in Russia and Beyond) Special Issue: English in Russian Universities: Mind the Gap (2018:2(16)): Looking Behind the Writing: ‘Cultural’ Difficulties Facing Novice Postgraduate Second-Language (L2) Writers in English
In September 2018 she was also appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Samara, specialising in written articulacy. Nebojša Radić, CULP Director Editorial activities and membership of scientific bodies: Coordinator of the Translation, Interpreting and Language Teaching Section of the Innovation in Language Learning conference, Florence, Italy Member of the Scientific Committee, Society and Languages in the Third Millennium conference RUDN University, Moscow, Russia Member of the Scientific and Organisation Committees, Culture and/or Science Conference, University of Belgrade, Serbia Member of the International Board, ‘Interkulturalnost’ (literature, culture and theory journal), Novi Sad, Serbia Editor of the Language section, ‘Ljudi govore’ (Literature journal), Toronto, Canada Conference papers and invited speeches: ‘Teaching Italian with Mozart’s Don Giovanni’, Innovation in Language Learning conference, Florence, Italy ‘Language Teachers and ICT: look who’s laughing now!’ Invited closing speech at ’Innovation in Language Learning conference, Florence, Italy ‘Translingualism and Self-Translation in a Global, Multilingual World.’ Invited plenary talk at the Society and Languages in the Third Millennium Conference, RUDN University, Moscow, Russia ‘Francesca Duranti’s Self-Translation of Sogni mancini’, American Association of Teachers of Italian, Cagliari, Italy ‘Literary Self-Translation and Rewriting:The Stereo Effect’, European Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference, Pavia, Italy
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‘UK Universities, Language Learning and the Case of Cambridge’, Culture of the University Conference, University of Belgrade, Serbia
At all the above conferences chaired at least one session. Articles in refereed journals I.A. Bykova, E.A. Notina & Radić N. (2017) 'Epistemilogical Aspects of Interaction between Languages and Cultures through the Prism of Translation.’ Conference proceedings. ICT for language learning 10th Edition. Pixel, Florence. Jocelyn Wyburd, Director 2018 Multilingualism, multiculturalism and Brexit. Wulkow X – 10th Annual Conference of Directors of European Language Centres, Brandenburg, Germany Christoph Zähner, Deputy Director Continued collaboration with Tsinghua and Zhangzhou Universities on the development of an integrated Chinese grammar module to support reading Chinese text EXTERNAL PROFILE OF THE LANGUAGE CENTRE: NATIONAL Numerous members of staff were engaged with activity of national significance throughout the year, including: Jocelyn Wyburd, Director Roles Trustee Director of the Institute of Linguists Educational Trust Member of the Advisory Board, Creative Multilingualism, AHRC OWRI funded major project led out of Oxford University Member of the Advisory Board, British Academy Flagship Skills Project Member of the Board of the University of London Institute in Paris. Publications and Presentations Wyburd, J (2018) Building capacity in UK Higher Education. In Kelly, M (Ed) Languages after Brexit. How the UK speaks to the world. Palgrave Macmillan 2018 The current landscape for languages in the UK (taking account of Brexit). ISMLA AGM and Conference, Cambridge 2018 Languages, multilingualism and Brexit. Invited lecture to the U3AC (University of the 3rd Age, Cambridge) Karen Ottewell, ADTIS Director
Looking behind the Writing, EdD Conference, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
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Vera Tsareva-Brauner (CULP Russian Coordinator)
'Editing Russian Translation of a Complex Formalist Novel - in the Absence of a Translator'. Paper presented at the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES). Cambridge. ‘Can We Translate Russian Poetry into English? The Case of Untranslatable Epigraphs.’ Paper presented at the St Petersburg University, Russia conference. The Death of the Vazir Muktar (novel) by Yuri Tynianov (Translation editor) - Look Multimedia, London 2018
Paul Hoegger (CULP German Coordinator)
The Prince’s Teaching Institute: Gave a lecture as part of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Subject Day event for teachers of German. Title of the lecture: ‘Customs, festivals and traditions in German-speaking countries’ Goethe Institute London. Member of the Jury for the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD; German Academic Exchange Service) German Writing and Video Competition 2018 In the Footsteps of German Language Culture. Institute of Modern Language Research London (IMLR) School of Advanced Study London
RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION Staffing changes John Anderson, Computer Officer ,has continued to be seconded to the Department of Biochemistry; Catherine Cossio, Information and Resources Assistant, returned from maternity leave following the birth of a son; Jo Farmer-Eynon, who joined us from the UAS, took up the permanent role of Language Centre Administrator; Francoise Steel, CULP French Teacher, retired in September 2018; Clément Courouve has been appointed to replace her; Haris Rahimic, Custodian, left to take up an IT post at Murray Edwards College. Nicholas Green has been appointed to succeed him from October 2018; Rupert Brown, ADTIS Teacher, left in May 2018. Emma Furuta, Language Adviser, left in September 2018.
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Continuing professional development Our commitment to continuing CPD included the following:
Dr Karen Ottewell, ADTIS Director, has completed the 3rd year of her Ed.D; Several members of Language Centre staff attended the Annual Conference of the Association of University Language Centres (AULC) in Sheffield in January 2018; Nebojsa Radic, CULP Director, is completing his PhD in creative writing and self-translation (expected by March 2019); Jo Farmer-Eynon successfully completed German Intermediate 2. She also completed the AAT Level 2 qualification in Bookkeeping Transactions and Controls; Paul Hoegger attended the Engage in Learning: a development programme for supervisors, University of Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning.
External Examiners Pedro Barriuso-Algar (Spanish Teacher/Coordinator, CULP) is external examiner at the University of Brighton and also Examiner Cambridge Professional Development Qualifications (CIE). Vera Tsareva/Brauner (Russian Coordinator) is External Examer at the University of Westminster, London City University and Middlesex University (for MPhil in Translation studies). Karen Ottewell (ADTIS Director) has completed her third year as External Examiner for the Foundation Programme (January Intake) at the University of St. Andrews. She was additionally appointed as the External for the following programmes this year: International Foundation Programme for Management, Economics & Finance (September start) and the International Foundation Programme for Social Sciences and Humanities (September start). Christoph Zähner (Deputy Director) is External project assessor for the University of Hong Kong.
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Estate Our major project this year was the redecoration of all teaching rooms. We are also considering making changes to the security of the premises by moving the bin store to behind the inner side gate. General Administration The team continued to coordinate the delivery of outreach projects by the Centre and partners in the MML and AMES. We provided bursary administration for both the A.J. Pressland Fund and the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Language Bursary scheme; the application process for the former was entirely online for the first time and was deemed successful. Language Centre Committee of Management The Committee met termly and supported all aspects of the Centre’s business, including through a sub-group administering the A.J. Pressland Fund and allocating bursaries. The LCCM derives its membership from all Schools of the University, from the Colleges (a representative of the Senior Tutors’ Committee) and from Cambridge University Students Union. The Committee welcomed Professor Ann Copestake, Computer Laboratory, as its new Chair from 1 October 2018. Finance The Centre was in a much better position than forecast at the end of financial year 2017-18, recording a modest surplus after several years of deficit. We were able to reallocate some Chest funding as a result of a staff member’s continued secondment. LANGUAGE CENTRE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2017-18
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A.J. PRESSLAND FUND The A.J. Pressland Fund offers bursaries of up to £1,000 to support language study abroad for students within the Schools of Biological Science, Clinical Medicine, Physical Science and Technology. Returning students planning to study a language overseas for up to four weeks during the Long Vacation may apply for funds to support course fees, accommodation and travel as required. In 2017, 70 valid applications were received and a total of £10,300 was awarded to 15 applicants (average award: £687). In 2018, 98 valid applications were received and a total of £17,100 was awarded to 26 applicants (average award: £658). In addition, 2018 saw the introduction of a new online-only application system.
2017
2018
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