Abstract

At some UK universities, non-credit bearing courses for the general public are offered in a wide range of languages, often taught by hourly paid staff. Ensuring similar, high quality learning experiences and learning outcomes across languages can be a challenge. This study inquired into the viability and value of a consciousness-raising approach, i.e. whether teachers would be able and likely to implement it, and whether students would engage with such tasks and find them useful. The study included students and teachers engaged in the learning/teaching of Arabic, French, Italian, and Spanish. Following some input about Language Awareness pedagogic principles, and with some mentoring by the researchers, the teachers designed their own consciousness raising grammar tasks with accompanying communicative output opportunities and implemented them in their classes. To respond to our research questions, this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with teachers and students. The tasks, which combined a form and meaning focus, presented rich affordances for learner engagement with language and were enjoyed by the majority of students. The teachers struggled to correctly estimate task difficulty and time needed but felt that the approach had contributed to improving their teaching and that they were likely to use it in the future.

摘要

在英国的一些大学中，面向公众的非学分课程以多种语言提供，通常由时薪工作人员进行授课。确保跨语言的相似，高质量的学习体验和学习成果可能是一个挑战。这项研究调查了一种提高意识的方法的可行性和价值，即教师是否有能力并有可能实施这种方法，以及学生是否会从事此类任务并认为它们有用。该研究包括从事阿拉伯语，法语，意大利语和西班牙语学习/教学的学生和教师。在听取了有关“语言意识”教学法原则的一些意见，并在研究人员的一些指导下，教师设计了自己的意识，并伴随着交流的机会来提高语法任务，并在课堂上加以实施。为了回答我们的研究问题，本文采用了对教师和学生的半结构化访谈。这些任务结合了形式和含义的重点，为学习者参与语言提供了丰富的能力，并且大多数学生都喜欢。老师们努力地正确估计任务的难度和所需的时间，但他们认为这种方法有助于改进他们的教学，他们将来很有可能会使用它。为学习者提供了丰富的语言学习能力，并为大多数学生所喜爱。老师们努力地正确估计任务的难度和所需的时间，但他们认为这种方法有助于改进他们的教学，他们将来很有可能会使用它。为学习者提供了丰富的语言学习能力，并为大多数学生所喜爱。老师们努力地正确估计任务的难度和所需的时间，但他们认为这种方法有助于改进他们的教学，他们将来很有可能会使用它。