'Bridging the linguistic and affective gaps': The impact of a short, tailor-made language course on a Danish university lecturer's ability to lecture with confidence in English
Project description
The project was in the form of a small-scale case study which followed an experienced Danish university lecturer during a tailor-made, one-to-one language course to improve her English language skills for lecturing, consisting of a five-week cycle of observed English-medium lectures and subsequent language feedback sessions. The study also included a structured, in-depth interview with the informant, which yielded very specific and rich data about how one lecturer feels about teaching in English, the informant's own learning focus and the outcomes of a short language course.
The aims of the study were fourfold, namely: 1) to describe the informant's motivation for taking an English course; 2) to compare her affective and perceived linguistic needs with her objective needs; 3) to follow her own language focus areas during the course; and 4) to identify any subjective or objective gains she achieved from the course.
The conclusions suggest that while the immediate observable linguistic gains on such a short course are relatively modest, what should not be overlooked are the significant ‘knock-on effect' benefits relating to the informant's affective needs. Furthermore, many of the informant's direct quotes provide a ‘voice' revealing the underlying feelings and attitudes about lecturing in English which serves to support findings in other broader studies conducted among lecturers at the University of Copenhagen and other universities in Europe. Finally, there is a call for universities to exercise caution in assuming that a shift from mother tongue to English medium lecturing will automatically be an easy and problem-free process.
The project has been presented at a number of international conferences and has resulted in a paper which appears in the anthology 'Policies, Principles, Practices. New Directions in Foreign Language Education in the Era of Educational Globalization' published by Aalborg University.
Project participants
The project was carried out by Pete Westbrook, who taught the course and conducted the interview with the informant, and Birgit Henriksen, who co-wrote the paper and provided methodological and theoretical background input.
Financing
The project was carried out within the scope of everyday activities at CIP.
Project period
3rd September 2009 - 31st May 2011
