Results and conclusions
Areas where language competence is important
Through questionnaire surveys, meetings with academic departments and various development projects, the Language Strategy has identified a number of areas where students’ foreign language competence is important in order for them to be able to immerse themselves in their chosen field, acquire and communicate knowledge, and study abroad:
- Written academic English
- Reading skills in English
- Reading skills in languages other than English
- Linguistic competence for other purposes
- Danish as a second language and Danish for international students
- Academic Danish
Experiences
The Language Strategy has highlighted the importance of language as an educational competence across a range of study- and teaching-related situations at the University of Copenhagen. Solutions have been proposed and tested in real-life situations, and needs analyses and approaches to the integration of language in courses at all academic levels have been developed. Click on this link for a summary of the experiences.
Recommendations
Five key recommendations have been made on the basis of the experiences and results of the Language Strategy. Click here for more information about the recommendations.
Academic and pedagogical benefits – best practice
The majority of pilot projects under the Language Strategy have striven to find the best pedagogical solution to language needs in a given academic field, but many of the initiatives have produced experiences that can function as best practice examples across the University. Click here for examples of best practice.
Organisational benefits
Since its launch in 2013, the Language Strategy has apporached all departments and faculties across the University to discuss, analyse and develop activities related to the linguistic aspects of each individual programme. This has provided a useful insight into the language situation in the various programmes and also resulted in extensive experience implementing large-scale and strategic cross-disciplinary projects. Read more about the organisational benefits here.
New insights from the Language Strategy
The results of the Language Strategy are summarised on the following five pages:
Five recommendations
The Language Strategy projects have resulted in five specific recommendations to the University management team. Click here for more information about the recommendations.
Examples of best practice
Many of the Language Strategy projects can serve as examples of best practice, for example:
Organisational benefits
The Language Strategy has provided new experiences and insights into the work with implementing a large-scale strategic project. Click here for more information about the process evaluation and the general experiences.