DET HUMANISTISKE FAKULTET KØBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET CIP-SYMPOSIUM 2009 Engelsk som undervisningssprog på universiteterne Holdninger, udfordringer og kvalitetssikring Invitation til det andet årlige symposium afholdt af Center for Internationalisering og Parallelsproglighed (CIP) Fredag d. 13. november 2009, 12:00-17:00 Lokale 21.0.54 i bygning 21 på Københavns Universitet, Amager Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Karen Blixens Vej 1, 2300 København S Symposiets formål er at sætte fokus på centrale problemstillinger vedrørende valg af undervisnings- og arbejdssprog på universiteterne og andre højere læreanstalter. Symposiet vil blive afholdt på dansk og engelsk. Tilmelding til cip@hum.ku.dk senest d. 9. november. Symposiet er åbent for alle, og deltagelse er gratis. Jens Erik Mogensen Bestyrelsesformand for CIP Birgit Henriksen Centerleder i CIP
Program 12:00-12:30 Registrering og sandwiches 12:30-12:35 Velkomst Jens Erik Mogensen, Bestyrelsesformand for CIP 12:35-12:50 CIP status over det første år Birgit Henriksen, Centerleder i CIP 12:55-13:30 Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS): Developing a language certification test for university lecturers Joyce Kling og Lars Stenius Stæhr, CIP 13:30-13:35 Spørgsmål fra salen 13:40-14:15 This, That, and the Other: Dualities and Pluralities in Language Education Policy Research Alister Cumming, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto 14:15-14:20 Spørgsmål fra salen 14:20-14:50 Pause (kaffe og te serveres) 14:50-15:25 The relationship between teaching language and learning in Swedish higher education. John Airey, Department of Human Sciences, University of Kalmar, Sweden 15:25-15:30 Spørgsmål fra salen 15:35-16:05 Underviseres holdninger til engelsk som undervisningssprog en spørgeskemaundersøgelse på Københavns Universitet Christian Jensen, Lars Stenius Stæhr og Jacob Thøgersen, CIP 16:05-16:10 Spørgsmål fra salen 16:10-16:55 Paneldiskussion 16:55-17:00 Afsluttende kommentarer
Resuméer Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS): Developing a language certification test for university lecturers Joyce Kling and Lars Stenius Stæhr, CIP University classrooms in non-english speaking countries are changing as universities struggle with internationalisation and increased English-medium instruction. This has put lecturers proficiency in English under scrutiny and universities are developing internal language assessment policies for quality assurance. To address this issue at the University of Copenhagen, the management team asked CIP to develop a test procedure for certifying the English language skills of university lecturers teaching on selected graduate programmes. By introducing a language certification test, the management team wants to ensure that the level of English on these programmes does not negatively affect the quality of the teaching. This presentation presents the new performance-based certification test, the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS), used for assessing whether university lecturers have sufficient oral proficiency for coping with the communicative demands of English-medium instruction. More specifically, the presentation addresses the challenges that arise when developing an oral proficiency assessment tool for highly advanced speakers who operate in a technical academic domain. These challenges include, in particular, the selection of assessment tasks and the determination of the different levels of proficiency in the analytic scale used for assessing this specific group of test takers. The TOEPAS is intended for screening or selection purposes and could be regarded as a high-stake test in the sense that the test results have consequences for whether or not test takers are allowed to teach in specific programmes. Implementation of mandatory certification programmes requires that all the stakeholders accept the purpose of the assessment tasks and the validity of the assessment results. The presenters will thus put forward an assessment use argument (Bachman, 2005) for justifying the test s design and development as well as the score interpretation and use. This will involve a discussion of characteristics of the TOEPAS that are not traditionally found in proficiency testing, including direct written feedback to test takers on the various categories assessed.
This, That, and the Other: Dualities and Pluralities in Language Education Policy Research Alister Cumming, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto I reflect on certain personal and research experiences that may be relevant (but, of course, external) to current debates about the role of English in higher education in Denmark. I first consider and evaluate options for language education at universities in Canada an officially English-French bilingual nation with distinct minority populations, both recent and ancient, and dominant influences from a more powerful nation to the south. I then consider themes that emerged while co-editing Springer s International Handbook of Educational Policy (Bascia, Cumming, Datnow, Leithwood, & Livingstone, 2006). Next, I offer some lessons learned during several international comparative studies, including a current project on literacy education in schools in three culturally diverse cities: Toronto, Amsterdam, and Geneva. I conclude by suggesting four ways that research can advance understanding of these matters: comparative international analyses, theoretically-based inquiry, case studies of emic (or insider) perspectives, and criteria of mutual benefits for the formation and evaluation of policies.
The relationship between teaching language and learning in Swedish higher education John Airey, Department of Human Sciences, University of Kalmar, Sweden In many countries two languages are often used in the teaching of undergraduates the local language and English. However, surprisingly little is known about the effects of this dual-language approach on student learning. This paper reports research results from a Swedish study of the relationship between the teaching language and disciplinary learning at university level (Airey, 2009). Building on Klaassen s (2001) earlier work in the Netherlands, the study explored the teaching language (English, Swedish or both) and the related learning experiences of undergraduate physics students at two Swedish universities. Students attended lectures in both English and Swedish as part of their regular undergraduate programmes. These lectures were videotaped and students were then interviewed about their learning experiences using selected excerpts of the video in a process of stimulated recall. When taught in English the students asked and answered fewer questions and reported being less able to simultaneously follow the lecture and take notes. Interestingly, the students in the study adapted to being taught in English by; asking questions after the lecture, no longer taking notes in class, reading sections of work before class or in the worst case by using the lecture for mechanical note taking. In terms of learning outcomes, it was found that a small number students experienced serious problems with the use of English as a teaching language. However, these students were in the early stages of their first Englishmedium course. Whether such students ultimately adapt or drop out is an important question for future research. Airey, J. (2009). Science, language and literacy: Doctoral Thesis, Department of Physics and Materials Science, Uppsala University. Uppsala, Sweden. Klaassen, R. (2001). The international university curriculum: Challenges in English-medium engineering education: Doctoral Thesis, Department of Communication and Education, Delft University of Technology. Delft, The Netherlands.
Underviseres holdninger til engelsk som undervisningssprog en spørgeskemaundersøgelse på Københavns Universitet Christian Jensen, Lars Stenius Stæhr og Jacob Thøgersen, CIP Den øgede brug af engelsk som undervisningssprog på universiteterne har ført til en heftig debat i både medier og Folketing. Nogle ser engelsk som en konsekvens af og forudsætning for internationalisering af uddannelserne. Andre advarer mod et truende domænetab for dansk som videnskabssprog og frygter at den øgede brug af engelsk kan føre til ringere undervisningskvalitet. Underviserne på universitetet er dem der har den største og mest direkte erfaring med konsekvenserne, og det er samtidig dem der i praksis implementerer de beslutninger om undervisningssprog som træffes. Det er derfor af særlig interesse at undersøge hvordan denne gruppe forholder sig til debatten. CIP gennemførte i sommeren 2009 en spørgeskemaundersøgelse blandt alle undervisere på Københavns Universitet. Deltagerne blev bedt om at tage stilling til et antal udsagn som repræsenterer de forskellige synspunkter i debatten. Udover disse holdningsspørgsmål blev deltagerne bedt om at vurdere deres egne engelskkundskaber og forholde sig til en række udsagn om erfaringer med og brug af engelsk i faglige sammenhænge. I dette indlæg vil vi koncentrere os om undervisernes holdninger til debattens synspunkter. Udover at præsentere de samlede resultater, ser vi på hvordan holdningerne varierer i forskellige aldersgrupper, på de forskellige fakulteter og i forhold til hvor stor en andel af respondentens undervisning der gennemføres på engelsk.