30 june – 1 july 2004 cilt soas conference 1 the atlas project arousing an interest in school...
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30 June – 1 July 2004 CILT SOAS Conference1
The ATLAS projectArousing an interest in school students for
the take-up of “new” languages at university
Terry King, Claire McAvinia, Jane Hughes
Department of Education & Professional Development
University College London
Jointly funded by CfBT (R &D),
the Nuffield Foundation, and UCL.
Project web sites: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epd/atlas/
Schools’ web site: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/atlas/
Email contact: [email protected]
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ContextThe decline in the take up ofModern Foreign Languages
1994 2003
A level entries in MFL 44,514 28,345
% of all A level candidates 6.0% 3.8%
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Project Aims To engage school students in “tasting”
languages not previously considered, or available, for study
Method To explore school students’ attitudes and
experiences of LL, through questionnaire and focus groups. Use results to design web tasters for the LWT langs. Promote in partner schools.
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ATLAS survey questions
• Language background• Past history of language study at school• Attitudes towards
– LL in school and LL in general– Continuing LL post 16 and at university– Languages and jobs– LL and computers / web sites– Tasters / “new” language study opportunities
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Some results.
For a fuller account of the results see project web site.
Rationalisation 1
“As English is a world language there is little point in learning another” Only 23% agreed
This 23% was made up mainly (73%) of students who saw themselves as “not good at languages.”
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Rationalisation 2Intention to continue language study post 16
• The main reason for not continuing the study of languages was it didn’t accord with “future career plans”. However, this appears to be another rationalisation since not many have specific career plans.• 75% thought skill in languages gave good job prospects.But many had a limited idea of what these prospects are.• What’s the real reason for the increase in “No’s” in year 11?
Yes No Don’t know
Year 10 18% 35% 44%
Year 11 23% 58% 16%
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Main reasons for disaffection• Low self esteem• The “difficulty” of language learning• The “jump” between GCSE and A level• Fear of a similar jump at university• Lack of enjoyment• Teaching methods (little oral, little contact
with real speakers, too many photocopied work-sheets)
• Too much testing• Too little use of IT and “media”
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Positive attitudes towards languages
Learning languages widens your horizons
81%
I’d like to meet people in another country through learning a language
73%
Learning languages is important 75%
I want to do well in learning languages 72%
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Survey of web site use
• “ To help us in our web design, if you visit web sites for recreation or information, (not just language ones), can you name a web site you like and say what it is you like about it?a) Web site name..b) What is the main thing you like about it?…..”
• Also – two focus groups
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Types of site nominated
support
engines
Magazine
Academic
26%
Enthusiasms21%
8%
Other7%
Search
24%
Games 4%
Shopping 2%
Communication
8%
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Design – likes
• Lots of links – But wanted to know what they would find by clicking
• Layout– Simplicity and lack of clutter
• Colours and pictures– Sensitive readers of these– Eye-catching but “not too in-your-face”– Colours not patronising (?) – Cartoons vs photographs? Space ships and
monsters?
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Design - dislikes
• “Things that mess up your eyes”– backgrounds,
blinking, flashing
• Annoying sounds, or music, that can not be turned off
• Having to download helper applications– Flash and Acrobat
Reader mentioned
• “Lots of text” off-putting; focus groups unanimous
• It was not quantity but arrangement of text that mattered– small blocks, clearly
headlined,separated– students wanted to
scan, not read– “searching” the web
page
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Urban75
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BBC
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Bitesize revision site
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Design for marketing• How could we market languages through our
design?• Considered existing examples in media..• .. but there were some contradictions with our
survey findings• How to avoid ‘patronising’ design?• Would our design align us with particular sites
that students liked/disliked?• Working within constraints (time, budget)
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Marketing our content• Combining unusual subjects but also music,
sport, fashion• Reflecting teachers’ interests, ideas• Degree of freedom as these were not formal
beginners’ courses• Provided some interaction with content• Gave students opportunity to have some
success with simple language tasks• Prioritising the examples of language chosen:
similar words, faux amis, unusual features, literal translations of expressions
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ATLAS taster site - homepage
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Russian taster – homepage
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Danish taster - homepage
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Russian Alphabet exercise
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Hot Potatoes for Danish
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Hot Potatoes for Polish
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Impact ? Quotes from feedbackWhen asked what they had gained from exploring
the site:
• It has opened my eyes & shown me that languages can be very valuable in the huge wide world.
• This is an eye-opening opportunity that I would be most interested in joining.
• The growing importance of languages in many sectors of employment and has encouraged me to continue with the study of languages.
• It was great finding out stuff about other countries. I think more sites like this should be created. It encourages young people to look further.
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Recommendations for HE• Target year 9 students when selling “the wide
range of careers with languages”• Contact school sector colleagues and help to
– Put enjoyment back into LL
– Do what you can to get school syllabuses changed
– Engender a sense of purpose beyond the mercenary
– Sell “ new” languages and support schools where they are being taught
– Exploit the use of CALL
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General marketing strategies
• Know your target audience well ;-their tastes, past experiences of, knowledge of and attitudes towards LL and how they “read” the web pages.
• Involve them in design• Accentuate the positives; the “fly the nest”
dream• Don’t overstress “there’s a good job at the
end of it”.• Make sure of effective dissemination • Be optimistic!
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Thanks to the following• All the students who took part in the
survey,used the site and gave useful feedback.
• The school language teachers who helped with the survey and gave us feedback on the web site.
• The UCL language teachers who developed the Taster courses. They are from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the Department of Scandinavian Studies and the Language Centre.
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ATLAS - A Taste for Languages at School
• The ATLAS project is funded by – The Nuffield
Foundation
– CfBT Research & Development
– UCL
• Partner Schools:
– Ashcombe School, Surrey– City and Islington College,
London– Cranford Community College,
Hounslow– Elliott School, London– Haverstock School, London– Haydon School, Pinner – Parliament Hill School,
London – Weald of Kent Grammar School
for Girls, Kent– William Ellis School, London