Drawing extensively on the expertise of teachers of German in universities across the UK, this volume offers an overview of recent trends, new pedagogical approaches and practical guidance for ...teaching at beginners level in the higher education classroom. At a time when entries for UK school exams in modern foreign languages are decreasing, this book serves the urgent need for research and guidance on ab initio learning and teaching in HE. Using the example of teaching German, it offers theoretical reflections on teaching ab initio and practice-oriented approaches that will be useful for teachers of both German and other languages in higher education. The first chapters assess the role of ab initio provision within the wider context of modern languages departments and language centres. They are followed by sections on teaching methods and innovative approaches in the ab initio classroom that include chapters on the use of music, textbook evaluation, the effective use of a flipped classroom and the contribution of language apps. Finally, the book focuses on the learner in the ab initio context and explores issues around autonomy and learner strengths. The whole builds into a theoretically grounded guide that sketches out perspectives for teaching and learning ab initio languages that will benefit current and future generations of students.
Drawing extensively on the expertise of teachers of German in universities across the UK, this volume offers an overview of recent trends, new pedagogical approaches and practical guidance for ...teaching at beginners level in the higher education classroom. At a time when entries for UK school exams in modern foreign languages are decreasing, this book serves the urgent need for research and guidance on "ab initio" learning and teaching in HE. Using the example of teaching German, it offers theoretical reflections on teaching "ab initio" and practice-oriented approaches that will be useful for teachers of both German and other languages in higher education. The first chapters assess the role of "ab initio" provision within the wider context of modern languages departments and language centres. They are followed by sections on teaching methods and innovative approaches in the "ab initio" classroom that include chapters on the use of music, textbook evaluation, the effective use of a flipped classroom and the contribution of language apps. Finally, the book focuses on the learner in the "ab initio" context and explores issues around autonomy and learner strengths. The whole builds into a theoretically grounded guide that sketches out perspectives for teaching and learning "ab initio" languages that will benefit current and future generations of students.
Not all learners benefit equally from the teaching environment that teachers, departments and institutions provide for them. Individual learners progress differently, depending on a variety of ...factors that influence their experiences and achievements as language learners. Individual variation includes psychological factors, such as cognitive and affective abilities and styles, which are traditionally classified as individual differences (IDs). In addition, learners also differ regarding the knowledge and previous learning experiences that they bring to the process. Languages they have previously acquired or learned in particular affect their ab initio language learning. Although the exact effects are still unclear, these cross-linguistic influences
Editors’ introduction Ulrike Bavendiek; Silke Mentchen; Christian Mossmann ...
Ab Initio Language Teaching in British Higher Education,
12/2022
Book Chapter
Open access
The teaching of modern languages at ab initio level in higher education has become a necessity for universities across the UK, given that the number of students studying for GCSEs and A-levels in ...Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) at school is in decline. Since 2003, the last year in which the taking of a modern foreign language in Year 10 was compulsory, entries for language GCSEs at schools in England have dropped by 41 per cent (Bawden, 2021; see also Durrell, 2017 for an overview and assessment of this development). A-level entries in French, German and ‘other modern languages’ have also
In the present thesis the impact of a language learner development scheme to promote learner autonomy in mostly L1 English-speaking students in a German Language Degree Course at the University of ...Liverpool is examined. For the purpose of the investigation, a new, theoretically motivated process model of learner autonomy is put forward. In order to investigate the claimed effects identified from the model, a guided independent language learning programme based on portfolio learning, was developed and established as an assessed part of the German Course. The aim of the Scheme was to raise awareness of the language learning process and thereby improve metacognitive language learning strategy use and motivation. There were two sections to the study, quasi-experimental and longitudinal. The quasi-experimental study was carried out with the 55 students in the experimental group and 22 students in the control group. The anticipated effects of the Portfolio Programme on the students' use of metacognitive language learning strategies and on the feeling of control over the learning process could not be confirmed. Yet, in surveys and interviews, the students from the experimental group reported some improvement with regard to these variables. In addition to the expected effects of the Programme, the students' own accounts of the experiences were investigated. It was found that the reported effects sometimes differed from those derived from the theory. In-depth interviews with individual students suggested that only students with a specific set of learner characteristics can benefit from the Programme. For the longitudinal study, the learners were asked at different points throughout their Degree Course about the effects of the treatment they experienced in their first year at University. Thus, both immediate and long-term effects were recorded and all data was triangulated. Since the Portfolio Programme builds on experiential learning and awareness of the learning process, some effects took time to manifest themselves in the learning experience. The reported long-term effects therefore differed from those reported immediately after the treatment. Finally, the relationships between the individual effects were investigated with the aim of subjecting the underlying theory to critical analysis. Although there was a productive synergy of the individual effects of the Portfolio Programme, further research is necessary to pinpoint the areas most efficiently targeted for learner development.
Liver-derived acute phase proteins (APPs) emerged as powerful predictors of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular events, but their functional role in atherosclerosis remains enigmatic. We report ...that the gp130 receptor, which is a key component of the inflammatory signaling pathway within hepatocytes, influences the risk of atherosclerosis in a hepatocyte-specific gp130 knockout. Mice on an atherosclerosis-prone genetic background exhibit less aortic atherosclerosis (P < 0.05) with decreased plaque macrophages (P < 0.01). Translating these findings into humans, we show that genetic variation within the human gp130 homologue, interleukin 6 signal transducer (IL6ST), is significantly associated with coronary artery disease (CAD; P < 0.05). We further show a significant association of atherosclerotic disease at the ostium of the coronary arteries (P < 0.005) as a clinically important and heritable subphenotype in a large sample of families with myocardial infarction (MI) and a second independent population-based cohort. Our results reveal a central role of a hepatocyte-specific, gp130-dependent acute phase reaction for plaque development in a murine model of atherosclerosis, and further implicate IL6ST as a genetic susceptibility factor for CAD and MI in humans. Thus, the acute phase reaction should be considered an important target for future drug development in the management of CAD.
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