English Language Webinars

Trinity organises events and various webinar series throughout the year. Most Trinity-organised events are free, but may require advance registration.

The problem with 'English Class': Embedding as a tool for decolonisation

Sara Vaghefian presented on 'The problem with English Class: Embedding as a tool for decolonisation' at the Future of English Language Teaching Conference in October 2020.

 

In recent years, UAL has been working towards decolonising the Arts curriculum (UAL, 2020), as well as addressing the Awarding Gap (UAL, 2015; Singh, 2017), where BAME and international students are generally graduating with lower grades than white and home students. It is widely acknowledged that some of the main issues facing international students are low confidence and the failure to acknowledge their social and cultural capital, as well as the tensions and communication issues that arise among our diverse student cohorts. What role can the Language Development (LD or “EAP”) Tutor play in addressing the Awarding Gap and creating a more inclusive learning environment for students? In this talk, I argue in favour of two related approaches to address these issues from both a systemic and pedagogical perspective: the decolonisation of Language Policy (Spolsky, 2004; Pennycook, 1998) and an embedded approach to LD tuition.

 

Sara explored the ways in which international (mainly East Asian) students are often stereotyped and stigmatised and suggest LP reform to address this. With reference to bespoke teaching materials she has devised forher own students, she discussed various aspects of an embedded approach to LD tuition that draws on Multimodal Literacies (Sanders & Albers, 2003) and Critical Pedagogies (hooks, 1994; Freire, 1972) to propose a more inclusive and empowering learning environment for UAL Design students. 

 

Further information

Watch dl-slide

 

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Topics: English for Specific Purposes (ESP), The Future of English Language Teaching Conference, FoELT 2020

Upcoming

GESE: Choosing the Appropriate Grade
Tue 6 June, 3:00PM (UK time)
Trinity's Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) are one-to-one, face-to-face assessments of English language speaking and listening skills with a Trinity examiner, who encourages the candidate to evidence their skills through prompts and authentic interactive dialogue. The GESE exam is a popular choice in peak periods, as well as for part-time learners, and for optional conversation classes year-round.
GESE: Preparing for the Topic Phase
Wed 7 June, 3:00PM (UK time)
Trinity's Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) are one-to-one, face-to-face assessments of English language speaking and listening skills with a Trinity examiner, who encourages the candidate to evidence their skills through prompts and authentic interactive dialogue. The GESE exam is a popular choice in peak periods, as well as for part-time learners, and for optional conversation classes year-round.
GESE: Practising for the Interactive Phase
Thu 8 June, 3:00PM (UK time)
Trinity's Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) are one-to-one, face-to-face assessments of English language speaking and listening skills with a Trinity examiner, who encourages the candidate to evidence their skills through prompts and authentic interactive dialogue. The GESE exam is a popular choice in peak periods, as well as for part-time learners, and for optional conversation classes year-round.
The 8th Future of English Language Teaching Conference (Online)
Sat 10 June, 8:45AM (UK time)
The 8th annual, free online Future of English Language Teaching Conference includes key plenaries by Claudia Ferradas and Chris Roland alongside various breakout sessions.
Building sustainability into ELT – are we doing enough?
Wed 21 June, 4:00PM (UK time)
The negative environmental impact of the global ELT community and the opportunities we have in climate change education have been moving up our agenda in recent years. But are the many initiatives that we are putting into place enough to make any real difference? This webinar will look at some of the issues.
Building Linguistic Bridges in the ELT classroom: Cross linguistic mediation activities to support inclusion and social development
Wed 19 July, 4:00PM (UK time)
This webinar will look at specific strategies to support young learners of English who come from poor and vulnerable backgrounds. Teaching strategies and example activities will be drawn from the speakers own experience of working in a deprived area in Buenos Aires.

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