Click on the following link, and you will find the past projects with FIPLV involvement.
Below are current projects.
Language Acts and Worldmaking
FIPLV is delighted to be a partner on the largest Languages Research project ever funded in the UK! Language Acts and Worldmaking is a flagship project funded by the AHRC Open World Research Initiative (OWRI), which aims to regenerate and transform modern language learning by foregrounding language’s power to shape how we live and make our worlds.
For further information, please visit the website: https://languageacts.org
For further information about OWRI, which consists of four major projects (of which Language Acts and Worldmaking is one) and which has been funded £16,000,000, see here: https://ahrc.ukri.org/research/fundedthemesandprogrammes/themes/owri/
Conference videos now available to watch
In its first conference, Languages Memory, which ran from 13-14 June, the aim was to enliven awareness of the ways in which languages are experienced, practised, taught and researched. We reflected upon the place of language learning and engaged with the material and historical force of languages in the world.
Conference sessions all responded to the central theme of Languages Memory in innovative and creative ways, working across a wide range of disciplines and methodologies. Sessions included expert panels, drama and soundscape workshops, poetry presentations, and autoethnographic reflections. The conference programme also included a specially invited keynote address, and expert policy panel (consisting of Prof Terry Lamb of the University of Westminster and Secretary General of FIPLV, as well as Dr Lid King of The Languages Company, former National Director for Languages).
Video and audio clips of the session are now up and can be found here
IRIS
Website: www.iris-database.org
IRIS is a free, digital repository of materials used to collect data for research into second language learning and teaching. FIPLV has been supporting IRIS since it first began to be developed as we feel that it is a hugely valuable resource.
Since the site went live in January 2012, over 3600 instruments, used to collect data for a range of L2 research, have been uploaded. IRIS has now had over 20,000 downloads, almost double this time last year. These instruments are all downloadable and can be easily used or adapted for teacher-led research in the language classroom. IRIS is funded by the British Academy and the ESRC, and supported by a wide international network of journal editors and research and teaching associations.
Follow the IRIS Facebook page for IRIS news and updates on open science.
MIME – Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe
FIPLV is happy to support MIME as part of its Stakeholder Forum.
The core assumption of the MIME project is that “mobility” and “inclusion” are not incompatible, but that they do not necessarily converge, and that societies (and even individual citizens) are often confronted with a trade-off between them. In general, more mobility may compromise inclusion and cohesion, while a focus on inclusion and cohesion may impair mobility. This assumption will be investigated and evaluated in several of the case studies MIME will produce, and pave the way for the next step in the MIME approach. How can we ease these tensions through well-designed policies?
See the website for further information: http://mime-project.org
The research has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 613334 (Project MIME).
Why Languages Matter!
(Funded by ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Festival of Social Science)
Multilingualism throughout the Sheffield City Region
Sheffield is a vibrant multilingual city, in which over 120 languages are spoken in our varied communities. These range from languages used in the home or learnt at school, to those spoken by the many visitors who are welcomed here for work or study. This project brings together the voices of Sheffield people in a display showing ‘Why languages matter!’
It is intended that this project will be developed by FIPLV members around the world so that we can obtain a rich picture of why languages matter in other countries.
‘Why languages matter!’ featured in The Guardian: Highlights from the British Academy’s Language Festival
Exchanges Project
Student Exchange between Mater Christi College (Melbourne, Australia) and the Lycée Jean Racine (Paris, France)
1 Background
Initiated in conversations in 2012 between Laure Peskine (APLV, France) – who asked if FIPLV could have a direct impact on students in classrooms – and Denis Cunningham (FIPLV), Laure Peskine sought expressions of interest from individual members of APLV (France) to establish direct student exchanges facilitated by FIPLV. This led to the meeting of Jean-Luc Breton (Lycée Jean Racine, Paris) and Denis Cunningham (Mater Christi College, Melbourne) in Paris on 3 July 2013.
2 The Proposal
It was planned to create an exchange of students between the Lycée Jean Racine and Mater Christi College. It was agreed that the first steps should be simple and manageable so that students of each school could have contacts in the other, as they had requested.
It was further agreed that:
- involvement by students would be voluntary
- students in seconde, première and terminale of the Lycée Jean Racine would be invited to be in contact with students of Years 9-12 (and possibly Year 8) of Mater Christi College
- management of both schools would be informed of plans so that endorsement be granted by both administrations
- D Cunningham would report to Mater Christi management and students upon his return to school (on 15 July)
- Jean-Luc Breton would discuss the plan with management and students at the beginning of the new academic year (la rentrée) in September
- the initial aim was to put students of one school in contact with those of the other
- information profiles could be shared and exchanged
- individual student contact would be left to their choice of platform (eg Facebook, email, etc)
- further contact could evolve on an individual exchange basis (eg visits, homestays, etc)
- aspects of the individual student exchanges could permeate into classroom activities, subject to student input
- the preliminary stages could evolve into more formal arrangements over time, subject to student choice, teacher facilitation and approval by parents and school management
- students participating in the 2013 Mater Christi trip to France would be invited to express interest in visiting the Lycée Jean Racine
3 Development of the Project
Following further discussion by email between Jean-Luc Breton and Denis Cunningham, the group of 48 Australian students of French arrived in Paris in September 2013. Divided into two groups of 24 students, Denis Cunningham requested volunteers to visit the French school. Sixteen agreed and were accompanied by two teachers to the Lycée Jean Racine. Greeted by Jean-Luc Breton, he took us to his class of 24 students of première. There, we let the students of both groups interact as they desired. Fascinating to witness, it became a natural gathering of teenagers from both ends of the globe. Discussion was rich, friendships were forged and contact continues from afar among some to this day. For some girls, this was the highlight of their two-week trip to France.
4 The Next Phase: Student Exchanges and Homestays
It was hoped that the exchange could reach a higher level – beyond personal encounters and Facebook interaction. Logistically more difficult, facilitating student exchanges and visits to the other country became more challenging. Despite the difficulties in identifying willing students and families, two direct exchanges have been accomplished. One of the girls from Mater Christi, Abbie, went to Paris late in 2014 to stay with Marion and her family. She attended classes and soaked up the cultural and educational differences surrounding her. Marion is now staying with Abbie’s family near Melbourne, attending classes with Abbie, experiencing subjects not available in her school in France and is sitting in on some of my French classes and expertly fulfilling the role of a voluntary assistante. Another French student, Hana, has also been south to Melbourne to stay with Elissa and her family. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience before returning home a few weeks ago. Elissa expects to be in Paris over the Christmas period, staying with Hana and her family.
There are other girls from Mater Christi patiently awaiting the rentrée in France, when Jean-Luc Breton can seek expressions of interest from his new classes. There are also the contacts made between the students from Mater Christi with the visiting French girls, which may lead to additional exchanges and homestays.
5 The Future
Through APLV and FIPLV, Jean-Luc Breton and I have established a direct exchange between schools and students. It may be that the students on the Mater Christi 2015 school trip to France return to the Lycée Jean Racine. It will be up to the teachers taking the students to decide. In the meantime, exchanges have been established, celebration of intercultural differences has been facilitated and the permutations and longevity of the contact is left to the will of the individual girls and their families.
Denis Cunningham
Teacher/consultant at Mater Christi College & Secretary-General, Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes (FIPLV)
8 August 2015
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