Monday 9 November 2009

The Centre for East German Studies celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  See CEGS event for details.

Language Studies Working Papers

The School of Languages and European Studies published the first volume of the new series: Language Studies Working Papers, in October 2009. This volume was edited by Lynda O'Brien and David Giannoni of the Department of Applied Linguistics and can be accessed online from: Language Studies Working Papers

National Teaching Award for Clare Furneaux

Clare Furneaux, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Linguistics, has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for the excellence of her work in Teaching and Learning. These Fellowships are awarded annually by the Higher Education Authority for outstanding contributions to Teaching and Learning in an HE institution. The panel is mainly composed of Vice Chancellors from UK universities. The award ceremony was held in September. There were 203 nominees across the whole of the UK this year, of whom 50 were awarded Fellowships in September. The awards were presented by Dr John Selby, Director (Education and Participation) HEFCE - Higher Education Funding Council for England, and Professor Shirley Pearce, Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University Chair of the Advisory Panel for the awards.

Prize-winning students

The School would like to congratulate this year's Entrance Scholarship winners:

Rosa Fernandez Domingue, BA Eng Lang with Italian
Daisy Flame, BA Eng Lang & Lit
Emily Bayliss, BA French & English
Christopher Dowling, BA French & Mgt Studies
Natalie Dumas, BA French & Italian
Holly Lawrence, BA French

And also the Achievement Prize winners for 2008-09:

Part I
Eleanor Chapman, BA Applied Eng Lang
Cara Mann, BA French & Economics
Michael Muscat, BA Italian & Classical Studies
Sophie Newton, BA Italian & History of Art
Rachel Prosser, BA Eng Lang & Lit
Amanda Wall, BA Applied Eng Lang

Part 2
Rachael Arbon, BA Applied Eng Lang
Joanna Hirst, BA Applied Eng Lang
Karl Turner, BA French & German
Elias Wikstrom, BA Applied Eng Lang

Very well done to you all!

Award of ESRC grant

Dr Judith Baxter in the Department of Applied Linguistics has been awarded an ESRC grant (£85000) to conduct a research project entitled 'Gender and the Language of Leadership in UK Business Meetings'.  The project is due to start on 31 May 2009 and will run for 18 months.

Reading No 1 for learning 

International students at the University of Reading have shown record levels of satisfaction with their learning experience according to a new survey. In this academic year, international students at Reading placed the learning experience 1st in the International Student Barometer (ISB). This is the largest survey of the international student experience in the world surveying more than 250,000 international students since its inception in 2005.

World of Work (WOW) event at the University of Reading

The School of Languages hosted its first World of Work event on 8 February 2008 as part of its ongoing Routes into Languages HEFCE-funded project. The programme aims to reverse the decline in language learning that has taken place in school. For further information, see the University's press release: University puts accent on learning foreign languages

National Student Survey: satisfaction results

University of Reading students have expressed an impressive 82% level of satisfaction with their course at University of Reading, according to the National Student Survey.

In a survey for the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Reading was rated 22nd out of 129 UK institutions for students being satisfied with their course.

Over 1,300 final year students from Reading took part in the national survey. The survey can be viewed at the TQI website.