Tensions entre politique du changement et stabilité : une dynamique nécessaire pour l'innovation dans les centres de langues universitaires
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Catherine Blons-Pierre,
Dr Catherine Blons-Pierre , directrice du Centre de langues de l'université bilingue de Fribourg en Suisse depuis 2008, possède une double formation universitaire : un doctorat de Lettres complété par un Master en Didactique et Sciences du langage, mention français langue étrangère. Ses recherches sont orientées principalement vers l'évaluation en contexte plurilingue et pluriculturel et vers le management des centres de langues. Actuellement, elle conduit et coordonne pour l'Université de Fribourg des projets qui sont rattachés au domaine de l'évaluation dans le contexte des centres de langues universitaires.
Abstract
The evaluation of a university language center, to establish the extent to which it is an effective and leading-edge institution, must focus on five major factors: The quality of its language learning/teaching, its teachers' pre-service and in-service training, its treatment of students, its premises and equipment, and its management. Any decision to innovate to improve quality in one of these areas will always impact on the other areas. Managing change successfully in a university language center thus requires analysis of the tensions and impacts that innovation in one area may generate for the entire structure.
To illustrate the questions involved, we will use case studies to examine the implications for all the various actors of a university language center of the establishment of online placement testing and online registration within a center. Using new technology in this innovative manner affects a number of areas that develop tensions between each other. The set of tensions which arises is a dynamic factor required for the development of language centers which wish to remain competitive, but it requires proactive measures which anticipate the changes to be made, while still maintaining the highest standards at all levels.
About the author
Dr Catherine Blons-Pierre, directrice du Centre de langues de l'université bilingue de Fribourg en Suisse depuis 2008, possède une double formation universitaire : un doctorat de Lettres complété par un Master en Didactique et Sciences du langage, mention français langue étrangère. Ses recherches sont orientées principalement vers l'évaluation en contexte plurilingue et pluriculturel et vers le management des centres de langues. Actuellement, elle conduit et coordonne pour l'Université de Fribourg des projets qui sont rattachés au domaine de l'évaluation dans le contexte des centres de langues universitaires.
©[2011] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Approche systémique de l'innovation pour l'apprentissage en Centre de Langues
- Tensions entre politique du changement et stabilité : une dynamique nécessaire pour l'innovation dans les centres de langues universitaires
- From politics to policy: Rethinking the relationship between language centres and Modern Foreign Language departments
- Quality through networking – from reactive administration to proactive cooperation
- The student voice in quality assurance
- A comprehensive placement test tool for language centres
- Evaluating and improving informal assessment in the university language classroom
- Learning environments in university language centres: Transferring support to learners
- My Pronunciation Coach: Improving English pronunciation with an automatic coach that listens
- Effective writing tasks and feedback for the Internet Generation
- Communicating the cultural richness of Finnish hiljaisuus (silence)
- The eye of the beholder: Is English as a Lingua Franca in academic settings a monolingual or multilingual practice?
- Attitudes and motivational factors behind Finnish business students' choices of foreign languages
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Approche systémique de l'innovation pour l'apprentissage en Centre de Langues
- Tensions entre politique du changement et stabilité : une dynamique nécessaire pour l'innovation dans les centres de langues universitaires
- From politics to policy: Rethinking the relationship between language centres and Modern Foreign Language departments
- Quality through networking – from reactive administration to proactive cooperation
- The student voice in quality assurance
- A comprehensive placement test tool for language centres
- Evaluating and improving informal assessment in the university language classroom
- Learning environments in university language centres: Transferring support to learners
- My Pronunciation Coach: Improving English pronunciation with an automatic coach that listens
- Effective writing tasks and feedback for the Internet Generation
- Communicating the cultural richness of Finnish hiljaisuus (silence)
- The eye of the beholder: Is English as a Lingua Franca in academic settings a monolingual or multilingual practice?
- Attitudes and motivational factors behind Finnish business students' choices of foreign languages
- A new LSP educational experience in Nebrija University
