Learning in a language centre: A new kind of “do-it-yourself”?

Anne Chateau; Sophie Bailly

doi:10.1515/cercles-2012-0020

Article

Learning in a language centre: A new kind of “do-it-yourself”?

Anne Chateau is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at Université de Lorraine. She teaches non-specialist students at the PEARL (Pôle Enseignement Autoformation et Ressources en Langues) and is the director of the university language centre. Besides ESP and language centres, her research interests at CRAPEL/ATILF (UMR 7118 CNRS) include blended learning systems and language learning with ICT.
and
Sophie Bailly is professor of Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching and Learning, in the Department of Linguistics at Université de Lorraine (Nancy, France). She is a member of the CNRS (UMR 7118 CRAPEL / ATILF). Her main research interests and areas of publication are self-directed learning and advising, as well as gender and language relationship. She is the author of Les Hommes, les Femmes et la Communication (Paris, L'Harmattan, 2009).

Published/Copyright: July 6, 2013

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From the journal Language Learning in Higher Education Volume 2 Issue 2

Abstract

Since CercleS was created in 1990, language resource centres, or language centres, have offered learners various means to improve their language skills. They are often places where new pedagogical approaches and innovative learning environments are proposed (Rivens Mompean 2011). As the names of some of the associations belonging to CercleS suggest, however, ‘language centre’ is not always defined in the same way. To identify the elements that may be common to all and perhaps contribute to the definition, we set out to study the tools offered to learners by members of RANACLES (the French association that has been a member of CercleS since its creation in 1992) and the ways in which they help learners to use them. Some language centres offer tools that enable learners to take more control of their learning such as logbooks or diaries designed to support autonomization (Chateau and Zumbihl 2010). In other cases the environments include tools that enable teachers to control learners' activity. Most language centres provide various types of support or guidance – tutoring or counselling, for example – to help learners familiarize themselves with the available tools (Ismail and Bailly 2011). This article reviews the tools offered by RANACLES language centres and by the language centre of our own university and proposes a model of an online toolkit for language centres.

Keywords: language centres; tools; autonomization; toolkit

About the authors

Anne Chateau

Anne Chateau is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at Université de Lorraine. She teaches non-specialist students at the PEARL (Pôle Enseignement Autoformation et Ressources en Langues) and is the director of the university language centre. Besides ESP and language centres, her research interests at CRAPEL/ATILF (UMR 7118 CNRS) include blended learning systems and language learning with ICT.

Sophie Bailly

Sophie Bailly is professor of Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching and Learning, in the Department of Linguistics at Université de Lorraine (Nancy, France). She is a member of the CNRS (UMR 7118 CRAPEL / ATILF). Her main research interests and areas of publication are self-directed learning and advising, as well as gender and language relationship. She is the author of Les Hommes, les Femmes et la Communication (Paris, L'Harmattan, 2009).

Published Online: 2013-07-06

Published in Print: 2013-07-05

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2012-0020

Keywords for this article

language centres; tools; autonomization; toolkit