The role of research in teaching-oriented institutions: A case study of university language centres in Finland
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Heidi Rontu has been Director of the Aalto University Language Centre since 2006. Previously she was a lecturer and deputy director at the Language Centre of the Helsinki University of Technology in 2004–2005 and professor in Swedish at the University of Helsinki in 2005–2006. Her areas of research include early bilingual development, pragmatics of codeswitching, text linguistics and multisemiotics.Ulla-Kristiina Tuomi has been Director of the University of Helsinki Language Centre since 2007. Previously she was Director of the University of Tampere Language Centre from 1997 to 2007. Her interests include language education policy, leadership and management issues, HR development, quality assurance and international cooperation.
Abstract
The role of research in university institutions whose primary task is to provide teaching remains ambiguous and controversial. In principle, all university teaching is based on pertinent research. However, for some university units, such as language centres, the basic tasks, and consequently their funding, are very often defined in a manner which excludes research done by the personnel. In this article, we will focus on the language centres in Finland and, based on recent data, discuss their current situation regarding engagement in research as part of their institutional strategy. The results show that research plays an important role in many of the language centres in one way or another. For all the centres, research is already part of their strategy or they aim to include it in the future. We will also consider recruitment vis-à-vis research, and we will introduce and examine ways to enhance and support the involvement of language centres and their teachers in research.
About the authors
Heidi Rontu has been Director of the Aalto University Language Centre since 2006. Previously she was a lecturer and deputy director at the Language Centre of the Helsinki University of Technology in 2004–2005 and professor in Swedish at the University of Helsinki in 2005–2006. Her areas of research include early bilingual development, pragmatics of codeswitching, text linguistics and multisemiotics.
Ulla-Kristiina Tuomi has been Director of the University of Helsinki Language Centre since 2007. Previously she was Director of the University of Tampere Language Centre from 1997 to 2007. Her interests include language education policy, leadership and management issues, HR development, quality assurance and international cooperation.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Narratives and accounts: “Post-crisis” narration in annual company reports
- Connectedness through a strong form of TBLT, classroom implementation of the CEFR, cyclical learning, and learning-oriented assessment
- Impacts of the use of “support tools” on a distance language learning course
- Oral communication in the framework of cognitive fluency: Developing and testing spoken Russian within the TORFL system
- First- and final-semester non-native students in an English-medium university: Judgments of their speech by university peers
- The European Language Portfolio and Languages for Specific Purposes: A project to develop “can do” descriptors focused on students' interests and motivation
- Translating the CercleS European Language Portfolio into Portuguese for plurilingual development in a Community of Practice
- The role of research in teaching-oriented institutions: A case study of university language centres in Finland
- The changing world of higher education: Where do language centres fit in?
- Mind the gap between form and function. Teaching pragmatics with the British sitcom in the foreign language classroom
- Having fun in the classroom: Subtitling activities
