Taking research from periphery to core in a Caribbean Language Centre
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Beverly-Anne Carter
Abstract
This paper draws on two research activities to discuss the role of research at the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) at The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. Established in 1997, the CLL introduced languages for all into this Caribbean higher education (HE) context. The CLL also introduced an expanded language curriculum beyond the historical focus on Romance languages and literatures. As the language centre evolved with more languages being taught and more language services offered, research, nonetheless, remained a marginal activity. Yet without a research agenda, the CLL risked being seen as a “service unit” - an outlier in a university seeking to confirm its place in the highly competitive global HE landscape. As the CLL sought to embrace more fully the research mandate of The UWI and of language centres internationally, CercleS publications and documents, for example, “Quality Assessment Criteria for Language Centres” were of great utility. The latter document’s focus on research as a quality indicator was consistent with The UWI’s focus on quality assurance and research. Taking research from periphery to core is thus intrinsic to moving the CLL into closer alignment with both institutional and international norms.
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© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Celebrating CercleS: introductory notes to 30 years of professional activity in the field of language learning and teaching
- Voices from current and past CercleS Presidents
- Plurilingualism, learner autonomy and constructive alignment: A vision for university language centres in the 21st century
- Recent developments concerning the use of English for teaching and research purposes
- The underlying action-oriented and task-based approach of the CEFR and its implementation in language testing and assessment at university
- The language centre as a laboratory for innovation
- The development of a Language Centre. An example of best practice in a historical perspective
- Voices from European Language Centres and beyond
- Academic, cultural and social growth through the language of websites: A challenge for European University Language Centres
- An evaluation of culture teaching and learning in a Uniwide Language Program: Teachers and students’ perspectives
- Learner autonomy, self-regulation skills and self-efficacy beliefs – How can students’ academic writing skills be supported?
- Enhancing assessment in the recognition of prior learning with digitalisation
- The university language centre as an open-badge issuer: New directions in ESP assessment and accreditation
- Cognitive test anxiety in high-stakes oral examinations: Face-to-face or computer-based?
- Exploring the relationship between motivations, emotions and pragmatic marker use in English-medium instruction learners
- Raciolinguistic ideology in first-year university (non)heritage Chinese classes
- Reports
- Taking research from periphery to core in a Caribbean Language Centre
- Integrating entrepreneurial working life skills with foreign language teaching – two cases from the University of Oulu
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Celebrating CercleS: introductory notes to 30 years of professional activity in the field of language learning and teaching
- Voices from current and past CercleS Presidents
- Plurilingualism, learner autonomy and constructive alignment: A vision for university language centres in the 21st century
- Recent developments concerning the use of English for teaching and research purposes
- The underlying action-oriented and task-based approach of the CEFR and its implementation in language testing and assessment at university
- The language centre as a laboratory for innovation
- The development of a Language Centre. An example of best practice in a historical perspective
- Voices from European Language Centres and beyond
- Academic, cultural and social growth through the language of websites: A challenge for European University Language Centres
- An evaluation of culture teaching and learning in a Uniwide Language Program: Teachers and students’ perspectives
- Learner autonomy, self-regulation skills and self-efficacy beliefs – How can students’ academic writing skills be supported?
- Enhancing assessment in the recognition of prior learning with digitalisation
- The university language centre as an open-badge issuer: New directions in ESP assessment and accreditation
- Cognitive test anxiety in high-stakes oral examinations: Face-to-face or computer-based?
- Exploring the relationship between motivations, emotions and pragmatic marker use in English-medium instruction learners
- Raciolinguistic ideology in first-year university (non)heritage Chinese classes
- Reports
- Taking research from periphery to core in a Caribbean Language Centre
- Integrating entrepreneurial working life skills with foreign language teaching – two cases from the University of Oulu
