Language Awareness in the UK: Report from an international collaboration

As part of the Erasmus Staff Program, Senior Lecturer Dr. Agneta Svalberg (University of Leicester) came to the University of Kassel in the second week of May to teach for a week and exchange research interests with Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner. Both scientists cooperate intensively in the context of their joint activities at the Association for Language Awareness (ALA). Prof. Dr. Finkbeiner has been president of the ALA since 2006, and Dr. Svalberg is actively involved as a board member of the association. The long-standing cooperation has resulted in an Erasmus partnership between the University of Kassel and the University of Leicester. The agreement enables the mutual exchange of teaching staff and is supported by Erasmus+. As part of the partnership program, the first doctoral exchange between the two universities has now also taken place. Jennifer Schluer (University of Kassel, PhD student with Prof. Finkbeiner) traveled to the University of Leicester, UK, earlier this year for an extended research stay  to report on her research, discuss details in international expert panels, and participate in research colloquia.   
In return, Dr. Svalberg is now visiting the University of Kassel in May, where she was last at the 2010 ALA conference, and gave highly interesting guest lectures on various topics in three seminars in the field of English/American Studies: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning Research and Intercultural Communication. In addition, Prof. Finkbeiner was able to secure the guest for an exciting contribution to the popular Kassel English Colloquium (KEC), which has been established since 2000. The 19th Kassel English Colloquium, entitled "The Language Situation in the UK and the Role of Language Awareness," took place on May 11, 2016, in the Senate Hall of the University of Kassel. Among the guests were students and staff of the Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies at the University of Kassel, alumni and teachers from all over Hesse, who had traveled a long way to attend Dr. Agneta Svalberg's insightful and topical lecture. After a welcome address by Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner, organizer of the KEC, Dr. Svalberg gave an introduction to the British education system as well as to the diversity of languages in the UK, which unfortunately does not match the diversity of foreign language teaching. Dr. Svalberg drew attention to the current situation of foreign language teaching and the associated foreign language teacher training in the UK and highlighted the decline of foreign languages in many UK schools, which also affects German as a foreign language. After recapping the origins of the Language Awareness movement, she presented her current research contributions on the topic. At the end, the speaker inspired with practical examples of exercises for school, so that the participants could be inspired for their everyday practice. Thanks to Dr. Svalberg's vivid and interactive lecture, participants sharpened their own cultural awareness and language awareness in equal measure. The lecturer impressed her audience with her multi-faceted use of media and left a lasting impression on all participants with the 19th Kassel English Colloquium.
Text: Wiebke Ost & Claudia Finkbeiner