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ERIC Number: EJ1122352
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-May
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2191-611X
EISSN: N/A
Does a Picture Say More than 7000 Words? Windows of Opportunity to Learn Languages--An Attempt at a Creative Reflective Poster
Schaller-Schwaner, Iris
Language Learning in Higher Education, v5 n1 p1-23 May 2015
This article originated in a creative attempt to engage audiences visually, on a poster, with ideas about language(s), teaching and learning which have been informing language education at university language centres. It was originally locally grounded and devised to take soundings with colleagues and with participants at the CercleS 2014 Conference hosted at the University of Fribourg. It uses a local campus building as a reflective canvas, as it were. Simultaneously, it deals with concepts of wider currency which may influence and engage language teachers' awareness and practices in other tertiary contexts. The poster's visual appeal not only contrasts with the linearity of academic writing but its open-endedness creates a space for exchange and discussion. It also creates a space for theory, which few practitioners will engage with of their own accord. The poster's inherent dimension of interpretation by the viewer extends an invitation to respond. This article may render its content more tangible or accessible through verbal elaboration that complements the visual. The notions and cognitions discussed include reflection(s), languaging, a language formula, the Indo-European tree of languages, a multilingual linguistic sign, Douglas Adams's Babel fish, the IPA vowel quadrilateral, a syntactic tree, and a pyramid of learning. Presenting this poster and article to a wider audience can be framed as a novel dialogue and dialectic about conceptualisations that are influential for university language teaching. It is also an unorthodox way of approaching theory didactically and with language teacher cognitions (Borg 2009) in mind, and a means of stimulating engagement with multilingualism.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Switzerland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A