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European
languages have a long history at UNE. French
and German
were amongst the first subjects taught at the University College,
as UNE was initially called in 1938, and Italian
was introduced in 1974. European languages played a pioneering
role in teaching languages in the distance mode. The group
focuses on language teaching and the transmission of the culture
of the various target languages. In the case of community
languages, the concept of culture includes that which has
developed among migrants here in Australia.
We
teach and supervise internal and external students at Bachelor's,
Master's and Ph.D levels. Undergraduate students can pursue
their studies in either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of
Languages (with a compulsory intercalary year) or, if from another
Faculty, they can enrol concurrently in a Diploma in Modern
Languages. Several of our units are also offered through UNE
Partnerships where we have established ourselves as the favoured
institution for provision of language courses to primary teachers.
Our units have proved to be very attractive to students: instructional
materials include a mix of technologies (video, audio cassettes,
software, written materials) and we are developing interactive
multi-media software to be integrated into our teaching programmes.
The excellence of the teaching provided resulted in two members
of staff giving a presentation on our educational philosophy
at the AVCC-sponsored Best Teaching Practice Symposium at Griffith
University in 1996.
Our
research areas embrace literature (medieval to modern) of the
respective languages film, literary translation, language teaching,
socio-linguistics, and applied linguistics.
The
European languages and cultures group has a strong profile
nationally and internationally. We participate in NSW Board
of Studies Committees (HSC and Curriculum). We also have a
high profile in the local region in the promotion of LOTE
(Languages Other Than English). We host the French and German
School Days, participate in HSC immersion programmes, and
maintain a strong academic presence and high level of contact
with primary and high schools throughout the Northern Tablelands,
and in the area of community languages Australia-wide. Both
the President and the vice President of the Armidale branch
of the Alliance francaise are members of staff in French at
UNE.
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