COMMITTEE FOR LINGUISTICS IN EDUCATION
MINUTES OF MEETING 75
Wednesday 05th November 2003
2.00-5.00 p.m.
at The Institute of Education, University of London
1. Welcomes, introductions and apologies for absence
Thanks were expressed to Sue Barry and Ros Ivanic for past work. Also to Euan Reid and the Institute of Educationfor arranging the meeting room.
PRESENT: Richard Aplin (ALA),Sue Barry (LAGB), Jill Bourne (BAAL, also CLIE Secretary), Billy Clark (LAGB), Keith Davidson (NATE),Dick Hudson (LAGB, also CLIE Chair),Terry Lamb (ALL),Tim Shortis (University of Bristol), Brian Street (KingsCollege), Catherine Walter (BAAL),
APOLOGIES: Keith Brown (LAGB),Celine Castelino (BSA), Janet Maybin (BAAL), April McMahon ( LAGB), Marina Spiegel (NATECLA),
DH noted that the CLIE website address is
2. Amendments to Minutes of Meeting 74
The minutes were agreed as a correct record
3. Matters arising
Item 3 ( from Matters arising: item 3.3): DH on behalf of CLIE had offered assistance on the KS3English strand, but since Alan Howe is now leading the KS3 Strategy and has been replaced on the English strand by Gerry Swain, DH has made his offer to Gerry Swain instead. GS has accepted the offer and DH and he are hoping to meet soon to explore ways in which CLIE can help. Suggestions were invited from the committee on what we might offer. Suggestions included: commenting on strategy documents in their draft form from a research perspective; suggesting appropriate experts for working groups; commenting on the technical aspects of drafts. It was suggested that email would be the quickest from of communication.
ACTION: DH
It was suggested that CLIE should see itself as a network, recruiting experts on particular topics. DH would introduce CLIE by letter to the current Minister heading up the KS3 Strategy, who was thought to be Stephen Twigg.
ACTION: DH
4. Terms of Reference
These were last reviewed in 2001. Terms were discussed and amendments made. These would be submitted to the committees of BAAL and LAGB for discussion and approval.
ACTION: JB to send to C Walters& D Hudson,formatted in “Tracking” to show suggested amendments. CW and DH to take to BAAL and LAGB respectively.
5. Membership
Possible co-options were discussed.
ACTION: JB to identify 4th BAAL member. JB also to contact UKLA to get name of their current representative. JB to write to invite the Centre for Language in Primary Education (CLPE) to send a representative.JB to write to Mahendra Verma to invite him to join as co-opted member. In the event of him being unavailable, to write to Manjula Datta.
6. Dates and Topics of future meetings:
February 18th – Alan Howe or Paul Higgins speaking on the English strand of the
`KS3 Strategy.
June 9th – no speaker, annual meeting
Meeting Dates for 2004/05:
November 3rd2004 Suggested speaker: Dr. Lyn Cameron
February 16th 2005- to be decided in June
June 8th 2005 Annual meeting
Possible future topics: The Primary MFL Framework.
Assessment ( the linguistic aspect)
Deborah Myhill on graders’ assessment of writing
ACTION: JB to: advise all members of meeting dates;
write to Lyn C for November 3rd;
7. News
Papers were received in advance from ALL (2 papers)
Papers were tabled from NATE, and the Association for Language Awareness
DH requested members in future to try to organize their association’s report under set topic headings (as on the Agenda).
In future, these papers would be included as Appendices to the Minutes, rather than summarized within them.
MFL:The National Centre for Languages has been launched.
The Language Alliance is a new independent group of interested parties, the aim of which is to be a ‘critical friend’ of the National Languages Strategy, as well as a lobbying group – 2 meetings have been co-organised by LA in 2003, and another meeting is expected next year.
ALL, CILT and UCML are working together on a project, Language Trends 2003. This aims to provide a snapshot of language trends in the 14-19 sector in the UK at start of 2003-4. The intention is to collect both qualitative and, where possible, quantitative data on the current situation at 14-19 in schools, colleges and universities. The intention is to produce a snapshot of trends at 14 (options), 16 (exams, numbers opting for AS and A level), 19 (numbers going through to HE, types of courses,etc) and the authors hope to tell both good and bad news. The results of the survey will be announced at the Language Show in November.
ALL has organized 6 events on various languages in various parts of the country, and its local branches have organized others. Six further events are planned for the coming months. The annual Language World Conference will be 2-4 April.
LAGB’s AHRB PhD bid has been successful: six PhD awards per year for three years ring-fenced for research on the linguistics of MFL (‘Major Foreign Languages’ – ie the European languages that are widely taught in British schools and universities).
English:
QCA have published “New Perspectives on Spoken English in the Classroom: Discussion papers ” (2003) . These are also available on the web at
KS3 “Grammar for Reading” has been published and is now in use as part of KS3 Strategy. It can be downloaded via
A-level: two meetings about links to university level study have been held, organized by LAGB and the L&T Subject Centre.
Language Awareness:
The Association for Language Awareness is holding a Conference on July 19-21, at the University of Lleida, Spain. Speakers include Dr Amy Tsui, Dr Jesus Tucson, and Dr Leo van Lier.
EAL:
The DFES has called for tenders for courses to pilot a National Qualification for Specialist Teachers of EAL. Kate Daley at the DFES is leading a Working Group on EAL as part of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Unit.
E-learning – The L & T Subject Centre is requesting contacts on e-learning in linguistics.
8. AOB
None
The meeting was followed by a presentation and discussion led by Professor Ros Mitchell on the KS3 MFL Strategy: Word, Sentence and Text. The paper can be found at ftp://ftp.phon.ucl.ac.uk/pub/Word-Grammar/ec/mitchell-clie.doc.
CLIE meeting 75: 05/11/031