KU Final Evalution Report

LCC TARPTAUTINIO UNIVERSITETO

filologijos krypties

anglų kalbos ir literatūros studijų programos

išorinio išsamiojo

VERTINIMO IŠVADOS

LCC International University

study field of philology

external assessment of

English language and literature study programme

Final Report

1. Introduction

Profile of the Programme of the Study Field of Philology:

The self-assessment group designated by the Department was constituted by the abovementioned members in the lower grid.

The expert committee appointed by the CQAHE was constituted by:

1. Prof. Wolfgang Kuehlwein (Head) (University of Trier), Germany,

2. Prof. Karin Aijmer (Göteborg University) Sweden,

3. Doc.Jolita Butkiene (ISM University of Management and Economics), Lithuania,

5. Prof. José Luis González Escribano (University of Oviedo), Spain,

6. Prof. Jacek Fisiak (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan), Poland,

7. Prof. Matti Rissanen (University of Helsinki), Finland,

8. Prof. Danica Škara (University of Zagreb), Croatia,

This evaluation draws on an analysis of the self-assessment document available to the external evaluators, direct contact and interviews with students, teachers, administrative staff, graduates and employers.

2. Aims and Objectives of the Program

LCC started student enrolment in 2000 as a private higher education institution . A license to run English Language and Literature programme and to grant Bachelor degree in Philology was given to the College in 2000 and has been valid since then. LCC has never undertaken any external quality reviews.

Curricula development, as it is stated in the SAR (Self-Assessment Report, p. 14) is based on the North American liberal arts model.

LCC offer undergraduate programme that reflects a complex mixture of educational objectives, and demonstrates concerns for the development of moral and intellectual excellence through language studies. The programme is assumed to provide BA graduates with the life-long skills through training in rhetoric, oral and written communication, linguistics, literary analysis, and translation. Its aims take into account global, regional, students demands, the programme is sufficiently sensitive to the needs of the labour market. However, sometimes the aims seem to be too broad, too ambitious and demanding for the students and the institution, bearing in mind that the programme under the evaluation is only at an undergraduate level. Moreover the aims do not always relate to the study area: „LCC program produces graduates capable of excelling in a vast array of careers in research, business, government, education, and publishing, as well as in cultural industries such as entertainment and communications (SAR,p.10). The uniqueness of the programme in SAR has been overestimatimated by declaring that students“...benefit from a blend of theoretical and applied learning.“, which is a common combination in the European institutions offering degrees in philology. On the contrary, as it will be discussed further on, the programme lacks the theoretical component.

The fact that „LCC English department faculty members lead public seminars in which they offer their expertise in the areas such as public speaking and business English, offers English language classes in the evenings for adults and secondary school students“ (SAR, p.11) does not relate to the university degree programme under evaluation.

3. Analysis of the program

3.1.Structure, contents and study methods of the program

The Study Programme as it has been stated in the SAR has been designed and implemented in accordance with the existing laws and regulations of the Republic of Lithuania in the area of education: Law on Higher Education (No Viii-1586, 21 March 2000)[1], Order of Minister of Education on the General Requirements for Study Programmes (No ISAK1551, 22 July 2005), great attention was paid to the EU documents, such as “A political agenda for multilingualism”, “Implementation of education and training 2010work program”, and others. The curriculum of the programme is 172 credits, which exceeds the required minimum number of credits specified in the Lithuanian law. Moreover, in the light of the Bologna process in the EU, it is difficult to justify a 172 credit programme resulting in an undergraduate diploma only.

The curriculum split between “basic study”, “special education” and “general university subjects” is not theoretically well grounded. “Introduction to Psychology”, “Introduction to Sociology”, “Introduction to Conflict Studies”, “Public Speaking” , “Computer Proficiency” are by no means basic study courses, as attributed in SAR appendix 6. These courses are general university education courses and could be taken by any university student irrespective of his/her field of study. The courses need to be re-distributed to check the conformity to the formal requirements of the Lithuanian legal acts.

The curriculum is as well divided into the following segments: Core Curriculum (26credits), Major Curriculum (60credits), Specialty Curriculum (46 credits), and Free Electives (40-42 credits).

The programme design is highly satisfactory as far as application is concerned but there are some deficiencies in the philological content which will be discussed further on.

The core curriculum is meant to provide a broad view of various disciplines, such as History, Logic and Reasoning, Political Economy and Theology. However, this segment seems to be too rigid with little possibility for the students to choose. The experts would recommend to grand more flexibility to other students who represent other denominations, especially in the view of the fact that educators at many liberal arts colleges and universities have increasingly expanded this range to include the study of Western/non-Western texts and cultures. A concentration in the English programme includes 24 credits which can be chosen from the three concentrations: Literature, TEIL, Translation/Interpretation. Two courses „Survey of World Literature and Moral philosophy must be taken by the students, regardless of their choice of concentration. Although the programme claims that Major Core „...includes introductory level courses that lay the foundations for significant skills in the field of English Language and Literature...“SAR , p.12), the majority of the study basic courses are electives in the Specialty Curriculum: such fundamental courses as English Pronunciation, English Grammar, Language structure, etc (SAR, p.13) may be left outside the programme if students do not opt to take them and choose a different track in the programme. During the site visit, the experts were explained that an individual student‘s study trajectory is negotiated with the tutor. However, core study field courses should be made compulsory. The experts think that there is a lack of holistic view on the programme: course overlaps or deficit occurs ,e.g., there is no course on Lexicology, Introduction to Linguistics (4credits) offers „everything in one“(an introductory level overview of formal, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of language study. Formal topics include fundamentals of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Psycholinguistic topics cover first and second language acquisition, child bilingualism, sociolinguistic topics aim at examining such areas of linguistic study as language variation, language change and language contact (SAR, ENG 271). Some of the readings that go with the course (Anglu kalbos tarties pratybos) would better serve the needs of English Pronunciation course which is supposed to be a very basic practical course. However, this 2 credit course is overloaded with a variety of objectives one of them being to be able to understand „ ...world varieties of English such as American, British, Irish, Southern Hemisphere, African and Indian varieties of English (SAR, ENG 115).

The section „Teaching English as an International Language if the varieties of English are not taught, should be re-named.

The objectives and the content of the International Literature course are very vague. A short course description suggests that it is in no way different from traditional courses in comparative or world literature and does not move beyond the classic masterpieces of Western tradition: „... Western writers with the exclusion of English ones are featured“(SAR, English 436).

The course in Language Research methods is again overloaded with the content . As the course objectives and course description state, the student „...will know the theoretical and descriptive aspects of qualitative and quantitative research methods, acquire the basic tools for data coding and data analysis, become familiar with the fundamentals of descriptive and inferential statistics“, on the top of that „ students will learn how to design their own qualitative and quantitative studies“(?)(SAR, ENG 305).

Hebrew Wisdom Poetry without a preceding introduction into the basics of the Hebrew language has merely to rely on translation.

Some of the Capstone projects presented in Appendix 3, namely „Motyvacijos svarbos tyrimas mokantis antrosios (anglų) kalbos, „Social Conflict between Russian and Lithuanian Teachers in Russian Schools in Lithuania” are outside the study area, some of the research topics are too wide, e.g., Early Reading to Children and Literacy”.

Some remarks should be made as to the statement: ‚Instructors include practical application of theoretical concepts in each course.‘(SAR, p. 15). This construction reflects the state of affairs in applied linguistics from the 60s and the beginning 70s in the 20th century: Theory first, and then: how can we make use of it. Present-day relationship, however: constitutive phase of research: a problem (e.g. a social one etc.), that asks for a solution – then: theory-dynamics – then as 3rd phase: finalizing theory in such a way as to help solving the constitutive problem.

The program answers short term needs of graduates and employers very well, however the experts think that a stronger theoretical-philological foundation would be recommendable. Students and graduates during the meeting were of the same opinion.

The teaching style within the programme is student cantered, teaching methods are flexible because of the small size of classes, great emphasis is laid on the development of students’ practical skills.

3.2. Execution of studies and support to students

The programme entrance requirements are appropriate and sufficiently well defined.

Students seemed content about the size of study load, which normally is 20 credits per semester, students who‘s GPA is higher than 8 are allowed to take up to 24 credits. Summer semester is usually 12 credits.

In the interview with students, only a very small number of them reported that they were engaged in employment, since the programme under evaluation is demanding and they have to devote a lot of time to perform up to the standards.

Student feedback is systematic, complementing the internal quality assurance system.

Intimate faculty-student interaction occurs in small classes, in programs outside classes that range from academic discussions to arts programs, civic service, and social experiences.

The LCC seems to have very enthusiastic and dedicated staff and highly motivated students. These students find this type of education the appropriate one for their career development. The department provides good counselling service, the small size of the institution allows for sufficient student monitoring. The students who have financial need may apply for financial aid every year. Students with outstanding academic results get grants.

There are some possibilities for student mobility, but the possibilities could be explored further: students can participate in Erasmus student Exchange programme but as the report states only a small number 1-4 students go every year. Since 2003 LCC has got partnerships with Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Norway. The experts would like to encourage to have more partnerships with a European English speaking country university for the student and teacher exchanges. It could be noted as positive that starting next year LCC students will have an opportunity to participate in a student Exchange programme with Gordon College in Massachusetts, LCC has developed a partnership with the University of Warwick, in Translation Studies, and will be sending first Erasmus faculty exchange participant in May 2008.

3.3. Variation in the number of students

The number of applicants has been stable- 50 students with a very minor variations. Admission level is highly satisfactory. Retention rate 90 percent is acceptable, only a very small number of students (1 student per year) is dismissed for unsatisfactory performance, withdrawn students choose to discontinue studies for any other reasons. The class of students is international: students come from the former Soviet Republics, the USA, Canada, 2-4 Erasmus students.

3.4. Teaching staff

14 members of academic staff are currently employed in the programme. 7 have PhD degrees, and 7 MA degrees, which is sufficient to handle the programme since the student teacher ratio is favourable.

According to the self-evaluation report, teachers regularly participate in professional and methodological seminars, but there is not much evidence of extensive research going in the area of philology. The quality of publications varies a lot: there are some really outstanding international level publications that the DEP should be proud of, however a lot more are conference proceedings on the national level. Furthermore, quite a few theoretical courses are taught by the faculty who do not have any record of research (Principles of Translation and Interpretation, Introduction to Literature, Introduction to Linguistics, Introduction to Sociolinguistics ,Structure of Language) (Appendix P:5).

SAR points out that LCC is a teaching university, this, however, inevitably brings with it the problem of long-term maintenance of a sufficient level of quality education.

A full time teaching load is rather heavy: 16 hours plus 4 office hours, leaving little time for research. Although the report states that in some cases LCC staff is given special research load, no further specifications are provided.

3.5. Advantages and disadvantages of the program

The program’s main strengths are:

1) high demand of its services in Klaipeda region;

2) good fit of graduates into the job market;

3) highly developed skills of graduates (speaking, translation, social skills);

4) dedicated and enthusiastic staff;

5) motivated students;

6) satisfactory level of entrants;

7) high quality of facilities;

8) adequate library resources;

9) sufficient quality assurance system.

Some points that have and can certainly be improved have already been mentioned and will be summarized in the recommendation section.

4. Material conditions

The College has a number of lecture rooms, all of them are spacious, well equipped, students have constant access to computer technology, each student is given an individual email account.

LCC has up-to-date library facilities (online catalogue, electronic databases, etc.), the number of journals and specialised books in the field is adequate. LCC supplies all students with textbooks for each class.

5. External relations

There are lively contacts between the LCC and potential employers. The public opinion about the institution is determined by close personal contacts to the business community, including the alumni. The employers first of all admire social competences of the LCC graduates: critical thinking, responsibility, integrity, ability to communicate and work well in different surroundings.

LCC has established very strong relationships with gymnasiums, secondary schools. This has been achieved through the teaching praktikums, and Professional Development Seminars for the English language teachers.

6. Feedback

Graduates‘ feedback is systematic, LCC career centre maintains current alumni data base. The first official major survey to all alumni regarding employment is sent 6 months after graduation.

Graduates of the programme have found careers especially as translators, administrators, managers and in a variety of international tasks where expertise is required. Some continue studies at MA level. Employment of graduates is highly satisfactory.

7. Internal quality assurance

Internal quality assurance policy at LCC seems to be another of the strengths of the program. The department takes measures to continuously revise and update its content, to capture data about student’s in-class experiences. LCC have the following on going evaluation systems: Freshman survey , Senior survey, Enrolled student Survey, Cause evaluation, Faculty evaluations, General Comments.

The quality of the programme is assessed on the individual course, programme and Department level.

When the existing courses are changed, new developed, the process requires approval from the Academic Council. Each programme at LCC is part of cyclical programme review process. The organization and implementation of the quality assurance processes seem to be highly satisfactory.

8. General assessment of the programs within the study field

8.1. Recommendations to the higher education institution

1) attract more permanent staff;

2) encourage research and publications in peer reviewed journals;

3) revise the programme to avoid fragmentation, overlaps, deficits;

4) offer alternatives to Bible reading to the students of other denomination;

4) place more emphasis on theoretical-linguistics;

6) widen the choice of elective modern languages students may learn;

5) increase quality of the final theses/capstone projects.

8.2.Proposal on accreditation

LCC International University :

• university undergraduate study programme English language and literature (state code 61204H110) is given Full Accreditation.

Head of the group: ……………………...... prof. Wolfgang Kühlwein

Members:…………………………..…prof. Karin Aijmer

prof. Jose Luis Gonzalez Escribano

prof. Jacek Fisiak

prof. Matti Rissanen

prof. Danica Škara

doc. Jolita Butkienė

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