Background

LLAS was a staff development centre based at the University of Southampton which provided services to academic staff across the UK (and to a certain extent Europe-wide) teaching Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies in higher education. Its first incarnation was as a subject centre of the Learning and Teaching Support Network (2000-2004), then a subject centre of the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

(2004-2011). Its second incarnation was as an enterprise unit of the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

LTSN/ HEA Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies 2000-2011

The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, (also known as LLAS) was one of 24 subject centres of the

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Formed in 2000 as part of the

Learning and Teaching Support Network The Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) was an initiative of the United Kingdom higher education bodies to promote high quality learning and teaching in all subject disciplines in higher education. It was intended to support the sharing o ...

(LTSN), LLAS was hosted by the

2000-2011, jointly with the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

, 2000-2003. In 2004 the functions of LTSN were incorporated into the newly formed Higher Education Academy. It had a UK-wide remit to support teachers of languages,

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

area studies Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what ar ...

in UK

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

. It was funded via the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) is the Welsh Government Sponsored Body responsible for funding the higher education sector. Functions HEFCW distributes funds for education, research and related activities at Wales's hi ...

, the

Scottish Funding Council The Scottish Funding Council (Scottish Gaelic: '; SFC), referred to more formally as the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, is the non-departmental public body charged with funding Scotland's further and higher education ...

and the Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland). LLAS activities were supported and informed by a number of advisory committees, made up of academics representing languages, linguistics and area studies disciplines. The largest of these committees was the Advisory Board, but there were also Specialist Advisory groups for each of the three subject areas. There were advisory groups for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and a number of special interest groups (SIGs) including 'literature and culture' and a group for teachers of "Less Widely Used Less Taught" languages (LWULT). LLAS had a partnership with CILT, The National Centre for Languages. The Director of LLAS was Michael Kelly OBE, who is also Emeritus Professor of French at Southampton University. Other staff included a team of academic co-ordinators, a web development team, and an administration team.

The post Higher Education Academy era: LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, 2011-2016

In November 2010 it was announced that the Higher Education Academy would no longer be funding its subject centres. The centre continued many of its activities as an enterprise unit at the University of Southampton until Summer 2016 when it finally closed down. The website is now archived and no longer actively maintained.

Activities

Academic development

LLAS organized a variety of staff development workshops, conferences and seminars. It published research and reports relating to the teaching of languages, linguistics and area studies. LLAS also provided funding for pedagogic research, action research and the development of teaching materials. The LLAS website also includes the

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

Good Practice Guide

Promotional materials

LLAS also produced materials to help teachers and university lecturers promote languages,

and

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Sch ...

in schools and further education colleges.

Routes into languages

LLAS hosted the England-wide Routes into Languages project which was funded by HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (£4.5 million) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (£3.5 million). Routes into Languages aims to increase the take-up for modern foreign languages in English primary and secondary schools, and promote careers in

translating Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and

interpreting Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language. The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous inter ...

Links into languages

Links into Languages provided staff development for language teachers in English primary schools and secondary schools delivered via regional centres. 'Links' was led by LLAS in partnership with the

Specialist Schools and Academies Trust SSAT (The Schools Network) Limited (branded as SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers network) is a UK-based, independent educational membership organisation working with primary, secondary, special and free schools, academies and UTCs. It ...

(SSAT) and the Association for Language Learning (ALL).

Liaison magazine

LLAS published "Liaison'' magazine twice a year. The magazine contained news, feature articles and book reviews and was distributed free to UK subscribers in print form. Back issues are available from the archived LLAS website in pdf format.

Externally funded projects

LLAS produced the HEFCE funde
International Approaches to Islamic Studies
in partnership with the

Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject ( la, subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to: Philosophy *''Hypokeimenon'', or ''subiectum'', in metaphysics, the "internal", non-objective being of a thing **Subject (philosophy), a being that has subjective experiences, subjective cons ...

. Other projects included the EU-funded Language Cafe, the Language Network for Quality Assurance (LANQUA) and HumBox, a repository for sharing

open educational resources Open educational resources (OER) are Instructional materials, teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and Free license, licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" descri ...

in the humanities. LLAS was also a partner in the Higher Education Academy's Islamic Studies Network.Islamic Studies

External links

The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Higher Education Academy main websiteCILT
National Centre for Languages
Language Cafe

Language Network for Quality AssuranceShropshire Languages Society

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Subject Centre For Languages Linguistics And Area Studies Educational institutions established in 2000 Language education in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Southampton University of Southampton 2000 establishments in England