The Language Centre aims to offer high-quality courses. We therefore participate in various local, national as well as international projects to make sure that we continually stay up-to-date with the latest developments and trends in language teaching and language acquisition.  

Skype

Groningen-Padua Skype collaboration

Students often wish to practice their speaking skills more regularly, but they are sometimes reluctant to take the initiative to talk with their own classmates in English. This project provides learners of English at the universities of Groningen and Padua with assignments to structure their discussions with other learners at approximately the same language level. Using Skype as the medium for communication, the project lowers the threshold for students to speak English with other learners outside the classroom. Read more

SpeakApps

Speaking is one of the most difficult skills to master when learning a foreign language. Formal second language and foreign language teaching often does not provide enough opportunity for all learners to practice their oral skills and in online foreign language courses, speaking usually comes second to other language skills such as writing, reading and listening. Read more

Embed

The Embed Project (2009-2011) addressed the need for local samples of academic writing at the B and C levels of the CEFR by filtering student essays through a series of internal and external (international) panels of experts. This project shows the value and the feasibility of CEFR standardisation procedures for teacher training purposes. The project has also shown the importance of making such materials available online as busy teachers are not always able to attend all standardization sessions. Read more

Tshwane

E-learning in Africa

Between 2009 and 2011, the Language Centre has contributed to the e-learning leadership project, in partnership with UOCG, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria, South Africa. Language Centre lecturers have delivered a series of workshops in Groningen and South Africa, which have enabled lecturers at TUT to embed online language learning tools in their curriculum. For full details of this project, see: http://www.rug.nl/uocg/internationalisering/afrika/zuidafrika

NAP

The ‘Nationaal Actieplan e-Learning’ (NAP; national e-learning action plan) aims to improve students’ study success and the quality of higher education with the use of IT. For example, projects are being developed and supported to get more HBO students to transfer faster and more efficiently to university Master’s degree programmes. Autonomous learning and e-learning are important components of the NAP. All tools that are tested must therefore be easily accessible and user-friendly for students. The Language Centre has recently conducted two pilot projects: the Academic Word List and testing the Quick Oxford Placement Test. More information can be found on the project’s website.

Intuit

INTUIT (ENglish TUtoring through IT) is a curriculum renewal project organized by a number of Dutch universities. The project aims to integrate and implement IT in English language teaching, with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) as a starting point. Various pilots projects within the project have investigated how student autonomy can be increased by a targeted use of IT. Examples include programmes for diagnostic testing, independent practising and the use of a digital portfolio. More information can be found on the project’s website.

Blended Learning

The blended learning project was set up in cooperation with the Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Lehrerbildung und Schulentwicklung (NiLS).
The target group consisted of 15 German teachers of Dutch who had to be trained from level B2 to level C1 in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The project was developed to prepare them for the final examination, the Profiel Academische Taalvaardigheid (PAT) of the CNaVT (Certificaat Nederlands als Vreemde Taal; Certificate of Dutch as a Foreign Language).  Read more   

TVO project

Within the faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen, the Language Centre is also actively involved in the TVO (‘taal vaardig onderwijs’) project, which focuses on innovation in language teaching. This project brings teachers and lecturers of different languages and study fields together to discuss language teaching. Many language courses have meanwhile been evaluated and adapted to the latest methods and techniques for language acquisition. The project has been running for two years and good results have been achieved. Read more