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Multilingual Competences and Labour Market Access: The Point of View of Swiss Personal Advisers in the Regional Employment Centres
Seraphina Zurbriggen,
Isaac Pante,
Pascal Singy
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 6, November 2017
Pages:
161-171
Received:
13 August 2017
Accepted:
4 September 2017
Published:
28 September 2017
Abstract: Since the creation of regional employment centres in Switzerland, personal advisers and consultants have been playing an important role in the assessment of the unemployed and the jobseekers’ language skills and their promotion. In this study, 646 of these personal advisers from the three main speaking areas of Switzerland (French, German and Italian) were interviewed via an online questionnaire on how they practically assess the language skills of the jobseekers they deal with; on the reasons they do or not recommand and provide language courses; and on how these courses should be financed. There were also more general questions about the link between language skills and the labour market. Statistically significant differences were observed, for instance regarding the quality of the language-competence evaluation tools; the evaluated importance of language skills for labour market integration; and the relevance of language courses for jobseekers. A correlation was observed between these significant differences and two factors: the linguistic area and the unemployment rate in a given area. Some problematic issues of political interest linked to language skills and job recovery were also highlighted and discussed in this paper.
Abstract: Since the creation of regional employment centres in Switzerland, personal advisers and consultants have been playing an important role in the assessment of the unemployed and the jobseekers’ language skills and their promotion. In this study, 646 of these personal advisers from the three main speaking areas of Switzerland (French, German and Itali...
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Poetry as a Deep Emotional Experience of a Different World: The Example of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 6, November 2017
Pages:
172-178
Received:
30 September 2017
Accepted:
23 October 2017
Published:
16 November 2017
Abstract: Poetry which comes from other religions and cultures can become an emotionally based bodily experience of a different world. This way of accessing the Other breaks down the biogenetic fixation on one’s own pack, family and land, and the concomitant hatred of strangers - other people, tribes and nations. This happens within an aesthetic context where we do not feel threatened and engage in the transition playfully and imaginatively. Currently, questions about the possibility of shared spaces enabling inter-cultural and inter-religious co-existence are of great importance. How does Goethe deal with what he finds in that alien world of poems by the Persian poet Hafiz? Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan may be considered an excellent role model of intercultural learning, centred on a training in aesthetically based empathy.
Abstract: Poetry which comes from other religions and cultures can become an emotionally based bodily experience of a different world. This way of accessing the Other breaks down the biogenetic fixation on one’s own pack, family and land, and the concomitant hatred of strangers - other people, tribes and nations. This happens within an aesthetic context wher...
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Pedagogic and Social Functions of University EFL Teachers’ Classroom Code-switching
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 6, November 2017
Pages:
179-186
Received:
6 September 2017
Accepted:
4 October 2017
Published:
7 December 2017
Abstract: This study attempts to study classroom code-switching with the focus on code-switching of university teachers of teaching English as the foreign language and teachers of using English mainly as the instructional language. The research methods are mainly ethnographic observations of four participants. It was found that three types of code-switching patterns were identified in the study across the participants. The four teachers switched between English and Chinese for pedagogical considerations. Code-switching also served to adjust teacher-learner relationship. The research findings show that codeswitching can be utilized by teachers as a useful and effective pedagogical and social strategy, which enriches the communicative repertoire and pedagogical resources.
Abstract: This study attempts to study classroom code-switching with the focus on code-switching of university teachers of teaching English as the foreign language and teachers of using English mainly as the instructional language. The research methods are mainly ethnographic observations of four participants. It was found that three types of code-switching ...
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Foreign Language Learning Pedagogy: Learner Centredness vis-à-vis Linguistic Competence - Action and Reaction
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 6, November 2017
Pages:
187-200
Received:
16 August 2017
Accepted:
11 September 2017
Published:
20 December 2017
Abstract: It is well-expected that in the cause-and-effect relationship, authentic formal language learning four hours weekly for six years and 18 hours a week for nearly one year is very likely to produce learners with language proficiency enough to conduct simple conversations about basic daily life issues. Through measuring the global grammar accuracy in the oral language of foundation students at the English Institute at King Abdul Aziz University, the present study aimed at examining how far the learner is the centre of the learning operation so that it can correspondingly yield a considerable amount of EFL linguistic proficiency. The results, however, show that even the most basic grammar norms of the target language (TL) have not yet been acquired, and the learners’ TL grammar is so inaccurate that it severely affects the oral output intelligibility. That highly inaccurate TL grammar calls for the reestablishment of the learning aims, approaches, and tools in serious quest for more learner-centredness in the learning task so that those severe linguistic gaps can be abridged and more authentic TL acquisition is achieved.
Abstract: It is well-expected that in the cause-and-effect relationship, authentic formal language learning four hours weekly for six years and 18 hours a week for nearly one year is very likely to produce learners with language proficiency enough to conduct simple conversations about basic daily life issues. Through measuring the global grammar accuracy in ...
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