According to the strategic plan, Østfold University College is to establish a research program within language in learning, take a national responsibility for English and foreign languages throughout the educational pathway and be a major provider of foreign languages in teacher education.
In order to reach these goals, the initiative is divided into three work packages:
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Work package 1 – Language education across languages (STAS). Østfold University College wants through STAS to strengthen teaching experience within the language educations by focusing on similarities between the language disciplines, by developing good cross-disciplinary education projects, and by creating inclusive meeting points for knowledge sharing. Leaders of the work package are the Associate Professors Karine Stjernholm and Kristin Hagemann.
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Work package 2 – the ELLA-programme. ELLA ( The Education, Literature and Language Programme) is the language initiative's research programme and is led by Professor Ida Larsson. A scientific management team supports her in the work. The work package is divided into three thematic areas: 1) Language Competence, 2) Language Cultures and 3) Literature in Context.
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Work package 3 – A national provider for foreign languages (French, German and Spanish) in Primary and Lower Secondary Teacher Education. The work package focuses on further integrating the language subjects into the primary and lower secondary teacher education, do necessary work to secure accreditation of French and Spanish as MA specializations in GLU 5–10 (second cycle), clarify admission regulations and create a marketing plan. Senior Lecturer and Head of Studies at the ØSS department Berit Grønn leads this work package.
The Faculty of Teacher Education and Languages and The Norwegian National Centre for Foreign Languages in Education (The Foreign Language Centre) work together to realize the language initiative in its entirety. In this manner, it involves all academic environments at the university college that work with language-related questions within research and education. Our two MA educations within language – Master i fremmedspråk i skolen and Norsk i skolen – that are both integrated MA specializations in our five year teacher education, lay some of the foundation for the initiative. Other MA programmes that include languages can also be connected to the initiative. When it comes to the research part (ELLA), relevant research groups and environments will be included in the research work through continuous dialogue, information exchange and projects.
A joint steering committee coordinates the initiative in its entirety.