LPE: Language Practices in Education

Research – Department of Teacher Education

LPE: Language Practices in Education

Logo Language Practices in Education. PNG

Language use in Norway is a hot topic. Should we allow multilingual classrooms and schools? How should we balance the use of Norwegian and English at universities? These are questions that are storming in the media, without much research to support claims. If we do not protect the status of Norwegian, it might suffer domain loss. However, if we do not use English/other languages, or protect immigrants and language minorities, they may be excluded from education and society at large. 

‘Language Practices in Education’ (LPE) is a research group that considers how  inclusive language policies and practices can be achieved in educational settings. By gathering researchers from various backgrounds  employing different methodologies, we aim to build a research-oriented network that examines how educational institutions can balance  language practices to include all people. The research group currently consists of linguists and teacher educators. Our aim is two-fold:

  1. Strengthen the research environment on language practices and policies at schools and universities. This will include non-Norwegians, Norwegians, scientific staff, Ph.D. candidates, postdocs, and Master students.
  2. Develop a research project. The group has a common research project that will explore opinions and experiences toward language policies and practices at NTNU. Through questionnaires and interviews, we aim to see how language policies and practices are experienced by NTNU employees and students, and if these are inclusive to everyone. See webpage for a full explanation.

Project

AELPP: Attitudes and Experiences toward Language Policies and Practices at NTNU

Three group members outside NTNU. Photo


Activities and Publications

Activities and Publications

Newspaper article

Should all PhD candidates learn Norwegian? We are concerned. / Skal alle stipendiater lære seg norsk? Vi er bekymret (Karina Rose Mahan, Nicole Louise Busby, Julie Katrine Flikke, Gessica Luisa De Angelis, Svenja Hammer, Eliane Lorenz). Forskning.no.

How to facilitate Norwegian language learning for international staff in academia? / Hvordan tilrettelegge for norskopplæring til internasjonalt ansatte i akademia? (Karina Rose Mahan, Nicole Louise Busby, Julie Katrine Flikke, Gessica Luisa De Angelis, Svenja Hammer, Eliane Lorenz). Khrono.no.

Interview

Advarer mot å tvinge ansatte på norskkurs (in Norwegian) (Karina Rose Mahan). Khrono.no.

Over 400 Employees React to New Language Demands: - Shocked / Over 400 tilsette reagerer på språkkrav: sjokkert og overveldet (Karina Rose Mahan). Universitetsavisa.

Academics raise concerns over staff language requirements (Karina Rose Mahan). University World News.

Scientific presentation

Holdninger og erfaringer med språkpolitikken ved NTNU (Karina Rose Mahan). Styre for Språkpolitisk utvalg ved NTNU.

Popular scientific presentation

Norwegian as the only working language: Is it sustainable? Investigating staff and students’ language practices and beliefs at NTNU (Karina Rose Mahan). Kunnskap til Lunsj, NTNU. 

Scientific presentation

A language needs analysis at NTNU (Karina Rose Mahan & Nicole Busby). Forskersamling om språk i høgare utdanning, University of Bergen.

Newspaper article

Forskergruppe vil kartlegge språk ved NTNU (in Norwegian) (Karina Rose Mahan, Nicole Louise Busby, Julie Katrine Flikke, Gessica Luisa De Angelis, Svenja Hammer, Eliane Lorenz). Universitetsavisa.