Inaugural Lecture by Professor Marie-Noelle Lamy
In this lecture Professor Lamy will study the ways that language learning and teaching are talked about in public debates and spaces. She will present examples of discourse about languages that she has collected from the arts, the media and the press, in order to detect some of the less visible emotions and aspirations that society associates with the notion of ‘learning another language’. Examining some of the highly polarized public judgements that have accompanied the spectacular development of the Internet for language learning, she will ask whether and to what extent language professionals are paying attention to learner voices.
From a background in linguistics, stylistics and lexicology, Professor Lamy went on to specialise in French as a foreign language when she came to The Open University to lead a team in charge of developing the University’s first ever programme of distance-taught languages. Her research, within the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology, addresses the implications of changes in the way that we learn, teach and communicate across languages and cultures, now that we have electronic networking systems at our disposal.
