1.    Aims & Objectives

  • Practical, applied and relevant to student’s area of study and future professional development.
  • Level of proficiency in the target language designed to enhance language learning experience as well as communicative skills in the target language
  • Even at ab initio level, the objective should always be to enable and enhance student’s confidence and proficiency in the new language


2.    Approach/methodology

  • Development of independent language learners
  • Teaching through the target language, where and whenever possible, even at ab initio level
  • Sourcing of authentic materials; edited and adapted to suit all levels of competency
  • Focus on language structure. Integrated and focused - in context – lexis, phonology – consolidation by means of online (self-correcting) language learning resources.
  • Tandem learning – Designed to consolidate links, enhance communicative confidence and competence in the target language
  • Vocabulary (re)development – targeted and subject specific
  • Development of cultural awareness of the country where the target language is spoken - by exposure to contemporary cultural topics and current socio-political & historico-cultural events sourced across all new media formats – on-line periodicals and newspapers , YouTube, digital radio and TV programming, podcasts


3.    Targetted Subject Areas/ Languages for special purposes

  • Languages on Business courses – Marketing, Management, Advertising – Language for the workplace – business plans, CVs, letter writing
  • Languages & Tourism/Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts – Task-based cultural projects, information retrieval, language for the tourism and hospitality industry
  • Languages for Science & Engineering

The link below is about an article discussing the language skills in Ireland; it also provides many useful links for the promotion of languages.

Ireland's Language Skills Deficit