EMPLOYABILITY AND EDUCATION: MULTILINGUALISM AS A TRADE Michael Smith.
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Transcript of EMPLOYABILITY AND EDUCATION: MULTILINGUALISM AS A TRADE Michael Smith.
EMPLOYABILITY AND EDUCATION: MULTILINGUALISM AS A TRADE
Michael Smith
Overview
Educational context of the 21st century Inspiring Education
Economics of Language Thinking Global, Act Local – The
Language Industry Tools of the Trade The Missing Links
Education in the 21st Century Rationale for Learning International
Languages The value, for Canadian society as a whole,
of learning international languages can be summarized as follows: increased awareness of and sensitivity to
cultural and linguistic diversity improved potential in the Canadian and global
marketplace and workplace enhanced role in the international community.
There are also many personal reasons for learning an additional language or for enrolling in an international language course at school or in a community program. Students who have no previous knowledge of the language may be interested in: more opportunity to communicate directly with
people from other language groups and gain a deeper insight into their culture
a broader range of educational, career and leisure opportunities.
Education in the 21st Century
Education in the 21st Century Students who possess some knowledge of
the language or a family connection to the culture may have different reasons for learning: renewing contact with a heritage language and
culture that may have been lost through assimilation
maintaining a first language that is not the majority language in the community
developing literacy in a first language that is not the majority language in the community.
Education in the 21st Century There is significant evidence to suggest that all
language learners receive some additional indirect benefits from their language learning experience: development of increased grammatical abilities in the
first language—phenomenon of additive bilingualism enhanced cognitive functioning, particularly increased
ability to conceptualize and to think abstractly; more cognitive flexibility; and greater divergent thinking, creativity and metalinguistic competence.
WCP Framework for International Languages 3Y Program, 2001
So what?
“A broader range of career choices.” Fluency or business proficiency after 30-
level? Career choices at HS level? Cultural relevance/fluency? Primary skills?
Do I need to speak German to be an engineer?
Ministerial Paradigm Shift – Inspiring Education
“Technology should play a broader role in the classroom.”
Education in Alberta should be guided by the following principles: “Sustainable and efficient use of resources” “Innovation to promote and strive for excellence” Maximize opportunity to earn post-sec credit
while in high school Competencies vs. Knowledge
Applicable skills are more valuable than fact recitation
Ministerial Paradigm Shift – Inspiring Education
So we want students to leave school with skills but:
“Decision-makers should identify and adopt strategies and structures that optimize resources (financial and human) and minimize duplication” Make it smart, and cheap
Ministerial Paradigm Shift – Inspiring Education
We are now, more than ever, under pressure to ensure maximized ROI for government education funds.
Advanced Education
“In Alberta, we’re focused on investing in infrastructure and growing our highly skilled workforce. By giving the University of Calgary a new, expanded space for its engineering school, we can increase the capacity to educate more engineers who can help us meet our goals and keep building Alberta.” -Premier Alison Redford, Oct. 9, 2013
Advanced Education
“Our government was elected to keep building Alberta, to live within its means and to fight to open new markets for Alberta’s resources.” Multiple Education and Advanced Education Press
Releases in 2013 “Canada’s western provinces are the economic
driver of our country, and we are looking at unprecedented opportunities across the region – and those come with challenges on the skills and labor front.” Press release following summit of western Canadian
advanced education ministers, September 2013
The Economy of Language
BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa Rapidly industrializing, combined $16billion
GDP Turkey, Indonesia might be added to this
list soon. Over ¼ of the planet’s land Over 40% of the planet’s people
The Economy of Language
BRICS The languages of these countries are
emerging as major business languages, yet some (Portuguese) are absent from the Alberta POS.
The Economy of Language
Online Business ~2 billion people use the internet ~74% of content on the web is in English ~33% of the people who use the internet
read English
This means that the demand for non-English content will increase
Online Language Use
English = 33% of internet users Chinese = 27% (and growing)
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/10414642861388180/
The rest of the top 10 (total ~20%) Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, German,
Arabic, French, Russian, Korean Others: 20%
Localization
AKA “The Language-Service Industry” Localization is defined by the process
through which a company’s product (usually software or website) is adapted both linguistically and culturally to be viable and successful in foreign markets.
#4 most-rapidly growing industry in the US $20Billion USD in 2011
Common Sense Advisory
Localization
Localization - Roles
Engineers Sales/Marketing Project Managers Graphic Artists Translators/Editors/Terminologists
Localization – Tools of the Trade Computer Assisted Translation (CAT)
Makes use of a personal database for approved/previously translated materials Less cost More speed
Translations are done by humans (usually) Require specialized training to use (aside
from language training)
It looks something like this…..
CAT in the Classroom?
Specialization necessary Made for people with graduate-level
training in translation Cost prohibitive
>$5k/yr/license Alberta currently has no translation
skillset development in any of it’s curriculum Logical next-step/long-term goal for 21st
century learners?
Translation Training in Alberta There isn’t any!! Currently, any post-sec training is done
in Eastern Canada http://www.lexicool.com/
courses_canada.asp Something to have our students aspire
to?
Machine Translation Tools
3 types: Rules-based Stats-based Hybrid
In the beginning…… there was an algorithm
Rules-based translation A computational linguist “taught”
(programmed) a computer with grammar rules and vocabulary and the worst translations imaginable resulted Ex. Systran
Which was then purchased by Yahoo! and then by Microsoft, subsequently became
known as Bing http://www.bing.com/translator
(Systran is still around today, selling hybrids)
Then Google said “let’s let people search for a ballpark translation”
Stats-based translation Programs “read” translated text and come
up with statistics on how those are translated.
Requires a large corpora (body of texts) Like the internet, for example
Remedy for the Language Teacher’s “Face-palm” has yet to be discovered
As more content is added to the internet, these become more and more accurate
Best of Both Worlds
Hybrid Machine Translation Systran sells these now Custom to companies Hundreds of thousands to implement ($$$$
$) Still requires significant corpora
Machine Translation in the Classroom?
Maybe Your novice students will use Google
Translate. Get over it. Cautionary tales – have a few Tell them a few words that will give it away
Tenses they haven’t learned yet (and use perfectly) Synonyms not learned in class Wrong meaning/context (though could be dictionary)
If they tell you it’s from the dictionary, ask to see it.
So you can get a copy for yourself, obviously
Machine Translation in the Classroom?
At higher levels (or in immersion) “Post-editing”
Very common practice in language industry Requires ability to edit in a language Accessible at higher levels in a second
language program, maybe. Make it an assignment
Pre-author a text Translate it online Find the mistakes
If there are any
The grass is…. green
On the next slide, some quick stats about European K-12 equivalent second language programs
Where to now?
Add new language’s to Alberta Ed’s POS Portuguese, Korean
Stress importance of post-secondary language training Translation skills vital for business Specialized career paths
Allow for development of cultural competency Encourage advanced students to use machine
translation prudently, and in controlled situations.
Consider optional status of language courses