Tensions entre politique du changement et stabilité : une dynamique nécessaire pour l'innovation dans les centres de langues universitaires
Blons-Pierre, Catherine
In: Language Learning in Higher Education, 2012, vol. 1, no. 2, p. 275-285
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- The evaluation of a university language center, to establish the extent to which it is an effective and leading-edge institution, must focus on five major factors: The quality of its language learning/teaching, its teachers' pre-service and in-service training, its treatment of students, its premises and equipment, and its management. Any decision to innovate to improve quality in one of these areas will always impact on the other areas. Managing change successfully in a university language center thus requires analysis of the tensions and impacts that innovation in one area may generate for the entire structure. To illustrate the questions involved, we will use case studies to examine the implications for all the various actors of a university language center of the establishment of online placement testing and online registration within a center. Using new technology in this innovative manner affects a number of areas that develop tensions between each other. The set of tensions which arises is a dynamic factor required for the development of language centers which wish to remain competitive, but it requires proactive measures which anticipate the changes to be made, while still maintaining the highest standards at all levels