Lecturer takes part in staff exchange to the Basque country

A lecturer from the School of Social Sciences recently took part in an Erasmus staff exchange to the Basque country, located in the north of Spain.

During her week at the University of the Basque Country in Donostia, Dr Rhian Hodges, lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, delivered lectures and workshops on minority languages to Masters students. Whilst there, she also had the opportunity to study the linguistic situation and to compare and contrast it with the state of affairs in Wales.

Dr Hodges contributed to teaching on the University’s MA Multilingualism programme, by providing lectures on the effects of Welsh-medium education on language planning in Wales and drawing on her own research, which explores the choices that non-Welsh parents have of Welsh-medium education in Cwm Rhymni, Caerphilly. Additionally, she offered sessions on ‘new’ minority language speaking, presenting academic work on ‘new’ Welsh speakers in Wales.

The main aim of the visit was to create key contacts and all-important networks in order to raise the profile of Bangor’s MA programme in Language Policy and Planning.

“Ultimately, we hope to develop the staff exchanges to become student exchanges that provide a golden opportunity for both Welsh and Basque students to study the linguistic situations of the two countries, and through this, produce important, comparative European research”, explained Dr Hodges, who is also Course Director for the MA Language Policy and Planning.

Publication date: 14 December 2012