Astrid van Laar - “There’s no subtitles at the supermarket”

Astrid van Laar was awarded an Education Fellowship to renew the Language of Science course and make it available to a wider audience. Language learning is an unexpected subject at a university of technology, but one that is close to Van Laar’s heart.

The Centre for Languages and Academic Skills (in Dutch: Instituut voor Talen en Academische Vaardigheden, or ITAV) has been teaching Dutch to internationals for many years. Their courses make use of the Delft Method: conversation lessons based on texts that contain frequently used Dutch words in a meaningful context and avoid the use of grammatical terminology. “It was developed back in the 1980s when the first students from China started arriving at TU Delft. The idea was to teach them Dutch as quickly and efficiently as possible”, explains Astrid Van Laar, who has been teaching Dutch at ITAV since 2008. “That meant first of all answering the question of how we actually learn a language. Back then, language classes relied heavily on reciting verb conjugations, as you may remember from your school days. The Delft method is much closer to how young children pick up a language: by being exposed to it and then starting to speak without fear of making mistakes. It was rather groundbreaking at the time.”

Elegance and simplicity

Language learning and teaching has always been part of Van Laar’s life. “My mother grew up speaking French in Brussels. She was still learning Dutch when I was a kid, and I think that triggered my interest.” Van Laar studied Dutch language and literature and sociolinguistics, and developed an interest in second language acquisition. “I’ve always been fascinated by the language learning process. Though we know more and more about it, it remains a bit of a black box.” She’s enamoured with the Delft method: “It’s the elegance and simplicity of it. The assignment students get is ‘listen (or read) and repeat, until you understand’. Without any help, because if you go to the supermarket, you won’t find any subtitles either.” And it works. “Within a few weeks, learner can discuss fairly complex matter, e.g. comparing between the Dutch tax system with that of other countries.”

The course syllabus hadn’t been updated in twenty years. It showed lecturers using overhead projectors.

Astrid Van Laar

The Language of Science course is the final instalment of learning Dutch for prospective Bachelor students. The first three courses, popularly known as Green Book, Second Round and Third Round, bring learners up to a CEF B2 level. To study – or work – in a technical environment, general knowledge of Dutch is not enough. “This course teaches specific engineering language, like the vocabulary that is used in maths, physics, civil engineering and so on. But the course syllabus hadn’t been updated in twenty years. It showed lecturers using overhead projectors, for example.”

For a while, it looked like updating was not in order. Wouldn’t all education be in English in a few years, after all? Then, the pendulum swung again. “The majority of Bachelor’s programmes has remained Dutch-spoken, and under the BaMa system many internationals now come for a Master’s programme. We still consistently get 25 to 30 prospective BSc students each year, however, and many Master’s and PhD students are also interested in learning Dutch for the years they are here.”

So the course update was back on the menu, but why stop at a few dozens of students?  “A lot of graduates and PhD’s who start their professional career in the Netherlands, end up in Dutch-speaking environments. They may get around with basic Dutch, but they often feel they could do with levelling up their skills.” Effectively, the new programme will offer two variants: the compulsory course for Bachelor’s students, and another one for a wider target group.

The world has changed; what do our learners need today?

So how do you set about updating a course that hasn’t changed for 20 years? “The world has changed; what do our learners need today? Outside of ITAV, not many people are concerned with language or language policy at TU Delft. Study advisors and programme directors I talked too were willing to help, but did get me only a little bit closer to an answer. I realised that the real experts are those with hands-on experience, our former course participants ”, recalls Van Laar. “From talking to them one common theme arose: they wanted to train their ears to quickly understand and react on what is going on in an academic conversation. That means immersion-based learning.”

Real-life settings

Next, Van Laar looked at other organisations, including the other Dutch technical universities. “Most methods for advanced learners involve lots of complex assignments, e.g. where you have to explain text passages in detail. We prefer our Delft Method, where you are exposed to correct language. You get assignments to help you understand and process that input, but no assignments for assignments’ sake.” Further afield, she found course descriptions for prospective astronauts at NASA, for example, that rely on using language in real-life settings. “That is close to the approach we are taking”, says Van Laar.

When looking for new materials, Van Laar found that the pandemic had been a help rather than a hindrance. “All teachers have had to focus on online materials. Even before Covid, lots of teachers realised that YouTube is a great medium to reach your students, so there is a wealth of materials from secondary school science classes and other online materials from all over the world we can use.” While the course focuses on effective listening, this still involves some vocabulary learning. “Especially in an science or engineering context, knowing the jargon will help a learner get a hint as to what a conversation is about.”

You also want to be able to understand what goes on at the coffee machine.

Astrid Van Laar

While memorising vocabulary remains part of the course, other things are changing: “In the old syllabus, we still worked with materials that were adapted to suit learners, for example audio samples on lower speeds than natural speech. We don’t use those anymore.” Instead, students are trained to understand actual conversations and discussions, not just at a higher professional level, but also at an everyday level. “Students and staff alike expressed the wish to better understand small talk as well. You also want to be able to understand what goes on at the coffee machine. That involves clichés and sayings and metaphorical language”, explains Van Laar. She recalls a student who proudly told her they had been able to understand their neighbour who used the Dutch word ‘krabben’ for de-icing the windscreen.

Online platform

The new concept is now online, and the first pilot group is finished. “Like before, it is an individual course that people can start at any time and follow at their own pace with guidance from ITAV teachers. The more advanced students are, the more individual their needs become, depending on their programme or profession, so an individual approach works really well. An aspiring architect has different needs than, say, a secondary school maths teacher.” Ideally, Van Laar would like to set up an online platform where students can interact. “That is still a bit of a technical challenge, as people from outside TU Delft don’t get access to Brightspace, which would be the logical environment”, she says.
The search continues, then. Van Laar also continues looking for an answer to how you can best learn a language at advanced level. “It’s wonderful that the Education Fellowship gave me the opportunity to delve deep into that. I still don’t have all the answers yet, but one thing is certain: the Delft method is a good starting point.”