Less-widely Taught Languages
Special Interest Group
Convenors
Dr Justyna Drobnik-Rogers, University of Sheffield and Manchester (j.drobnik-rogers@sheffield.ac.uk) and Dr Sandra Torres, University of Manchester (sandra.torres@manchester.ac.uk)
LESS-WIDELY TAUGHT LANGUAGES
In the UK and Irish higher-education context, “less-widely taught languages” (LWTLs) is a practical umbrella term for languages other than English, French, German and Spanish. It is not a judgement about a language’s global importance, number of speakers or cultural value. The category includes global, community, heritage, indigenous and less-visible languages. What these languages share is their position within university provision, where access, progression routes, staffing and long-term sustainability can be limited or uneven; more than 70 LWTLs are taught in UK higher education, approximately 55 of them within University-Wide Language Programmes (UWLP).
ABOUT THE SIG
The Special Interest Group (SIG) for Less Widely Taught Languages (LWTLs) brings together colleagues who teach, coordinate, research and support LWTLs across higher education in the UK and Ireland. Responding to shared challenges such as uneven access and progression, limited learner pipelines, specialist staffing, scarce resources, professional isolation and low institutional visibility, it offers a national forum for communication, peer support, networking and the exchange of effective practice. By connecting both established subject associations and smaller or more dispersed professional communities, the SIG also advocates for the visibility and long-term sustainability of LWTL provision.
OBJECTIVES
- To promote sustainable provision of LWTLs in Higher Education.
- To raise the visibility of LWTL provision, highlighting gaps in access, progression and regional availability.
- To advocate for recognition of the educational, social and strategic value of LWTLs.
- To create a supportive network for communication, peer exchange, shared resources, and collaboration among LWTL practitioners.
- To support initiatives that support retention, build demand, engage communities and create routes into language learning, literacy and advanced study.
LANGUAGES REPRESENTED IN CURRENT UK UNIVERSITY-WIDE PROVISION
The languages offered vary between institutions and may change over time, so this list should not be taken to mean that each language is available across the UK or at every level of study.
Languages currently represented include Arabic, Basque, Bengali, British Sign Language, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Mandarin), Cornish, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Māori, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh and Yiddish.