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This contribution introduces the Swiss learner corpus SWIKO and provides examples on how this rich and near-authentic collection can be utilized in foreign language education, while also addressing some critical issues that corpus linguistic applications face in pedagogical contexts. SWIKO is a multilingual corpus currently being developed at the Institute of Multilingualism in Fribourg. The corpus contains written and spoken productions by Swiss lower secondary school students, both in their language of schooling and foreign languages learnt at school (English, French, and German). Participating students completed eight communicative tasks which systematically vary by rhetorical type (descriptive or argumentative), topic (personal or academic), and structure (more or less restrictive input). The resulting productions were analysed with a focus on linguistic features (e.g., Karges et al., 2022) and in relation to human ratings according to the levels of the CEFR (e.g., Studer & Hicks, 2022). Based on our findings, we present two scenarios on how SWIKO can be used in educational settings, i.e., teacher training and material development. First, the productions can serve as an illustration of learners’ abilities at the end of mandatory schooling. Our findings show how the length, complexity, and accuracy of learner texts heavily depend on the task, which can be addressed in teacher training. Second, an analysis of frequent errors in foreign language productions can shed light on challenging structures, while the language of schooling sub-corpus can serve as a peer-reference in the development of corresponding material. We exemplify this process focusing on negation in German, offering differentiated teaching material suitable for the secondary school classroom.

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Code-switching (CS) between the mother tongue (L1) and the foreign language (FL) is an embedded practice in the Algerian multilingual society, as it is highly noticed in pedagogical settings like school and university. Yet, switching between two foreign languages seems to gain popularity, mainly, in the English for medical purposes (EMP) course. In the latter, EMP teachers tend to switch between English and French to serve certain pedagogical and non-pedagogical aims. Furthermore, this practice is used as a time-saving strategy and as an instructional tool to enhance students’ skills like; listening and vocabulary comprehension. In an attempt to flesh out an explanatory framework, this study explores the attitudes of students towards their teachers’ use of CS, in addition to their perspective about the reasons behind teachers’ switching between two foreign languages in a medical course. Furthermore, this research reveals the different perceptions of learners about the implementation of English/French CS to enhance their vocabulary comprehension and to promote their medical terminology. To this end, 162 second year pharmacy students, from the faculty of medicine at the university of Sétif 1, formed the participants of the enquiry. Based on a triangulation (quantitative and qualitative) research design, a questionnaire and a focus group discussion (FGD) were used to collect the related data. The findings revealed that teachers switch from English to French to perform different pedagogical functions such as explaining new concepts and difficult expressions, reinforcing and emphasizing a message or an information. Through CS, instructors may create a friendly and a dynamic learning atmosphere by using it as a stopgap to students’ loss of communication and hence to support the learning and teaching process. Moreover, CS is used to boost the learning of medical terminology and to facilitate the comprehension of medical context especially the new and complex vocabulary for learners. Overall CS is regarded as an effective pedagogical strategy, and is recommended in the EMP course, yet it should be used with moderation and in situations where necessary.

The article is devoted to considering historical and pedagogical aspects of the development of foreign language education in Ukraine, starting from ancient times and up to our time. The definition and analysis of “foreign language education” as a multifaceted phenomenon, which includes several processes: cognition, development, education and training, is provided. Foreign language education is linguistic and cultural education, the result of which should be a plurilingual personality. It is noted that foreign languages were studied in our country even before the adoption of Christianity. For centuries, education and all other socio-political processes were taken care of by the church; therefore, Church Slavonic and Greek languages were studied in schools due to their confessional status. Various educational institutions (“fraternal schools”, “multilingual”, “German”, and “Latin” schools) were opened, in which teaching in foreign languages was widespread. Latin has always held a high status not only as a foreign language but also as a language of instruction in many disciplines. It turns out that domestic foreign language education has been implemented for many years depending on the language policy of the ruling power structures in one or another territory of our country. This affected the main trends and challenges that made it necessary to focus on preserving one’s language and culture. The development of new economic and social processes influenced the departure from “dead languages” to studying “living” ones, which had specific practical significance. It was revealed that the opening of three universities, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Novorossiysk, which taught both classical languages (Latin and ancient Greek) and new ones (French, German, Italian, Polish and English), was a breakthrough in the development of foreign language teaching in higher education. It has been established that after the declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1991, foreign language education developed under the influence of important state documents of Ukraine regarding the study of foreign languages by citizens and the All-European recommendations on language education: study, teaching, evaluation. Therefore, the changes that are taking place force us to rethink the previous experience and integrate new progressive ideas into the educational process in accordance with the strategy for the development of foreign language education in our country.

Taking into account that traditional foreign language teaching is being moved to a virtual environment, the obligations of teachers are changing constantly. Their main tasks are to accept new technologies and develop their digital literacy. However, whether teachers will apply ICT in teaching practice depends on their personal and pedagogical attitudes and beliefs. When teachers’ attitudes and beliefs are positive, new technologies become one of their important teaching materials. The opposite of this, with negative attitudes and beliefs about applying ICT in teaching, teachers reject them and do not enable students to acquire new skills and knowledge in a virtual environment. In that sense, we wanted to examine the foreign language teachers’ attitudes about the use of ICT digital tools in Serbia. The results are obtained by the inferential analysis which is used to confirm or refute hypothesis about the possible conditioning of the identified factors. The results showed that positive attitudes of teachers have a positive effect on learning in a digital environment, but also that positive attitudes increase significantly with their education for the use of ICT. Finally, it was shown that teachers employed at the university have more negative attitudes about the advantages of language learning in a digital environment, in contrast to teachers employed in primary and secondary schools and in foreign language schools. In support of this, it is observed that training in this field is also necessary for teachers who work at faculties in order to increase awareness of the value of new technologies in the teaching process.

This paper analyses foreign language teaching in the education system of the Republic of Srpska relative to the percent distribution of frequency of individual languages. With primary education being the first and obligatory level of education at which foreign languages are taught, the paper examines the connection between language education policy at the primary education level, social processes and the international position of foreign languages studied in the Republic of Srpska. Available data are compared with the rankings of world languages in terms of their global influence. Similarities and differences between learning outcomes for individual foreign languages after completing primary education are also analysed. The paper points to the basic problems of the language education policy in the Republic of Srpska in relation to foreign language teaching, and recommends systematic collection and analysis of relevant data as the first step in dealing with the issues discussed.

In the present article, the teacher‘s role in the foreign general language and LSP classroom is analysed with respect to the last seventy years as well as modern developments which cover the period from March 2020 to the near future. In retrospect, a glace is cast on the grammar-translation method and the audio-lingual method. The recent developments dealt with cover the communicative approach and the constructivist approach, both of which are still widely used nowadays. The modern developments described refer to the virtual classroom and online teaching. In the article, it is shown that the teacher‘s role in the foreign language classroom from the 1950s to the present day (and certainly further into the future) has changed drastically: whereas up to the late 1970s, the teacher lived a relatively calm and steady life, with his or her role in the classroom being well-defined and stable, his or her role has undergone rapid changes ever since, with the latest developments speeding up this process even more. In accordance with this development, the teacher‘s importance has shown a certain volatility, starting from a relatively high level, then going down and now rising again. Inversely proportional, the complexity of his or her work has constantly increased and will continue doing so. This implies that the teaching profession has become a highly complex, dynamic and future-oriented field of activity.

Intercultural education is one of the most important goals of contemporary foreign language teaching. In order to keep pupils strongly motivated to learn foreign languages, they must be made to understand what benefits can be gained from a good command of foreign languages. It is due to international pupil exchanges that young people have the opportunity to come into direct contact with a foreign language, to experience foreign culture in real communicative situations, and – in the process – verify or overcome deeply rooted stereotypes and prejudices about certain nations. In the article, the author presents quantitative questionnaire results, which allows him to identify the heterostereotypes of Polish and German pupils as well as their attitude towards historical events and current bilateral relations. Additionally, the impact of pupil exchanges on how representatives of both nations see each other and on their further contacts has been discussed. The results obtained can serve not only as guidelines on how to work with stereotypes and prejudices in foreign language classes, but they might also help in effective preparation for the scheduled pupil exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge of both foreign and mother languages constitutes a core competence intranslator and interpreter training, as professional translation cannot exist if this competence has not been previously consolidated. Nevertheless, research regarding the teaching and acquisition of foreign languages within Translation and Interpreting studies is extremely scarce and its practice frequently adheres to general pedagogical models which do not keep to the ultimate goal and main objectives that should lay down the foreground for this type of teaching. On this basis, this article aims to discuss the main literature derived from this field of expertise and offer a reflection on the teaching implications. For such purpose, the teaching of foreign languages for translator and interpreter trainees will first be contextualized and a series of basic pedagogical principles will be established. Subsequently, an analysis of the four main communicative skills (written comprehension and expression and oral comprehension and expression) will be carried out. Last but not least, by way of conclusion, the teaching implications that derive from research into this area of knowledge will be discussed.

Modern didactics of foreign languages should be based not only on the training of communication competence, which allows to achieve the most important goal of learning – communication in a foreign language, but also on the training of translation competence, which gives wider possibilities for the use of language, e.g. in language mediation. Mediated communication is often more difficult, requiring trust, intercultural competence, understanding of otherness from all participants as well as the responsibility of intermediaries for the final outcome of communication. Anyone can be a “translator” in everyday situations.

A nation-wide survey was conducted between 2009 and 2014 in Hungary to examine the intercultural impact of the Erasmus student mobility programme on Hungarian students (Németh, 2015). A mixed methods research was carried out incorporating both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Primary and secondary source data analysis was included, comprising literature review and statistical records. An online questionnaire was distributed amongst former Hungarian Erasmus students, the results of which were analysed and compared with the outcome of an EU-level study (ESN Survey, 2008). Interviews were conducted with academic and administrative staff regarding their experience with the Erasmus programme. The results suggest that the Erasmus programme significantly facilitates the development of intercultural competences, including the foreign language skills of Hungarian Higher Education students. However, the findings also imply that, as not all students are mobile, alternative teaching methods, training programmes and classes should be implemented in the curricula to increase these skills of the non-mobile student population locally, as part of Internationalisation at Home. This paper aims at giving a brief summary of the background, methods and specific findings of the study related to the development of Hungarian Higher Education students’ intercultural competence and foreign language skills. Another goal of the present paper is to draw conclusions from the above study and provide insights into curricular innovations and changes that have since been implemented by the University of Pécs Medical School to increase the intercultural competence and foreign language skills of non-mobile medical students. The importance of these skills within medical and healthcare education has to be underscored, as the lack of a common language between patient and healthcare provider can result in misdiagnosis and may lead to improper treatment. Inability to communicate appropriately can be an obstacle to proper medical and healthcare and undermines trust in the quality of the system

In increasingly globalised and linguistically diverse societies, cross-language constellations in qualitative research are becoming more probable and necessary. Based on experiences we gained during our research in foreign language settings, we reflect on three guiding principles of qualitative research—openness, reflexivity and pragmatism—and how they are applied when dealing with the manifold challenges of linguistic understanding. Taking up ongoing discussions about this issue, we provide an account of a reflexive methodology aware of its preconditions and limitations. We argue in favour of a confident approach towards language difficulties and point out that qualitative research has always demanded the chosen methods to be flexible enough to adjust to challenges in the field.

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The subject of this article is selected winged words registered in Duden dictionary (vol. 12, 2017) "Zitate und Aussprüche. Herkunft, Bedeutung und aktueller Gebrauch. 7 500 Zitate von der klassischen Antike bis heute". In the article I will examine 65 examples, including 19 winged words of foreign origin. Some of the phrases have their German equivalents. Collected research material indicates that, in case of many winged words, both lexical and semantic changes have occurred over the years.

The article presents the individual stages of linguistic continuing education. The goals, technologies and methods as well as the problems of teaching foreign languages at particular stages of education are also discussed. The article also deals with the purposefulness and importance of lifelong learning of foreign languages.

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This article investigates how the disciplinary discourse on the contemporary state of foreign languages in universities hastily refers to these disciplines as being in ‘crisis’. This practice is nearly as old as the Humanities itself, and has been employed periodically since at least the 1940s. Despite a period of increasing foreign language enrolment in the first decade of the twenty-first century in Australia, calls of ‘crisis’ came from across the languages sector. In tracing the use of the term ‘crisis’, we show how the sector has long been characterised by such alarmist terminology, even when reality suggests otherwise. The article traces this usage in the recent disciplinary discourse in foreign languages. A topical report of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, which shows increased language enrolment over the period 2002-11, leads one to believe that things at universities may not be as bad as first thought. This finding has implications for language enrolments not just in Australia, but around the world.

It has been acknowledged in research literature that stereotypes about a target language country held by language learners influence the students’ motivation to learn a foreign language (L2 motivation). However, there is a lack of studies that link explorations of these stereotypes and L2 motivation in a single research project. This mixed-methods study addressed this gap in research literature. It examined relationships between endogenous stereotypes about target language countries and L2 motivation using a sample of 194 students learning foreign languages in a major public university in Malaysia. These languages included French, German, Italian, Portuguese (European and Brazilian varieties), Russian and Spanish. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey. One open-ended question sought the students’ mental images of the target language countries; two thermometer-type scales assessed the students’ general attitudes toward the target language countries and people and 16 closed-ended statements with attached Likert-type scales assessed their L2 motivation. The findings from the qualitative strand of the analysis revealed that the respondents had distinct and predominantly positive images of each of the target language countries. This allowed making a tentative proposition that the country stereotypes would have a positive relationship with the students’ L2 motivation, especially the integrative orientation. Results of the statistical analyses in the quantitative phase indicated that the relationship between the country stereotypes and L2 motivation was the strongest in the case of the integrative orientation. The article concludes with a brief discussion of implications that can be drawn from this study.

This paper presents a qualitative case study of a virtual service learning project that connected high school students in rural Michigan with communities and a non-profit developmental organization in Honduras. First, students created individual research presentations over Honduran history, current events, economics, and poverty. Second, students were introduced to the concept of service learning, the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire, and Muhammed Yunus’s micro-credit economic process through readings in the target language. Third, using collaborative and Internet-based technology such as Google Docs, students were able to successfully engage in a meaningful service learning opportunity to translate training documents for a micro-loan organization despite the lack of an accessible, locally based Spanish speaking community. Finally, students reflected on their experience with the service learning project. Additionally, the authors discuss the connection between the student translation project to ACTFL’s World-Readiness Standards for Language Learning and the formation of a 21stcentury skill set. While proximity and access to such physical communities remains an obstacle for many foreign language instructors seeking to integrate civic engagement, this case study presents one possible solution that pushes the boundaries of the very concepts of community and service learning

As a result of an unprecedented human mobility, the intercultural encounter has turned into normality, almost. In such a context, multicultural coexistence and professional cooperation may only prove to be successful through a proper communication process. The increasing importance of foreign languages at work, as well as in everyday life represents an obvious indicator for the undergoing changes, especially through globalization and technological development, in the world of work, as well as in social life. Starting from data collected based on a survey, this article attempts to establish to what extent the intercultural communication competence is required for learners in their professional and everyday life.

EnThis paper presents research about using foreign languages in private sector companies in the southern Salento peninsula that have commercial dealings outside Italy, and focuses specifically on German. By means of a questionnaire, a survey was conducted of 80 companies in the province of Lecce, out of almost 2000 that have active dealings abroad. What emerged were the role played and the languages spoken by the staff of those companies who have relations with foreign countries. In addition, it looks at the methods used by the companies to contact their foreign counterparts and the languages used to maintain contact over time. In the specific analysis of the use of German, the following were determined: the percentage of companies visited where the language is spoken; the categories of people working in the companies who speak German, together with their relative levels of competence; the suggested reasons for their pronounced willingness to speak German; the use of German outside work, fundamental for expanding one's lexicon. In addition, the languages spoken between Italian lawyers and their foreign counterparts were also verified for those cases where the surveyed companies made use of such services. Lastly, given the considerable job opportunities for those who speak foreign languages, I have highlighted the need for greater attention to how they are taught in the national school system, with particular reference to the study of German due to its importance on the European level.<<>>Il lavoro in oggetto illustra una ricerca sull’uso delle lingue straniere nelle aziende del basso Salento che hanno scambi commerciali con l’estero; approfondendo, nel medesimo ambito, l’utilizzo del tedesco. Mediante l’ausilio di un questionario, è stato realizzato un sondaggio presso 80 aziende in provincia di Lecce, delle quasi 2000 attive con l’estero. In primo luogo, sono emersi il ruolo ricoperto e le lingue parlate dalle persone che in azienda si relazionano con i paesi esteri. Inoltre, sono stati individuati i metodi impiegati dalle imprese per contattare gli interlocutori esteri e le lingue usate per mantenere i contatti nel tempo. Nella specifica analisi sull’uso del tedesco si sono definite: la percentuale delle imprese visitate nelle quali si parla la lingua; le tipologie di persone, attive nelle aziende, che parlano il tedesco insieme al relativo livello di conoscenza; le ipotesi che spiegherebbero l’elevato grado di fidelizzazione alla lingua; nonché, il possibile uso extralavorativo del tedesco, pratica utile e fondamentale per ampliare il proprio lessico. In breve, sono state verificate anche le lingue parlate tra i legali italiani e quelli all’estero, nel caso in cui le aziende si fossero servite di tali consulenze. Infine, per le apprezzabili opportunità di lavoro offerte a chi parla le lingue straniere si è auspicata una maggiore attenzione al loro insegnamento da parte del sistema scolastico nazionale, rivalutando anche lo studio del tedesco per la sua importanza sulla scena europea.

This article tries to give an overview over the different types of methods of German lessons, where German considered as a foreign language. These methods describe the complex ways of using those as teaching-/study-methods taught German as a foreign language in foreign language teaching environment, as opposed to the teaching of “old” languages such as Greek and Latin is. The different approaches extend the scientific study of methods of derivation and concepts in the context of developing foreign language education and language teaching research. As with the “how” teaching and learning of foreign languages should be in the foreground for themselves.

This article is about the educational policy of the President of the RK, namely about teaching and studying foreign languages. Why is it necessary to know for Kazakhstani people foreign languages? What must be done to develop the idea of our president i? The output of Kazakhstan onto international arena tells about the great need of possessing foreign languages. The current linguistic situation in Kazakhstan allows us to talk about the unity of three languages as about significant factor of strengthening of social harmony. The diversity of cultures and languages, its equal coexistence is the freehold property of our Nation. The main purpose of Kazakhstani education is to create required conditions for developing and professional formation of personality on the basis of national and common to all mankind values keeping the native language and culture, traditions and customs.

This article tries to give an overview over the different types of methods of German lessons, where German considered as a foreign language. These methods describe the complex ways of using those as teaching-/study-methods taught German as a foreign language in foreign language teaching environment, as opposed to the teaching of “old” languages such as Greek and Latin is. The different approaches extend the scientific study of methods of derivation and concepts in the context of developing foreign language education and language teaching research. As with the “how” teaching and learning of foreign languages should be in the foreground for themselves.

This article surveys doctoral dissertations in language education written in Sweden over the ten years from 2000 to 2009. The survey concentrates on foreign languages. 23 dissertations are studied, 12 dealing with English, five with French, two with German, one with Spanish, one with Italian, and two with no specific language. Eighteen of the dissertations principally deal with years seven to nine of primary/lower-secondary school and with upper-secondary school, two deal with language studies at university level, and one deals with upper-secondary school and university. The article ends with a short follow-up on the researchers surveyed and the research they have conducted since writing their dissertations. The contents of the dissertations allow six overall research themes to be discerned: The concept of culture, Assessment of students’ oral and written proficiencies, Error analysis and transfer, English outside the English classroom, The professional practice of teachers and Language acquisition.

Copyright of Language in Different Contexts / Kalba ir Kontekstai is the property of Vytautas Magnus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Copyright of Studii de Ştiintă şi Cultură is the property of Studii de Stiinta si Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current article presents the various functions which are allotted to the foreign language learning in the broader context of the globalization, not only regarding the economical international exchanges, but also from the perspective of the development of personality and of the capacity of understanding different cultures and mentalities - which can play an essential role in the good understanding and peaceful living among the people. Based on these considerations, suggestions are made, regarding the necessity of a reevaluation of the place which the foreign languages teaching is recognized in the curriculum of the various branches of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of the present paper is "Culture and civilisation in teaching foreign languages for specific purposes", with "culture and civilization" referring to the "science of a country's culture". The linguistic capacity of acting in the economic area in the age of globalization is closely linked to culture and civilization and to the knowledge of other cultures. Lacking information can lead to communication difficulties which can result in financial loss in the economic sphere. After defining the chosen topic and the applied concepts in the first part of the paper, the second part enlarges upon the topic of the "cultural competence" concentrating on the management of space and time as important cultural components of communication in the economic sphere. In the third part of the paper I present types of exercises for the development of cultural knowledge and I discuss how they can be introduced in the process of language teaching for Romanian students. In the last part I draw the conclusions about the significance of regional and cultural knowledge and about the appropriate exercises used for its increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]