CREATING A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE: FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY IN SERBIA BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS

Taking into consideration Bueno’s theory of conceptual demarcation, as well as Galisson’s three-factor concept of language and culture teaching methodology, this paper describes and analyzes facts from the time period which immediately preceded the formulation of the definition of French language teaching methodology as a scientific discipline, that is, it focuses on its primary stage. Similarly to more developed European countries, language teaching in Serbia between the World Wars was also characterized by all the activities regarding the instruction of foreign languages in schools that could be considered as a clear indication of the emergence of a new scientific field: the establishment and the work of the Society for living languages, the introduction of teaching methodology as a university course at the philological departments of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade and in Skopje, the professional development of teachers, the work on publishing professional papers, discussions and handbooks, the presentation of papers at relevant conferences, the preparation of didactic materials, as well as the first defense of the doctoral thesis on the theoretical foundation of the acquisition of foreign languages.