foreign language teaching
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This article investigates different types of language errors performed in a written summative exam by ten BA students enrolled in an elective Norwegian Didactics course in Romania. The corpus comprising the students’ exam papers was analysed qualitatively to identify various types of errors. The theoretical model suggested by Gass & Selinker (1994) was used to discuss issues of error analysis. A survey was then conducted to receive student feedback on the reported errors in the texts. Findings indicate that students make both inter-lingual and intra-lingual errors and that error analysis can be helpful when designing L2 Norwegian instructional materials.   Keywords: error analysis, foreign language teaching, language transfer, language distance, writing skills, Norwegian, Romanian.  

This article is to be conceived as a reflection on communicative oriented foreign language teaching in Norwegian compulsory education. More specifically, the objective is to succinctly examine some key aspects in the implementation of a communicative approach in the Spanish as a foreign language classroom. Based on existing research on foreign language teaching in Norway, it can be affirmed that despite the communicative paradigm initiated half a century ago, the implementation of communicative oriented practices in lower secondary school is limited. This is due, among many other factors, to the strong impact that language teacher schooling beliefs exert on teaching practices over the theoretical principles upon which the curricular reform is based (Kunnskapsløftet-K06). Thus, the success of the recent curricular renovation (Fagfornyelsen-K20) lies in part on how language teacher development programs, both pre-service and in-service, convey the communicative oriented teaching principles to engage teachers in a critical reflexive process of cognition articulation. This reflection examines these principles and suggests an eventual approach for teacher development programs to facilitate the challenge that students face when establishing connections between theory and practice and the articulation of their cognitions. Keywords: teacher cognition, Spanish as a foreign language, curriculum reform, teacher development, communicative language teaching. RESUMEN Este artículo se concibe como una reflexión acerca de la idea central de comunicatividad en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras en la educación reglada noruega. Más concretamente, el objetivo es examinar sucintamente los aspectos clave en la implementación de un enfoque comunicativo en la clase de español como lengua extranjera (ELE). Desde la conjunta investigación en didáctica de lenguas extranjeras en Noruega, se constata que cinco décadas después del inicio del paradigma comunicativo, la enseñanza de lenguas en la escuela secundaria noruega muestra una limitada orientación comunicativa. Uno de los factores que explican este fenómeno es la fuerte influencia que ejercen las creencias de los profesores originadas en su periodo de escolarización por encima de los principios teóricos sobre los que se sustenta la reforma educativa vigente (Kunnskapsløftet-K06). El éxito de la nueva renovación educativa (Fagfornyelsen-K20) radica parcialmente en cómo los programas de desarrollo docente, tanto de manera inicial como continua, vehiculan los principios de la enseñanza comunicativa para que los profesores participen en procesos de reflexión crítica en la articulación de sus creencias. Esta reflexión examina estos principios y sugiere un eventual acercamiento en los programas de formación que facilite el reto al que se enfrentan los estudiantes de relacionar conceptos teóricos con su implementación práctica y la articulación de sus creencias.

The main aim of this chapter is to describe the organizational and methodological foundations of professional education for public servants using modern educational methods. Its scientific novelty is in the description of teaching a foreign language to students of specialities in public administration. It has a character of theoretical representation of the existing methods of teaching a foreign language to students specializing in public administration in Ukraine. It is concluded that foreign language teaching in the process of training public servants is not a key subject, but it does not solve the problem of the need to master it. In this connection, teachers have to highlight certain aspects in the methodology so that professional training coincides with the native language. It is necessary to pay attention to the general language training, and only then introduce professional vocabulary. The relevance of this research is to share an existing experience with colleagues from other countries.

The COVID-19 global pandemic affected many areas adversely, mainly health and education, all over the world. In education, this sudden pandemic led to efforts to bring about a set of rapid and radical solutions. As in many parts of the world, in March 2020, Turkey took steps to mitigate the potentially devastating consequences of the pandemic by changing face-to-face (F2F) education to online education. This unparalleled change in the method of delivery was new to many teachers ranging from subject matter to foreign language teaching, from novice to experienced, and most of them were unprepared. They had to face many challenges, one of which was work engagement. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no studies have been conducted on online work engagement of instructors under the pandemic conditions in Turkey. Thus, the present study was an attempt at contributing to the field by examining second language (L2) English instructors' level of work engagement on online education and their perceptions on work engagement.

In comparison to other domains of education, assessment in that of foreign language teaching has some specific features. Testing language skills is unique because language is not only the content but also the tool of measurement. The research team created a bank of items used for testing. This item bank comprises files of items which make it possible to create a great number of subtests. These include terms and professional vocabulary corresponding to real requirements put on employees in practice. Using the item bank, achievement and check tests were created. Thus, from the functional point of view, the diagnostic function prevails. Achievement tests are not only aimed at measuring the success of individual students but also at the success of the teacher. From the point of view of the interpretation of the results, achievement test are predominantly dealt with. These enable cooperation with a real number of items and tested students.

In the context of globalization and integration in the country into the international community, the modernization of foreign language teaching in domestic higher education is taking place. The development of international contacts in the country causes a need for specialists of various profiles who are well-versed in foreign languages, but their training does not always give the desired results. Practice has shown that the grammatical translation method used in the last few decades to teach a foreign language to specialists of various profiles, in which the emphasis is on learning rules and translating texts, rather than on communication, has not fully justified itself. Having generally good grammar knowledge, and skills in the field of translation, graduates of non-linguistic universities have difficulties in communication with foreigners in the course of professional activities, and the question about the level of knowledge of foreign language professionals are increasingly responsible read and translate with a dictionary, which actually means no possession and failure to carry out practical communication in a foreign language.

The aim of this article is to discuss the place and role of the intercultural encounter (IE) in communication and education, including in foreign language teaching. Firstly, I present the IE as a communicative event and define it using terms developed by ethnographers of speech (communication). Secondly, I discuss the concepts contained in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Companion Volume with New Descriptors (CEFR 2018) relating to the mediation of text, concepts, and communication, and present the original definition of mediation in intercultural contacts. That section emphasises that mediation does not only act as an intermediary facilitating the course of a communication event but also as an “understanding interview with oneself.” Next, I discuss theoretical concepts related to the IE, I describe it as a tool used in teaching and intercultural education, and I present a description of the IE by a student of the Teaching Polish as a Foreign/Second Language course at the University of Lodz. Finally, I analyse an example description of an IE and present preliminary conclusions on how to use IE descriptions in various educational contexts.