Teaching Slavonic Languages as Foreign Languages in a Changing World

This session focuses on current issues related to teaching Slavonic languages as foreign languages. It aims to create the space for sharing research findings, didactic innovations, and the reflections of teachers of Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, and other Slavonic languages, in different educational and cultural-linguistic contexts. Given the changes in the geopolitical situation, increasing linguistic diversity, and the emphasis on developing intercultural competence, this session opens space to critically examine current challenges and new opportunities in linguodidactics.Possible areas of focus include, but are not limited to theoretical reflections, research findings, and practice-based case studies. The session’s goal is to encourage scholarly discussion that will help us better understand the changing conditions under which Slavonic languages are taught; link research with pedagogical practice; share tools and strategies for developing intercultural, linguistic, and didactic sensitivity; and inspire further research and collaboration across national and linguistic borders. We hope that this session will foster mutual enrichment, contribute to the development of ideas, and provide new impulses for participants’ research and teaching activities.

Topics:

• the impact of the current geopolitical situation on the teaching of Slavonic languages (changing motivations of students, changes in the approach to the culture/language of a given country, the impact of migration and changes in language policy, etc.)
• the development of intercultural competence in the teaching of Slavonic languages (didactic approaches to culture in language teaching, teaching about subjects that are culturally sensitive or may provoke conflict, working with authentic materials and the “voice” of otherness, etc.)
• plurilingualism and translanguaging in language-education research and practice (using the plurilingualism of students, mixed-proficiency groups, e.g., students with different knowledge of other Slavonic languages, teaching strategies for linguistically heterogeneous environments, etc.)
• innovations in teaching Slavonic languages as foreign languages (e.g., new textbooks, methods, open educational resources; digital tools, hybrid forms of teaching; project-based, experiential, or locally grounded teaching)
• reflections on teaching and teacher education (preparing future teachers of Slavonic languages as foreign languages, reflections on practice and collaboration between universities and schools, the impact of globalization on foreign language teacher identity, etc.)

Related major research area of the Department of Slavonic Studies:
Linguodidactics of the Slavonic languages

Organizers:
Taťjana Zaňko (coordinator), Jiří Gazda, Elena Krejčová, Pavel Krejčí

Language of session:
all Slavonic languages, English