Developing Reading Skills of the New Generation Students

The article focuses on the issues of reading of foreign language students at contemporary universities. The age of information, rapid development of IT have affected reading preferences and reading skills of our students. In this ubiquitous multimodal digital environment our students' reading preferences have been shifting: digital rather than printed text reading has become an everyday reality. Therefore, a new kind of literacy is required – the ability to read multimodal texts, the latter having an impact on reading. This raises a very important question for educators: What particular reading skills do our students have to acquire in order to fully comprehend multimodal texts? Moreover, in order to understand the meaning of specific professional texts read in English or any other foreign language, the reader requires linguistic as well as specific professional knowledge and particular (cognitive, metacognitive) reading skills, or in other words, disciplinary literacy is required. Consequently, this raises new requirements for university teachers – to teach New Generation foreign language (FL) students the reading skills necessary for understanding the meaning, critical assessment and evaluation of professional texts in a foreign language. Thus, the aim of the article is to establish what particular reading skills students need and have to acquire in order to understand the meaning of specific professional texts read in the English or any other foreign language. The aim is specified by the following research questions: what kind of texts (digital or printed) are preferred by New Generation FL students and what reading strategies are employed by students learning English as a second language? The research was carried out at Vilnius University in 2016. The analysis of students' reading strategies made it possible to conclude that their reading skills need to be developed more in the process of teaching/ learning foreign languages

Some issues of intercultural sensitivity and values

Intercultural sensitivity, being defined as an attitude reflecting the degree of willingness to interact with people from different cultures, is considered to be crucial to promote dialogue between cultures and social cohesion in today’s diverse and globalised world. Based on the qualitative research carried out at Vilnius University, the article presents the findings of students’ viewpoints on the place of values in decision making process in an intercultural workplace environment. The respondents’ answers revealed their emotional empathy as well as readiness to solve conflicting situations in a constructive way, in the form of dialogue and negotiations, with reference to values as the criteria of evaluation. A conclusion is made that the demonstrated level of students’ emotional empathy and their reliance on values could have a positive impact on their intercultural sensitivity

Būsimų užsienio kalbų mokytojų požiūris į profesijos kompetencijas

The article presents an overview of some aspects of the development of future foreign language teachers’ moral attitudes at contemporary universities. It aims to determine the respondents’ viewpoint on teacher’s professional linguistic, professional pedagogical, intercultural and general competencies and to reveal its possible influence on the development of their moral attitudes.The majority of the respondents think that foreign language teachers should firstly acquire professional linguistic, secondly – professional pedagogic, thirdly – intercultural and fourthly – general competence, with its insufficient acknowledgment of its two manifestations related with professional activities to awaken pupils’ positive attitude towards spiritual values and to direct their own lives accordingly. However, correlative analysis revealed the strongest links between the respondents’ views on professional pedagogic and general competencies and the components of moral attitude, the most significant being with the general competence. Such data prove that the respondents’ viewpoint on general competence can have the most favorable influence on moral attitude development.It has been concluded that the respondents lack a wider viewpoint on teachers’ general competence that can determine their ability to take action in unpredictable professional situations. The lack of favorable evaluation of professional pedagogical and general competencies, can limit positive influence on future foreign language teachers’ moral attitude development. Therefore, foreign language teaching process should be more focused on fostering general competence, thus providing more favorable possibilities for the development of future teachers’ moral attitudes.LektorėSocialinių mokslų (edukologijos) daktarėVilniaus universitetoUžsienio kalbų institutasUniversiteto g. 5, LT-01513 VilniusTel. (8 5) 268 72 68El. paštas: [email protected] keliama būsimųjų užsienio kalbų mokytojų dorinių nuostatų ugdymo tobulinimo universitete problema. Dėmesys telkiamas į dorinės nuostatos plėtotei reikšmingą veiksnį – užsienio kalbų studentų požiūrį į mokytojo profesijos kompetencijas. Remiantis diagnostinio tyrimo duomenimis siekiama išsiaiškinti, kaip tiriamieji vertina užsienio kalbų mokytojo kompetencijas: bendrakultūrę, profesinę kalbinę, profesinę pedagoginę ir bendrąją, ir kokią įtaką tai gali daryti būsimų mokytojų dorinėms nuostatoms

Tarptautinis seminaras moralinės kompetencijos plėtotės klausimu

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Užsienio kalbų mokytojų dorinės nuostatos kognityvinis-prasminis lygmuo: komparatyvistinis aspektas

The article deals with the research into cognitive-meaningful level of moral attitudes of students and teachers of foreign languages. Lithuanian and foreign researchers acknowledge the fact that value attitudes alongside knowledge and skills as well as personal qualities of teachers are one of the most important components of teachers’ professional competence. The article raises the research problem what moral attitudes are particular to foreign language students and teachers working at schools and higher educational institutions and what moral values they acknowledge. The aim of the article is to present and compare the cognitive-meaningful level of moral attitudes of foreign language students and teachers.The research is based on the three-component attitude model, aiming at receiving a greater insight into the content of each separate component. The results of the analysis of the cognitive-meaningful component of foreign language students and teachers’ moral attitudes show that foreign language students and teachers demonstrated to have a mature level of cognitive-meaningful level of moral attitude. Although the respondents showed a very high acknowledgment of the importance of moral values, the understanding of the meaningfullness of these moral values is not very deep. Besides, the comparative analysis of the results of the reseach also revealed that teachers of foreign languages considered moral values to be less important and demonstrated a lower level of understanding of their meaningfullness than students of foreign languages. The conclusion is made that such level of cognitive-meaningful level of moral attitude of foreign language students and teachers might hinder the fulfilment of their responsibilities in their professional areas and might be a hindrance in the development of moral attitudes of their schoolchildren.Docentė Socialinių mokslų (edukologijos) daktarėVilniaus universitetoUžsienio kalbų institutasUniversiteto g. 5, LT-01513, Vilnius (8 5) 268 72 68El. paštas: [email protected] pristatomas empirinis užsienio (anglų, vokiečių, prancūzų) kalbų besimokančių studentų ir tų pačių užsienio kalbų mokytojų / dėstytojų dorinių nuostatų kognityvinio-prasminio lygmens tyrimas. Remiantis konkrečiais šio tyrimo duomenimis, aptariamas užsienio kalbų studentų ir užsienio kalbų mokytojų / dėstytojų kognityvinio-prasminio dorinės nuostatos komponento turinį sudarančių dorovinių vertybių svarbumo pripažinimas ir įprasminimas. Nors tyrimas atskleidė gana aukštą užsienio kalbų studentų ir užsienio kalbų mokytojų / dėstytojų dorovinių vertybių svarbumo pripažinimą, tačiau parodė nelabai gilų šių vertybių asmeninės ir socialinės reikšmės suvokimą

Konferencijos

Comparative Analysis of Educational Policy in the European ContextLyginamoji švietimo politikos analizė Europos kontekst

Mano širdies žodžiai Mokytojai. Prof. Vanda Aramavičiūtė (1936–2017)

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AN INQUIRY INTO THE PROCESSES OF LEXICAL EXPANSION IN CURRENT ENGLISH

The current paper focuses on the study of novel lexical items, i. e. the processes involved in the making of new words, in order to discover which methods contribute to the expansion of the current English lexicon. The research is based on the new words coined since 2004 which are included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online (ensuring that the items in the sample cover various semantic fields, are of diverse origins, and all are already accepted into the working vocabulary). Two objectives are completed to explore the subject and achieve its aim: 1) to establish the concept of new words and to overview the processes of lexical expansion in the English language, and 2) to determine which methods are employed and which are absent in the creation of new words in current English by analyzing the novel lexical items retrieved from the OED Online. Quantitative and qualitative methods are applied in this study. The results indicate that the concept of new words is not straightforward in the English language. More often than not, the terms neologisms and new words are used synonymously to refer to recent, novel lexical items recognized and used by the language community. English has an extensive inventory of word-forming tools classified into these distinct categories: word-formation, semantic change, borrowing, and other; each further subdivided into various processes. Overall, the subtypes of word-formation – derivation, shortening and compounding – are used the most in the creation of recent additions to the lexicon. Predominantly, the findings are consistent with the tendencies of lexical expansion observed in previous studies

Viewpoints of Intercultural Competence Development in English Language Teaching / Learning Classroom

The article presents an analysis of viewpoints on the development of intercultural competence in the English language teaching/learning classroom. Intercultural competence, acknowledged as the key component of foreign language studies, increases the need to adapt teaching methods and materials to raise learners’ cultural awareness. The following research problem is formulated: how schoolchildren’s intercultural competence is developed at schools during English language classes and what the preconditions of its improvement are. Based on the survey carried out at secondary schools and gymnasiums, the article presents the findings on the ninth and tenth formers’ viewpoints regarding the extent to which cultural activities are incorporated into their English language classroom. The respondents’ answers indicated that the present practices for the development of intercultural competence in the English language classroom are not sufficient. A conclusion is made that the English language teaching/ learning process should be more purposefully aimed at developing all the dimensions of learners’ intercultural competence

THINK4JOBS TRAINING: Critical Thinking Training Packages for Higher Education Instructors and Labour Market Tutors

This Report presents the findings of the “Critical Thinking for Successful Jobs-Think4Jobs” Partnership regarding the development of Critical Thinking Training Packages for Higher Education Instructors and Labour Market Organisations Tutors, namely Intellectual Output II. Considering previous research findings, it is suggested that despite HE and LMO instructors’ willingness to promote CT, they both might lack conceptual as well as procedural knowledge regarding CT. In order to assume that a common understanding between HE and LMOs can be achieved to promote CT skills development effectively in future graduates, the aim of this project was to develop a training course for HE instructors as well as LMO tutors. More specifically, the project aims to strengthen University-Business Collaboration for the effective promotion, development, support and assessment of students’ CT through their transition into a professional context using apprenticeships as a privileged interface in order to “bridge the gap” between their skills and those needed by the labour market. The specific objective of the second Intellectual Output was to develop a training curriculum for Higher Education Instructors and Labour Market Organisations Tutors on how to promote, develop, support and assess students’ CT in apprenticeships curricula as well as on how to develop blended curricula using Moodle. The training aimed at reaching 30 participants from the Partnership (i.e., 15 from Higher Education and 15 from Labour Market Organisations). To reach the aforementioned objective for the delivery of the Output, five activities were originally designed: 1. Define the goals, outcomes and assessment criteria of the training packages. 2. Identify the training subjects and design the activities to be held. 3. Identify, select and/or create training resources, which will support the activities during the training packages. 4. Develop a transnational training course. 5. Delivery of the training course. University of Western Macedonia (UOWM) was the leading Organisation for the delivery of the second Intellectual Output. A Participatory Co-Design (PC-D Methodology was implemented to map the participants’ requirements and needs for the training. For the implementation of the training course, participants from both the Higher Education and the Labor Market Organisations from the five countries partake as Trainers providing various workshops focusing on experiential learning. More specifically, workshops concerned the deconstruction and reconstruction of previously held ideas regarding CT, the development of a working definition on CT for the Think4Jobs project, instructional approaches and teaching strategies that promote CT, blended learning and Moodle, the assessment of CT as well as the preparation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HE and LMOs. Finally, a reflective session on the work carried out for the MoU and a session for the design and development of the CT blended apprenticeship curricula were scheduled. According to the registrations, on a daily basis, 35 participants engaged in the LTTA. Participants' knowledge on conceptual and procedural knowledge regarding CT, evaluation of CT, as well as blended learning, University-Business Collaboration and Moodle were evaluated in a pre-post measurement. In order to assess participants’ previous knowledge as well as the knowledge acquired during the LTTA, two online questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire (pre-measurement) was administered to participants at the beginning of the training course, while the second questionnaire (post-measurement) at the end of the LTTA (122 items for the pre-test, 130 items for the post-test, including questions about participants’ commitment during LTTA and their evaluation of the LTTA). The data collection tool consisted of seven distinct parts. The first part concerned demographic information, while the second part assessed participants’ level of perceived self-confidence in the issues addressed in the LTTA, the Moodle’s ease of use and perceived self-efficacy. Parts three to five of the tool explored participants’ conceptions regarding myths and facts about conceptual and procedural knowledge of CT, the evaluation of CT, blended learning and the University and Business Collaboration. Moreover, participants’ level of confidence about their answers was also assessed. Statistical analysis of data collected suggested that participants’ knowledge about CT, blended learning and the University and Business Collaboration increased after their participation in the LTTA. However, these results were not statistically significant. A statistically significant median increase elicited only in participants’ perceived self-confidence on the topics addressed during the LTTA, only for HE participants. Finally, the administrative and management of the implemented LTTA was evaluated highlighting that the event reached the predefined objectives and goals, met participants’ expectations and offered a high quality learning and training experience to the participants. Apart from the measurable data, a significant outcome of the LTTA was the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between each pair of HEIs and LMOs partner per country. The MoU set a specific framework on the expected collaboration between HE and LMOs for the design-development (IO3), implementation and evaluation (IO4) of the CT blended apprenticeships curricula. The development of MoUs suggest that a common understanding on the design and delivery of CT blended apprenticeships curricula has been achieved and that UBC has been tailored to each pair of contributors. Overall, the CT training course presented in the current report has contributed to the existing research and literature in numerous ways. First, it presented a course designed to address the specific needs of its participants, by employing a PC-D approach. Second, it presented a training course that can also be applied in the future, as an intensive program aiming to enhance CT in educational and LMO settings. Third, it actively engaged HE Instructors and LMOs in a common training course, trying to reach a common understanding. Finally, the current report contributes to the literature with the exploitation of a multiple-choice instrument incorporating a Certainty Response Index identifying not only participants’ alternative concepts but also their level of confidence on aspects of CT, blended learning and UBC