A quasi-monolingual tertiary education in Greece: Baby steps to internationalisation

Although the state Greek education system has always been largely monolingual, this has been gradually changing mainly due to the large numbers of incoming populations from European and other countries. Changes in the monolingual profile of the country are also due to the decisions taken at a European level regarding the learning of at least two foreign languages starting at primary school. Given these changes and needs, the current paper focuses on the language profile of tertiary education in Greece and, in particular, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), the largest university in Greece. The data collected will be used to extrapolate about the language profile of tertiary education in Greece. The paper will also present the results of a small-scale survey among the foreign language students of the School of Modern Greek at AUTh in order to examine the language context to which they are exposed but also their beliefs regarding the monolingual and multilingual approach to education. The results of our study clearly indicate a change in the monolingual profile of Greece’s tertiary education and stress the need for top-down changes that will take into consideration the realistic needs of Greek students and academics but also issues such as the internationalisation of higher education

Bridging the gap: Issues of transition and continuity from primary to secondary schools in Greece

Although Greek children’s early start with foreign languages is considered an advantage, this seems to be lost in their transition to secondary school. Learners in their first year of secondary education are usually required to repeat work covered in previous years and as a result, they often lose interest in English classes within the state school. This paper aims: (a) to explore the problems related to the lack of continuity in foreign language education between the primary and secondary sector, and (b) to suggest a scheme of teaching and learning which will take into consideration the idiosyncrasies of the Greek educational context

“It is more than true that television reproduces life”: The effect of Greek rhetorical conventions on Greek learners’ academic writing in English

This paper proposes a framework for analysing stance in argumentative essays written by Greek advanced learners of English. The essays are included in the Greek Corpus of Learner English (GRICLE). Their analysis showed that Greek learners point to their attitude mainly by using lexical chunks such as it is true that, it is a fact that, it is obvious that. Using such chunks allows students to defer commitment to the stated proposition, thereby presenting it as a commonly accepted fact. This technique is considered to be culturally induced as it is a typical rhetorical convention commonly followed in L1 writing

Discourse organising nouns in American and Greek university students’ argumentative essays: A contrastive study

This paper investigates how argumentation is constructed through nouns in argumentative essays. Data are drawn from the Greek Corpus of Learner English (GRICLE) and two native corpora (LOCNESS and PELCRA).  The study focuses on illocutionary, language activity and mental process nouns (cf. Francis 1994). Native speakers use more discourse organising nouns than Greek students and incorporate them effectively in their argumentation. These nouns have a clear cohesive function, can be modified by adjectives or a reference can be made to them. Greek students use those nouns mostly to refer to the prompt of the essay and provide agreement or disagreement with the topic

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MODERN BOARD GAMES IN TEACHING GREEK AS L2 TO ADULT LEARNERS

The important role of communicative competence in foreign language learning highlighted the need for the use of task-based or content-oriented activities within the foreign language instructional context. Several studies have recently focused on such activities and, in particular, on the use of games (Peters, 2015; Petrovic, 2007; Yaccob & Yunus, 2019); their findings have attracted researchers’ interest as they underlined the positive effects, they seem to have on the development of language proficiency (Bush, 2015; Lan, Van & Huyen, 2019; Nguyen & Nga, 2003). Some of these studies have examined the effect of games on learners’ language development, competency and motivation in learning an L2 (Marzano, 2010; Stavy, Subon & Unin, 2019; Tuan, 2012), while others have focused on students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards their use in language classrooms (Hamzah & Dourado, 2010; Lawrence & Lawrence, 2013; Reyes-Chua & Lidawan, 2019). However, what has not been adequately researched is the impact of board games on adult students and their systematic integration and use within the language curricula (Phuong & Nguyen, 2017). In this study, we aim to present two different types of modern board games which have been adjusted for the teaching of Greek as a foreign language at B1 level (according to CEFR). The games were used to practice vocabulary and grammar as well as promote interpersonal communication according to the syllabus of the School of Modern Greek (2010). The study will compare the use of board games with conventional activities and tasks so as to assess their effectiveness as a tool in the adult foreign language classroom.  Article visualizations

Greek teachers’ views on linguistic and cultural diversity

Τhis paper reports on a questionnaire study investigating primary school teachers’ (N=85) attitudes and practices with regard to bilingualism in their classes. The study was conducted in three major Greek cities in 2013-14 as part of a large European Union funded project (‘Thalis’) on bilingualism and bilingual education, run by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Our findings demonstrate that teachers are divided between those who are more aware of the benefits of bilingualism and adopt related practices and those who are more conservative in their views and practices. The need for continuing professional development aiming to enhance teachers’ awareness on issues connected to bilingualism cannot be overestimated

Family and school language input: Their role in bilingual children’s vocabulary development

The current paper constitutes part of a large project on bilingual acquisition and bilingual education and attempts to assess language dominance in bilingual children through questionnaires and standardized language tests. Mainly, this paper investigates the correlation between (a) language dominance as attested by answers in questionnaires that relate to amount of exposure to L1/L2 input, as well as types and context (formal/informal) of input in either language, and (b) language dominance as revealed by diagnostic verbal tests. One of the target languages is Greek, an underinvestigated language in bilingualism, and the other language is German.Results indicate complex correlations between the two types of instruments with respect to language dominance, with one of the main findings being the significance of formal education in either or both of the target languages. These results point to the importance of bilingual as opposed to monolingual literacy development for language dominance, which implies the need to support the native language of immigrant, minority group or middle class children in the school setting

Words don't come easy: Linguistic analysis of vocabulary in Magic Books

The present study focuses on the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) coursebooks Magic Book 1 and Magic Book 2 that have been designed and developed for third graders in the Greek state primary schools under the PEAP project. It aims to examine the lexical items selected for those coursebooks and set out the criteria that render them a useful tool for teaching EFL to young learners. More specifically, this paper aims to: (a) examine the frequency of the vocabulary included in the two books by using the frequency data of the British National Corpus (BNC), (b) compare the vocabulary of the books with the English Vocabulary Profile (EVP) issued by Cambridge University Press, and (c) examine the thematic areas covered in these books in order to investigate the extent of their continuity with the interests and needs of the target age group

Exploring European Writing Cultures : Country Reports on Genres, Writing Practices and Languages Used in European Higher Education

At European universities, writing is a traditional way of learning, assessment, and independent study, but it is handled in an implicit, tradition-based way that has only recently been contrasted with and supported by a more explicit writing ped-agogy. Still, little systematic knowledge is available about the pedagogical ap-proaches to writing, writing practices, and genres across Europe and much of it is codified in the national languages without correlation to internationally accept-ed terminology and theories. This book explores the writing cultures of Europe, nation by nation, and reports the idiosyncrasies for each respective country. The reports are based on a 17-item topic list used by the authors to collect data be-fore synthesizing the results. Next to writing practices and genres, a high level of emphasis was placed on the structure of educational systems, the languages in use, and the kind of support provided for student writers. Note: This research project has been conducted within the framework of COST Action IS0703 “European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively”, funded by the European Union. We are also thankful to Christiane Donahue, Eliza Kitis, Charles Bazerman, Helmut Gruber, and David Russell for their cooperation and support in this project.Wissenschaftliches Schreiben an europäischen Hochschulen ist eine herkömmliche Form des Lernens, Prüfens und autonomen Studierens, auch wenn es in einer impliziten, eher auf Tradition denn auf bewusster Didaktik beruhenden Weise eingesetzt wird. Wenig auf systematische Weise erhobenes vergleichendes Wissen gibt es bislang über Schreibpraktiken, Genres und schreibdidaktische Ansätze in Europa und das, was an Wissen existiert ist oft in den nationalen Sprachen verfasst, die nicht mit internationalen Terminologien und Theorien der Schreibwissenschaft verbunden sind. Der vorliegende Band untersucht Schreibkulturen in Europa Land für Land und berichtet was jeweils hervorsticht. Die Berichte basieren auf einer 17-Item Themenliste, nach der die Autorenteams Daten über ihr jeweiliges Land sammelten, bevor sie es zu einem Bericht synthetisierten. Neben Schreibpraktiken und Genres werden dabei die Struktur des jeweiligen Bildungssystems, die verwendeten Sprachen und die besondere Schreibdidaktik hervorgehoben. Anmerkung: Das Projekt wurde im Rahmen der COST Aktion IS0703 “European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively” durchgeführt, das von der EU finanziert wird. Wir bedanken uns bei Christiane Donahue, Eliza Kitis, Charles Bazerman, Helmut Gruber und David Russell für ihre Unterstützung und Mitwirkung in diesem Projekt.At European universities, writing is a traditional way of learning, assessment, and independent study, but it is handled in an implicit, tradition-based way that has only recently been contrasted with and supported by a more explicit writing ped-agogy. Still, little systematic knowledge is available about the pedagogical ap-proaches to writing, writing practices, and genres across Europe and much of it is codified in the national languages without correlation to internationally accept-ed terminology and theories. This book explores the writing cultures of Europe, nation by nation, and reports the idiosyncrasies for each respective country. The reports are based on a 17-item topic list used by the authors to collect data be-fore synthesizing the results. Next to writing practices and genres, a high level of emphasis was placed on the structure of educational systems, the languages in use, and the kind of support provided for student writers. Note: This research project has been conducted within the framework of COST Action IS0703 “European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively”, funded by the European Union. We are also thankful to Christiane Donahue, Eliza Kitis, Charles Bazerman, Helmut Gruber, and David Russell for their cooperation and support in this project