Mandić, Mirjana

Balcanica

English

Serbian Academy of Science and Arts Digital Archive (DAIS)

Reviews 299savremene Tendencije u nasTavi jezika i književnosTi [Current Trends in Teaching Language and Literature]. Ed. by Julijana Vučo. Belgrade: Faculty of Philology, 2007. Pp. 648.Reviewed by Mirjana Mandić** Postgraduate scholarship holder of the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Ser-bia on the project Ethnic and Social Strati-fication of the Balkans (no 148011) carried out by the Institute for Balkan StudiesThis volume assembles contributions sub-mitted at the international conference “Current Trends in Teaching Language and Literature” held at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade on 7 and 8 April 2006. It contains 74 papers grouped into nine thematic chapters: Linguistic models; Didactic materials in language instruction; Language in literature, literature in lan-guage; Teacher competences; Modern meth-ods, techniques and approaches in language and literature instruction; Workshops; Liv-ing languages teaching policy; Specificities of university teaching; and Multidisciplinarity in teaching language and literature.This review takes a look at individ-ual chapters and contributions, but also points out the most important aspects of the volume as a whole. The majority of papers discuss the teaching of foreign languages, encom-passing virtually all languages taught in Serbia and the region: both classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) and modern (widely spoken world languages: Russian, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Ger-man, Chinese, but also Balkan: Slovene, Macedonian, Hungarian, Rusyn, Roma-nian, Modern Greek, Turkish). The papers discussing the methodology of teach-ing foreign languages are predominantly functional in approach, or more precisely, “functional-notional-experiential”, as the approach is termed by one of the contrib-utors, Jasmina Dražić. A current trend in teaching foreign languages shows a shift in focus from formal to communicative aspects of language, its goal now being to develop the learner’s communicative competence and related pragmatic skills rather than to focus solely on grammati-cal structures and vocabulary without an idea of what the function of things learnt is. In contrast to the traditional approach, which has been in use in Serbia for dec-ades, a use-oriented approach to language teaching is now being developed. The impression the reader of this volume gets is that the innovations prescribed by the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEF) are being implemented in Serbia and the re-gion.  A group of papers is focused on Ser-bian as the first language, with special ref-erence to the quality of didactic materials used in teaching and to the use of modern tools and techniques apt to facilitate first language teaching. The papers discussing Serbian as a foreign language highlight the communicative method as most ap-propriate considering the structural dis-tinctiveness of the Serbian language. Apart from language instruction, the volume pays great attention to the meth-ods of teaching literature both in Serbian and in foreign languages. Special atten-tion should be paid to the contributions discussing the application of contempo-rary critical theories, fresh critical read-ings, and fresh tools in studying literary works (such as the active participation of students in the analysis of literary works or the dramatization of literary works). The need is stressed for establishing a link between the teaching of literature and the teaching of language. With most papers laying emphasis on teaching, it should be noted that all edu-Balcanica XXXVIII300cational levels, from primary to university, are looked at.  The contributors are professors not only from faculties of philosophy and philology, but also from non-philologi-cal faculties, as well as secondary school teachers and psychologists, who are closely familiar with what students expect from the instructional process and who form the basis for a high quality approach to language and literature studies.  The volume is intended for the de-signers of language and literature teach-ing methods, for teachers of Serbian and foreign languages and for literature teachers at all education levels. As many contributions reflect modern approaches to language and literature, they may prove useful to linguists and philosophers, but also to language and literature students.Linguistic modelsThe contributions in this chapter (Ksen-ija Končarević, Mihajlo Fejsa, Rita Flies, Tijana Ašić, Veran Stanojević) look at numerous ways of applying different lin-guistic theories and models with a view to giving a methodological boost to teaching foreign languages and to facilitating their learning.Ksenija Končarević’s “Linguodidactic application of the linguoculturological field model” introduces us to the model through the example of Russian Orthodox tradition intended for theology students. The linguoculturological field is defined as a “hierarchically organized system of units integrated by their shared semantics and by their reflecting a circle of phe-nomena and elements of culture as the field’s deep framework”. According to Končarević, this model ensures a complex command of a language through interac-tion with the culture it belongs to.Application of modern semantic and pragmatic theories in teaching French tenses is insisted upon by Tijana Ašić’s paper “On semantic and pragmatic pa-rameters in teaching tenses”, and Veran Stanojević’s “Modern semantic approach-es to the imperfective-perfective opposi-tion and their applicability in teaching foreign languages”. They look at the sys-tem of tenses in French (although the models are applicable in teaching other languages too) from the viewpoint of Vandlar’s, Reichenbach’s and Relevance theories.Didactic materials in language instructionThe contributors to this chapter (Darja Martelj, Dijana Plut, Nenad Tomović, Slobodan Stević) discuss various didactic materials such as textbooks, grammars and other handbooks for first and foreign languages.Darja Martelj’s “Italian imperative: How it is used in real communication vs. what is offered by Italian textbooks” of-fers an analysis of seven Italian language textbooks with regard to the quality and quantity of the tasks concerning the im-perative.Dijana Plut, in her “Structure of tasks in primary third-grade readers”, shows that market opening and increasing com-petition among publishers in Serbia dur-ing the past few years have given a boost to the quality of textbooks. She analyzes two third-grade Serbian readers of equal quality with regard to respective propor-tions of area-related tasks (understanding of text read, orthography, writing, gram-mar, vocabulary, literature, speech cul-ture) and with regard to the knowledge and skills supported by the tasks. As the analysis shows, although quite different, the two readers can be equally useful in dealing with different areas of language, which provides teachers the possibility to choose the textbook they deem most ap-propriate.Living languages teaching policy One of the areas where the effectiveness of a country’s language policy is reflect-ed is the area of planning and designing Reviews 301the policy of teaching foreign languages. Accordingly, the volume pays particu-lar attention to theoretical and practical questions from the domain of planning language instruction.The contributors to this chapter ( Je-lena Filipović, Maja Djukanović, Pre-drag Mutavdžić, Ralf Herman, Žarko Bošnjaković, Željko Marković) advocate the importance of the concept of plurilin-gualism and pluriculturalism in address-ing the question of foreign languages. Jelena Filipović, in her “Ideological aspects of language teaching policy and planning”, stresses that language planning should not depend on ideological, politi-cal and social factors, but rather on schol-arly and expert understandings.  She gives an account of different views and perspec-tives on language policy and planning, as well as a historical overview of language policy in Serbia (as regards the planning of first, second, minority and foreign lan-guages instruction). Putting forward the pros and cons to the implementation of the CEF, she believes that an important argument in its favour is that it is in-tended for all involved in the educational process, paying special attention to teach-ers’ continuous education, motivation and critical self-awareness. In her paper “Who, where, when, how and why should learn Slovene” Maja Djukanović stresses the need for estab-lishing Slovene studies in Serbia, her ma-jor arguments being the modern market requirements. The paper gives a historical outline of Slovene studies in Serbia, and an overview of the basic language text-books used in teaching Slovene for years.  The inadequate status of Serbian studies at foreign universities is the focus of Željko Marković’s paper “On the status of Serbian studies at German universi-ties”. Using Cologne University as a case study, he sheds light on the more general problem of declining interest in Slavic languages. Teacher competencesThe contributors to this chapter (Tamara Kostić-Pahnoglu, Miloš Bajčetić, Bojan Lazarević, Ivana Vilić) point to the ne-cessity of improving the quality of teach-ing, which can be achieved in a variety of ways: teachers’ continuous evaluation and self-evaluation, development of new skills, such as, for example, on-line educa-tion, or, in the case of foreign languages teaching, development of teachers’ com-municative competences.Education reformsThe implementation of the Bologna dec-laration at the universities in Serbia, and the region, requires, among other things, that first and foreign languages and lit-erature teaching should be restructured and curricula modified so as to meet the needs of students. The contributors to this chapter (Ana Vujović, Jelena Vujić, Slaviša Orlović, Duşiţa Ristin, Ljiljana Djurić) give their accounts of the reform process, primarily in the area of teaching English and French, drawing attention to the communicative competences of both students and teachers.Given that the reform process is broader than just higher education, some papers (Biljana Milatović, Milena Mrdak, Nada Todorov, Radmila Popović) discuss the work with younger age groups.Modern methods, approaches and techniques in language and literature instructionThe focus of this chapter is on the diversi-ty of new teaching tools. The contributors are: Andjelka Pejović, Danijela Djorović, Ifigenija Radulović, Isidora Bjelaković, Jasmina Dražić, Jelena Vojnović, Predrag Novakov, Ljiljana Petrovački, Gordana Štasni, Sabina Halupka-Rešetar, Tatjana Šuković, Vesna Krajišnik, Vesna Pilipović, Dušanka Zvekić-Dušanović and Nataša Dobrić.Danijela Djorović’s “English and Ital-ian cognates in teaching reading in a for-eign technical language” looks at the Third Balcanica XXXVIII302Language Acquisition Theory, according to which the knowledge of a single for-eign language may facilitate the process of acquiring a second foreign language. Based on the tenets of this theory, she carried out a survey on a sample of 127 students, the results of which show that the understanding of specialized texts in Italian may be based on the knowledge of etymological cognates from English. The theory may be successfully applied in learning other languages, but also in ac-quiring other skills.Five contributions discuss Serbian as a foreign or as a second language (Isidora Bjelaković, “Methodological framework for Serbian as a foreign language in ‘Let us learn Serbian 1’ (beginner level)”; Jasmina Dražić, “Principles for compiling a mini-mum monolingual dictionary of Serbian as a foreign language”; Jelena Vojnović, “Acquisition of the noun case system in learning Serbian as a foreign language (beginner level)”; Vesna Krajišnik, “Im-portance of semantic coverage in select-ing a lexical minimum in teaching Ser-bian as a foreign language”; and Dušanka Zvekić-Dušanović and Nataša Dobrić, “Some possibilities of the application of modern methodological systems in teach-ing Serbian as a second language”). The approaches are varied and cover differ-ent aspects and problems involved in the teaching and learning of Serbian.Specificities of university teachingTwo ideas underlie this chapter. One is that institutions of higher education are able to exert a global influence, especially in terms of elucidating cultural and lan-guage differences and improving relations among people. Accordingly, by offering instruction in different languages and lit-eratures, the faculties of philology in Ser-bia help overcome cultural barriers. Sev-eral papers in this chapter lay emphasis on this dimension of teaching and learning foreign languages.Edita Andrić in her paper “Teaching Hungarian as a second language” suggests a reconsideration of the status of Hun-garian as a second language. In her view, students should be offered the possibility to learn it as a foreign language and, in a multiethnic environment such as Vojvo-dina, as a community language. Andrić advocates the communicative-contrastive method, emphasizing the typological dif-ference between Hungarian and Serbian. Julijana Vučo, Milica Nedeljković and Ivana Mitić, in their co-authored paper “Italy on this side of the Adriatic. Motivation attitudes and cultural stereo-types among students of Italian”, find the beauty of the Italian language to be the students’ chief motive for enrolling on the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, and the love of Italian art and culture to be their predominant sentiment.Mirjana Marinković, in her “Spe-cificities of teaching Turkish at Belgrade University”, deems it necessary for Turk-ish to be studied through all stages of its development and in all of its distinctive features.The other underlying idea of this chapter is the modernization of teaching in terms of developing new skills and us-ing modern technology.Nadežda Stojković’s “Learning the principles of oral and written presenta-tion in language instruction for academic/professional purposes” points to the im-portance of skills such as oral and written presentation. She offers an overview of the basic features and structure of a written presentation, types and forms of profes-sional documents, as well as the distinc-tive features and principles of structuring spoken presentations. The underlying idea is that these methods have very practical purposes and can be effectively incorpo-rated into university-level instruction. Slavka Bogojević’s “A new subject at our university: Academic writing” raises the question of standardizing academic Reviews 303discourse in Serbian and points to the need for introducing Academic Writing as a subject into the curriculum with a view to encouraging the students to ap-proach the act of writing more carefully and more scrupulously.  Slobodanka Kitić’s “The theory of multiple intelligences and the teaching of English” points to pedagogic implications that Gardner’s theory may have for lan-guage teaching. She lays emphasis on the concept of education for understanding, ac-cording to which the goal of modern edu-cation is to understand different aspects of the world around us.Jovan Ajduković’s “Linguistics on the Web: on the portal ‘Balkan Rusistics” points to the importance of electronic learning and internet presentation. The portal in question is a scholarly portal providing information about the Russian language, literature and culture, Slavic studies and general linguistics.Biljana Mišić-Ilić (“Computers and foreign languages learning”), Jasmina Djordjević (“Information and communi-cation technology in the modern class-room: Teaching English language and lit-erature from one computer to another”), and Predrag Stanojević (“Internet and literary studies”) point to the advantages of using modern technology in teaching language and literature, most of all the Internet, computers and language labo-ratories. The use of modern technologies boosts student motivation, and enhances the diversity and interestingness of the education process both for teachers and for students.Concluding remarksThe values of this collection of papers are many and indisputable. A few suggestions may prove useful nonetheless.The limited time frame of the confer-ence and the limited size of the volume have made it impossible to cover all lan-guages taught and learnt in Serbia and the region, especially minority languages. A volume devoted to this particular topic in the future may address specific prob-lems arising in a multilingual environ-ment such as Serbia. Namely, the acquisi-tion of Serbian as a second language by the minorities needs to be modernized in terms of student and teacher motiva-tion, and of paying attention to particular problems arising as much from structural differences between Serbian and other languages as from the circumstances in which Serbian is being acquired.Additional attention may be paid to typologically different languages from Serbian, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and other languages successfully taught at university level for years. The question arises as to whether such languages re-quire specific programmes and methods of instruction, and whether the specifici-ties should be paid additional attention by the teachers. Also, not many contributions are based on empirical research, and there lack papers commenting on how the re-form and new methods and tools function in practice or how students and teachers respond to the innovations.On the whole, the volume is very useful as it reveals not only an increas-ing methodological diversity in language and literature teaching in Serbia, but also the diversity of languages available for learning. Modern European society being committed to the principle of plurilin-gualism and pluriculturalism, a commu-nity’s respect for cultural differences is re-flected in the attention it pays to foreign languages teaching. The editorial success of the volume resides in the range of im-portant topics structured into a whole.  

Вучо Јулијана (ур.): Савремене тенденције у настави језика и књижевности, Филолошки факултет, Београд, 2007

http://dais.sanu.ac.rs/bitstream/id/21217/4385.pdf

Вучо Јулијана (ур.): Савремене тенденције у настави језика и књижевности, Филолошки факултет, Београд, 2007

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