German university degrees, at least in some countries, offer students only German literature courses in addition to language courses. Linguistics is often not a core component of German degree programmes. As a result, students who are not familiar with basic linguistic terminology do not know how languages work, including their mother tongue, or…

The use of innovative language in education is a current and pressing issue in a digital landscape where knowledge and skills are acquired in much more complex and fragmented ways than in the past (Di Blas, 2016; Selvaggi, Sicignano, & Vollono, 2007). We are experiencing a lot of interest in flipped classrooms, interactive learning…

This study examines hegemonic discourses on English and socioeconomic development from teachers' perspectives. Specifically, it scrutinizes the sorts of positions a group of 36 teachers of English, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese in an undergraduate program of modern languages take towards both the predominant narrative of English as the…

The report presents the results of an experimentation of an intercomprehension (IC) workshop, delivered in blended mode for Italian and Brazilian PhD students, and activated at the Language Center of the University of Ferrara during the academic year 2021-22. The general objective was for participants to learn a methodology that enables…

In 2016 the University of Padova and its Language Centre ("Centro Linguistico di Ateneo" -- CLA) became involved in the two-year "Cultura e accoglienza" Project (see Dalziel and Piazzoli in this volume), the aim of which was to encourage around 30 refugees and asylum seekers to pursue university studies by means of a…

In the context of an undergraduate program in modern languages that includes the learning of French, Italian, Portuguese, and German in addition to English, this paper problematizes anglonormativity; that is, the dominant discourses of English as the taken-for-granted language of development. From the particular context of Colombia, where the…

The global pandemic and subsequent quarantine measures and restrictions have posed a challenge to the structure and procedure of university summative assessment process. Qualification assessment for Foreign Languages major programs in particular is a strict regimen process that involves different stages (oral and written exams, final project viva,…

Recent developments in mobile technologies have increased the ways in which languages can be learnt, both within and beyond the classroom. Whereas the use of mobile technologies seems to challenge traditional knowledge and skills acquisition, research shows that foreign language study can be enriched through easy access to resources selected to…

This study discusses agency in language policy and planning (LPP) development from the perspective of Brazilian national language policies reflected in the local LPP programme/initiative of a public university in the Southeast region of the country. With that goal, national and local (institutional) documents are analysed and contrasted with the…

The recent technological developments and widespread use of mobile technologies challenge traditional knowledge and skills, with language learning increasingly taking place beyond the language classroom in learners' own environments. The paper presents the ImparApp study that focuses on a pervasive and gamified approach to language teaching and…

This study intends the validation of an instructional design on intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the beginning levels of German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and English in the Modern Languages program at EAN University in Colombia. The design constituents: language integration, oral production, fieldwork activities, and a…

Second Life is one of the many three-dimensional virtual environments accessible through a computer and a fast broadband connection. Thousands of participants connect to this platform to interact virtually with the world, join international communities of practice and, for some, role play groups. Unlike online role play games however, Second Life…

This paper looks at how corpus data was used to design an Italian as an L2 language learning programme and how it was evaluated by students. The study focuses on the acquisition of Italian verb-noun collocations by Chinese native students attending a ten month long Italian language course before enrolling at an Italian university. It describes how…

The two different models of bilingual/multilingual education that have been developed in Slovenia since the 1950s in the regions of Prekmurje (minority language Hungarian) and Slovene Istria (Italian) are the result of international agreements, education and language policies, social and demographic factors. The basic aim in both cases is to help…

This study presents an insight into content and language integrated learning (CLIL) practices in the Australian state of Queensland. The article comprises four main sections. The first section outlines the context of CLIL in Australia and Queensland; there follows a brief review of the literature on stakeholders in CLIL programmes, such as…