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Introduction

This publication is the result of the conference ”Perspectives on language for specific purposes (LSP) teacher training in Poland” (”Perspektywy kształcenia nauczycieli języków specjalistycznych w Polsce”) held online in October 2020. The conference aimed at initiating a dialogue on the status and future of LSP teacher education in Poland. The publication contains texts by researchers representing various research centres: the Pedagogical University of Kraków, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, University of Warsaw and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Research results and individual experiences of representatives of various language studies and specialisations from several universities gathered together resulted in a multidimensional presentation of the LSP teacher training process which made it possible to capture diverse visions of the development of this field of education in Poland.

Training LSP teachers is a topical subject, taking into account the increasing needs of the labour market, and particularly the need to employ language studies graduates able to communicate in a language for specific purposes. More and more often, such graduates work as LSP teachers or language trainers at companies and international corporations (cf. Gajewska, Sowa, Kic-Drgas, 2020). The authors of this paper collection share their research and observations, pointing to examples of good practices and solutions that can significantly optimise the process of LSP teacher education.

This proceedings volume divided into three parts. It opens with a transcription of a panel discussion that took place during the conference with the participation of Prof. Magdalena Sowa, Prof. Elżbieta Gajewska, Prof. Jacek Makowski, Prof. Aleksandra Matulewska and Prof. Aldona Sopata. The discussion is followed by a research part consisting of three chapters. The book ends with four chapters containing examples of good practice in educating LSP teachers.

The introductory panel discussion is intended to present many aspects of LSP teacher education and mainly concerns the future of LSP teachers in Poland and Europe. In their discussion, the panellists particularly focused on the place which, in their opinion, LSP teaching should occupy in the language studies curriculum. They also conferred the issues of preparing students to become LSP teachers, developing the teaching content that should be included in the LSP curriculum, as well as methods in LSP teaching. Since the discussion was multithreaded, it constitutes an excellent introduction to the issues analysed in the following chapters, concerning developing competencies and intercultural communication, applying new technologies in teaching, development paths for LSP teachers and more.

The next part of the proceedings begins with empirical texts. In the first three chapters, the authors discuss basic issues in LSP teacher education (needs and competencies analysis, learning outcomes). They present the latest research results in this area, from both the Polish and international perspectives.

The first chapter (The needs of LSP teachers in the preparation and implementation of the didactic process. An attempt at diagnosis) focuses on the needs of LSP teachers. Magdalena Sowa points out that the analysis of the needs of learners and teachers is essential, constituting a starting point in creating an LSP course. The author bases mainly on the results of the surveys conducted in the last five years among LSP teachers in Polish technical and vocational schools, as well as on the analysis of the structure of the Polish higher education system. The chapter ends with a reflection on the competencies that graduates acquire in specific classes.

In Preparing a philologist for specialist communication: LSP teaching and specialist translations, Elżbieta Gajewska points to the competencies of language studies graduates and how these competencies facilitate carrying out tasks at a company. The author compares language studies curricula in terms of practical LSP classes and classes in specialist translation. The chapter is a reflection on the current state of philological education in Poland and on the skills developed by graduates of language studies.

In the chapter TRAILs project as a response to the needs in the field of LSP teachers’ education, Joanna Kic-Drgas and Joanna Woźniak present the results of two-year-long project work which involved examining the offer of LSP education in language studies in Poland and Europe on the one hand, and the analysis of LSP teachers’ needs and development of a relevant standardised curriculum on the other. In the theoretical part, the authors analyse the LSP teachers’ competencies and the specificity of their profession. They present the results of the current offer of LSP teaching at European universities and the results of the analysis of the needs of teachers of foreign languages for professional purposes. In addition, the authors discuss the model serving as the foundation for the training programme developed in the TRAILs project and present a sample learning module with its underlying learning objectives and learning outcomes. The chapter combines theoretical considerations with proposed practical solutions, examining the discussion on educating LSP teachers from an international perspective.

The third part of the monograph includes specific solutions and their implementation at the stage of education and professional work of LSP teachers. The considerations start with a summary of issues related to the functions performed by LSP teachers. Further, the authors turn to the interdisciplinary concept of dual studies and thus broaden the perspective of language studies. The next two contributions contain examples of good practice in specific LSP classes.

Jakub Przybył discusses the competencies of an LSP teacher in terms of choosing the content of classes (if no textbook with an appropriate profile is available on the market), strategies and techniques for learning and teaching specialist vocabulary, as well as the use of technology in the classroom. The author focuses on the multi-faceted definition of functions performed by teachers.

Małgorzata Niemiec-Knaś and Andrzej Skwara present an example of the dual education model, an innovative approach in the Polish education market, and discuss its effects on an LSP teacher and a graduate of language studies. The article describes the conditions for the establishment of this field of study, its goals and the concept of economic language teaching grounded in a task-based approach. The text is an important contribution to the discussion on the interdisciplinary education of LSP teachers in Poland.

In the next chapter (Languages for specific purposes – challenges in teaching at the example of German philology) Grażyna Strzelecka discusses LSP teaching on the example of business German courses. The author deals mainly with the issue of combining the teaching of specialist content with LSP teaching (CLIL) and related teachers’ problems.

LSP teachers have recently faced the need for online teaching. Based on the example of LSP classes in Spanish studies, Izabela Kusicielek and Leonor Sagermann Bustinza analyse proposals for the use of information and communication technology (ICT) methods and tools for online learning and present their assessment of these. At the same time, they point to difficulties experienced by LSP teachers in the new educational reality.

This book is addressed to all interested in LSP teaching. It offers not only information on the current challenges faced by the teachers but also an inspiration for their studies and the search for optimal solutions

Joanna Kic-Drgas

Joanna Woźniak

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Future of LSP teaching methodology (panel discussion transcript)

Discussion participants:

Elżbieta Gajewska, PhD, Associate Prof. of the Pedagogical University of Krakow A Romanist and head of the Department of Language Didactics and Distance Learning at the Institute of Modern Languages at the Pedagogical University in Krakow. Her main research interests include LSP in the broad sense (their linguistic description and teaching), as well as changes in communication and foreign language teaching resulting from new technologies. She co-authored the monograph LSP, FOS, Fachsprache... Dydaktyka języków specjalistycznych. Apart from research and translation, she also works with the teaching sector by participating in national projects (coordinator of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) part of Małopolska Educational Cloud) and international projects.

Jacek Makowski, PhD, Associate Prof. of the University of Lodz A Germanist and head of the Department of German Linguistics at the Institute of German Philology at the University of Lodz. He holds multiple scholarships of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and is the initiator, manager and operator of the ”Językowy barometr Łodzi” (”Linguistic barometer of Lodz 2020”) research project. His research interests include foreign languages for specific purposes, foreign and specialist language teaching methodology, sociolinguistics, institutional political communication and modern business services.

Aleksandra Matulewska, PhD, Associate Prof. of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań A legilinguist who works at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Modern Languages, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. She is a translator and an expert member of the Polish Society of Sworn and Specialized Translators – PT TEPIS. She also conducts training for the European Parliament’s Translation Department in Luxembourg, for the Association of Polish Translators (STP) in Warsaw and the Polish Society of Sworn and Specialized Translators TEPIS in Warsaw. Her research interests include specialist Polish-English translations and LSP teaching methodology.

Magdalena Sowa, PhD, Associate Prof. of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University A Romanist who works at the Department of Applied Linguistics at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. Her research interests include language acquisition and foreign language teaching, particularly teaching LSP teaching methodology.

Aldona Sopata, PhD, Associate Prof. of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań A psycholinguist and Germanist who works at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Modern Languages, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. She is the Head of the Department of Research on Multilingualism. Her research interests include psycholinguistics, second language acquisition in natural and institutional conditions, first language acquisition, early school language education, early bilingualism of children, development of multilingualism and foreign language teaching.

Aldona Sopata: What place should language for specific purposes (LSP) teaching have in the curricula of language studies? Prof. Sowa, could you please take the floor first?

Magdalena Sowa: Thank you very much. In my opinion, specialist language teaching has found its place in philological education programmes. For now, what has been left is probably just to consider its scope as it is rather difficult to find a language studies department in Poland whose curriculum does not include at least some LSP classes, whether concerning translation, discourse analysis or terminological issues.

It seems to me that, depending on the university, the specifics of its philological programme implemented therein, its human resources, and the possibility of working with business environment, LSP teaching takes place in various ways and forms. So, when we are discussing LSP teaching, I think there is certainly room for this type of content. On the other hand, the volume and scope of teaching will remain at the discretion of each entity that builds its offer based on various internal and external factors.

Although the teaching of specialist languages was initially an element of specialisation or elective subjects with respect to the main curriculum (at least this was the case at the Romance Philology of the Catholic University of Lublin in the early 1990s, which had one of the first specialisations focused on learning French in economics and finance), LSP courses now dominate the core of compulsory classes for each field of foreign language (FL) studies. this trend is evident, already looking at the level of didactic offer – in the very name of the field of study. In many cases, it no longer contains the word ”philology” (language studies), even though it is carried out at an institute or department of philology; instead, it refers to the subject of study (i.e. a foreign language), to a specific field or profession. It is reflected in the educational offer of the University of Opole, which includes English for tourism and Czech in the service sector. LSP teaching inevitably plays a central role in the curriculum there if it does not fill it entirely. I would say that the educational, social, economic and geopolitical conditions of each institution play a vital role in determining the place of LSP teaching and that there is already space for it.

AS: Thank you very much. Now I would like to ask Prof. Gajewska to refer to Prof. Sowa’s observation or the question in general.

Elżbieta Gajewska: I will refer first to Professor Sowa’s statement in a general manner. As it happens, we frequently cooperate and write together content that we both agree with, and therefore, it is only natural that I often agree with my colleague. In order not to repeat one another, for the purposes of this debate we have agreed that I will talk more about LSP while Prof. Sowa will focus more on teaching and learning.

As I have just said, I completely agree with the previous speaker, that is, I believe that the decision to incorporate LSP into the curriculum, both in terms of the number and type of courses, should be entirely at the discretion of university units as they can rapidly respond to labour market changes. The demand for some professions is growing while it is diminishing for others. This should be reflected in the langauge for specific purposes offer presented to philologists. Also, the geographic location of university together with the economic situation of the region affect the popularity of given foreign languages and some of their professional varieties. This is yet another argument for the LSP curriculum to remain an autonomous choice of each educational entity.

Should we focus on ensuring a significant presence of LSP in language studies programmes? It cannot be denied that universities try to have the best possible offer that will ensure the employability of their graduates but also because they simply want students to enrol. This means that they must meet the expectations of their potential candidates. It seems to me that these expectations are now strongly oriented towards good career prospects, i.e. stable employment with a decent salary. This speaks in favour of expanding philological education in such a way that it includes preparation for vocational communication, and, consequently, makes it easier for graduates to find relatively well-paid jobs in corporations. On the other hand, this work is often associated with the aspects of corporate work that students tell us about. They speak very openly about the inconveniences of such work, e.g. the corporate routine. That routine was the reason why our graduates who completed their bachelor’s degree as valued corporate employees and had signed contracts before having received their diplomas, asked me if they could return to the university for the master’s degree programme upon meeting me in the street a year later. At that time, they found the academic profile of education, which opens up broader perspectives and offers more numerous and more attractive opportunities. It is therefore worth considering a variety of learning options and staying flexible.

AS: Thank you very much. May I now ask Prof. Makowski for a comment? Do you agree with the previous speakers?

Jacek Makowski: I completely agree with the statement that certain decisions should be made at the level of a given entity due to various sector-specific aspects. There is no doubt that any kind of top-down disposition would not serve students well. In the context of the ”boom” in the cooperation between business and universities related to the latter’s Third Mission[1], as a German philologist, I have often heard students stating that the university does not prepare them for their profession and delivers redundant content.

On the other hand, it follows from my conversations with business representatives that job applicants are not always willing or motivated to perform the tasks assigned to them well or to develop professionally. Still, many persons are strongly motivated to grow and learn – and this is where my observations and those of business representatives coincide.

As for the scope of the curriculum mentioned by Prof. Sowa, the question should be raised of how we understand philological education. Do we mean broadly defined classical philologies or rather such fields of study as applied linguistics or linguistics for business? Again, there is the problem of the language level of candidates, as we can shape the curriculum for persons with a low level of language competence completely differently than for individuals with a higher level of competence. While the first edition of our Linguistics for Business at the University of Lodz started at the B1 level, the current level of competence in the first semester ranges from A0 to B1. Therefore, the discrepancies in the teaching content in the LSP course programmes, e.g. the specialist language of logistics, will be significant due to the language skills of the course participants. To sum up, depending on the initial level of linguistic competence of the students and the intended educational output, it is important to make learners aware of all aspects of the characteristic features of a specialist language (i.e. text genres or linguistic measures in communicative situations), possibly expanding the range of knowledge areas within the course offer. Foreign language training narrowed down to just one area seems to be of less benefit to learners.

AS: Thank you very much. Before I give the floor to Prof. Matulewska, let me take advantage of the privileged position of the discussion moderator and present the situation at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, specifically at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, and at other units. Applied linguistics course was established with the aim of preparing graduates to pursue various professions in the economy. I believe that the turning point in the philological education at our university was the survey on our graduates’ further careers that we conducted a few years ago. According to the survey results, most of them worked in various outsourcing companies using the knowledge and skills they had acquired in our fields of study, not only in applied linguistics but also in ones related to the forty languages that are taught at the Faculty of Modern Languages. Most of the graduates, relying on the knowledge and skills acquired while studying, later take up employment in various branches of business. In my opinion, the awareness of this fact affected many academic teachers in our department. It is probably also the reason why we pay more and more attention to LSP teaching. I’m giving the floor now to Prof. Matulewska.

Aleksandra Matulewska: I thoroughly agree with my predecessor because a philologist is not really a profession anymore – philological education has become a competence. This is also reflected in the future careers of the graduates. They often take advantage of the 3+2 system resulting from the Bologna Process, allowing students to change their education profile after completing their three-year-long bachelor’s degree programme. An increasing number of graduates of English language studies, German language studies and applied linguistics decide to take up a two-year master’s degree programme at a higher vocational school after completing their first-level degree studies. We observe a dynamic growth of interest in master’s degree programmes, for example, at the Poznan School of Logistics (Wyższa Szkoła Logistyki; WSL). The students themselves are looking for an opportunity to combine extralinguistic knowledge with additional vocational training , as BA students can find motivation to expand their non-linguistic knowledge in other master’s degree programmes in a completely different field.

AS: Thank you very much. Moving on, I would now like to ask about your opinion on the competence of LSP teachers. In other words, how should LSP teachers be trained so that they could face the challenges of an educational market filled with people interested in such training? Now I would like to ask Prof. Gajewska to speak first.

EG: Again, I would like to say that in my opinion, this should be achieved in many different ways. The words ”educational market” appear in the question – and this market is very diverse. I wanted to go back to what had already been outlined in the speeches of Prof. Sowa and Prof. Matulewska. Firstly, let me address the popularity of LSPs and specialist languages. This popularity translates into the availability of teaching materials: sometimes there are plenty, sometimes they are not available at all, in which case the teacher must develop them themselves, which is a very laborious task. Another very important question is whether the demand is large enough for the course to be delivered repeatedly or whether it will be a one-off course. All these factors collectively may lead to three scenarios. The first scenario is an ideal one: the language is popular, there are a lot of teaching materials and relatively little effort is required from the teacher. In the second scenario, there are no didactic materials or they are scarce but the course runs repeatedly, as in the case of non-standard LSP teaching at a technical university or a vocational school. And there is the third scenario with a one-off language training designed for an atypical target group.

Each of these educational scenarios requires slightly different skills from the teacher, and consequently, involves that an emphasis is put on slightly different individual competencies in the process of the teacher’s training. Let us dwell on one aspect here. We will probably proceed to have a detailed discussion on the teacher’s competencies later, but I would like to point to a fact that is not mentioned often: it is difficult to demand from a specialist language teacher to be like ”Strongwoman”![2] It seems to me that we should train such a teacher, to realistically assess the amount of work in relation to the expected benefits. As the substantial workload of LSP teachers was also mentioned by other speakers, I would like to call for such training for the profession which ensures that LSP teachers are not ashamed to reach out to other competent partners in the educational process. Firstly, to reach out to the learners themselves who may overwhelm LSP teachers with their expertise in a particular field yet will become partners in the process of acquiring language knowledge and skills if they perceive their teachers as individuals who assist them. Secondly, to reach out to vocational teachers and experts, Polish and foreign alike. The latter are more accessible thanks to new technologies. This approach, when a specialist language teacher manages the process of joint learning, is applied in the Małopolska Educational Cloud project, in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. We start with the transversal competencies and reach out to various partners at various stages (for anyone interested in it, the concept is described in an article published in the ”Języki Obce w Szkole”, No. 4/2020 quarterly, among others). To sum up, as far as the process of educating LSP teachers is concerned, I would underline techniques and skills facilitating teachers’ work of which there will be plenty anyway.

AS: Thank you. Now I would like to ask Prof. Makowski to refer to the issue of LSP teacher training.

JM: Referring to earlier statements, the question raised by Prof. Sowa on the spectrum of recipients is crucial; namely, in an institutional approach: would it be an LSP teacher whose training is tailored to the needs of a given recipient, e.g. a public primary school, a private language school, or an enterprise that seeks an in-house tutor? Or perhaps a freelancer with a portfolio tailored to all ages and target groups? Therefore, on the one hand, a model of an all-rounder who can offer a specialist language course in every possible formula, and on the other, a model of training for language teachers implemented in such countries as Germany, where LSP teachers are prepared to work at a given type of school or with a certain age group.

Considering today’s labour market reality, it seems much more beneficial to educate foreign and LSP teachers who can do well in any environment. As mentioned by Prof. Gajewska, developing the capacity to reach out to competent partners in the educational process is a key aspect of a humanist’s education. The same applies to educating translators: five years of foreign language studies is not enough to prepare students to translate highly advanced professional texts in any given field of expertise right after graduation. Similarly, we are unable to educate LSP teachers who will be able to teach in every field of knowledge right away.

AS: Thank you very much. Prof. Matulewska, could you please take the floor?

AM: I would like to refer to the statement from Prof. Gajewska who pointed to providing tools and competencies to flexibly react to what is happening in the market. One cannot predict which specialist languages one will teach 5–10 years ahead. We are unable to predict what new professions will emerge, just as some professions could not have been envisaged merely four or five years ago (for example, the ”profession” of an Internet hater posting malicious comments on various websites, eight hours a day, in various languages, using different profiles). Thus, we are faced with highly dynamic market changes for which the teacher must be prepared. From this perspective, it seems extremely important to demonstrate to teachers how they can build their own exercises based on the so-called authentic texts in a relatively quick way considering the effort required and the resulting benefits. In teaching specialist translation, they refer to parallel texts, namely the same text genres. The skill of comparing a Polish contract with an English one, or a press article in one language with an article in another language, makes it possible to create a set of exercises in a relatively short time.

In the applied linguistics course, we had a student who wrote his BA thesis on the use of corpus tools in building such didactic exercises – to effectively streamline this part of the teacher’s work and be able to determine which terms and collocations occur most frequently and are the most repetitive in a set of texts. This consideration will undoubtedly affect the flexibility of the teacher and their ability to adapt to market changes; it will also make it possible to enhance competencies and adapt to the needs of the client commissioning a specialist language course.

AS: Thank you very much. I was very intrigued by the example of the ”profession of a hater”. Does a hater really use an LSP?

AM: It is definitely some type of discourse; it would have to be researched. It is certainly filled with adverbs and adjectives more profoundly than other language varieties. Hate speech specialists from our Institute of Applied Linguistics could certainly elaborate on this matter. Who knows, maybe one day this discourse will also become a specialist language. We cannot predict that. If it is a language used by a larger professional group, it will obtain the status of a specialist language.

AS: Perhaps we will not have to educate our students in this field. In your statements, you all refer to Prof. Sowa’s comments. Now, I would like to ask you to address the issue of vocational training for LSP teachers.

MS: Of course, I agree with all the arguments raised by the preceding speakers. When thinking about the professional training of LSP teachers, I would consider the area of teaching skills, particularly practical and operative skills that would allow the teacher to first diagnose who the learning process is designed for, and then plan its individual stages. To avoid repeating what has already been stated, I would like to point to an example from the French-speaking area, which also applies to teacher training. Namely, ingénierie pédagogique, or pedagogical engineering, which has recently become very popular in the French education system, even though it was created to develop in-company courses. It is used when it is necessary to carry out a specific audit of initial conditions in the process of preparing an educational offer; then, based on this audit, an adequate action plan is developed and its implementation is constantly monitored and evaluated for possible future modifications. Referring to the situations already discussed with Prof. Gajewska, namely whether the teacher should create the programme from scratch or rely on available materials, they should be able to properly recognise the underlying situation (i.e. identify recipients, diagnose their needs and goals, define their potential, assess own resources and limitations). The teacher should be able to carry out an ”on-site verification”, which requires defining the most important aspects of training: didactic, economic, organisational, technical and sometimes even legal. Based on this ”on-site vision”, as I called it, the teacher will be able to precisely define the remaining key parameters of the didactic situation. This will allow the teacher to plan the proceedings in the best operational manner, i.e. to translate general objectives into more detailed ones, plan lesson stages and modules and assign them to specific issues, and then adjust purely linguistic or discursive content to these issues. All this will help select techniques, tools and materials suitable for the teacher’s ”own” curriculum. I would say that this area is the core of a teacher’s preparation because, as I have said before, teachers are often unaware that LST teaching courses are not LSP courses.

AS: Thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, another common area of our multifaceted discussion is the teaching content. What content should be present in the LSP teacher training curriculum, and why? To abide by the equality principles, this time we ask Prof. Makowski to take the floor first.

JM: Considering all the factors we have mentioned earlier, i.e. the target group, the teachers we want to educate, the language level at which they begin and their vocational training at the university, and eventually the language level at which they will ultimately teach after graduation, I would outline five areas that can be applied in varying proportions in such training – general language teaching, introduction to specialist languages, i.e. familiarising learners with certain features of specialist languages at all language levels and all levels of linguistics, as well as practical training in selected specialist languages. Here, I would also include the translation aspect, given that in his research on language for professional purposes, Klaus-Dieter Baumann treats translation as one of the linguistic skills: writing, reading, speaking, listening and translating. Of course, I would include specialised knowledge and elements of LSP teaching among the enumerated areas. I would position the teaching content in these five areas.

AS: Prof. Matulewska, could you please comment on this issue?

AM: I am in full agreement with Prof. Makowski. A teacher certainly needs knowledge in the field of copyright, that is, what materials can be used in teaching, what materials can be duplicated or modified, what materials can be uploaded to an e-learning platform, and how to check their copyright status. Without such knowledge, virtually every exercise we prepare may turn out to be the grounds for some legal claims. The reality we live in has changed a lot. So, as I mentioned before, it is important how we use corpus tools in the process of preparing materials. I am a strong supporter of introducing translation competencies in specialist languages classes as both the labour market and conversations with employers and graduates of such studies as applied linguistics and modern philology indicate that preparing translations (both accurate and summarised) is a significant part of competencies expected by employers.

AS: Does Prof. Sowa share this vision of the teaching content?

MS: I do, very much so. Again, to avoid repeating what has already been said, I would like to share with you the information that I collected during the analysis of teacher training programmes in Poland. You have described what should be included in those curricula, and I can tell you exactly what they include now. Getting to know the curricula and educational content currently being implemented during teacher training may be the starting point for some modifications of these programmes, as apparently not all academic centres include teaching methodology or LSP teaching classes in their teacher’s education paths or teaching specialisations. This results in substantial differences and various trends in this regard. Currently, few educational units offer courses in LSP teaching methodology. Nevertheless, their very presence offers hope that this type of education will also be provided by other centres educating FL teachers in the future. I hope that both I and future teachers can benefit from such changes on a broader scale.

Taking the example of education programmes currently offered in Polish academic centres, it can be concluded that both the range of the educational content and the forms of its implementation vary significantly. In many cases, the content specific to the teaching of LSP is delivered collectively and generally as part of classes focused on a specific language (e.g. as part of the subject-specific teaching of English or German). In other educational units, the content relevant to LSP teaching is separated and takes the form of independent classes. For example, in Romance Philology at the Catholic University of Lublin, there is the FSP teaching course whereas the Institute of English Studies at the University of Warsaw implements the acquisition and teaching of English as a foreign language for academic and professional purposes.

While it is extremely rare, programmes focused solely on professional specialisation in LSP teaching are sometimes established, for example focused on teaching Russian at LSP courses in the Institute of Russian Studies at the University of Gdańsk.

A more detailed analysis of the syllabuses shows that the range of issues discussed in LSP teaching methodology classes is extensive and may focus on activities specific to an LSP teacher, the development of communication skills in relation to a certain professional area or the linguistic analysis of a text or discourse, which fall into different disciplinary areas.

The scope and type of the curriculum content are not the same at all universities, both in terms of quantity and content. Sometimes a strong diversification exists within a given subject in the same field of study, for example in the field of applied linguistics at the University of Warsaw. There are also differences when it comes to the languages taught/studied or teachers of the same subject. Moreover, there exist dissimilarities depending on whether the foreign language is the student’s first or second studied language. Thus, the selection of issues in the field of specialist language education is very arbitrary and depends on various factors.

I think that the underlying cause is not accounting for the specific nature of FL teachers’ as well as LSP teachers’ work in the teacher training standards developed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which offers a significant degree of autonomy in shaping the didactic offer. By no means do I intend to judge the choices made by the authors of the analysed curricula. Considering the amount of time devoted to teaching specialist languages (i.e. usually between 15 and 30 hours for the entire teaching specialisation programme) which is sometimes very modest, I would opt for solutions that let specialisation programmes focus on very practical and operational content.

AS: Thank you very much. Now I would like to ask Prof. Gajewska to present her opinion on the content of LSP teaching programmes.

EG: Regarding the previous statements: it largely depends on the situation, that is, if LSP teaching methodology is the first training in teaching for a given student or if the student already has general didactic skills. This would be the crucial distinction, presented in detail by Prof. Makowski who opened the discussion of the current matter. For my part, I would only like to stand up for the linguistic content which is very important in the case of specialist languages where a given scope of discourse or particular genres need to be distinguished and described. Regardless of the nomenclature, which varies depending on the approach, some instrument for analysing real, empirical texts to extract their abstract structure would be advisable.

AS: Thank you very much. Education methods are the next focal point as regards the topics discussed during today’s panel. What is your opinion on possible common training methods in LSP teaching methodology? This time, I would like to ask Prof. Matulewska to speak first.

AM: Definitely, striving to develop common methods is crucial, especially from the perspective of the supralinguistic approach to LSP teaching. We must remember that there is a substantial convergence in the case of some very popular languages that are learned all over the world (such as English, German, French or Spanish). Relatively much is written and published about how to teach general English and how to teach specialist English. A few years ago, around 2017, Prof. Makowski and Prof. Goźdź-Roszkowski organised the Speclang conference. One of the speakers who researched the Spanish language noted that in Poland there was so far only one doctoral dissertation on how to teach Spanish to Poles. Compared with the number of theses on teaching German or English in Poland, the situation seems almost dramatic – and we were talking about general Spanish, not Spanish for specific purposes. There is certainly scarcity of papers on how to teach general Korean, Hungarian or Japanese and there is a long way to go before we get to LSP teaching, if we get to it at all. Therefore, faculty members trying to teach some elements of specialist translation or specialist language (for example in the field of economics or finance) in such language studies will have to utilise the achievements of foreign language teaching specialists who focus on other, more popular natural languages. Moreover, we must also consider the problem of language diversity. Some languages appear only in one variant, such as Hungarian or Japanese, but there are also pluricentric languages (such as German, Spanish and English) with different varieties existing in different countries; this includes German as a langue of the law in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as English in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and over 70 other countries where English is an official language. In such cases, teaching a specialist language, which occurs in variants because a given language has official status in more than one country, differs from teaching a monocentric language where there are no variance-related problems.

AS: Thank you very much. I would like to ask Prof. Sowa to take the floor.

MS: Speaking of the methods and approaches in LSP teaching methodology, I would like to refer to French-speaking countries since I am most familiar with them. Throughout practically the entire twentieth century, the teaching methodology for French for specific purposes (FSP) developed many diverse concepts, the nomenclature of which reflects different methodological assumptions referring either to a specific vision of the language, or the profile of the target group and the scope of the teaching content. Thus, grounded concepts were established in response to changes taking place in the social, economic and educational life, which proves the readiness and creativity of French educators in adapting forms of language education to external conditions accompanying learning both general and specialist language.

In my opinion, the Anglo-Saxon approach to teaching specialist languages is more popular in the Polish context. This is reflected, for example, in the Polish expression ”język dla potrzeb zawodowych” which is a calque from the English expression ”language for specific purposes”. I think that the popularity of the Anglo-Saxon approach may result from the phrase itself as it refers to virtually all possible variants of language for professional purposes teaching, but also defines the sum of didactic processes without breaking them down into more precise ones depending on the learning/teaching situation, unlike these specific French-language concepts. Since we are discussing the development of common LSP teaching methods, I would consider such a possibility if models used in other countries are popularised in Poland. Understanding didactic solutions applicable in various educational contexts, in various conditions, in relation to different needs or goals, can certainly enrich the range of teaching methods and approaches available to LSP teachers in different countries. I think that these solutions should not be perceived as universal and applicable in every situation – they should be approached in a very flexible manner, as a reliable resource of validated procedures adapted to the specific conditions in which the teacher carries out the didactic process.

AS: Thank you very much. I give the floor to Prof. Gajewska.

EG: Answering the question of whether it is worth pursuing a common model and a certain unification, I will refer to the opening statement concerning the linguistic aspects of education. The linguistic component is very important in LSP teaching. I have adopted a somewhat ambiguous approach to the issue of developing a common model of specialised communication analysis, that is, I am partly for but also partly against it.

The fact that there are various approaches to text analysis (genre, discourse) is priceless. At universities, there is the phenomenon that Prof. Żmudzki refers to as ”philological gravity”: to analyse a text or a genre, Polish researchers usually adopt patterns developed within a given linguistic area. There is a certain advantage to this approach. We have mentioned the limited dimension of specialist training. If linguists working in a given unit use similar models of linguistic analysis (discourses, texts, etc.), then students attending LSP teaching methodology classes encounter issues that they have already dealt with in general linguistics, as well as ideas and concepts that they already know.

However, problems begin when there are many philologies in our academic environment; then, we suddenly find ourselves in the peculiar Tower of Babel since we use the same words designating partially or completely different concepts. I would like to add that I have long been aware of this problem with regard to linguistics practised by representatives of various philologies, but since we also have representatives of translation studies here, I see prospectively similar problems in communication between teachers and translators. Indeed, it struck me when, as a methodology teacher, I spoke about authentic texts and Prof. Matulewska rightly noted that considering the context in which I used these words, I should refer to parallel texts instead. But this, I would say, is just a trifle in comparison...

AM: Excuse me, I would like to pause for a second. Corpus linguistics has turned our terminology upside down, we are in a terrible terminological mess right now. Comparable texts are authentic texts that the Professor spoke about, while a parallel text is now a text and its translation into a second language. Now, when we read Neubert, we must remember that he still uses the term ”parallel text” when speaking of comparable texts, that is, original texts in two languages. But starting from around 2005, since the publication of Prof. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk’s work on corpus linguistics, we have new terminology available, and as I said, a terrible mess: when we quote from older works, there are references to parallel texts, when we refer to more recent ones – to comparable texts. Please excuse my terminological digression.

EG: I do not mind at all given that it is an excellent illustration of the phenomenon. It shows that in cases where a teacher uses a phrase without a second thought, a translatologist can discern its genuine meaning. Also, I would say that translatology faces the same problems as linguistics, namely, significant terms are internally contradictory. This causes a lot of trouble when a group of foreign language teaching specialists from various philologies want to gather and talk about teaching or analysing a text, genre or discourse.

Each time I use these terms, I am aware that each philologist ”hears” something else. I am convinced that if we wanted to have some serious discussion, we would have to start by drawing a discrepancy report. And this is exactly the problem that sometimes makes me ”pray” for languages to ‘merge’ so that we can develop a common approach, if not an outright uniform one (because that, it seems to me, would be harmful), that is, some baseline common terminology database.

AM: Since we are discussing the language of translation studies, there is also the problem of the evolution of a specialist language which simply changed over time. We are referring to Neubert’s publication of 1996, not that long ago from the scientific perspective, yet seven years later the achievements of corpus linguistics and corpus cognitive linguistics lead to changes. Language changes rapidly – it takes the readers some time to catch up with these changes and there occurs a delay in the use of current terminology. We must address the same problem in the case of different LSPs.

EG: Exactly, as you can see, I cannot keep up with these just presented changes presented, and after all, LSP teachers and their students must keep up with the development of knowledge in this field in the first place. This is a challenge.

AM: What is more, students often know a much more up-to-date terminology than the teachers, especially if they work in a given profession and have contact with the industry-specific language in the workplace.

EG: Indeed, although I was thinking about the terminology in the field of linguistics, which we need to communicate in the group of educators handling lanaguages for specific purposes.

AS: Thank you very much. I understand that the problem of terminology has been outlined. Let us go back to the starting point, namely, the methods of education in the teaching of specialist languages. I would also like to ask Prof. Makowski to speak about this.

JM: Thank you very much. Considering all the factors that make the training of LSP different and assuming that we in Europe would like to prepare LSP teachers who would teach employees in the future, e.g. modern business services, I certainly see the potential for pooling of experience and possibly for developing common methods. The Eastern and Central Europe region has many entities operating in this economic sector, very often global ones. It can therefore be assumed that many of the procedures, processes, tasks, areas of language use, communicative situations, areas of knowledge or work in an intercultural environment are similar. As such, it is easy to find many analogies and this is why I see the potential for exchanging opinions and views as well as working on common teaching methods in this narrower area.

AS: The discussion reveals that your opinions on many issues are similar but when it comes to details, you perceive some problems differently. There is one thing we can all agree on, namely, the tremendous prospects of specialist language teaching. It is needed and expected in the educational market. Now, commenting further on this issue, I would like to ask what the future of LSP teacher training should look like. I would like to ask Prof. Magdalena Sowa to address this issue first.

MS: I imagine that the future will see LSP teacher training earn a well-established position in teaching specialisation programmes. Moving forward, I would like LSP teacher preparation to become a full-time, separate course in teachers’ professional specialisation, as is the case at the Institute of Russian Studies at the University of Gdańsk that I have already mentioned. Speaking about the profession of a foreign language teacher, we raised such issues as preparation for the profession, recruitment criteria, ethos of the teacher, etc. I would like teacher training (either of general or specific language) to be not only one of many extensions of fields of study, which after all are quite limited in the number of professional specialisations available to students, but a separate and satisfactory offer of professional training allowing the teacher to get acquainted with the broadest possible spectrum of issues and to get ready for the task ahead, in the course of practising the profession in the future.

AS: And what will the future bring according to Prof. Gajewska?

EG: I will slightly distance myself here: due to my private penchant for specialist languages, I wish them the best; however, all of you will likely agree that this is not the career for every teacher. Although I am much in favour of ”letting a thousand flowers bloom” (in this case: letting everyone develop their interests), the specialist languages path is not for everyone. On the one hand, I dream of independent professional qualifications for LSP teachers as mentioned by the previous speaker, but on the other, I fear that their lack may disqualify excellent teaching practitioners, and above all, that such regulations will impose a rigid framework onto LSP teacher training. I would also like to add that LSP training will most likely develop online in the future. The Internet connects people that are scattered and solitary in their environments, as well as those with similar needs. This means that a group of interested people who have common specific educational needs but are unable to find like-minded individuals in their surroundings can communicate online.

One more thing: on the Internet, we can also find a place to educate teachers who are interested in teaching based on a needs analysis or in a selected type of specialist language. I participate in the ”Catapult” project that allows teachers to remotely develop competencies useful in LSP teaching. Overall, I do not know what the future of LSP teacher training will look like, but I think I know where it is heading.

AS: Thank you very much. What does the future hold according to Prof. Makowski?

JM: Referring to an earlier statement by Prof. Matulewska on the dynamics of market changes, the emergence of new industries, avoiding other professions and watching the sector I have spoken about today, I sense a growing bubble that may well burst at some point, with companies transferring 150,000 jobs to India or Ukraine ”overnight” and leaving behind 150,000 linguists out of work. That is why I think it is worth educating humanists. We are humanists ourselves and I believe that LSP teaching should become a permanent addition to the curricula of both classical philology and more specialised fields of study. I am inclined to equip graduates with tools that will allow them to adapt to market conditions and various changes that cannot be predicted just now.

AS: Thank you very much. Does Prof. Matulewska see the future in bright colours or not so much?

AM: I reckon that the didactic block in LSP teaching has already developed as an independent field, separate from the teaching methodology of general languages. What we are dealing with now is a flood of contributory articles on a wide variety of issues related to the problems of LSP languages. There are also studies in progress (that will hopefully see the light of day soon) on teaching specific competencies included among those mentioned by Prof. Makowski who listed five specialist language communicative competencies (basic language skills): writing, speaking, listening, reading and translating. I think that there will be scientific publications for teachers to learn how to teach individual skills, how to adapt and expand their skills and tools and start using them in practice in a flexible manner given the changes occurring in the market.

AS: Thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, thanks to this conference, many experts in the field of LSP education, specialist translation and LSP teacher training had a chance to gather (albeit virtually) in one place.

[1] Third Mission: the engagement of higher educational institutions in relations with non-academic communities and creating such relations as part of contribution to social development. Conducted i.a. by making research results available to the public and the popularisation of findings.

[2] Title of a novella by Stefan Żeromski which depicts the eponymous Strongwoman (Pol. Siłaczka), determined to pass the knowledge onto her students and the exemplar of positivist perserverance and idealism.

***

The needs of LSP teachers in the preparation and implementation of the didactic process. An attempt at diagnosis

Magdalena Sowa

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS)

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.28-52

Abstract: The starting point for programming a vocational language course is the identification of the learner’s needs. By focusing priority attention on the learners, the needs of the foreign language teacher should not be lost sight of, the satisfaction of which is in many cases crucial for the proper organization and successful implementation of the didactic process aimed at learning the language of a specific profession. In the text, an attempt will be made to diagnose the needs of specialist language teachers working in the Polish education system. The data illustrating the key problem are based on surveys conducted in the last five years among LSP teachers of Polish technical and vocational schools, as well as from the analysis of the Polish education system, in which foreign language teachers gain preparation for the profession and carry out their own teaching missio1n.

Keywords:

- teaching language for specific purposes (LSP)

- LSP teacher needs analysis

- needs analysis

- needs of LSP teachers

1. Introduction

Foreign language proficiency, especially in terms of one’s current or future professional activity, is a desirable competence for any employee. There is much evidence supporting this statement. Firstly, such requirements are stipulated in job advertisements offering employment, which highlight the required foreign language skills and proficiency level in the job profile of the candidate sought. In addition, employers often define the scope of professional activities that a given employee will conduct in a foreign language. Secondly, the top two competencies desired in graduates entering the labour market, as listed by the researched employers, are effective communication and speaking foreign languages (Budnikowski et al., 2012). To undertake professional activity, candidates with lower education also must speak a foreign language, as evidenced by such things as entries in documents regulating curricula in vocational education. The core curriculum for vocational education from 2012 (Journal of Laws 2012, item 184), defining the scope of the content and learning outcomes for secondary technical and sectoral schools, includes speaking a foreign language for professional communication among the basic competencies common to all professions and introduces compulsory learning of a professionally oriented foreign language at this stage of education.

The above factors translate into various motives and/or reasons prompting learners at various stages of their lives to learn a specialist foreign language (LSP)[1]. The needs underlying learning should be met during an adequately designed and implemented didactic process. It is worth recalling that activities consisting in identifying learners’ needs, defining learning goals, selecting content and choosing teaching and assessment techniques are undertaken by a teacher who must demonstrate an appropriate type and level of competence to properly implement them. This means that the didactic effectiveness of teachers is strongly related to the level of fulfilment of their own needs in the scope of knowledge and skills needed to prepare and implement LSP curricula (Sowa, 2020). Therefore, it should be stated that the needs of an LSP teacher are as important as the needs of the learners, yet the former has received relatively little attention in the subject literature so far. It can be noticed that the increased demand for LSP education is not accompanied by the same increased interest in the specificity of the work of specialist language teachers and the development of their professional competencies. The aim of this text is therefore to fill this gap, at least partially, by determining the level of competencies and diagnosing the type and scope of the needs of LSP teachers working in Polish technical and vocational secondary schools. The considerations presented in the text are based on the empirical material obtained from the survey conducted among teachers of various LSP, working in Polish secondary schools with a vocational/sectoral and technical profile (cf. section 3). To highlight the essence of the diagnosed needs, the presented survey data will be linked to the results of research on the analysis and diagnosis of the needs of LSP teachers in Polish secondary vocational and technical education, obtained by other researchers (Gajewska, 2020; Kościńska, 2020).

2. Factors determining the didactic activity of an LSP teacher

The specificity of teaching a specialist foreign language (LSP) makes it necessary to view the professional activity of a teacher (and thus also their teaching effectiveness) through the lens of many factors. The most important ones include the educational context in which the learning process takes place, the type and scope of activities that the teacher must or should undertake in the process, as well as the roles and tasks the quality of which attests to the level of the teacher’s professional competence. These elements are discussed in greater detail in the subsequent sections.

2.1. Educational context and LSP recipient profiles

The diversity of learners’ needs, so characteristic of LSP teaching, translates into a variety of learning goals. These, in turn, can be achieved in the course of education carried out in a non-uniform scope, at different levels, with different study times, and in different educational contexts. LSPs constitute an element of education and/or professional development that is present in the curricula of secondary schools (sectoral and technical), colleges and universities (as part of specialisation or modern language studies profile, or as a foreign language course), as well as in language course curricula proposed by vocational training centres, agencies of foreign educational and cultural institutions, and commercial language schools. A cursory review of educational contexts makes it possible to conclude that a teacher of a foreign language (also LSP), often employed at many entities at once, meets a very wide group of recipients whose profiles and needs determine the teaching procedure.

Potential profiles of LSP learners include:

- students of vocational/sectoral and/or technical schools who learn a foreign language appropriate for their sector (industry) of study while completing vocational training;

- students at technical, science and medical faculties who attend foreign language courses related to their field of study, preparing them for specialist communication in a foreign language;

- students at the humanities departments who undertake the study of a trade/professional language as part of the specialisation offered in a given field (e.g., specialisations or business modules implemented in language studies curricula);

- employees who take up basic or advanced LSP courses for professional reasons;

- employees who improve their general foreign language proficiency in the field of professional/specialist communication;

- economic migrants who learn to perform their professional duties in a foreign language while seeking employment in another country;

- persons who use the LSP education offer available on the market but do not have a precisely defined career plan (their goal is to develop language competencies to improve their employability prospects);

- persons who decide to participate in more or less specialised foreign language education or who want to diversify the language courses they participate in due to their own interests (cf. Mourlhon-Dallies, 2020)[2].

2.2. Elements of the LSP teaching process organisation

When analysing the concise list of learners’ profiles, one can notice clear differences in terms of their professionalisation level – e.g. there are school students and active employees; students of technical faculties and students of the humanities departments/language studies; employees who know the intricacies of their trades but do not speak a foreign language, and vice versa. Given the above, LSP teachers must select adequate didactic approaches that would allow them to meet the needs of their students in the most satisfactory way. They may consider choosing an approach focused on such things as the profession itself (law, hospitality industry, medicine, technology, etc.), on the language users themselves (their occupations, specialisations, positions), on language competencies common to many professions/professional activities, or on the integration of sector-specific and language content.

The character of the profile of the group the teacher works with, as well as its needs, also translate into the choice of teaching material (it is necessary to consider what language and in what scope to teach, what the ratio of the sector and sector-related content to the overall curriculum should be and more) and its didactic application in class. Although in many cases the teacher, who is not an expert in a given field, may rely on the professional competencies of the learners, this cannot be expected to be a universal pattern. Working with groups with a low level of specialisation (e.g., students of sectoral vocational schools, philology students, economic migrants) requires the teacher to possess good knowledge of how the given field functions, both in terms of professional practice and specialist communication.

Yet another problem is selecting teaching aids that will be adequate to the needs of learners and applicable during education. In teaching the language of more popular professions or industries (e.g. hospitality industry, tourism, business) or in groups of recipients that do not require high professional specialisation, the teacher has a better chance of both quickly ”mastering” the language of a given industry/sector (and possibly of gaining sector-specific knowledge), as well as finding teaching materials or teaching aids that can be used in the classroom without major modifications. More niche sectors (e.g. floristry, horse breeding) or professions requiring a high level of specialisation (wood technology, architecture renovation, CNC machining[3]) prove more problematic when FL teachers are unfamiliar with their specifics and have no access to ready-made teaching materials. Teachers facing such challenges are forced to search for source information on their own, and to analyse the relevant linguistic and/or professional elements contained therein, and afterwards develop didactic materials adequate to the profile and requirements of the learners.

The variety of profiles and needs of recipients requires that elements related to learning the language and understanding the specificity of the professional area be included in the target education programme to a different degree and at different levels. Recipients’ profiles and needs are also important when choosing the right didactic approach, designing the curriculum and teaching materials. Depending on where, with whom and under what conditions the learner works, the teacher’s actions regarding the choice of the curriculum or didactic material may include:

- introducing minor adaptations to readily available textbooks or materials;

- supplementing general language curricula with vocational elements;

- comprehensive development of language education programmes tailored to specific recipients with professional needs (Gajewska and Sowa, 2014).

2.3. Professional competencies of an LSP teacher

Regardless of the circumstances of planning and conducting LSP classes (i.e. whether it is necessary to develop the curriculum from scratch, supplement or modify accessible materials, or use what is already available), every involvement in the teaching process activates various areas of professional competence on the part of the teacher – both those relating to the subject itself (linguistic and/or sector-specific knowledge and skills), as well as to the organisation and implementation of the teaching process (methodology).

While the scope of the teacher’s competencies is broadly defined in the subject literature (Ferguson, 1997; Master, 1997, 2005; Jordan, 2000; Alexander, 2012; Hall, 2013; Gajewska and Sowa, 2014; Campion, 2016; Bocanegra-Valle and Basturkmen, 2019), three key types of competencies essentially predominate, i.e. those in the field of foreign language proficiency, LSP teaching methodology and the professional field. Adequate mastery of the foreign language taught must be supported by the ability to create and conduct language classes in accordance with LSP teaching rules. This set of competencies should also include knowledge (even minimal) of a given professional field and its FL resources.

The professional competence of LSP teachers is closely related to the diverse nature of the roles they take on and the tasks they conduct while preparing and delivering language classes. These tasks may include creating an appropriate syllabus and/or curriculum, providing teaching materials, working with others, conducting one’s own research, as well as evaluating classes, materials, and student progress (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998; Belcher, 2006; Woodrow, 2017). Many authors declare that the LSP teacher is: a teacher, researcher, creator (author) and evaluator simultaneously (Belcher, 2006; Basturkmen, 2010, 2014; Hall, 2013; Parpette, 2017), as evidenced by the broad spectrum of roles presented in the Scheme 1.

Scheme 1. Roles of an LSP teacher

Source: Own study based on Woodrow (2017).

3. LSP teachers in Polish vocational and technical schools – research presentation

Considering the complexity of the activities of the LSP teacher and the resulting variety of roles, the development of specific competencies needed for teaching requires appropriate preparation to work with groups with specific needs and professional goals. Even in the case of a single group selected based on the previously indicated learner profiles, i.e., students of sectoral vocational and technical schools (see point 2.1), a teacher of professionally oriented foreign language[4], a subject that is obligatory at this stage of education, faces various challenges. A brief look at the provisions of the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 16 May 2019 on the core curricula for vocational education arranged by sector and additional vocational skills for selected occupations identified within vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 991), makes it possible to conclude that the legislator has set the number of hours of LSP education assigned for selected professions (e.g. 64 hours for an assistant to a film and television production manager, 30 hours for a concrete placer). The Regulation also specifies the type of language appropriate for the trained profession (e.g. German in the profession of a construction technician and piano and grand piano tuning technician, English in the profession of a sound technician, or any LSP in the profession of a carpenter or roofer). This information alone implies that education in vocational and technical schools presupposes learning a foreign language (FL) oriented towards outcomes and needs different from those specific to general language education. Moreover, different numbers of hours assigned to language training in individual professions make it impossible to plan and uniformly implement the teaching content in each class. Hence, the teacher must possess extensive methodological skills.

Foreign language teacher training (as in the case of any other subject) is currently defined in the Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 25 July 2019 on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1450)[5]. The legal act specifies the conditions of educating teachers at all school subjects but in no way accounts for the specific nature of the work of FL teachers[6]. It is worth noting that the legislator paid little attention to the issues of preparing teachers to work with groups with professional goals and needs. The detailed aspects of the design of teacher education curricula have been left to the discretion of the centres involved in the preparation of candidates for FL (and LSP) teacher positions.

3.1. Research on the needs of LSP teachers – general data

When reflecting on the professional competencies of teachers, on the one hand, it is worth making a more in-depth analysis of the specific nature of the work of specialist language teachers (referred to here as ”LSP”), sanctioned with the provisions of the aforementioned Regulation of the Ministry of National Education (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 991), and on the other hand, the (self)assessment of the level of methodological and linguistic preparation of LSP teachers and their possible needs in the field of professional development. Therefore, between 2016 and 2018[7], a questionnaire survey was conducted[8] on a deliberately selected research sample comprising only LSP teachers working in sectoral vocational and technical schools throughout Poland[9].

The original form designed for the study contained 20 sentences to which the teachers were to respond by ticking one of the values on a 1–5 scale. On the one hand, the sentences included in the questionnaire referred to the content of teaching and typical tasks that LSP teachers should perform as part of the teaching process (sentences 7, 9, 11 and 14); on the other, they were to direct the respondents’ attention to the assessment of the educational context appropriate for their work (sentences 1, 3, 6, 10, 13, 15, 17 and 18) and the level of their own competence in the field of LSP teaching (sentences 2, 4, 5, 8, 12, 16, 19 and 20). An open-ended question requiring a longer answer was also added to the list, which made it possible to learn about the specific needs of teachers, which – according to the respondents – should be met as soon as possible.

The online survey questionnaire was sent to potential respondents who gave and sent their answers anonymously. The data underlying the presented study comes from 98 questionnaires[10] completed by LSP teachers from all over Poland, teaching various foreign languages[11] in many industries[12]. This text considers only the replies of respondents who best correspond to the goal set out in the introduction, i.e. the (self)assessment of LSP teachers’ competencies and the diagnosis of their needs in the field of professional (self)development. Conclusions presented in the further part of the article are therefore a derivative of the answers provided by 98 respondents in relation to ten statements (contained in sentences 2, 4, 5, 8, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20) of the survey questionnaire and to one open-ended question (21).

3.2. Professional training of LSP teachers

At the beginning of the analysis of the results, it should be noted that the teachers participating in the survey express mixed feelings about their preparation to conduct LSP lessons, as shown in Figure 1. Teachers’ answers are evenly distributed – about 38% claim that they are fully prepared to conduct LSP lessons while about 36% believe that they are not. Many (about 26%) deem their preparation average or have no opinion. On the other hand, the majority agrees that the higher education system does not prepare for teaching a language in vocational schools (a total of 62% respondents chose ”no” and ”definitely not”).

Figure 1. Preparation of LSP teachers (n = 98)

Source: Own study.

Disproportions between the general satisfaction of teachers with their own readiness to engage in LSP teaching and the level of preparation resulting from received higher education stem from their professional self-improvement. Teachers’ competencies enabling relatively good preparation for conducting LSP lessons are there largely due to the teachers’ linguistic and/or didactic (self)education, which is already evident during their professional activity and very often after receiving information on the professional profile of learners (see Gajewska, 2020[13]; Kościńska, 2020[14]).

Further, research by Elżbieta Gajewska (2020) shows that many teachers (9/24) confuse specialist English (language learning) classes with classes on teaching specialist languages. This leads to the conclusion that the content of LSP teaching methodology is not commonly discussed in preparation for the profession of a foreign language teacher[15] and that the respondents were not introduced to that type of class at various stages of their education.

3.3. Self-assessment of LSP teachers’ competencies

Although the higher education system insufficiently implements issues related to LSP teaching methodology in FL teacher curricula, it can be concluded that the surveyed LSP teachers are doing relatively well by compensating for the deficiencies in the language and/or methodological competencies on their own.

Based on the answers provided in the questionnaire, it should be stated that the respondents correctly identify tasks undertaken by an LSP teacher at various stages of the didactic process and positively respond to the level of their own competencies in the implementation of these tasks. The self-assessment of selected components of linguistic competence (knowledge of the language and culture of the professional area) and didactic competence (needs analysis, creation of didactic materials, implementation of the didactic process) was positive, although there were many neutral answers (between ”yes” and ”no”).

Figure 2. Self-assessment of selected components of the professional competence of LSP teachers (n = 98)

Source: Own study.

While some concerns were indicated with respect to the teachers’ familiarity with language practices appropriate in the professional context (37% negative answers as compared to 28% neutral and 32% positive ones), teachers seem to compensate for this with a better understanding of cultural differences in the work environment (39 % positive answers, 32% neutral and 27% negative ones). They state that they can prepare learners to perform professional activities in a foreign language quite effectively (49% answered ”yes” and ”definitely yes” and 34% chose ”neutral”) using teaching materials that they can create on their own (67% answered ”yes” and ”definitely yes”; 23% picked ”neutral”). Although an overwhelming number of the teachers surveyed have a problem with identifying tools for analysing learners’ needs (41% chose ”neutral” and 21% picked ”no” and ”definitely not”), most of them claim to know how to develop such instruments for their own use (59 % chose ”yes” and ”definitely yes”; 29% opted for ”neutral”).

Gajewska (2020) also points to LSP teachers (of the English language) self-assessing their teaching competencies as high. Respondents participating in her questionnaire study assessed their own teaching competencies as ”good” (12/24) and ”very good” (3/24). Eight persons were moderately satisfied, while only one considered their competencies to be insufficient.

3.4. LSP teachers’ needs

Based on the data presented in Figure 2, it can be concluded that LSP teachers are doing well and do not need assistance in preparing and/or implementing LSP classes. However, the relatively high self-assessed linguistic and didactic competencies do not mean that LSP teachers refrain from self-improvement activities. Statement no. 17 from the questionnaire form, concerning the demand for thematic and targeted training in LSP teaching methodology, met with a decidedly affirmative response (84% ”yes” and ”definitely yes” answers).

Figure 3. Demand for LSP teaching courses/training (n = 98)

Source: Own study.

According to the surveyed teachers, there is too little training and courses on LSP teaching available. Among the training needs for teachers (defined in survey question 21), the improvement of competencies in the field of sector-specific knowledge and LSP teaching seems to be the most important (48% answers).

Figure 4. Specific needs of LSP teachers (n = 98)

Source: Own study.

Training aimed at developing skills related to the creation of teaching materials for classroom work and for students’ own use at home seems to be particularly necessary[16] (38% answers). Almost two-fifths of the respondents (37%) call for access to ready-made teaching materials for various sectors (e.g., in the form of textbooks), which should be modern, relevant to examination requirements, and attractive for both students and teachers.

A small percentage of the respondents (less than 10%) formulate their needs in relation to the financial conditions under which LSP teaching in secondary schools takes place. Teachers see the need to supply multimedia equipment, dictionaries and modern learning aids, and they also call for an increase in the number of LSP class hours. They believe that it would also be desirable to collaborate more closely with teachers of vocational subjects who could assist them in expanding their sector-specific knowledge and improving their understanding of a given industry.

Answers to the open-ended question also indicate that some LSP teachers would like to see more support from methodological advisors, the inclusion of LSP teaching classes in higher education curricula, as well as the recognition of the specific nature their work and the development and implementation of the selection criteria for the teaching profession.

4. Conclusions and proposals

The data obtained from the questionnaire study on the competencies and needs of LSP teachers leads to quite alarming conclusions. First, it should be stated that most teachers did not acquire the appropriate LSP teaching competencies during their professional university training. It is their commitment and determination that motivate teachers to invest time and energy in self-study to undertake LSP teaching and meet the demands of the subject-specific learning process. Therefore, one may conclude that the inclusion of LSP teaching classes in higher education curricula is not indispensable as teachers can fill the gaps in their professional skillsets on their own.

The surveyed LSP teachers assess their own skills as rather high – enabling the proper and effective organisation and implementation of the teaching process. On the other hand, among the training priorities, they indicate areas that they believe to be sufficiently or well developed (e.g., the ability to develop teaching materials). Although teachers claim that they can prepare teaching aids on their own according to the profile of students and the requirements of the teaching process, they also express the need for additional training and improvement of the professional workshop.

What could be the reasons for such a discrepancy in the assessment of skills and needs? Among the important causes is the dynamics of LSP teachers’ work context in general. The educational offer proposed by virtually all LSP education centres is very dynamic and changes from year to year. It is strongly conditioned by the evolving needs of the market which dictates either more or less favourable conditions for language teaching in respective sectors. To secure the appropriate number of students, training centres prepare offers of language classes in terms of the field/industry/profession currently in demand – and this varies from year to year. Consequently, each year LSP teachers must prepare for a new curriculum targeted at a ”new” profession/sector. Moreover, research results indicate that in many cases one teacher teaches a foreign language specific to different industries/professions. A single teacher may simultaneously work with various professional profiles and different language needs groups, oftentimes in different educational contexts (school and external courses, LSP and FL courses, etc.). The variability of parameters that determine how and what teachers have to teach in a given year, which affects what they have to learn on their own (as they miss prior formal preparation), may explain their need for a relatively solid resource base (ready-to-use teaching materials, exercises and textbooks) for use in case of a sudden change of curricula, a significant number of classes or the impossibility of developing their own exercises. It is worth emphasising that the preparation of an LSP learning unit requires substantial work, time and commitment input[17]. Considering the variability of parameters influencing the education offered, as well as various limitations of the teachers (e.g. organisational, institutional, individual, family or financial), it is impossible to develop original teaching material for all classes and at a short notice. It can also be assumed that for some respondents, the teaching aids received during training or workshops may serve as a model to refer to in the course of their own work or possibly as proof of the correctness of their intuitive choices, or a reference point for verification or modification.

Moreover, the didactic and/or language skills that LSP teachers have developed independently in the course of their work (based on the experience of their colleagues or their own) certainly require approval by experts in a given professional field or the field of LSP teaching/methodology. It can be presumed that teachers would welcome confirmation of the legitimacy or effectiveness of the adopted method of work, provided by an expert in a given field. They would also appreciate feedback on the revision of their own actions or expert guidance on how to teach and/or how to do it better. Perhaps this explains the willingness of teachers to participate in training and work under the guidance of specialists who could endorse their approach or encourage them to modify it.

While the teaching needs of Polish LSP teachers are not the only ones expressed by the teaching community, such needs are certainly vital expectations that affect the FL teachers’ education curricula developed in Poland. In light of the research results presented above, it seems that classes devoted to LSP teaching should be urgently included in these curricula, which would allow future educators to gain at least elementary knowledge on the specifics of teaching groups with professional needs and learn about possible ways of working with them. Of course, such preparation (undoubtedly within a limited time frame) will not provide a ready-made course of action for every possible vocational context. While it is difficult to adjust teacher training programmes in terms of the exact language and field of their future professional activity, it is certainly much easier to predict the type and scope of didactic tasks undertaken and implemented by LSP teachers, regardless of the field they are going to teach in. Therefore, in the course of their professional preparation, it is worth focusing on shaping didactic competencies related to the tasks carried out by teachers at various stages of the didactic process (including needs analysis and development of the general curriculum, obtaining source materials and their didactic adaptation in terms of learners’ needs, developing teaching techniques in relation to specific FL educational objectives and professional tasks, selecting forms and criteria of evaluation). The presence of LSP teaching methodology elements in LSP teachers’ training programmes by no means guarantees the complete professional preparation to work with all student profiles and in all possible educational contexts. However, taking those elements into account during professional training, even partially, allows future teachers to focus on how LSP teaching differs from general language teaching, and thus recognise the role of didactic competencies in the teacher’s professional skill set.

It seems necessary to intensify efforts in the scope of organising training and workshops for professionally active teachers – not only under the auspices of educational publishing houses but above all universities and educational centres, as well as teacher training centres. As part of these classes, experts from various industries and FL educators could collaborate with teachers on the didactic adaptation of specific aspects of learning a sector-specific language. Yet another vital initiative could be the presentation of experiences of the teachers themselves, who could share their achievements, successes and proven, independently developed techniques, as they are the ones who best know the reality of their work.

References

Alexander, O. (2012). Exploring teacher beliefs in teaching EAP at low proficiency levels. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11, 99–111.

Basturkmen, H. (2010). Developing courses in English for specific purposes. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Basturkmen, H. (2014). LSP teacher education: Review of literature and suggestions for the research agenda. Ibérica, 28, 17–34.

Belcher, D. (2006). English for Specific Purposes: Teaching to perceived needs and imagined futures in worlds of work, study, and everyday life. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 133–156.

Bocanegra-Valle, A., Basturkmen, H. (2019). Investigating the teacher education needs of experiences ESP teachers in Spanish universities. Ibérica, 38, 127–150.

Budnikowski, A., Dąbrowski, D., Gąsior, U., Macioł, S. (2012). Pracodawcy o poszukiwanych kompetencjach i kwalifikacjach absolwentów uczelni – wyniki badania. E-mentor, 46(4), 4–17.

Campion, G. (2016). The learning never ends: Exploring teachers’ views on the transition from general English to EAP. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 23, 59–70.

Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M. J. (1998). Developments in ESP. A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ferguson, G. (1997). Teacher education and LSP: The role of specialised knowledge. In: R. Howard, G. Brown (eds.), Teacher education for ESP (pp. 80–89). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Gajewska, E. (2020). Qui enseigne l’anglais aux futurs éleveurs de chevaux? Le profil des enseignants d’Anglais sur Objectifs Spécifiques dans le Cloud éducatif de Małopolska. In: M. Sowa (ed.), In search of the LSP teacher’s competencies. A la recherche des compétences des enseignants de LS (pp. 157–172). Berlin: Peter Lang.

Gajewska, E. i Sowa, M. (2014). LSP, FOS, Fachsprache… Dydaktyka języków specjalistycznych. Lublin: Werset.

Hall, D. R. (2013). Teacher education in languages for specific purposes. In: C. A. Chapelle (ed.), Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 5537–5542). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Jordan, R. R. (2000). EAP: The human dimension – Changes, difficulties & needs. IATEFL ESP SIG Newsletter, 17, 17–21.

Kościńska, A. (2020). Doskonalenie nauczycieli języków obcych ukierunkowanych zawodowo – nowe perspektywy i wyzwania. Unpublished doctoral dissertation prepared under the supervision of prof. Małgorzata Pamuła-Behrens and defended at the Pedagogical University of Krakow on 28 January 2020.

Master, P. (1997). ESP Teacher education in USA. In: R. Howard, G. Brown (eds.), Teacher education for ESP (pp. 22–40). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Master, P. (2005). English for specific purposes. In: E. Hinkel (ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 99–115). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Mourlhon-Dallies, F. (2020). Enseigner le français de spécialité : entre injonction à la professionnalisation et tendance à une moindre spécialisation. In: M. Sowa (ed.), In search of the LSP teacher’s competencies. A la recherche des compétences des enseignants de LS (pp. 17–32). Berlin: Peter Lang.

Parpette, Ch. (2017). Le Français sur Objectif Spécifique : entre utilité et faisabilité. In: M. Sowa, J. Krajka (eds.), Innovations in languages for specific purposes. Present challenges and future promises (pp. 53–64). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Sowa, M. (2020) (ed.). In search of the LSP teacher’s competencies. A la recherche des compétences des enseignants de LS. Berlin: Peter Lang.

Woodrow, L. (2017). Introducing course design in English for specific purposes. London: Routledge.

Legal acts

Rozporządzenie Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego z dnia 17 stycznia 2012 r. w sprawie standardów kształcenia przygotowującego do wykonywania zawodu nauczyciela (Dz.U. 2012 poz. 131) [Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 17 January 2012 on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 131)].

Rozporządzenia Ministra Edukacji Narodowej z dnia 7 lutego 2012 r. w sprawie podstawy programowej kształcenia w zawodach (Dz.U. 2012 poz. 184) [Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 7 February 2012 on the core curriculum for vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 184)].

Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji Narodowej z dnia 31.03.2017 r. w sprawie podstawy programowej kształcenia w zawodach (Dz.U. 2017 poz. 860) [Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 31 March 2017 on the core curriculum for vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 860)].

Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji Narodowej z dnia 16.05.2019 r. w sprawie podstawy programowej kształcenia w zawodach szkolnictwa branżowego oraz dodatkowych umiejętności zawodowych w zakresie wybranych zawodów szkolnictwa branżowego (Dz.U. 2019 poz. 991) [Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 16 May 2019 on the core curricula for vocational education arranged by sector and additional vocational skills for selected occupations identified within vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 991)].

Rozporządzenie Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego z dnia 25 lipca 2019 r. w sprawie standardu kształcenia przygotowująceg o do wykonywania zawodu nauczyciela (Dz.U. 2019 poz. 1450) [Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 25 July 2019 on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1450)].

Annex

QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire concerns the teaching of foreign languages in schools with vocational profiles. Its results will be used in the ongoing research project and will make it possible to formulate operational conclusions for LSP teaching.

The survey is anonymous. Thank you very much for your willingness to participate in the survey and for providing reliable answers.

Please specify the elements listed below that characterise the educational context relevant to you.

Please express your opinion by checking the answer box (1–5) that best illustrates your opinion, according to the following scale:

1 – definitely not; 2 – probably not; 3 – neutral/I don’t know; 4 – probably yes; 5 – definitely yes.

[1] For the purposes of this text which deals with the concept of a specialist/vocational/professional foreign language for professional needs or purposes in a didactic context (i.e. teaching the language of a given discipline or professional community), these terms will be used interchangeably.

[2] The author points out that new formulas of language classes, courses and workshops are available in recent years, combining learning a foreign language with developing other interests or passions of learners. An example is the French gastronomy workshops “Cours de français et cuisine”, “La pâtisserie des rêves”, “French Cooking & Gastronomy Workshops”, “French and wine testing”, which integrate learning the language of the country with culinary initiation and tasting.

[3] Computerised Numerical Control (CNC) – material manufacturing technology using a precise computer-controlled machine.

[4] Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 7 February 2012 on the core curriculum for vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 184) defines the learning outcomes common to all professions and treats LSP as one of obligatory elements of apprenticeship, listing it among the education results relating to all professions. Mastering the language of professional communication is to allow the student to: "carry out professional tasks with the help of linguistic means (lexical, grammatical, spelling and phonetic); interpret statements concerning the performance of typical professional activities; analyse and interpret short written texts concerning the performance of typical professional activities; formulate short and understandable statements and written texts enabling communication in the work environment; as well as to use foreign-language sources of information” (Journal of Laws of 2012, items 184, 22–23). The same provision on learning outcomes for LSP was included in the more recent Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 31 March 2017 on the core curriculum for vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 860). A more extensive and detailed description of the results is contained only in the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 16 May 2019 on the core curricula for vocational education arranged by sector and additional vocational skills for selected occupations identified within vocational education (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 991).

[5] One of the previous legal acts on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession includes the Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 17 January 2012 on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 131).

[6] “Teaching preparation for the teaching profession during studies includes substantive and pedagogical preparation. Pedagogical preparation includes psychological and pedagogical preparation as well as didactic preparation. Didactic preparation includes the basics of teaching and voice emission as well as didactic preparation for teaching a subject or conducting classes”.

[7] Relatively extended period of the research results from the difficulties in reaching a representative number of respondents and obtaining the largest possible number of fully completed questionnaires.

[8] Survey form is provided at the end of the chapter.

[9] Proper study was preceded by a pilot study involving 33 LSP teachers working in vocational and technical schools in Lublin Province. It made it possible to evaluate the validity of the statements proposed in the survey. Modifications to the research tool used, introduced after the pilot, consisted in clarifying selected phrases and changing the order of survey questions.

[10] In total, 108 questionnaires were collected during the study. However, 10 of them were excluded from further analysis as they contained incomplete or off topic answers (e.g. regarding general foreign language teaching).

[11] Respondents included teachers of English (79), German (9), Russian (5), French (4) and Spanish (1).

[12] The following industries (professional fields) were represented: IT/ICT (23 teachers); economics and mechanics (18 each); hospitality industry (16); logistics (15); gastronomy, tourism, tourist service (10 each); construction, electrical engineering, mechatronics, advertising (9 each); hairdressing, commerce (8 each); electronics, agriculture, food technology (7 each); shipping (6); landscaping architecture, mining, port and airport service (5 each); cook and mechanisation of agriculture (4 each) geodesy, graphics, horse breeding (2 each); and administration, agribusiness, chemistry, journalism and social communication, floristry, waitressing, accounting, medicine, brickwork, CNC machining, renewable energy, gardening, nursing, dairy processing, architectural renovation, carpentry, locksmithing, wood technology, telecommunications, veterinary medicine (1 each).

[13] Survey conducted by Elżbieta Gajewska on a sample of 24 teachers of vocational English participating in the project "Małopolska Chmura Edukacyjna" (Education Cloud of Małopolska) in the 2018/2019 school year showed that the competences of LSP teachers are largely the result of their self-improvement efforts. Only five from the respondents teaching English in several industries simultaneously declared that they knew the sector-specific language before starting work with the group. In remaining cases, learning/exploring the specificity of the language took place while working with the students.

[14] Based on 138 questionnaires completed by LSP teachers in Małopolskie and Podkarpackie Provinces, Kościńska concluded that teachers self-improved their language competencies in the field of health care (130 out of 138 respondents) and teaching (in various areas; to a different extent; with varying results).

[15] The scope of preparation of foreign language teachers for LSP teaching and the absence/presence of LSP/LSP teaching methodology classes in university curricula for foreign language teachers were analysed in a detailed study whose results were thoroughly discussed in Gajewska, Sowa and Kic-Drgas (2020).

[16] NB: The research by Agnieszka Kościńska (2020) indicates that expectations of LSP teachers regarding forms of training in which they would like to participate are reflected by their wish to receive ready-to-use exercises pertinent to their field (94%), as well as to develop exercises while in training (83.3%).

[17] Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998, p. 172) draw attention to the time-consuming preparation of original teaching materials: according to their estimates one hour of effective classes requires up to 15 hours of own work input.

***

Preparing a philologist for specialized communication: LSP and specialized translation

Elżbieta Gajewska

Pedagogical University of Kraków

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.54-109

ABSTRACT: In the market economy, philology graduates are more and more often employed in enterprises. For this reason, universities include preparation for professional communication in their philology programs. During the studies, the philologist can meet specialist varieties of the studied language through classes of practical learning of specialized languages, but also during classes of specialized translations. The study covers the education programs of the six most popular philologies (English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Italian) at 22 Polish universities. The aim of this article is to compare the presence of classes focused on the practical learning of specialist languages and classes in specialized translation in philological studies programs at Polish universities: the occurrence of such classes and their thematic scope. The conclusions are an attempt to reflect on the competences that graduates gain from particular types of classes.

KEYWORDS:

- LSP

- specialized translation

- philology

- study programs

- philologists’ education

1. Introduction

In the market economy, graduates of language studies are more frequently employed in enterprises. Recognising this opportunity and responding to it, universities are including preparation for professional communication, otherwise referred to as ”specialised” communication, in language studies curricula. During studies, philologists may come across specialised varieties of studied languages (language for specific purposes, henceforth referred to as LSP) as part of practical LSP classes (in Polish: praktyczna nauka języka specjalistycznego/PNJS) (whereas Polish abbreviation PNJO/praktyczna nauka języka obcego stands for practical foreign language classes), although not only – in language studies curricula the adjective ”specialised” also appears in the names of classes in translation.

Specialised translation (ST) is one of the competences often expected from employees hired by an enterprise because of their knowledge of a foreign language. Translation studies (or translatology) is a separate field of studies, hence classes in specialised translation should not be fully identified with classes focused on mastering the skills of using a foreign language in professional situations. At the same time, however, one can realistically assume that classes in translation of specialist texts familiarise students with the professional communication and provide language skills.

A language student prepares for a professional career in business by selecting courses from the studies’ curriculum. The study includes curricula of six most popular language studies (in alphabetical order: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish)[1] at 22 Polish universities[2] (see Appendices 1 and 2). These entities were chosen because this type of a higher education institution – a university – has traditionally been a place where philological education is acquired. In further publications, the study may be extended to include higher vocational schools that also offer language studies but – at least theoretically – of a more vocational nature. For this reason, comparing the offer of both types of educational institutions could lead to interesting observations.

The analysis covered the curricula of language studies and applied linguistics – the primary place for educating philologists[3]. Philology is a branch of the humanities ”covering the study of language and its products, including literature or culture of a given nation”[4]. The progressing diversification of educational programmes in individual centres and their modification resulted in the fact that on a national scale, language studies have become quite heterogeneous in terms of curriculum: especially ”the so-called reformed faculties of modern languages are by no means uniform – neither from the point of view of the fields studied, nor from the point of view of the curricula they implement” (Grucza, 1988/2017, p. 230). In addition to the aforementioned language studies, the other path of modern language studies is applied linguistics, which has been developing since the 1960s. It is widely perceived that its characteristic element is not only the parallel education in two foreign languages[5] but also the practical dimension of the educational offer, i.e. the applied aspect of language knowledge and skills (Prokop and Kic-Drgas, 2018), which prepares primarily to the profession of a translator.

The research is based on secondary data obtained mainly from the entities’ websites. The analysis presented below is based on the curricula available online as well as the accompanying relevant syllabuses. The aim of this article is to compare the presence of practical LSP classes and classes in specialised translation in language studies curricula at Polish universities: the occurrence of such classes and their thematic scope. The study is supplemented with a summary which is an attempt to reflect on learning outcomes expected for each type of course. As this text is written from the point of view of language education, it will primarily reflect on those aspects of ST courses that could possibly improve LSP teaching and learning.

2. LSP and ST in language studies curricula

Data relating to the presence of language for specific purposes and specialised translation classes in language studies curricula are difficult to express in specific numerical values due to the wide variety of options. Problems with quantitative analysis are related to, inter alia, factors such as:

- multiple options with limited choice (a student may select, for example, two out of several proposed courses);

- availability of the course in a given year (a certain number of interested students is required to start classes);

- various numbers of teaching hours (from 15 to 120 hours of classes, distributed intensively or extensively throughout one or several semesters);

- combining several LSP/ST in one course (such as, for example, ”language of economy and finance” or ”legal and economic translations”); there are also courses generally referred to as ”language for specific purposes” or ”specialised translation”, with very different content;

- greater or lesser narrowing of the area of specialised communication or specialised translation (see, for example, border traffic management- -related language and customs– related communication in air traffic, ”translation of legal texts” and ”translation of business law texts”);

- comparability of designated areas of specialised communication: some of the terms are the so–called umbrella terms (Frendo, 2005) (is the ”business” language/translation course the same as the ”economic” language/translation course?);

- overlapping of the objectives of individual LSP/ST courses: some ST courses contain LSP elements (e.g. legal translation courses with elements of legal language) and vice versa (LSP courses with aspects relating to specialised translation among the learning outcomes).

The indicated problems make it challenging (or even impossible) to prepare an in-depth quantitative analysis. Nevertheless, even a general overview of the obtained results shows interesting phenomena that may affect specialised language skills acquired by language students.

Educational offers (see Appendices 1 and 2) include curricula with only LSP courses, only ST courses, or both. It is sometimes possible to choose from different options available within one higher education institution for individual language studies, as in the presented example (see Table 1).

Table 1. LSP and ST at language studies and at applied linguistics, first and second cycle degree programmes (KUL – The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin)[6]

Source: Own study.

As one might see, within one university, decisions on the curricula of different language studies are made autonomously by respective units (institutes or departments). Individual curricula – as indicated in the introduction – may differ significantly. In the case of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Table 1), some of the proposed courses include only LSP classes (first cycle language degree programmes), others have more LSP courses than ST classes (three second cycle language degree programmes), others still offer a balanced proportion of both types of classes (applied linguistics) or consist exclusively of ST courses (two second cycle language degree programmes).

The chosen example suggests that the first cycle degree programmes focus on practical communication in a professional context (varieties of LSP) rather than translation, however, the compilation of the data for all universities included in the research show that it is not always the case (see Table 2).

Table 2. LSP and ST classes in language studies and in applied linguistics, first and second cycle degree programmes[7]

As part of the first cycle language degree programme, in addition to 36 fields of study focusing on developing specialised communication skills only, a comparable number of fields of study (34) offer both LSP classes and specialised translation classes. LSP and ST classes are logically correlated to a different degree, as shown by both the data from the appendices and from Table 2 – the author will elaborate on this further in the article. A relatively rare option, however, is the introduction of specialised translation classes only in a first cycle degree programme (8 cases). It is a reasonable choice, as translation education is related to the level of language proficiency: it can hardly be assumed that such classes are conducted with students taking up their foreign language studies at a beginner level, which is the case at most language studies departments except English[8]. The proportions change significantly in a second cycle degree programmes: curricula including LSP + ST (44%) and exclusively ST (36%) classes are predominant. ST classes are also often taught in applied linguistics: 39.5% and 44% in first cycle and second cycle degree programmes, respectively. At the same time, it can be concluded that most of the linguistic courses provide either a wider or more narrow range of LSP classes, either separately or with ST courses (first cycle: 14% + 46.5, second cycle: 25% + 31%).

The example of universities discussed earlier (Table 1) shows that the average data may differ from the choices made by the authors of specific options for philological education. Are there any trends in the extreme choices: the predominance of LSP or ST classes? Despite former reservations, one might formulate a cautious hypothesis. Practice-based language studies focus on teaching LST. An example of this tendency are fields of study offered at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Opole (UO). Many of these fields of study focus on practical rather than general academic elements. In addition to classical philology, there are also fields of study focusing on preparation for linguistic activity in a specific sector, e.g., Foreign languages in public service, Foreign languages in the service sector, Foreign languages in diplomacy, Business language, English in public communication or English in tourism. Interestingly, the names of many fields of study do not include information on specific languages taught within a given offer, prompting the interpretation that the student primarily chooses the sector of activity rather than the language or languages she or he will learn.

Table 3. LSP classes in language studies University of Opole (UO)

Source: Own study.

Table 4. ST classes in language studies, University of Opole (UO)

Source: Own study.

This focus on ‘profession’ is associated with preparation for specialised communication rather than specialised translation, as can be seen by comparing the number and variety of classes in each category (see Tables 3 and 4[9]). The offer of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Opole stands out from other universities. However, the fact that the focus on LSP seems to be linked to the emphasis on the practical area of a particular language field of study is also true for some other institutions (see Appendices 1 and 2) – those with a shorter tradition, wishing to enrol students thanks to an attractive offer, not the university prestige. An example may be the fields of study preparing for FL use ”in border traffic management” (UMCS – Maria Curie-Skłodowska University) or ”in border traffic and airport management” (UR – University of Rzeszów).

In the context of educating future philologists, the reverse tendency seems to be significant, i.e. the predominance of translation classes. It is clearly visible in the curricula of language studies and applied linguistics of the University of Gdańsk (UG) and the Jagiellonian University (UJ) (Tables 5 and 6).

Table 5. LSP classes in language studies at University of Gdańsk (UG) and Jagiellonian University (UJ)

Source: Own study.

Table 6. ST classes in language studies at University of Gdańsk (UG) and Jagiellonian University (UJ)

Source: Own study.

The presented overview shows again the great diversity of educational institutions’ offer in the field of specialised aspects of communication or translation. In the presented case, graduates of the selected language studies of the University of Gdańsk and the Jagiellonian University dealt with specialised areas of communication (almost) only in terms of translation.

3. Scope of LSP and ST proposed to philologists

Apart from the issue of viewing the so-called LSP as (sub)languages, lexicons or discourses (Gajewska and Sowa, 2014, pp. 18–25), they are usually categorised in relation to the field of use. The horizontal division according to the reference topic (Kocourek, 1982, p. 26) became ingrained in the collective imagination due to the simplicity of this classification and the ease of its application. Unfortunately, both the simplicity and the ease of use in the case of the classification of the field are only apparent. The application of the thematic criterion may be questioned due to the lack of a strict delimitation of individual fields (Eurin Balmet and Henao de Legge, 1992, p. 57), the arbitrariness of fields systematics (Lewandowski, 2002), as well as the flow of terms or genres between fields of knowledge or human activity (Lerat, 1995, p. 19). Nevertheless, the concept of a field-specific language (e.g. the language of business) or a profession-specific language (e.g. English for physiotherapists) is a construct useful in didactic practice where it is used in the titles of textbooks or the names of courses, including academic courses.

The most popular varieties of LSP are business, legal, tourism and hospitality (hotel industry) languages. However, the comprehensive offer language studies at Polish universities is much richer and includes sometimes not-obvious courses.

Table 7. LSP types[10] included in language studies and applied linguistics curricula of selected universities

Source: Own study.

As it results from the analysis of Appendices 1 and 2, the frequency of occurrence of particular varieties of LSPs or STs in the offer of universities differs. In addition, not every discourse can be didactical from both perspectives – foreign language teaching and translation. The data presented above (see Tables 2–5) show that the course in the selected LSP and the relevant ST do not have to be included in the same curriculum. For example, in the KUL curricula presented in Table 1, students of language studies who improve their knowledge of French and Italian as part of the second cycle degree programme learn numerous professional varieties of these languages, while they develop translation competences within single classes (comprehensive specialised translation) only. In applied linguistics, both practical language learning and translation classes provided for the introduction of several varieties of specialised discourses, but the discourse varied for individual classes. A systematic combination of both approaches to a given discourse is rare. In relation to all the fields of study of a given educational unit such a connection was present only in the ”applied languages” programme profile in various language studies of the Pedagogical University of Kraków (see Appendices 1 and 2) considering both LSP courses and the corresponding ST course. The latter were deliberately introduced chronologically – after the classes focused on practical language learning. Therefore, it can be concluded that the vast majority of authors of educational concepts treat both types of courses as independent, not considering it necessary to introduce the language study student to the issues of both creating and translating specialised language in the field of a given discourse.

LSP teaching methodology and specialised translation education are not opposing disciplines as they operate on similar linguistic material, yet with a distinct perspective. Logically, certain types of specialised languages seem predestined to be taught in the form of either an LSP or a ST course. Without education and professional qualifications in the field of, for example, law or medicine, a philologist can act in these domains primarily as a translator. Also in relation to scientific and technical texts, a philologist appears to be more of a translator than an author. Meanwhile, in some language studies, these discourses are introduced through LSP classes which should mainly prepare for the active application of a given specialised discourse in communicative practice. There are varieties of ”action-oriented” languages that are related to specific occupations, which can be used by language graduates employed, for example, in the catering or hospitality industries, shipping or purchasing departments. ”Corporate language” deserves a separate discussion – the term primarily refers to the so– called transversal skills, i.e. skills common to many industries, fields and sectors (external and internal communication: inquiries, offers, complaints, negotiations, etc.). This approach emphasises linguistic activities, whereas proper discourse means primarily the language of business. This fact may explain the lack of a corresponding ST courses.

4. Skills acquired during individual classes: practical conclusions

Both the few examples discussed here and the extensive data collected in the appendices show the great variety of LSP and ST classes available to philology students. The differences occur both at a quantitative (in terms of the number of available courses and their duration) and qualitative level (in terms of the selected types of discourse). As a result, graduates may possess a variety of specialised language skills – some graduates will acquire both LSP and ST skills, while others will be prepared to create rather than translate specialised texts (or vice versa). The aforementioned graduates of language studies at the University of Gdańsk and the Jagiellonian University (see Tables 5 and 6) dealt with specialised areas of communication only in terms of translation, which would rather predispose them to work as translators: experience shows that a student employed in a company does not necessarily deal only with translation of written and oral texts. However, this is not, the reason for the concept of education to be disputed, as it remains unknown what the labour market prospects and the graduate’s professional opportunities will be in the long term.

Considering this fundamental uncertainty, specialised translation classes are in some respects valuable training also for philologists who are expected to use the learned FL in their future professional activities rather than in translation. Language education in specialised languages, starting from the analysis of communicative needs related to a given professional context, aims to satisfy these needs as comprehensively as possible and to prepare students for the implementation of language tasks in a specific position, workplace or profession. On the other hand, translation studies put less emphasis on mastering specific language skills and focus on translation strategies instead.

As can be seen from the examples (and the appendices) discussed, the number of hours of both LSP and ST classes is generally small. It is obvious that a 30-hour programme defined as: ”Specialised translations: legal language, language of industry and business” or ”Specialised translations: language of medicine and cosmetology or language of technology and industry” do not allow for the actual mastery of the skills necessary for effortless a vista translation of all texts relevant for a given genre set or genre network (Swales, 2004). As already mentioned, an important goal of translation education is, first of all, to familiarise students with translation strategies that should enable them to cope with other texts (or other types/genres of texts) than those discussed during classes.

This focus on meta–measures, i.e., on text or discourse analysis strategies, is much less visible in teaching LSP. The analysed course syllabuses show that their authors’ ambition is to teach students certain presented content but not necessarily (if at all) to prepare them for further independent development of language skills. This is reflected, inter alia, in development of the ability to write out terminology independently, more often found in the learning outcomes of ST classes (to be exact: in 148 out of 301 provided ST course syllabuses and only in 3 out of 298 LSP syllabi).

Another essential element is to create the habit of comparing analogous types of text. Contrastive analysis of authentic texts[11] in a first language and in a foreign language is systematically used in translation classes to determine functional equivalences (in 278 out of 301 provided ST course syllabuses). Contrastive analysis occurs much less frequently (in the analysed corpus: in 87 out of 298 syllabuses) in LSP classes. Moreover, texts in a first language may be subject to other sociocultural conditions than those in a foreign language, which may be revealed when comparing both texts while looking for their genre features. In translation classes, anonymised authentic documents are usually used. They show the specialised discourse with its real characteristics, while the teaching materials used in LSP classes (especially in textbooks for various types of LSP: law, business, tourism, etc.) can be simplified or even prepared in violation of communication standards appropriate for a given professional environment (this applies, for example, to interactive dialogue standards in a company: Gajewska, 2017).

Summing up these considerations with an attempt at evaluation, it seems that the statistically emerging trends (Table 2) may reflect a common-sense approach, i.e., matching the type of classes to the profile of the graduate. If the task of the first-cycle studies is quick and effective preparation for a precisely defined profession (e.g. a border guard), classes aimed at mastering specific language skills are a good option. In order to offer a broader employment perspective for the graduate, more emphasis should be placed on developing a discourse(s) analysis strategy. This takes place during ST classes, which therefore seem to be a good choice. Thus, they can inspire the development of learning outcomes for practical LSP classes. In specialised language education, the limited number of LSP classes is associated primarily with an emphasis on the right choice of priorities identified in the needs analysis: conscious acceptance of the inability to meet some of those priorities combined with refocusing educational objectives on strategy development – teaching how to fish instead of giving a fish – could turn out to be an effective solution for many target groups.

References

Eurin Balmet, S., Henao de Legge, M. (1992). Pratiques du français scientifique. Paris: Hachette.

Frendo, E. (2005). How to teach business English. Londyn: Pearson.

Gajewska, E. (2017). Analiza dyskursu w nauczaniu języków obcych do celów zawodowych na przykładzie ‘Français de la communication professionnelle’. Lingwistyka Stosowana, 22, 15–29.

Gajewska, E., Sowa, M. (2014). LSP, FOS, Fachsprache… Dydaktyka języków specjalistycznych. Lublin: Werset.

Grucza, F. (1988/2017). Kształcenie nauczycieli języków obcych jako program dydaktyczny i/lub jako przedmiot poznania naukowego. In: F. Grucza (ed.), Dzieła zebrane, Tom 5. O uczeniu języków i glottodydaktyce I (pp. 227–233). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Komunikacji Specjalistycznej i Interkulturowej UW.

Kocourek, R. (1982). La langue française de la technique et de la science. Wiesbaden: O. Brandstetter Verlag.

Lerat, P. (1995). Les langues spécialisées. Paris: PUF.

Lewandowski, J. (ed.) (2002). Języki specjalistyczne 2: Problemy technolingwistyki. Warszawa: KJS WLSiFW UW.

Prokop, I., Kic-Drgas, J. (2018). Kierunki badań nad językami specjalistycznymi w Instytucie Lingwistyki Stosowanej. In: A. Stawikowska-Marcinkowska, B. Grzeszczakowska-Pawlikowska (eds.), Języki specjalistyczne 2. Edukacja – Perspektywy – Kariera (pp. 28–38). Łódź: Primum Verbum.

Swales, J. M. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Index of abbreviations

Index of abbreviations

[1] The names of the fields of study may differ depending on the university, therefore the classification is based on the language studied.

[2] The list of universities was compiled based on the list of public universities supervised by the minister responsible for higher education (universities and teaching colleges), (bit.ly/3nKCoRQ), including 18 universities without adjectives. Also included are three universities listed under the category of "pedagogical universities" (UJD – Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, UP – Pedagogical University of Krakow and UPH – Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities). The study also included philologies at KUL – John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, which is not included in the aforementioned list due to its specific status as a church higher education institution operating with full public higher education entity rights.

[3] It is worth noting that although the profession of a philologist is included in the group of "specialists", i.e. professions requiring a high level of professional knowledge, skills and experience (Journal of Laws 2018, item 227: 74), its description remains quite inaccurate: See Gajewska, Sowa and Kic-Drgas (2020).

[4] Encyklopedia PWN. From encyklopedia.pwn.pl/encyklopedia/filologia.html

[5] "Philology, apart from the language itself, also addresses its cultural context whereas linguistics, in exchange for this context, offers another foreign language at a university level". Source: Lingwistyczna Szkoła Wyższa (2018). Filologia czy lingwistyka? From lingwistyka.edu.pl/blog/filologia-czy-lingwistyka

[6] Explanations for the abbreviations used in the tables can be found before the appendices at the end of the article.

[7] The compilation adopts the perspective applied in the tables below, i.e. providing data on curricula in relation to the languages included. Hence, the data on language studies are given for the fields of study. In the case of applied linguistics, information on whether the curriculum includes LSP/ST classes is broken down into main languages that can be studied within the given field of study of linguistics (sometimes available courses in various languages differ in this respect). Percentage figures are rounded to 0.5%.

[8] The comment regarding the level of proficiency in a foreign language was based on observations made during the data collection for this article.

[9] LSP and ST classes are presented here in separate tables, as they are often taught in different fields of study.

[10] Not all the terms in this list seem accurate, especially those related to translation. Unfortunately, keeping the full names of the courses (e.g. "translation of legal texts" or "translation in logistics") would increase the volume of this article and make it difficult to read.

[11] Some concepts are recognised separately in FL teaching and in translation studies: in this text, the language education approach was adopted.

***

TRAILs project as a response to LSP teacher training needs

Joanna Kic-Drgas, Joanna Woźniak

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.110-132

Abstract: As the number of LSP courses increases at the universities, so does the demand for qualified LSP-teachers. LSP-teacher-training courses offered by universities can be a way to prepare teachers to work with foreign languages for professional purposes. The international project TRAILs (LSP Teacher Training Summer School) is being carried out to investigate the state of LSP-teacher-training in European higher education and to prepare and implement methods to develop the competences of LSP teachers. The aim of this article is to present the activities carried out within the framework of the TRAILs project, which aim to standardise the form of training for LSP teachers. In the first part of the article, the specificity of the profession and the competences of LSP teachers was presented. Then, the general assumptions of the project was introduced and the results of two studies was briefly discussed: the current offer of LSP-teaching-training at European universities and a needs analysis of LSP teachers. In the following part, the model on which the TRAILs project curriculum is based was discussed and a sample module was presented together with its underlying objectives, learning outcomes and specific exercises. The final part of the article gives conclusions and possible applications of the results obtained.

Keywords:

- LSP-teacher training

- LSP teaching

- curriculum

- teacher skills

- transversal skills

- European projects

1. Introduction

In the face of the increasing internationalisation of professional life, foreign language proficiency becomes an indispensable condition for proper communication at work and adequate performance of tasks. Due to the specificity of individual professional branches, an undoubted advantage for employees is also the ability to use a specific specialist language. While meeting the first criterion is not a major issue due to the implementation of the core curriculum for teaching foreign languages at individual educational stages, the second requirement presents a fundamental problem resulting from the insufficient number of these types of classes during studies (Gajewska et al., 2020). The growing need for LSP courses can be observed at various educational levels and stages of professional life, ranging from vocational training schools, through various fields of study (both philological and non-philological), to LSP classes organised for employees at companies. A consequence of the growing need to learn specialist languages is the increasing demand for professional teaching staff, prepared to work with languages for professional purposes.

This chapter presents the results of project studies aimed at creating an innovative curriculum for educating specialist language teachers based on an analysis of their needs and current teaching practices implemented in Europe. Additionally, the first outline of the curriculum preparing future specialist language (LSP) teachers for the professional challenges they face will be presented as the project outcome.

The text consists of three parts. The first part defines LSP teachers’ tasks and presents the characteristics of this profession and the legal status of LSP teacher training in Poland. The second part discusses the main assumptions and milestones of the TRAILs project and its outcomes. The third part presents the possible practical solutions.

2. LSP teacher – an attempt to find the definition

Lindy Woodrow (2018, p. 53) introduced the term ”ESP practitioner” (practitioner of English for specific purposes) into her considerations. She explains her choice to use this term instead of ”specialist language teacher” by pointing to the number and type of roles that the teacher of the specialist language performs in the classroom. According to Woodrow (2018, p. 54), the teacher’s roles in the classroom are as follows:

- evaluating;

- analysing the discourse;

- planning the course;

- coordinating the course of classes;

- preparing teaching materials;

- co-creating classes with learners;

- analysing the students’ needs.

The implementation of each of the above-mentioned tasks requires the development of appropriate competencies, such as (cf. Sowa, 2015, pp. 245–247):

- specialist linguistic knowledge;

- methodical preparation;

- specialist professional knowledge.

Specialist linguistic knowledge includes fluent and correct mastery of a foreign language and the ability to analyse text (especially specialist texts), which enables the comparison of texts in the target and the source language, as well as the identification of the most important characteristics of a given genre (cf. Sowa, 2015, p. 245). Knowledge of the basic concepts of discourse analysis and genre typology may prove useful in building text corpora, which may help the teacher prepare his or her own teaching materials. Sambor Grucza (2010, p. 43) lists the following as part of specialist linguistic competence: pure linguistic competence (grammatical and lexical correctness), as well as interactive (communicative) competence enabling communication as both a listener and a speaker. At the same time, Grucza (2010, p. 43) emphasises the need to expand specialist linguistic competence with intercultural competence, making it possible to understand communication differences between various cultural areas. The above-mentioned competencies should be developed in the course of specialist language teaching, therefore teachers must be also aware of and able to develop them as part of their education process.

Methodological preparation is an essential element of foreign language teaching. Its significance is the greater the more atypical the group of learners is. A future teacher must be able to collect information about the needs of a given group, analyse them properly and prepare adequate teaching materials. This task is much easier for general language teachers as the publishing offer in the case of major (conference) languages is, in principle, very extensive. In the case of specialist languages, other than economic or legal, there is a considerable problem – often the burden of preparing an appropriate material base rests on the teacher. Although Elżbieta Gajewska (2011) proposes to adapt general teaching techniques to convey specialist content, this strategy still requires appropriate preparation and knowledge of the subject by the teacher.

Specialist professional knowledge is the most controversial area, and professional skills are included in communicative competence (cf. Sowa, 2015, p. 247). Zofia Berdychowska (2010) points out that in the context of a philologist’s work, knowledge has two dimensions: philological, linguistic and related to language teaching methodology on the one hand, and practical on the other, i.e. ”the ability to recognise and use linguistic indicators of specialist texts and reconstruct the structure of a fragment of knowledge represented in specific texts and to express specialist knowledge of the above-mentioned ranges in texts” (Berdychowska, 2010, p. 64).

Grucza (2008, p. 10) emphasises that the creation of specialist texts, based on specialist interactive competence and specialist knowledge, contributes to the fact that specialist language teaching, and thus the role of the teacher in the teaching process, cannot be limited to only specialist vocabulary teaching. For this purpose, a (prospective) LSP teacher should be equipped with appropriate instruments, such as the above-mentioned competencies, which are most often acquired at the stage of higher education.

3. LSP teacher training in Poland

Qualifications necessary for teaching foreign languages at schools are specified in the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 1 August 2017 on the detailed qualifications required from teachers. The inclusion of specifications for foreign language teachers is made in Art. 12(1): ”Qualifications for teaching foreign languages in kindergartens, schools, colleges for social workers and institutions referred to in Art. 3(1), Art. 4 and Art. 10, shall be acquired by graduates of:

1. second-cycle studies or uniform master’s studies in the field of philology, with a major in a selected foreign language or applied linguistics in the scope of a given foreign language, provided that they have pedagogical preparation; or

2. second-cycle studies or uniform master’s studies in a country where the given foreign language is an official language, provided that they have pedagogical preparation; or

3. second-cycle studies or uniform master’s studies, with any major (specialisation), provided that they hold:

1. a certificate of proficiency or advanced level of foreign language competence referred to in the annex to the regulation and have pedagogical preparation; or

2. a certificate of passing the 2nd-degree state teacher examination in a given foreign language, referred to in the annex to the regulation; or

4. foreign language teacher training college, with a major in a given foreign language (Art. 12, point 1, Journal of Laws 2017, item 1575)”.

The regulation contains no separate requirements for specialist language teachers, which means that obtaining the same qualifications as in the case of general foreign language teaching prepares and entitles one to practice the profession of an LSP teacher. Furthermore, Annex 1 to the Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 25 July 2019 on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession indicates the modules that should be implemented in the course of a teacher’s education: ”higher education training for the teaching profession includes substantive and pedagogical preparation. Pedagogical preparation includes psychological and pedagogical preparation as well as didactic preparation. Didactic preparation includes basics of teaching and voice emission as well as didactic preparation for teaching a subject or conducting classes”[1] (Annex 1, point I (2.3), Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1450, p. 3).

To summarise, the following modules must be implemented as part of the training of future foreign language teachers (cf. Sowa, 2016, p. 14):

- substantive preparation for teaching a given foreign language;

- pedagogical preparation, including psychological and pedagogical, as well as didactic preparation (with elements of voice emission and elements of teaching).

Universities in Poland and elsewhere in Europe recognised the need to introduce classes or entire modules related to specialist language (LSP) teaching in response to the growing market need[2]. However, the resulting activities are not standardised – they differ both in terms of the number of hours and the nature of classes. This issue contributed to the initiation of the international TRAILs project.

4. TRAILs project – basic assumptions, objectives and recipients

The TRAILs project (LSP Teacher Training Summer School) 2018-1-FR01-KA203--0480851[3] is an international initiative associating partners from Universite de Bordeaux (France, coordinator), Univerza v Ljubljani (Slovenia), Universita’ degli Studi Di Bergamo (Italy), Arcola Research Llp (UK), Universidad de Cadiz (Spain), Sveučilište u Zagrebu (Croatia), Jade Hochschule Wilhelmshaven/Oldenburg/Elsfleth (Germany) and Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań (Poland).

The main objective of the project was to develop modules supporting the process of educating specialist language teachers and to design and implement methods for developing individual competencies.

The project comprised the following stages:

- identification and analysis of LSP teacher training programmes in Europe;

- identification of the needs of specialist language teachers;

- identification of discrepancies between the existing educational programmes for LSP teachers and their real needs;

- development of a training programme as part of the TRAILs Winter School (initially planned for September 2020 as the Summer School; postponed to February 2021 due to the pandemic);

- conducting the training of LSP teachers and its evaluation, with particular emphasis on the method used and assessment tools developed.

As part of the project, partners examined the professional situation and needs of specialist language teachers, which served to further define educational objectives and design an appropriate training programme (in the form of modules). Programmes developed as part of the project will be offered free of charge to European higher education institutions after the testing phase and positive verification. TRAILs is intended to contribute to the development of innovative solutions and tools supporting the development of skills of current and future specialist language teachers in higher education, both at the national and European levels. The project partners created the programme following the needs analysis, conclusions resulting from the conducted research and good practices. The team also used the innovative potential of ICTs to prepare and implement an appropriate methodology.

The TRAILs project was targeted at pre- and in-service LSP teachers at universities and colleges. It is an attempt to introduce standardised solutions for education and the professional development of persons working in this field of education.

5. Results of research carried out under the TRAILs project

The initial part of this section presents the most important conclusions drawn from the first two stages of the project. Then, it lists the modules constituting curriculum for LSP teaching methodology developed within the consortium and the methodological assumptions that were the basis for the identification of the modules. A sample lesson plan for one selected module is provided as well.

5.1. LSP teacher training in Europe – the actual state

The survey of 1024 higher education units in 25 countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)[4] conducted in 2019 showed that only 68 institutions in 14 different European countries offer students programmes and content in specialist language teaching. A total of 88 education units (specialisations, modules or individual courses) dealing with the teaching of specialist languages were identified, with their offer dominated by single subjects (usually about 30 hours), most often under the name of ”specialist language teaching”, or 2–4-hour thematic blocks implemented as part of general education. Courses were conducted mainly in English and less often in German, French or Spanish. The analysed educational programmes differed in terms of the assumed goals and effects.

It can be concluded that despite the noticeable increase in interest in specialist language teaching, primarily in the latest scientific publications, practice shows that LSP teacher training is treated rather marginally. Only 8% of all surveyed academic institutions with philological faculties offer any form of specialist language teaching as part of their educational programmes. In addition, the studied curricula show fundamental differences both in terms of formal and content-related aspects (number of teaching hours and ECTS credits awarded, teaching/learning outcomes, methods, techniques and tools used and taught during the course, as well as the evaluation system).

5.2. LSP teachers’ needs

The second stage of the project focused on the needs of specialist language teachers[5]. The survey covered 621 people from 33 countries. Additionally, 29 of them were asked to give an interview and clarify their questionnaire answers. The respondents were mainly teachers with long experience who initially taught a general foreign language. Most of them were teachers of English (71.5%), followed by German (10.1%), Spanish (5.8%), French (5.2%) and Italian (2.8%). The survey participants mainly teach bachelor’s (50%), master’s (38%) or doctoral (10%) courses. They teach foreign language for academic, business, engineering or medical purposes (see Figure 1 for the exact distribution of the languages taught by the surveyed teachers).

Figure 1. Specialist areas and specialist languages taught by the surveyed teachers

Source: Data obtained and compiled under the TRAILs project.

The survey results revealed significant training gaps in specialist language teaching. Most of the surveyed teachers did not participate in any course in the field of LSP teaching methodology, neither before starting their professional career nor during their teaching practice. Despite the substantial didactic experience of the study participants, they mentioned many problems they struggled with. In total, the respondents indicated 45 needs in the field of knowledge and skills related to a specific field of study and the teaching itself, as well as 17 needs not related directly to teaching or a specialist area. Although the differences between the most and the least frequently mentioned needs are minor, it is important to highlight areas of utmost priority for most FL teachers, namely:

- analysis of learners’ and teachers’ needs;

- LSP vocabulary training;

- materials design and development;

- disciplinary context awareness;

- course design and development;

- lesson planning;

- general principles of LSP;

- disciplinary genres;

- task-based teaching;

- materials evaluation;

- soft skills.

The issues most frequently mentioned in the research were initially used by the project group to identify gaps between the actual state and the needs of teachers, and as a result, to develop the educational programme for future LSP teachers.

5.3. Identification of discrepancies and development of an innovative educational programme

The project’s next step was to identify the discrepancy between the researched and revealed status of LSP teaching methodology in European universities and the needs expressed by the surveyed LSP teachers.

Taking into account the needs enumerated by the respondents and the current position of specialist language teaching in philological faculties in Europe, the TRAILs project participants considered the preparation of future specialist language teachers insufficient in terms of (I) needs analysis; (II) teaching and learning methods; (III) developing teaching materials; (IV) assessment, evaluation; (V) knowledge of specialist languages; (VI) professional cooperation and self-development; and (VII) transversal skills. A model was thus established, which served as a foundation for the developed LSP teacher education programme.

Scheme 1. Seven-pillar model for the LSP teaching curriculum developed as part of the TRAILs project

Source: Own study.

It is worth noting that the selected areas in which future specialist language teachers should be educated partially overlap with the main areas of specialist language teaching methodology adopted in the subject literature. Laurence Anthony (2018) distinguished the following four pillars of ESP:

- conducting needs analysis;

- formulating learning objectives and outcomes;

- developing learning/teaching materials and identifying learning/teaching methods;

- defining evaluation methods.

The research results allowed the project consortium to add the following pillars:

- general theoretical and practical issues in the field of specialist languages;

- building a network of professional contacts and creating self-development opportunities;

- developing transversal skills (with ICT competencies).

For each pillar, the project participants developed the expected learning objectives broken down according to Bloom’s taxonomy (1956), with subsequent changes (cf. Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001; Krathwohl, 2002), into effects including lower-order skills (performance) and higher-order skills (standards). For lower-order educational effects, cognitive effects (action) referred to using such verbs as ”knows”, ”lists”, ”comprehends”, ”characterises” and ”compares” were defined. For higher-order educational effects, the expected standard was defined. At this point, possibilities from higher levels of the taxonomy (cf. Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001; Krathwohl, 2002) were referred to, including analysis, evaluation and creation, to complement the elementary effects. In total, 131 lower-order educational effects and 161 higher-order educational effects were developed. They were used to develop a curriculum for LSP teachers. The curriculum includes 80 lecture hours (45 minutes each). The effects are divided into 11 comprehensive modules, the sequence of which deliberately starts with general issues and ends with more specific and detailed ones:

- Module 1: Needs analysis;

- Module 2: Course and Syllabus Development;

- Module 3: Disciplinary Context – Disciplinary Genres;

- Module 4: LSP teaching skills;

- Module 5: LSP teaching materials;

- Module 6: Task/project/problem-based teaching;

- Module 7: LSP assessment;

- Module 8: Transversal skills in LSP teaching;

- Module 9: Corpora in LSP teaching;

- Module 10: LSP Research;

- Module 11: Lesson planning.

Two sessions are planned for the first seven modules: a plenary session (an interactive lecture), as well as a group session (with a more practical focus). When creating the curriculum, the project implementers were aware of the differences in the knowledge and experience of potential participants of the training; therefore, the plenary sessions are planned to include all participants, while group sessions are optional and divided into sessions for teachers with and without professional experience, accordingly. Lower-order educational effects will be implemented in plenary sessions, and higher-order ones in group sessions.

Detailed lesson plans with specific content and activities were developed for all modules and sessions. It would be beyond the scope of this chapter to present lesson plans for the entire curriculum. Therefore, the next section includes a sample lesson plan for the ”Transversal skills in LSP teaching” module.

5.4 Class prospectuses based on the example of the seventh pillar – ”Transversal skills”

Nitin Bhatnagar and Mamta Bhatnagar (2012, p. 3) construe transversal skills as fluent communication adapted to the environment (e.g. professional) in which the recipient and sender of the message are located. In a broader sense, these competencies relate to knowledge management and problem-solving skills, while in a narrower sense, they include communication-improving activities as well as the achievement of specific communication goals (such as active listening, formulating precise information, orders, negotiating). Transversal skills are important not only in the academic environment but also at every stage of life since they are part of the lifelong learning concept[6].

Seven thematic topics were prepared in the TRAILS project for the ”Transversal skills” model, including the following higher- and lower-order learning effects:

a) Autonomous learning

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- know the main theoretical assumptions of autonomous learning;

- explain the benefits of autonomous learning for learners of specialist languages and lifelong learning;

- understand the relationship between independent and self-directed learning and motivation;

- identify the techniques of developing autonomous learning used by persons learning specialist languages;

- use ICT to foster collaboration and communication between LSP teachers and learners outside the classroom;

- identify and use printed and online resources for self-study.

Outcomes (standard)

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- analyse and create tasks that require student’s autonomy;

- integrate autonomous learning into her or his practice of LSP teaching.

b) Time management

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- estimate the time needed to carry out tasks assigned to LSP learners.

Outcomes (standard)

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- use time efficiently while achieving educational goals.

c) Work in groups

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- know the main assumptions of efficient teamwork;

- understand and explain the advantages of educational activities requiring teamwork in the context of the future professional development of LSP learners;

- recall and use various types of tasks requiring teamwork;

- understand the importance of teamwork in task/project/problem-based learning.

Outcomes (standard)

After finishing the course the participant is able to:

- create tasks requiring cooperation between students learning specialist languages;

- evaluate the proposals of tasks created by herself or himself and by other specialist language training participants, which would lead to learners’ teamwork;

- carry out tasks requiring learners’ cooperation as part of the process of LSP teaching;

- contribute to the personal and professional development of LSP learners.

d) Negotiations

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- understand the importance of pragmatic and sociolinguistic competencies for successful negotiations in a specialist context;

- discuss the importance of intercultural competencies for effective negotiations in a specialist context.

Outcomes (standard)

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- create tasks requiring negotiation activities;

- evaluate tasks requiring negotiation activities;

- implement tasks requiring negotiation in the process of LSP teaching/learning;

- evaluate the negotiation process and the effects of tasks performed by LSP learners.

e) Mentoring

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- explain the main assumptions and types of mentoring in the process of LSP teaching/learning;

- know/describe the different roles of LSP teachers as mentors;

- understand the importance and methods of corrective feedback shared by LSP teachers.

f) Teacher’s and learner’s motivation

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- recognise and discuss different types of motivation;

- combine types of motivation with appropriate motivational techniques;

- determine the ways of motivating students and teachers in the process of LSP teaching/learning;

- identify possible threats influencing the motivation of students and teachers in the process of LSP teaching/learning.

Outcomes (standard)

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- create solutions to deal with factors that reduce students’ and teachers’ motivation with respect to specialist languages;

- implement motivational techniques in the processes of LSP teaching/learning;

- contribute to the personal and professional development of LSP learners.

g) Critical thinking / innovation options

Cognitive effects

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- know and recognise various skills related to critical thinking;

- discuss the importance of developing critical thinking skills among LSP learners;

- describe teaching strategies for developing critical thinking skills among LSP learners;

- explain the role of educational activities such as smart games, project/problem assignments and essays in developing critical thinking skills;

- understand and apply the criteria for selecting reliable online resources.

Outcomes (standard)

After finishing the course, the participant is able to:

- develop tasks aimed at building critical thinking skills through the use of such things as research essay topics or project/problem tasks;

- evaluate tasks aimed at developing critical thinking skills.

The lesson plan prepared for Module 8: ”Transversal skills in LSP teaching” was planned to be a 180-minute online interactive plenary session. No specialist knowledge in the field of transversal skills was required to participate in the classes. The necessary technical and technological elements included the Zoom environment, headphones, course e-script and e-portfolio. As part of the evaluation, the trainees were asked to carry out self-assessment. Also, their execution of e-portfolio exercises was evaluated. The recommended (optional) reading to prepare for the course (Spirovska Tevdovska, 2016, pp. 97–108; Harris, 2018), as well as post-course reading recommendations (Kic-Drgas, 2018, pp. 27–36) were additionally included in the lesson plan.

Scheduled classes consisted of three main phases:

1. Introduction – warm-up, general outline of the goals and subject;

2. Action – introduction of all crucial theoretical issues and performance of planned exercises;

3. Summary – collecting learners’ reflections by the teacher after the course.

In the ”Action” phase, the course participants were asked to perform three exercises, with some to be done as part of group work and others individually. The objective was to reflect on the problems of time management, autonomy, self-learning, critical thinking, mentoring/tutoring, negotiating and teamwork. The table below shows a detailed description of individual phases and exercises.

Table 1. Lesson plan for Module 8: ”Transversal skills in LSP teaching”

Source: Own study.

6. Initial evaluation, conclusions and desiderata

The planned TRAILs Winter School was held online (via the Zoom platform) with over 60 participants in February 2021. The preliminary results of the event evaluation are promising and show that it was not only necessary but also effective. The participants carried out a self-assessment (in a questionnaire), the results of which showed a significant increase in knowledge and skills, also in the least experienced group (mainly students), by as much as 55%, and among practising teachers by 48%. In terms of individual and group conversations, the participants appreciated such things as the opportunity to work with other specialists and a chance to update and expand their knowledge. The results of the evaluation of the transversal skills module did not differ from the results of other modules’ evaluations – they were decidedly positive. For many participants, the very term ”Transversal skills” and the importance of these competencies in LSP teaching were a novelty.

Points of criticism regarding the course included the pace of work being too fast, as well as content overload. It was proposed that the next module should omit the content on specialist languages and general education and focus exclusively on issues related to specialist language teaching.

Teaching practice in higher education directly preparing students for the teaching profession is still missing an adequate response to the growing need to prepare foreign language teachers to work with specialist languages. According to the research results, this is not an exclusively Polish problem, but rather one that is present across Europe. The TRAILs project, as well as its research, implemented training and this publication, should be regarded as contributions to further research and activities in the field of promoting specialist language teaching in philological studies. We hope that the presented outcomes of two years of work of scientists and educators contributing to the project, as well as the presented framework of the LSP teacher curriculum, will be applied in the future in many European countries, including Poland.

References

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.

Anthony, L. (2018). Introducing English for specific purposes. London/New York: Routledge.

Berdychowska, Z. (2010). Komunikacja specjalistyczna na studiach filologicznych: podstawy lingwistyczne i profile kompetencyjne. Lingwistyka stosowana, 3, 61–70.

Bhatnagar, N., Bhatnagar, M. (2012). Effective communication and soft skills, strategies for success. London: Pearson.

Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., Krathwohl, D. R. (eds.) (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay.

Bocanegra-Valle, A., Perea-Barberá, D. M. (2021). A quantitative analysis of LSP teacher needs across the EHEA. In: M. A. Chateaureynaud, P. John (eds.), LSP Teacher Training Summer School the TRAILs project. Peter Lang: Bordeaux (in print).

Gajewska, E. (2011). Techniki nauczania języka obcego. Tarnów: Wydawnictwo PWSZ.

Gajewska, E., Sowa, M., Kic-Drgas, J. (2020). Filologia wobec wyzwań komunikacji specjalistycznej: od współpracy z biznesem po kształcenie nauczycieli. Poznań: Wydawnictwo UAM.

Grucza, S. (2008). Lingwistyka języków specjalistycznych. Warszawa: Euro-Edukacja.

Grucza, S. (2010). Sprache(n)–Fachsprache(n)–Fachsprachendidaktik. Studia Germanica Gedanensia, 22, 31–46.

Harris, T. R. (2018). 17 time management activities & exercises for increased group productivity. Downloaded from bit.ly/3ugWo2u

Kic-Drgas, J. (2018). Development of soft skills as a part of an LSP course. E-mentor, 2(74), 27–36, dx.doi.org/10.15219/em74.1349

Kic-Drgas, J., Woźniak, J. (2020). Fachsprachendidaktik an europäischen Hochschulen – Stand und Perspektiven. In: S. Adamczak-Krysztofowicz, A. Szczepaniak-Kozak, P. Rybszleger (eds.), Angewandte Linguistik – neue Herausforderungen und Konzepte (pp. 311–329). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Unipress.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 212–281. Downloaded from www.depauw.edu/files/resources/krathwohl.pdf

López-Zurita, P., Vázquez-Amador, M. (2021). A qualitative analysis of LSP teacher needs across the EHEA. In: M. A. Chateaureynaud, P. John (eds.), LSP Teacher Training Summer School the TRAILs project. Peter Lang: Bordeaux.

Sowa, M. (2015). Specjalizacja nauczycielska na filologii romańskiej a kompetencje nauczyciela języka specjalistycznego. Linguodidactica, XIX, 240–254.

Sowa, M. (2016). Nauczyciel języka specjalistycznego: pomiędzy standardami kształcenia a rzeczywistością zawodową. Języki obce w szkole, 4, 12–17.

Spirovska Tevdovska, E. (2016). Integrating soft skills in higher education and the EFL classroom: Knowledge beyond language learning. SEEU Review, 11(2), 97–108.

Woodrow, L. (2018). Course design in English for specific purposes. London: Routledge.

Legal acts

Rozporządzenie Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego z dnia 25 lipca 2019 roku w sprawie standardu kształcenia przygotowującego do wykonywania zawodu nauczyciela (Dz.U. 2019 poz. 1450) [Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 25 July 2019 on the standard of teaching preparation for the teaching profession (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1450)].

Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji Narodowej z dnia 1 sierpnia 2017 roku w sprawie szczegółowych kwalifikacji wymaganych od nauczycieli (Dz.U. 2017 poz. 1575) [Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 1 August 2017 on specific qualifications required of teachers (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1575)].

[1] ”kształcenie na studiach przygotowujące do wykonywania zawodu nauczyciela obejmuje przygotowanie merytoryczne i przygotowanie pedagogiczne. Przygotowanie pedagogiczne obejmuje przygotowanie psychologiczno-pedagogiczne i przygotowanie dydaktyczne. Przygotowanie dydaktyczne obejmuje podstawy dydaktyki i emisję głosu oraz przygotowanie dydaktyczne do nauczania przedmiotu lub prowadzenia zajęć” (Załącznik 1, punkt I, podpunkt 2.3, Dz.U. 2019 poz. 1450, s. 3).

[2] For more details, see Gajewska, Sowa and Kic-Drgas, 2020.

[3] The project was financed by the European Commission under the KA2 programme "Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices", competition: KA203 – Strategic Partnerships for higher education. It was carried out between 2018 and 2020 (with a 6-month extension due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

[4] For a detailed description of the preparation and conduct of the survey, the tools used and the results obtained, see Kic-Drgas and Woźniak (2020).

[5] For a detailed description of the preparation and conduct of the survey, the tools used and the results obtained, see Bocanegra-Valle and Perea-Barberá (in print) and López-Zurita and Vázquez-Amador (in print).

[6] Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission on Adult Education (2006). Adult learning: It's never too late to learn [Nigdy nie jest za późno na naukę], Brussels, KOM (2006) 614, final version. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/PL/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52006DC0614&from=EL

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Reflecting on the roles of LSP teachers

Jakub Przybył

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.134-150

ABSTRACT: This chapter is dedicated to the multiple roles taken by teachers of languages for specific purposes (LSP). The question can be approached from the perspective of social psychology, by addressing the needs and expectations of all the parties involved in the analysed educational processes, but also from the angle of foreign language methodology, by expanding on traditional roles of foreign language teachers. After some initial insights are made into the social nature of LSP instruction, traditional roles of foreign language instructors are considered and juxtaposed with the tasks and expectations faced by LSP practitioners. The case of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) practitioners is reflected on afterwards. The following part of the chapter is dedicated to the specific demands involved in working with older adolescents and young adults who are about to enter the career ladder. Clearly different from all other roles, this one may actually prompt LSP instructors to step in as mentors. Finally, some conclusions are drawn, and recommendations are made regarding specific actions required on the part of LSP practitioners so that the learning process can be, indeed, meaningful and effective.

KEYWORDS:

- language for specific purposes (LSP)

- LSP pedagogy

- teacher roles

- Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

- teaching adolescents and young adults

1. Introduction

From the perspective of social psychology, it is obvious that there are specific roles and functions assumed in the group to which one belongs (Aronson et al., 2015). This also applies to groups learning languages for specific purposes (LSP) and their teachers. Importantly, although these roles are not directly the source of one’s behaviour, they may – due to their internalisation – affect one’s self-perception, functioning in the group and the emotional-volitional sphere (Branscombe and Baron, 2017, p. 381). In the case of LSP teachers, internalised roles may therefore exert a substantial influence not only on the content but also on the formula, atmosphere and – ultimately – on the quality of their classes. Even though specialist languages have been studied and taught for decades (Dudley-Evans, 2001, p. 131), as Graham Hall (2011, p. 194) notes, the development of methodology in this area has not resulted in the creation of a canon of LSP teaching principles. However, one can find some distinguishing features in LSP teaching methodology, such as its orientation towards effective communication in specific professional or academic situations. The unavailability of commonly accepted guidelines and certain shortcomings of the core curriculum, syllabus, and often the textbook, provide practitioners with greater (than in the case of teaching general language skills) flexibility in the selection of materials and the way the learning process is organised. As Robinson (1991) points out, this situation requires teachers to adapt to a new professional role, both when teaching LSP after previously teaching general language skills, and when the learner moves from one field to another. These roles are demanding insofar that to develop appropriate relations it may be necessary to verify the beliefs concerning one’s own attributes (Dudley-Evans, 1998, p. 189). This, in turn, may increase the teacher’s sense of uncertainty and, consequently, compromise their well-being, which translates directly into the quality of classes (Mercer and Gregersen, 2020). From this perspective, reflection on the roles of LSP teachers seems particularly important.

2. Traditional roles of foreign language teachers and LSP teaching

The starting point for studies on the roles of an LSP teacher can be the list of tasks for foreign language teachers and, more generally, the thematic content of foreign language teaching methodology textbooks. In this first approach, the analysis may concern a whole range of functions that are constantly evolving and verified in a dynamically changing reality.

In the textbooks by Jeremy Harmer (1983; 2001; 2020), which have been important reading for generations of students of teacher training colleges and foreign language teaching programmes, these functions are related to specific tasks the implementation of which is part of the daily work of foreign language teachers. These tasks, according to an assessment from the beginning of this century, include (Harmer, 2001, pp. 57–67):

- controlling the course of classes, or in a broader sense – the processes of learning and teaching a language;

- organising the learning process, starting from stimulating the interest of a learner through instruction in the strict sense, classroom activities, taking up learning by a learner and providing feedback on the learning process and learning outcomes;

- evaluating the learning process and learning progress;

- providing continuous encouragement to learn – through the use of various types of incentives and stimuli;

- participating in planned activities both during the class and after its completion (e.g. as a listener, interlocutor or partner in a language task);

- providing necessary information about knowledge resources and language skills (especially those needed at a given moment, resulting from a specific situation and a specific context of language use);

- language tutoring, including support in the selection of appropriate learning strategies optimal for specific language tasks;

- observing the teaching process and the progress made by learners.

Of course, the main responsibility of all foreign language teachers cannot be overlooked, which is providing learners with a stable source of understandable language, adapted to their current level of linguistic competence, which Maria Dakowska (2005, p. 152) supplements with enabling learners to interact in a target language and facilitating the communicated content. It is not different in the case of a LSP when instructors provide both the language resources and their distribution in specific activities, often assuming the role of managers who not so much determine arbitrarily the content of the classes but rather negotiate it with the recipients/participants and specialists competent in specific fields (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998, p. 149).

The role of LSP teachers can also be extrapolated based on a review of the issues discussed in textbooks on teaching methodology. The review shows that LSP teachers are also responsible for the learning planning processes, dealing with the issue of the choice of teaching methods and techniques, selecting and creating materials, managing the class (e.g. by maintaining discipline in class), optimising the conditions for the sustainable development of all skills and language subsystems, as well as adapting the content of the classes to the specific needs of their participants (to the age and level of linguistic competence in particular) (Komorowska, 2009; Ur, 2012). In the updated version of the already quoted publication by Jeremy Harmer, today’s generation of young adepts of applied linguistics preparing for the teaching profession will also find a list of the characteristics of a good foreign language teacher, which can be interpreted as a set of expectations that must be met by an educator/linguist. Based on a review of research devoted to the characteristics of good and bad teachers, Harmer (2020, p. 114) suggests that good teachers are those who can motivate learners and be their mentors in the educational process. Those teachers are patient, passionate and enthusiastic, they build a good rapport with the group and respect their students. Therefore, they can engage students in interesting activities, for them, it goes without saying that teachers themselves are competent users of the language they teach. Of course, these postulates apply also to LSP teachers – and the list of requirements could go on.

The differences between the specificity of the roles of foreign language teachers and LSP teachers should therefore be sought not through eliminating but through specifying and – possibly – supplementing instruction with new functions, tasks and expectations. Although the thesis of Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters (1987) that the main distinguishing feature of specialist foreign language classes is their subordination to the specific needs of learners may seem controversial in an era when the learner, not the method, became the focus of didactic research (Richards, 2015), tailoring the classes to the needs of their participants seems to be a necessary condition for achieving educational success. This view is also expressed in contemporary publications on teaching and research on LSP (Paltridge and Starfield, 2013; Işık-Taş and Kenny, 2020).

However, it is necessary to supplement this distinguishing feature of LSP classes with new elements – at this point, it is worth mentioning, for example, the concept of the four pillars of a specialist language course, which include: needs analysis; learning objectives; materials and methods; and course and progress evaluation (Anthony, 2018, p. 46). The needs analysis – functioning as a keyword in the literature on the subject – can be understood as determining what the course is to be about and how it is to be conducted – i.e. activities that, according to Lynne Flowerdew (2013, p. 325), are to precede the preparation of the curriculum, selection of materials, teaching methods and tools for evaluating the course and assessing the progress of learners. According to Tony Dudley-Evans (2001), LSP teachers must not only have the competence to analyse the rights and needs of class participants but also be ”genre doctors”. Michael Long (2005) proposes task-based needs analysis which includes, among others, reviewing job descriptions or getting to know the desired effects of work. This could be an alternative to relying on the discursive features of the language of a particular field. He is in favour of this option as it is anchored in practice and embedded in sector-specific realities and, consequently, it offers the possibility of utilising the expertise of representatives of various fields and is not limited to the linguistic aspects of text analysis per se. Helen Basturkmen (2010), on the other hand, opts for an integrated learning approach where the process of creating a curriculum for specialist language courses requires conducting:

- analysis of needs resulting from the specific situational context, learning goals and potential difficulties on the part of learners;

- research on the specifics of the discourse in the language of a given field and the use of this language by professionals, so that it is possible to devise a curriculum based on specific didactic materials and planned for a specific time, cultural and institutional framework.

Referring to the whole range of tasks carried out by LSP teachers, Raney Jordan (1997) compiles the following list:

- analysing the specificity of a particular language and the situational context of its use;

- evaluating teaching materials (textbooks and other materials);

- evaluating learners’ progress;

- formulating learning goals for learners;

- designing and interpreting syllabuses;

- developing work patterns;

- formulating learning and teaching strategies;

- integrating classes;

- developing teaching materials;

- organising the teaching process and lessons;

- evaluating the level of achievement of the assumed learning goals;

- acquiring practical knowledge in the field of teaching a specialist language;

- supporting learners in transition to independent living (e.g. moving away from home and parting with the family);

- cooperating with educational institutions in the field of LSP teaching.

On the other hand, Tony Dudley-Evans and Maggie St. John (1998, pp. 13–17) perceive the functioning of a specialist language teacher through the lens of five main roles:

- of a partner in the learning process (as opposed to the classic role of lecturer, which results from the fact that an LSP teacher is often not an expert on the topic at hand – the area of expertise/professional competence – related to the language learning process);

- of the author of a language course (with regard to the syllabus and specific content) and provider of teaching materials created from scratch or requiring adaptation;

- of a researcher who goes beyond the analysis of the learner’s needs and analyses the specificity of the discourse and interaction in the field in which the language is taught;

- of a practitioner/user of a specialist language and a collaborator of experts in a specific field (this role enables the acquisition of syllabi for majors, consulting in the process of creating a syllabus for an LSP course, and even organising expert teams to evaluate specialist projects in a foreign language and taking into account other forms of participation of field experts in LSP classes);

- of an evaluator (assessing both the progress of learners and the courses with their teaching materials) – like in the case of the author of a language course, the function of evaluator may require the development of tests from scratch due to the lack of ready-to-use evaluation materials.

In a more recent publication, Laurence Anthony (2018, p. 52), on the basis of the above functions, added supporting learners after the completion of institutional learning and creating systemic solutions for such support (e.g. participation in creating career development programmes or even support for HR management) to the list of responsibilities of LSP teachers. Due to these aspects, a LSP teacher is perceived as a practitioner in a particular field rather than a language teacher. On the other hand, Sandra Gollin-Kies et al. (2015, p. 126) underline that the distinguishing feature of specialist language teachers’ work, apart from greater freedom in the selection of content and the specific nature of the verification of learning progress, involves reliance on knowledge not only in the field of foreign language teaching methodology, but also on knowledge acquired from the subject-specific area, a key factor in the development of curricula and the implementation of classes. The latter area of competence is developed in the process of continuous professional development of teachers not only through their participation in methodological conferences and self-education but also through close cooperation with experts in a particular field. Such cooperation can be implemented in a variety of ways: from ad hoc contacts in the workplace, through more intentional and institutionalised cooperation, to conducting classes in teams (Dudley-Evans, 2001, p. 226). It should be noted, however, that the last form is rarely used, both in Poland and abroad, as it is much more time consuming than the previous two.

3. Roles of a teacher in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

The expectations and requirements for foreign language teachers using the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methodology are particularly high. In line with the European Framework for CLIL Teacher Education (Marsh et al., 2011), they can be divided into eight areas:

- ability to reflect, especially with regard to one’s own content-specific and linguistic competences, as well as developmental needs;

- ability to build inclusive and constructive rapport with students and other participants of the integrated education process, including, but not limited to, relating the content and language classes to the school ethos and embedding them within the core curriculum;

- language and content awareness, including the ability to use a learning strategy (in the content and language area) and to activate habits of personalised learning;

- methodology and evaluation – an area covering various issues: from effective self-motivation, development of autonomy, through self-assessment and monitoring of progress or identification of key subject content, to the construction of evaluation tools and command of portfolio solutions (such as the European Language Portfolio, ELP) (Pawlak et al., 2006);

- conducting and evaluating research, especially action research conducted with colleagues, learners and other participants of the content and language integrated learning process;

- learning resources and learning environment – the area of designing language and content-appropriate materials, formulating criteria for the development of resources (including multimedia materials corresponding to the main functions of CLIL teaching) and issues related to the integrated curriculum;

- managing a class team based on the integration of learning content, language and skills, including sharing responsibility for educational processes (e.g. by changing configurations in groups, differentiating forms of interaction and improving group leadership skills);

- managing the educational process of CLIL learning through professional and personal self-development, shaping change management skills and cooperation with other participants in the process.

As noted by David Marsh et al. (2001), such expectations towards teachers working with CLIL methodology constitute a set of idealised competences. Commenting on their volume, one can refer to the diagnosis by Katarzyna Papaja (2013) who argues that work based on CLIL methodology requires skills that go beyond communication in a given language. Teachers choosing the CLIL approach should be familiar with the language register of a given field and apply this knowledge in class, skilfully juggling lexical and subject resources. At the same time, they can afford relatively wide-ranging autonomy, limited, of course, by certain factors – not only external but also internal (Wiśniewska, 2007, p. 123). However, there are concerns about whether a language teacher might be competent in an area other than linguistics. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that she or he often has additional, parallel professional qualifications. The report prepared annually by the AMU Foreign Languages Teaching Centre for the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Modern Languages shows that nearly a quarter of the teachers employed with the Centre have a second major or completed postgraduate studies. With employees who completed vocational courses in fields other than foreign language teaching, the percentage of teachers with two degrees increases to almost one-third of the total of over 130 members of the academic staff.

4. LSP teachers – mentors of young adults

The aforementioned needs analysis is likely to be effective if an LSP teacher knows the participants well. While specialist language learners are certainly not a highly homogeneous group, teachers can view them as a community to be able to pinpoint and diagnose their needs. Therefore, one can argue with the view of Dudley-Evans (2001, p. 131) who postulates that the needs should be narrowed down only to those that result from the specificity of a particular field – whereas certain characteristics of learners, such as those related to their age, should be considered, as well as the fact that they gradually become experts in the specific field the language learning concerns.

In Poland, participants of specialist language classes, apart from professionals improving their skills in companies, are primarily students of higher grades of sectoral vocational or technical schools and students of specialist language courses at universities (often second-cycle studies – as general language classes still predominate in first-cycle studies). The fact that a significant proportion of learners are at the same level of development allows for the projection of their characteristics in relation to the areas in which they can develop. Using a synthetic list of developmental tasks (cf. Newman and Newman, 2018), it can be stated, for example, that participants in specialist language classes are self-aware, also in terms of belonging to different groups (e.g. related to gender, age, interests), can relate to the system of moral values, are at a relatively advanced stage of emotional development. Other attributes developed at earlier stages of development, which can be attributed to people aged 18–24 (late adolescence) and 24–34 (early adulthood), include the ability to make friends and participate in playing games with peers, the ability to work in a team, as well as the ability to learn and the experience of being in a relationship and building rapport with another person (cf. Newman and Newman, 2018). Profiles of class participants can be a good starting point for reflecting on how LSP teachers may perceive their roles. Moreover, ignorance of these characteristics may lead to attribution errors, with dire consequences for group relations (Branscombe and Baron, 2017, p. 108).

The specificity of LSP courses, as opposed to other types of activities related to professional content, also consists in the possibility of direct reference to the above-mentioned skills, their application and further development. LSP teaching involves not only the ability to play or work in a team, but also the development of competences enabling learners to participate in academic education and career advancement is taken care of. Communication oriented at building social relations and developing skills necessary for self-support, obtaining the desired goods and enabling access to services is also used (Nunan, 1985).

As the learning process is not carried out – especially in LSP courses – in the form of teacher-learner knowledge transfer (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998, p. 13), it is extremely important to build partnership relations in class and take advantage of mutual learning opportunities. At this point, it is once again worth taking a closer look at the partners of an LSP teacher, i.e. young adults. Anna Brzezińska (2005, p. 438) assigns them the following attributes influencing the learning process:

- dialectical, meta systemic and relativistic thinking;

- high effectiveness of learning in the areas concerned;

- ease in identifying and solving practical problems;

- high efficiency of long-term and short-term memory;

- IQ increase;

- peak of fluid intelligence performance, dependent on the functioning of the central nervous system.

The characteristics of working with people fitting the above description requires, of course, the selection of appropriate teaching materials and the use of techniques corresponding to the skills they have previously developed. In addition, high sensitivity and mentalisation skills are required while developing relations with individuals entering the phase of independence from their parents, making decisions about their careers and embarking on the professional development path, and at the same time discovering their gender identity and becoming participants in intimate relationships, considering the possibility of starting a family and raising children. Specialist language classes therefore involve work with individuals who are in the process of determining and shaping their development path, striving for self-realisation. Carl Rogers (1983, pp. 197–221) believes that to foster the development of such learners, a teacher should:

- recognise that all learners have the ability to learn;

- include learners’ interests in the teaching process;

- create a learning atmosphere (i.e. a friendly environment where learners do not fear humiliation);

- enable learners to actively participate in classes and take into account their initiatives;

- boost learners’ self-esteem;

- guide learners’ orientation towards the process, not the product.

These goals correspond to the role of a teacher in supporting the adaptation of the student’s tasks to the learning process – the teacher’s impact is crucial here, as they create situations that require adaptation. Maciej Wilski (2011, pp. 155–158) lists several basic teacher’s tasks in this regard:

- getting to know students;

- individualisation of teaching;

- maintaining a balance between course requirements and capabilities of learners;

- avoiding situations in which a teacher provokes students’ anxiety;

- managing the natural activity of students.

These tasks seem to be particularly important in project work which offers the possibility of focusing on a specific task with a longer time horizon of implementation (Stoller, 2002).

To fulfil the above tasks well, a teacher must have specific knowledge. Anna Brzezińska (2005, p. 684) indicates that a teacher should be familiar with:

- students’ current level of development as compared to their peers;

- competences of the person concerned and areas where competences may require support;

- stage in the development cycle of a person/a group to whom a specific activity is addressed;

- life story of a person/a group, their plans and aspirations;

- form of assistance that a particular person/group is ready to accept;

- actual extent to which a person/group is ready to accept assistance.

Brzezińska also mentions adjusting the forms of support offered in the development process to the verbalised expectations of a person/group and considering recipients’ living conditions while planning for supporting activities.

When analysing the issue of the desirable skills of LSP class participants, one may be tempted to create a comprehensive list of their key competences – in that case a foreign language is only one of a number of measures. Objective indicators of transition to adulthood may serve as a reference point here (Brzezińska et al., 2015, p. 297):

- achieving professional and financial independence;

- new place of residence;

- marriage or long-term relationship;

- parenthood;

- career choice.

Of course, one may speculate to what extent LSP classes will bring learners closer to achieving independence and how teachers are to support learners in choosing a career. Taking the common learning outcomes for teaching foreign languages for vocational purposes in Polish secondary education as a reference point, it can be stated that they are quite general and focus on substantive issues related to language learning. Pursuant to the Regulation of the Minister of Education of 31 March 2017 on the core curriculum for vocational education (Journal of Laws 2017, item 860), these include:

- using linguistic (lexical, grammatical, spelling and phonetic) means enabling the performance of professional tasks;

- interpreting statements concerning the performance of typical professional activities articulated slowly and clearly, in a standard language;

- analysing and interpretating short written texts concerning the performance of typical professional activities;

- formulating short and understandable statements and written texts enabling communication in the work environment;

- using foreign-language sources of information.

Although these outcomes can be treated as a certain synthesis of skills, only LSP teachers are able to adopt a holistic approach to learners in the learning process – and therefore consider the aforementioned indicators. Bearing in mind that the development of communication skills is the focal point of language classes, only LSP courses offer the great opportunity to refer to all the aforementioned aspects of transition into adulthood – in particular, entering the career path. The keys to taking advantage of this opportunity are, of course, the competences and commitment of teachers.

5. Summary

A discussion of the roles of LSP teachers can be the starting point for specifying the activities expected of them.

Firstly, in terms of the organisation of classes, it is necessary to focus on the individual. This should be done through recognising proficiency levels and groups according to specific specialities, obtaining information about the educational difficulties of learners, as well as through continuous observation and evaluation of their learning progress. Such activities enable teachers to build a unique bank of information about course participants. The value of such knowledge about learners, supplemented with their own references to their experiences in the foreign language learning process, was appreciated, among others, by the authors of the European Language Portfolio, who pointed to the potential resulting from supporting students’ autonomy (Pawlak et al., 2006).

Secondly, the continuity of the evaluation process and relation with learners enables the ongoing analysis of the effectiveness of educational activities and triggers a feedback mechanism, adapting the curriculum content to the needs of course participants. At this point, it is worth mentioning the factors influencing the learning process; according to Biggs and Tang (2007, pp. 15–19), these are:

- individual characteristics of students, including talents, intelligence level, interests;

- educational activities of teachers, including the use of specific teaching techniques;

- students’ activities and the level of their involvement.

Thirdly, both the structure of classes and the content of curriculum implemented as part of LSP classes should be directly related to the issues that are of importance for the personal development of an individual, whereas development should be treated much more broadly than just cultivating language competences. Noteworthy opportunities are offered by the CLIL methodology which, however, requires both continuous upgrading of teachers’ qualifications and building partnership relations between teachers and participants.

References

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***

Teaching languages for specific purposes and competency building on the example of a dual study programme

Małgorzata Niemiec-Knaś, Andrzej Skwara

Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.152-177

Abstract: The aim of the article is to evolve the dual programme of studies conducted by the University of Czestochowa – German for business trading. For this purpose, the course design and its objective has been presented, as well as the concept of learning a specialised language, in this case Wirtschaftsdeutsch, which is based on a Task- -Based Learning (TBL). The authors of the article have drawn attention to the essence of well-structured objectives of tasks based on the action competence with the areas of social-communicative competence, self-competence, methodological competence and professional competence. An important part of the studies are internships in the SSC. As a summary of almost 1.5 years of studies, a survey has been conducted among students, the results of which are described in detail in the article.

Keywords:

- teaching languages for specific purposes

- dual study programme

- Task-Based Learning

- internships

1. Introduction

Economic development, technological and organisational transformation of enterprises, digitisation of products and services are factors that set new tasks for the higher education system in Poland, including language education. Therefore, it is only justified to analyse the requirements of the developing labour market awaiting university graduates, and to undertake work on adjusting curricula and teaching profiles to the expectations of the developing economy. The article aims at evaluating the dual bachelor’s degree programme: German for Business Trading, implemented at Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, prepared as part of a competition announced by the National Centre for Research and Development. The authors described the legitimacy of entering the competition, as well as the concept of language for specific purposes teaching, in this case Wirtschaftsdeutsch, using the Task-Based Learning (TBL) approach. The results of a survey conducted among students of this field of study, summarising three semesters of study, are also presented.

2. Conditions for the establishment of the German for Business Trading programme

In Poland, after the political transformation, a rapid increase in the number of university students and graduates was observed. According to the data of Statistics Poland (GUS), in 1991 there were 56,000 graduates, in 1999 – over 210,000, and in 2011 their number reached almost half a million[1]. However, negative trends could be noticed quickly: on the one hand, rising unemployment within this group (2.6% in 2000, 10.5% in 2011), and on the other, taking up jobs by university graduates in positions below their qualification level, as well as economic emigration (also often forcing those who left the country to seek employment not in line with their education abroad). The soundness of state budget expenditure on a system spawning unemployed graduates with a master’s degree was questioned more and more often (cf. Kryńska, 2002). There was understandable frustration among graduates who took up studies hoping to obtain qualifications that would provide better opportunities in the labour market. The need to change the system of higher education in order to adjust it better to the requirements of the labour market turned into an urgent social challenge. It was also soon noticed that it was necessary to adjust the course offer to the requirements of the developing economy and the expectations of future employers, as well as to depart from the rigid model of academic education to be able to respond faster and more effectively to the emerging needs.

The European Union’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy is also part of efforts towards a better adaptation of the education system to the needs of the social and economic environment. This policy is a key element of the lifelong learning system which enables the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competences needed in particular occupations and the labour market. VET is an essential element of an effective employment strategy and social policy that can increase the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises as well as foster research and innovation.

Promoting practice-oriented ”on the job” training in all its forms (with particular emphasis on professional preparation and by stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship) involving social partners, enterprises, professional organisations as well as vocational education and training organisers was included among the goals agreed between EU institutions, social partners and European VET providers for 2015–2020[2].

To counteract the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the European Commission presented an employment and social policy agenda with an emphasis on skills acquisition and vocational training. The proposed initiatives for the implementation of the Recovery Plan for Europe (NGEU) are presented, inter alia, in the Commission Communication on the Skills Agenda for Europe. It includes 12 European Union measures aimed at supporting partnerships for skills, up-skilling and re-skilling as well as supporting lifelong learning. The fifth measure, relating to the cooperation of higher education institutions with economic entities under the Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe programmes and to upgrading the qualifications of researchers, stresses that higher education is the primary tool in equipping students with the skills needed in their future professional career. The rapidly evolving labour market and social changes require better adaptation of educational programmes to the universities’ economic environment, allowing graduates to obtain the education and skills required in the labour market (European Commission, 2020).

The future of university graduates in the labour market, and especially their struggles with finding adequate employment, is undoubtedly a complex problem depending on many factors, widely discussed and analysed by experts, primarily in the field of social policy (cf., inter alia, Buchner-Jeziorska, 2008, 2011; Jeruszka, 2011; Kabaj and Jeruszka, 2009; Kiersztyn, 2011; Kryńska, 2010). The studies emphasise the link between the economy and higher education. Economic progress and growth largely depend on the quality of education. Graduates should be the driving force behind innovative implementations and the introduction of new solutions and technologies to particular sectors of the economy. Researchers also analyse the expectations of employers who believe that the greatest shortcomings in the preparation of university graduates concern practical skills and work experience (Kryńska, 2010). Therefore, the importance of internships and work placements is emphasised, aimed not only at gaining practical skills but also at preparing students for company employment conditions, time management, and adapting to the rigour and discipline of work. Curricula should be adequately modernised in order to combine theory and work practice. As Urszula Jeruszka (2011, p. 5) points out: ”The system of cooperation between universities and enterprises will enable the popularisation of dual vocational education. Combining school education with work-based education, theory and practice, learning with action – the essence of the dual education system – enables the acquisition of professional knowledge, including technical, economic and organisational know-how, practical and specialist skills, and affects the durability and transfer of acquired knowledge and skills”.

The concept of dual studies was introduced to the Polish legal system in 2018 by an amendment to the Law on Higher Education and Science, known as the Constitution for Science, which defines this approach in fairly general terms by specifying the requirement of employers’ participation in the provision of studies as well as the need to conclude a written agreement between the university and the employer in order to organise studies[3].

In 2017, the National Centre for Research and Development announced a competition (POWR.03.01.00-IP.08-00-DUO/18) the beneficiaries of which were universities. Its objective was to co-finance projects that would develop a dual--degree study programme and implement one full cycle of classes. A total of 84 applications were submitted, of which 69 were positively assessed and qualified for funding. The authors of the article developed and submitted a project of the dual--degree programme of studies ”German for Business Trading”, combining learning two foreign languages – German and English – with training in economics and accounting. The application was highly rated and ranked 16th on the list, even though the competition conditions favoured large universities. This was the only project that pertained to language education – other applications involved primarily polytechnic, economic, pedagogical and IT faculties.

The dual-degree programme of studies German for Business Trading was developed with the intention of including Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa – a university recruiting students mainly from Częstochowa and the region – in the system that provides higher education in response to local labour market needs. Work on the programme was preceded by the diagnosis of employers’ expectations and study visits with representatives of ZF Group European Shared Services Centre based in Częstochowa, managing the financial and accounting processes of European plants of ZF Group. The objective of the meetings was to jointly develop programme assumptions and principles for internships offered to dual programme students. A framework agreement was signed regulating cooperation in the implementation of studies.

The programme, which departs from the rigid model of philological studies, has a modular structure. It consists of a module of general language skills and mainly LSP training (business language, the language of commercial and official correspondence, finance and accounting), a module of economic and accounting preparation, training of interpersonal competences and teamwork skills, as well as a module of internships (three months in each year of study) and apprenticeships (two months) (cf. Niemiec-Knaś and Skwara, 2019). The course of professional internships is governed by a tripartite agreement concluded between the university, the employer and the student, which strictly defines the conditions of internships as well as their programme and educational goals. The internships are to contribute to the development of English and German communication skills, the skill of recognising basic accounting instruments and teamwork skills. Students learn about the working conditions at ZF Financial Service Centre, acquire professional competences and, first and foremost, learn the practical application of theoretical knowledge gained during their studies and have the opportunity to verify practical language skills in a professional environment. The internships prepare the participants to function in a team, make them aware of the value of working in various positions and offer an opportunity to meet the demands of professional duties. The programme is supplemented with specialist courses designed to prepare students for internships with this particular employer and to use computer programmes, as well as to take the WiDaF exam (Deutsch als Fremdsprache in der Wirtschaft), testing the level of proficiency in German in business, often used by companies in the recruitment process.

The new field of study is a proposal for a specific target group. Before its launch, a promotional campaign was carried out that included organising information meetings with secondary school pupils from Częstochowa and the region, as well as posting announcements on the website of the university and the faculty. The social characteristics of the candidates who, for various but mostly economic reasons, cannot study at higher education centres outside Częstochowa, were considered. The programme gives them the opportunity to obtain targeted qualifications (i.e. those needed in a particular field and expected by local employers) and also makes it easier to find a job in other regions of Poland as the sector of global business services (shared services) has been rapidly developing in recent years.

A graduate of German for Business Trading also has the opportunity to supplement and develop competences in second-cycle studies in the field of management, accounting or language courses. According to the first graduates of dual-degree studies of the Silesian University of Technology, the best professional path after completing the first cycle of dual-degree studies is to find employment (naturally with an employer who offered the internships) and complete higher education in the extramural/part-time system. In their opinion, the offer of dual second-cycle studies should be addressed to graduates of non-dual first-cycle studies[4].

3. The concept of LSP teaching – introductory remarks

The teaching and learning of foreign languages, especially LSP (e.g. business German – Wirtschaftsdeutsch) in the dual studies formula requires the development of a solid conceptual framework. The fact that students can (of course, in a random way) verify their linguistic skills during internships coping with language issues in a real-life professional environment, motivates researchers to formulate a relevant definition of language teaching and learning. When developing such a conceptual framework, one should accomodate factors determining the profile of specialist education, namely, as Elżbieta Gajewska and Magdalena Sowa (2014, p. 84) stated:

- the field to which a given specialist discourse relates;

- the environment in which language is used (specialist or general);

- the level of professionalisation (professional qualifications) of training entities;

- the method of endorsing acquired skills.

In the case of students of German for Business Trading, professionalisation is out of the question as most of them are secondary school graduates, without linguistic or accounting skills. Already in the first year of study, during on-the--job internships, students could see that the knowledge of a foreign language in the professional environment, specifically in the field of shared services (accounting activities), is very important.

The content of teaching and learning is derived from the field of Wirtschaftsdeutsch. This type of classes, apart from natural science and technical content, most often concerns LSP education (Buhlmann and Fearns, 2018, p. 133)[5]. Especially in the 1990s, in the period of accelerated globalisation, Wirtschaftsdeutsch gained importance. Like technical German, it is not fully defined and should be treated as an umbrella term for various specialist languages – ”Sammelbegriff für diverse Fachsprachen” (Buhlmann and Fearns, 2018, p. 133) in the original version – depending on the type of users and communication goals.

Undoubtedly, an important parameter that should influence the selection of the content of a language course is the level of professional reality (Gajewska and Sowa, 2014, p. 85). In the sector of Shared Services Centers (SSC), the business language Wirtschaftsdeutsch is used, but in various non-professional situations, the ability to use transversal competences is required. Therefore, combining a foreign language (FL) with language for specific purposes (LSP) seems to be a very important principle when building the concept of specialist language training. In LSP teaching, language competences are developed along with professional ones and are verified in action. Elżbieta Gajewska and Magdalena Sowa (2014, p. 139) believe that ”competences cannot be separated from action because it is exactly in the course of action that competences and knowledge are formed and are subject to constant modification and evolution”. Sambor Grucza clearly emphasises that language for specific purposes cannot be separated from general language: ”Specialist idiolects are not, therefore, fully-fledged idiolects in the linguistic sense. From this point of view, each specialist idiolect is usually related in some way to the basic idiolect. Specialist idiolects connect with the basic idiolect on the level of its constituents, by means of, first of all, phonemics, graphics, morphemics, grammar and (non-specialist) lexis” (Grucza, 2009, p. 23).

What is important for the concept of language education is the way of teaching and learning specialist vocabulary that does not exist in general language. The complexity of this situation is noted by Joanna Kic-Drgas (2015, p. 19) in her considerations on difficulties in learning specialist terminology. Firstly, there are linguistic problems related to an insufficient command of a foreign language and the native language. Secondly, there is lack of or only partial knowledge of a given field. Thirdly, there are methodological difficulties, chiefly the lack of knowledge of learning strategies and techniques, as well as the improper transfer of specialist content (Kic-Drgas, 2015, p. 19). Referring to an article by Magdalena Sowa (2009), the author of the considerations emphasises the importance of appropriate teaching materials. In LSP teaching, as compared to FL teaching, the selection of appropriate materials is particularly difficult due to their insufficient quantity and quality.

When building the concept of teaching and learning specialist terminology, the view of Joanna Kic-Drgas (2015, p. 20) seems to be of key importance: ”It is therefore very important to be able to independently develop a strategy for working on specialist vocabulary, to search for appropriate sources and exercises”.

When building the concepts of LSP teaching and learning, one should use methodological solutions that allow for mastering the skills of using specialist language in a professional environment. In the dual education model, including specialist language teaching and learning, a task-based approach seems perfect. Task-oriented activities are perceived in modern foreign language teaching as a far-reaching methodological concept. This fact is emphasised by Jörg Roche (2006, p. 209) who confirms his stance by mentioning several methods and methodological techniques in which tasking plays a significant role.

Tasks have been present in foreign language teaching theory and practice since the era of reform in pedagogy. Its numerous representatives, such as Vietor (Budziak, 2013, p. 250) and Gouin (1892), emphasised primarily the authentic use of language, its practical application and the development of independence. The idea of a task is firmly embedded in the concept of project activity, students’ needs-oriented classes and the station teaching technique. What is especially worth paying attention to is the project method developed by John Dewey (2014), rooted in American pragmatism and emphasising planned action, independence and the real context of action.

Task orientation can be found in creative writing. It is a multi-tasking process that, due to its complexity, often becomes a project-oriented activity. In language for specific purposes teaching, the task-based approach is also used in case-based learning. We are dealing here with ”teaching and learning by simulating real situations and processes in which a learner has to cope with the described problem situation, assuming the role of a decision-maker” (Breszka-Jędrzejewska, 2019, p. 72). A task, especially in LSP teaching, should be constructed in such a way as to reflect a problem related to a specific professional situation.

Thanks to a cognitive constructivist perspective on the learning process, a task gains significant importance unlike in the textbook-oriented perspective and exercise-based model of learning. It is important to acquire skills and knowledge with real-world applications, and to use learning techniques and strategies. Learners should work on issues they encounter in the real world, e.g. professional environment. Learners’ ability to diagnose the learning process also plays a significant role. A task cannot be performed occasionally, it must be woven into a sequence of events, an example of which is the scenario method used in teaching general and specialist language.

All teachers and lecturers working remotely with pupils or students have realised the importance of task development skills. Exercises and tests in online (and classroom) teaching yield poor results in the case of foreign language learning. Better results are obtained from solving specific problems – these, however, must be ”encased” in the framework of a task, as the effectiveness of LSP teaching and learning depends on the quality of this task.

4. Competency tasks

Knowledge about the features of tasks and their construction elements, which has been known since the 1980s, comes from the Anglo-Saxon tradition (Ellis, 2003; Nunan, 2004; Willis, 1996). Task-Based Learning (TBL) is a continuation of the idea of pragmatism, assuming active participation of the student in solving problems rooted in reality (in foreign language classes this translates into visiting an office, a shop or a doctor’s office). Activities proposed under the TBL label – developing the skills of searching for information, comparing and assigning content to appropriate categories, conducting debates (e.g. for and against, discussions) – show what didactic potential results from this type of approach (cf. Janowska, 2011, p. 80). For the purposes of LSP teaching, it is worth recalling Rod Ellis’ (2012) conceptualisation of a task: ”A task must have a specific goal. Learners will strive to achieve it using the target language seen as a tool, not an end in itself. A good task allows the student to focus on the meaning – on what one would like to say, while linguistic correctness comes second” (quoted from Janowska, 2019, p. 156).

Competency tasks were described in detail by the authors of this text in the article Les tâches compétentielles et le modèle de formation de l’enseignant de la langue de spécialité (Niemiec-Knaś and Skwara 2020, pp. 198–199).

Professional work requires immediate reaction, communicating and problem--solving. Tasks must be structured in such a way that they can prepare a learner to act quickly, creatively and independently in the real world. Researchers dealing with the issue of task structure highlight (in various languages) its strong relation with the plan, the implementation of instructions and of the process:

A task is a work plan; A task involves real-world processes of language use.

(Nunan, 2004; Ellis, 2003, p. 7ff.);

Les tâches requièrent l’usage de la langue et s’organisent à partir d’une situation problème.[6]

(Dolz et al., 2002, p. 12);

Ein ‚Task’ ist ein Arbeitsauftrag an einzelne Lernende oder Gruppen, der zu geistigen Tätigkeiten führt, die sich auf fremdsprachliche Informationen gründen und Äußerungen/Handlungen in/mit der Zielsprache auslösen.[7]

(Piepho and Serena 1992, p. 39ff.);

W dydaktyce językowej trudno również o konsensus: dla jednych pod wieloma względami zadanie utożsamiane jest z poleceniem, gdyż inicjuje ono działanie, dla drugich zaś termin ten oznacza proces realizacji samego działania.[8]

(Janowska, 2011, p. 172).

To be able to construct an action plan, one needs to set a goal. Goals in tasks define competencies. According to Klieme (2003, p. 72)[9], competency in foreign language teaching is: ”Eine Disposition, die Personen befähigt, bestimmte Arten von kommunikativen Problemen durch interkulturelle, fremdsprachige Handlungsfähigkeit erfolgreich zu lösen”.

Difficulties in LSP teaching may be caused by factors such as the expert or professional context, understanding of specialist texts that are not dealt with on a daily basis and understanding of cultural differences. The last factor is often more important in professional work than in everyday life and determines the correctness of communication, which may in turn be important when establishing and continuing business contacts.

The ability to formulate course learning objectives plays an important role in LSP and FL teaching. The taxonomy proposed by Robert Marzano and John Kendall can be useful in constructing objectives[10] – it has a certain advantage over the cognitive taxonomy developed by Benjamin Bloom (1956) as it also integrates affective and psychomotor objectives, which are the foundation of the acquisition of competences, especially the ability to work independently and to apply methods and techniques learnt. The new taxonomy is more useful when developing tasks for LSP teaching. There are six levels to it:

- Level 1. Abrufen (retrieval): learners refer to their knowledge and apply it in simple tasks/exercises, they are able to assess simple information and answers and recognise strategies and processes;

- Level 2. Verstehen (comprehension): learners are able to distinguish between important and not so important information, they are able to present information (e.g. comparison of financial results of two companies) in a graphic form;

- Level 3. Analyze (analysis): learners are able to organise new information according to specific criteria, are able to perceive the similarities and differences in information, assess the importance of information and draw general conclusions accordingly, and create, for example, a set of rules;

- Level 4. Wissensnutzung (knowledge utilisation): learners use their knowledge in new situations and are able to evaluate its application. They become more independent, however, this requires the construction of complex tasks related to specific situations (e.g. a conversation between a boss and an employee on the extension of a leave). They use knowledge to formulate and verify hypotheses, to analyse new facts and new knowledge;

- Level 5. Metakognition (metacognition): learners are able to monitor their own learning process, are able to set goals concerning acquiring knowledge and prepare their own action plan. They are able to observe their progress and determine the correctness of the information obtained;

- Level 6. Kritisches Selbst (self-system thinking): learners are able to defend their position, apply appropriate argumentation, assess their own competencies and understand cause and effect relationships in a given situation.

Already at Level 3, the need to construct an objective that requires a task-based approach is clearly visible. In order to achieve task goals according to the Marzano and Kendall taxonomy, the characteristics of competency tasks according to Feindt and Meyer (2010, p. 30) and their features can be recalled:

- cognitive activation of the pupil/student through a well-defined formulation of a task adequate to the requirements and situation;

- linking new material with the student’s level of knowledge and skills;

- the so-called intelligent exercise (open forms of communication-oriented exercises, conscious and unconscious exercises e.g. through language games, small steps exercises, in pairs, positive reinforcement from the teacher, Video Scribe visualisation techniques, Flemodidaktik);

- applying the acquired skills in relevant real-world situations;

- reflection on progress, development of metatalk Metakognition (Bär, 2016, pp. 14–15).

Gabriele Lehmann and Wolfgang Nieke’s (2000) competency model may be useful in building language for specific purposes classes.

Figure 1. Competency Model

Source: Developed based on Lehmann and Nieke (2000, p. 2).

In this model, the key is action competency (psychomotor domain), which enable to produce specific outcomes during task execution, e.g. a report or a description of the production process, which appear during the performance of a task. To produce an outcome, one needs the first component of action competency, i.e. specialist knowledge (cognitive domain), and in the case of LSP, also linguistic knowledge. By gaining this competency, the learner can: understand the content, recognise relationships, find similarities and differences, apply new knowledge, verify and assess the situation. Further important aspects are methodical and social competency and self-assessment skills.

Methodical competency (affective domain) helps to organise knowledge by means of specific activities (assigning, sharing, finding information, deciding, shaping, planning, visualising).

Tasks are solved in pairs or in a group, which is why social competencies (affective domain and psychomotor domain) are so important. Learners should be able to listen, ask questions, discuss, cooperate, present, take responsibility etc. They should focus on the development of soft skills, extremely important in today’s professional world. ”Soft skills training in the LSP classroom offers a unique opportunity for developing soft skills in a professional environment, with emphasis on individual needs”[11] (Kic-Drgas, 2018, 34).

The last competency listed in the model is self-assessment (affective domain). Without this skill, learners have problems with diagnosing progress, finding learning meaningful, exercising endurance or identifying with the content of classes.

When planning classroom tasks, it is worth considering three stages of their implementation. The first involves imitative activities (language games, repetition exercises) supervised by the teacher. The next stage is the transfer zone, i.e. putting information together, adequately responding to new information, solving a task problem according to the formula provided by the teacher (e.g. a telephone conversation, planning a business trip, description of a diagram, a product, a production process, presentation of a company). In the third stage, learners solve a new problem without a pattern, in a new situational context (e.g. comparing the profits of two companies, negotiating a new contract, discussing the organisation of trade fairs, planning, interviewing, preparing an order, an offer, making complaints according to specific criteria). These three stages illustrate the progression of learners’ competency gained through tasks. The third stage is also a test of acquired skills, which can take the form of a scenario, e.g. according to the following scheme:

Specific competency profiles are implemented in this system, e.g. the learner is able to:

- set the date of an appointment by e-mail or by phone;

- understand job offers;

- write a job application and resume;

- introduce her or his competencies, present his or her professional experience (cf. Eilert-Ebke and Sass, 2014, p. 18).

Comprehensiveness of LSP classes based on competency models and a task as a methodological measure is manifested in experience, instruction and construction (cf. Lötscher, Joller-Graf and Krammer, 2015). There is a strong emphasis on the relationship with reality. In the dual study model, it is visible in the didactic concept assuming contact with the workplace and acquiring experience by students during work placements. Transparency of learning outcomes consists primarily in the ability to function in the workplace, performing SSC (Shared Services Centre) tasks that require the correct use of a language for specific purposes: German and English. The possibility of verifying the communication (action) competency due to the task-oriented nature of teaching LSP at the university (including online tasks during internships), provides students with the opportunity to constantly reflect on the learning process, the development of language skills and the increase in specialist knowledge. This mode of work also contributes to the development of soft skills (especially as part of the internships, but also thanks to tasks performed during university-based classes), the importance of which is often emphasised in the literature concerning LSP: ”Soft skills training should primarily introduce authenticity and be closely connected to a professional environment”[12] (Kic-Drgas, 2018, p. 35).

5. Student survey

In order to find out about the advantages of the studies conducted as an element of the project activity, the team of teachers (authors of the article) conducted a survey among students. The study involved 12 students out of 15 implementing the curriculum – 4 men and 8 women aged 22–24. The study objective was to obtain general knowledge on how project participants, after almost a year and a half of project implementation, evaluate the theoretical and practical components of dual-degree studies (which consisted of a six-week on-site internship in a company and a seven-week online internship). It should be noted, however, that the online mode of the internships was forced by the new situation of the pandemic crisis, as the company did not undertake the implementation of on-site training considering the circumstances.

Team members prepared – for the seven weeks of the online internship – a compendium of tasks in the field of LSP. The tasks concerned mainly a simulated own business in Germany and account keeping with the use of free software: EasyFirma and Rechnungsverwalter. Tasks were posted and assigned in the Trello – an easily accessible and user-friendly application – in order to facilitate online internship management. The content of the tasks was mainly in German and partly in English.

Most of the survey questions concerned internships, those completed in the workplace and online ones – carried out by the members of the project team. Some of them related to the curriculum and its effectiveness in the context of internships. The survey consisted of 14 questions – see the results below. Ten questions related to the internships carried out directly in the Centre. Questions 1, 5 and 6 related to the evaluation of the organisation of the internships in the company (conditions of their completion and the company’s tutoring). Questions 2, 3, 4 and 8 concerned the evaluation of the use of linguistic competencies while performing tasks during the internship. Answering questions 7 and 9, students described the increase in knowledge in managing accounting documents and using software and applications for accounting activities. Questions 10 and 12 related to the evaluation of online internships. The survey focused primarily on assessing the quality of the internships carried out directly in the company – the main assumption of project activities.

Figure 1. Respondents’ assessment of the organisation of internships in the company

Figure 2. Contact of respondents with a foreign language during internships

Figure 3. Indication of the extent to which respondents understood foreign language instructions during internships

Figure 4. Level of application of university linguistic competence during the internships

Figure 5. Assessment of the value of internships in the company

Figure 6. Respondents’ assessment of the atmosphere during internships

Figure 7. Respondents’ assessment of the knowledge of MS Office suite and specialist applications, acquired during internships

Figure 8. Level of application of a foreign language for professional tasks during internships

Figure 9. Level of knowledge in the field of accounting acquired during internships

Figure 10. Level of the usefulness of information acquired using specialist computer applications during online internships

Figure 11. Scope of real work conditions and work principles learnt during internships

Figure 12. Respondents’ assessment of tasks performed during online internships

Questions 13 and 14 were open-ended and concerned what students lacked during internships and what should be the focus of language education at the university. Referring to the internships carried out in the workplace, the respondents indicated that they expected more intensive contact with the German language.

Most of the respondents noticed that thanks to working directly with MS Office suite software as well as SAP and OneSb systems, they became proficient in using these tools. This opinion was confirmed by the answer provided by one of the survey participants: ”As far as the internships in the company are concerned, I had no knowledge of how to use the SAP system. It was a nuisance that made it difficult to get into the specifics of work in the Master Data department. That is why I performed tasks that did not require knowledge of this system and were equally interesting, but I regretted that I did not get to work with all the employees of the department. However, I learnt how to use the OneSb system and upgraded my MS Office suite skills. [Next year] I would definitely like to take part in SAP classes but I don’t know whether it’s possible. It would definitely be very useful”.

The students positively assessed the fact that owing to the online internships they expanded their linguistic competence: ”Considering the online internships, I can say that all the tasks significantly broadened my knowledge of the German language which I used a lot. My only regret is that I was not able to work with EasyFirma and Rechnungsverwalter applications, as neither [of them] ran on my computer for more than three days, so I was doing tasks in Excel or Word”.

To the question: ”What should be the focus of language education at the university?” the students replied: ”It is very good”; ”There should be more emphasis on conversations and listening comprehension exercises”; ”First of all, conversations in foreign languages”; ”The curriculum is complete and meets my expectations. I learn the specifics of working in an office, specialist vocabulary, communication skills and listening comprehension skills – I do not see any gaps in terms of language. I would just focus more on learning economics and accounting in practice”.

The preliminary results of the survey confirm that the students are satisfied with both the internships and the curriculum of dual-degree studies German for Business Trading, provided both at the university and online. The online internships organised by the members of the project team also served their purpose. Comments on the curriculum and the method of its implementation were passed on to the entire academic staff of the dual-degree studies.

6. Summary

The idea of dual-degree studies, known in Germany and other Western European countries for several dozen years, is not that well-established in Poland – it has been more extensively practiced at the university level for only a few years. After a year and a half of implementation of the German for Business Trading programme, incorporating LSP classes into the curriculum of dual-degree studies seems to be a good idea. It is a particularly interesting offer for students who, for various reasons, do not want to take up philological studies but wish to learn a foreign language, especially a specialist one, in the context of its specific use in a professional environment. The implementation of the teaching concept based on building competency tasks, although not easy and time-consuming, can yield and already is yielding positive results. Competency models can substantially facilitate defining course objectives and contribute to creating satisfactory tasks that provide the professional context. Tasks teach students responsibility for their own learning process and shape their soft skills, so important in today’s professional world. On-the-job training has already brought students tangible benefits, among which the following should be mentioned:

- learning about the company’s procedures and policies in finance and accounting;

- getting acquainted with selected elements of work in the financial and accounting system applied both in the company and during online internships – EasyFirma and Rechnungsverwalter specialist applications;

- learning the practical use of MS Office tools (Excel sheets in particular) and SAP;

- becoming familiar with elements of the accounting system in the context of book-keeping activities (e.g. accounting and formal verification of financial documents, registration of economic operations, analysis of bookkeeping accounts, drawing reports);

- learning about the specifics of working with a foreign client, the principles of customer service in e-mail contacts as part of the provision of financial and accounting services;

- practical use of a foreign language (German, English) in business correspondence, in drafting company documentation, etc.

There are additional issues related to dual studies that need to be considered. In preparing the implementation of the task-based approach, lecturers must learn to shape the teaching and learning space both in the real and online world, which requires a lot of work. They should also have high-level teaching skills. Moreover, it is important to cooperate with experts and take care of individual development in the scope of LSP classroom methods and techniques.

The dual-degree study programme German for Business Trading was developed as the university’s response primarily to the needs of the local labour market but also to the developing national economy. Positioning of the university in the context of this type of studies is undoubtedly an advantage as the proximity and close cooperation with the social and economic environment makes academic staff more open to changes, enabling them to adapt more easily both to the needs of the economy and to the expectations of prospective students. The project of dual-degree language studies, thanks to the development of relevant teaching tools and methods, is a specific testing ground and a contribution to further work on the LSP teaching programme.

It should be highlighted that the cooperation of the providers of dual--degree studies with various university units – the project office, accounting department, Dean’s Office, institute managers – constitutes a very important factor in the success of the programme. Such projects, although they may seem to be mere experiments, can benefit both the students and the university itself. For this to happen, it is essential to draw on the expertise and experience of persons wishing to be involved in such initiatives and, first and foremost, support their efforts.

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[1] bdl.stat.gov.pl/BDL/dane/podgrup/wymiary [access: 26.01.2022].

[2] ec.europa.eu/education/policies/eu-policy-in-the-field-of-vocational-education-and-training-vet_pl [access: 15.02.2021]

[3] Article 62 of the act of 20 July 2018, Law on Higher Education and Science (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1668).

[4] 4th Conference “Dual Education – EDUAL, Dual studies as a response to the needs of industry 4.0”, Gliwice, 2 March 2020. One of the conference panels was devoted to speeches by graduates of dual degree programmes on various aspects of studying in this mode.

[5] "Neben naturwissenschaftlich und technisch ausgerichtetem DaF-Unterricht ist im Bereich des Berufs- und Fachsprachenunterrichts die Nachfrage nach sogenanntem Wirtschaftsdeutsch wohl am größten" (Buhlmann and Fearns, 2018, p. 133).

[6] "Tasks require the use of language and are organised around the problem situation".

[7] "A task is an instruction for individual students and groups that leads to intellectual activities based on information provided in a foreign language. These activities result in an action in the target language".

[8] "In language didactics, it is also difficult to find a consensus: for some, in many respects, a task is equated with a command because it initiates an activity, while for others this term means the process of carrying out an action itself".

[9] "A disposition that enables effective solving of various types of communication problems through the ability to perform linguistic and intercultural activities".

[10] The New Taxonomy, bit.ly/3JrtCR5 [access: 14.02.2022].

[11] "Trening kompetencji miękkich w procesie uczenia się języków specjalistycznych jest wyjątkową okazją do rozwijania tych kompetencji w środowisku zawodowym, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem potrzeb indywidualnych" (translation into Polish: M. Niemiec-Knaś).

[12] "Trening kompetencji miękkich powinien być autentyczny i powiązany ze środowiskiem zawodowym" (translation into Polish: M. Niemiec-Knaś).

***

Languages for specific purposes – challenges in teaching on the example of German philology

Grażyna Strzelecka

University of Warsaw

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.178-194

Abstract: The aim of the text is the description of the teaching process of languages for specific purposes in philology studies. The paper presents an outline of courses on business language at the Institute of German Studies, University of Warsaw, designed both to teach language skills and convey professional knowledge in the CLIL formula, which is becoming more and more popular. The author focuses on the problem how to combine important academic goals: to teach economics, on the one hand, and to practice intercultural communication skills, on the other. Special consideration is given to the teachers’ problems. The teacher must not only teach German, but also introduce his students to various branches of economics. The question is how to fulfill the task successfully. It is argued here, how an academic teacher should be prepared to take that challenge successfully and to provide the balance between both goals: content and language. The project is in line with a new trend in foreign language teaching in higher education. The trend consists in implementing and fulfilling real life tasks as a part of teaching languages for specific purposes.

Keywords:

- language for specific purposes

- teaching

- philology

- challenges

- activities

1. Introduction

1.1. LSP teaching at a university

LSP teaching as part of foreign language courses at a university (also at human sciences universities) has gained importance in recent years. Societies have become more mobile; students participate in different foreign exchange programmes, hold apprenticeships and internships in enterprises, take up professional work during their studies and want universities to prepare them for their profession. Class groups become increasingly diverse with respect to age, culture and knowledge as many pursue education in two or more fields of study and bring different subject-related experiences from the bachelor’s degree stage to the master’s degree programme. This is the environment that a tutor – a LSP teacher – has to navigate. Thanks to their education, the tutor is usually a teaching methodology expert, but not necessarily an specialist in the subject area taught. Such work is based on continuous further training and then harmonising linguistic and subject issues and keeping them relatively balanced. Professionalism, on the other hand, is based on the operational use of competences at their disposal so that the programmed and/or implemented educational process could end with a didactic success (Sowa, 2018, p. 122).

This paper aims to reflect on the work of LSP teachers conducting classes at universities (mainly in the humanities) and their educational needs. The article provides an example of studies in the field of philology educating German students who pursue careers in a variety of professional fields after graduation. Some of these students find employment in the economy (in its various sectors), others become translators or teachers, including LSP teachers. ”The professionalisation of language education visible in recent years (also in philological studies) clearly directs the education process towards specific skills required and/or desired in the professional environment. Students who learn foreign languages in order to employ knowledge thereof in future work, want to attain as high proficiency as possible, since linguistic competence is the key to success in the labour market” (Sowa, 2018, p. 123). The analysis of the specificity of the modern business services sector in Poland, with its demand for graduates with a good and very good command of German, results, however, also in the conclusion that in planning a university-level LSP course, from the learner’s perspective it seems unfavourable to educate language competences with the specific, currently existing labour market demand in view. It seems more advantageous to develop skills that prepare philology graduates for the ever-changing market conditions (Makowski, 2018, p. 73).

1.2. Defining concepts and needs

Students of the master’s degree programme at the Institute of German Studies at the University of Warsaw can study the language of economics[1]. However, does such a language even exist? There is no clear answer and no unambiguous definitions – many researchers describe it as an umbrella term covering many languages for specific purposes[2]. In her considerations, the author of this article inclines towards the definition of LSP provided by Rosemarie Buhlmann and Anette Fearns (2000, p. 124), according to whom the term refers to ”professional languages, used by various groups of people” with different education and training, forms of activity and various communication goals used in the professional, academic and/or educational field in some way related to the economy. Later in this paper, an attempt will be made to specify what a lecturer is to teach future philologists, although ”given the multitude of definitions of a specialist language, developing the foundations of LSP teaching methodology [...] turns out to be a substantial challenge” (Gajewska and Sowa, 2014, p. 26).

What are the needs of students, and thus the needs of academic LSP teachers – these issues have been discussed for many years. The fundamental questions are: Should a philologist know the language of the economy and to what extent, e.g. marketing, tourism, advertising and logistics? Should philology curricula be adapted to the labour market and consider the language of business to prepare graduates to enter demanding global markets safely? What skills are most important to them? These questions were put to both students and employers, yet the answers were surprisingly similar. Business communication skills are the most important for both parties in learning a foreign language, including conducting business correspondence, negotiations, and phone conversations (i.e. ”dealing with matters” in a foreign language). Małgorzata Held of the Cracow University of Economics (Held, 2015, p. 79) conducted research confirming those findings. Her surveys show that employers expect the following skills from their employees: communication, correspondence and negotiation. On the other hand, students seek knowledge in a given field and professional and communication skills. So, there is certain compliance in both sides’ expectations. The latest survey conducted in April and May 2020 by Maria Walasek of the University of Warsaw (Walasek, 2021) on a group of the so-called young adults confirmed it. The survey examined respondents’ motivation to learn, determining to what extent their professional activity (or willingness to undertake it) contributed to taking up foreign language education (in this case: German). In this age group, similar to our student groups, issues related to communication and the practical application of a foreign language at work prevailed.

On the other hand, there is less research devoted to business language teachers themselves, although they are the ones who try to satisfy both parties in the labour market through their work. They often ask themselves questions essential to achieving those goals and have to answer them on their own. So, what is the specificity of an LSP teacher’s work, in particular, an academic teacher at the human sciences university? What are the challenges ahead? Let us take a closer look at the specifics of a LSP teacher’s work.

A teacher encounters various specialist texts, obtaining them from authentic sources. The teacher develops in students the ability to read, write, listen and speak – for professional purposes. By shaping various aspects of these skills, the educator arranges exercises independently, tailoring them to the recipients’ proficiency and the specificity of the industry they try to navigate. Usually, instead of using a textbook, the teacher processes selected professional texts for educational purposes. The educator uses skills that must be constantly developed and updated in response to the developing economy. The teacher needs a lot of time for this development to prepare students to be ideal candidates for the labour market (Held, 2015, p. 79). Summing up, it is a serious task potentially contributing to improving the image of a candidate in the eyes of an employee (Held, 2015, p. 80). Along the way, it turns out that the knowledge of German – not too often pursued by students – is considered a necessary skill by employers (Held, 2015, p. 75). What prompts students to enrol in LSP classes? What counts for the recipients of the educational offer is its attractiveness consisting of the direct impact of the learning content and process on life after graduation, when they intend to quickly find a well-paid and interesting job in which the skills acquired at the university will prove useful (Sowa, 2015, p. 112). Thus, three parties – the employer, the future employee and the lecturer – are interested in the richest possible offer of LSP classes in one of the desired foreign languages.

1.3. Acquiring linguistic, business and cultural competences

This article briefly presents the challenges that result from the confrontation between the goals of foreign language teaching in philologies and the practical aspects of the subject dictated by the labour market (Strzelecka, 2017, p. 143). Which language for specific purposes can be taught to future philologists? Referring to the definition of Buhlman and Fearns (2000, p. 124) cited in the introduction, several examples of languages can be given that offer learners a certain cross-section of the economy that are not technical in nature and do not require in-depth knowledge of the subject. These are, for example, the language of marketing and advertising, tourism, and even the language of logistics. Introducing students to the professional vocabulary and basic knowledge in these fields will allow them to gain experience and build their own language base, which they will be able to use in their future employment. The Institute of German Studies at the University of Warsaw offers master’s degree students a LSP course that meets thus formulated specific needs.

Regardless of the chosen economy field or branch, the programme also covers intercultural themes. In fact, taking up the subject of the specific needs of philology students, apart from purely linguistic matters, one cannot ignore the transfer of intercultural knowledge, i.e. information and skills that will help graduates find their way in an international environment and protect them from making ”cultural” mistakes in the company of German business partners. Therefore, patterns of linguistic behaviour and practical knowledge about business partners, their mentality and habits are also the subjects of LSP classes during the second-cycle studies. The culture and customs of a given country are presented in the context of the economy, so a specific goal of the classes is to develop certain cultural sophistication allowing effective business communication in speech and writing. This is best explained when comparing business correspondence of different countries, in this case, Poland and Germany. The ability to write a concise and factual letter using well-established formulaic structures and phrases (and this is what we teach in commercial correspondence courses) made work for a German company easier for many graduates. During oral communication classes, we develop the ability to communicate in a foreign language in a given field and various environments (according to the NQF), including the ability to popularise a given area of knowledge or effective promotion, which is extremely important, for instance, for the advertising and tourism industry.

The classes, collectively called Wirtschaftsdeutsch, therefore aim to skilfully combine the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach with building cultural competences – all this to introduce specialist vocabulary, enable students to prove themselves in real professional communication situations, teach them German structures of formal correspondence and provide them with knowledge from selected economy sectors. At the same time, the issue of linguistic correctness and the assessment of the correct application of grammatical rules, proper syntax, varied vocabulary and style within the performed tasks remain invariably important.

2. Challenges for lecturers

The business and management language classes for students of German studies are to develop communication skills and transfer knowledge in a foreign language, in this case in the field of broadly understood business, advertising and tourism, marketing and logistics. We should remember that students of language faculties – unlike, for example, those from economic faculties – generally do not have more profound knowledge about the functioning of the economy and financial markets. Therefore, the lecturer’s role is to initiate and support the process of gaining and assimilating professional economic knowledge by them. At the same time, the teacher must conduct discussions in a foreign language, in this case, an intercultural debate, and carry out philological tasks (e.g. teaching the correct terminology, strictly following the rules of grammar and building sentences according to a complicated syntax). On the one hand, the teacher provides students with professional vocabulary and knowledge in a given field, teaching classes according to the CLIL approach, which is a current tendency or even a priority in European education policy; on the other hand, the teacher tries to accomplish the educational goals of German studies (using a sophisticated language, distinguishing linguistic nuances and adequate stylistics). Let us remember that not all graduates will work in large corporations, and many will take up teaching where language perfection is a must. The challenge is attending to a number of goals simultaneously and finding an answer to whether this unified approach will allow our graduates to succeed in the global economy and simply enable them to find an interesting and well-paid job quickly. Will learning German for economy purposes in German studies prove to be the key to their career?

The challenge is to profile the teaching of a foreign language in the second-cycle studies in such a way that it meets the needs of the labour market. At the same time, the terminology and phrases communicated in LSP teaching (e.g. ”business language”) should be questioned and subjected to constant analysis. This means that the foreign language we teach in philology courses cannot be reduced to efficient communication in economic and business situations. We are supposed to help students cope with professional situations, but we also teach them philological correctness and this way of thinking. The challenge for the lecturer is to take this special journey along a balance beam, i.e. maintain equilibrium between all educational goals so that our ”final product”, namely a German philology graduate fluent in speech and writing, is ready to address various challenges in the constantly changing labour market (Strzelecka, 2017, p. 148).

3. Formulas, approaches and strategies

Wirtschaftsdeutsch classes are practical in nature, they respond to students’ interest in learning elements of specialist language for work-related purposes. However, they are not tailor-made courses (the ”demand logic”). They fit into the ”logic of supply”, i.e. they do not correspond to the learner’s current need but ”somehow anticipate the learner’s future potential needs”, without guaranteeing that the skills acquired in the course of studies will eventually be used (Sowa, 2016, p. 143). In this context, three theoretical foundations on which we base LSP teaching are of importance:

- CLIL approach;

- task-based approach;

- ludic strategy.

3.1. CLIL

According to the CLIL approach[3], teaching includes practical learning of professional vocabulary and gaining knowledge in a given field. LSP teaching in the CLIL formula means that the lecturer simultaneously teaches a foreign language and provides students with industry knowledge delivered in that language. Philology students are also interested in learning about culture and customs in the economy or business as well as corporate culture. Classes are taught using the CLIL approach when, in assessing students’ achievements, the factual content, i.e. professional content, and the mastery of a foreign language (maintaining grammatical and stylistic correctness) are equally taken into account. Additionally, the use of correct specialist vocabulary is assessed and respecting cultural differences in the created or translated texts. So, it is about the ability to present, prepare and translate specialist texts.

3.2. Task-based approach

The observation of social behaviour indicates a close relationship between learning and action. The task-based approach to teaching foreign languages is an educational tendency being the next step in developing communication methods (Janowska, 2011, p. 17). A feature of this trend is the combining communication with social activity. As a result, the difference between the learning and the use of language blurs (Janowska, 2011, p. 84) and performed tasks provide learning with meaning. This approach aims to develop the ability to cooperate in a group and cooperative activity. The foreign language becomes an instrument of communication, action, and striving for a common outcome. Learners are given specific tasks – writing a letter, conducting a phone call, negotiating a price, presenting a product, creating an advertising leaflet, coming up with a slogan or developing a marketing strategy – which, ”incidentally”, are carried out in a foreign language.

3.3. Ludic strategy

The ludic strategy[4] means learning a foreign language through games, which is fun[5]. Teresa Siek-Piskozub writes about it in the book Uczyć się, bawiąc. Strategia ludyczna na lekcji języka obcego (2001), entirely dedicated to learning the language by playing. This strategy focuses on the implementation of fun tasks. This approach works very well in a LSP lesson, e.g. when students engage in role-playing as enterprise employees and must communicate with each other to fulfil their assigned tasks. The ludic strategy applies techniques referring to playing games in a classroom to solve problems in a foreign language. Therefore, learners are involved in solving tasks, but the goal is achieved through fun and play. Interested in a practical aspect of teaching, the instructor pursues another objective. The most important factors leading to the educational success of this approach include group activity and willingness to acquire subject knowledge in a foreign language, and an experienced and well-prepared teacher.

4. Class topics – examples

We select topics of classes without exact knowledge of what will be the future occupations of our graduates. Still, we are generally guided by usability and suitability criteria in various sectors of the economy. It is challenging to teach strictly technical or hermetic languages, although such attempts are undertaken with already popular languages of law or medicine. However, the broadly understood language of the economy seems to open a wider room for manoeuvre. Therefore, let us look at three proposals that work as a programme offered for master’s degree students of German philology.

4.1. Marketing and advertising

During classes on advertising, students learn about vocabulary and language structures and locutions, enabling them to edit advertising texts, e-mails, letters, product descriptions (Produktdesign elements, corporate identity elements), brochures and information leaflets. They also analyse and edit direct marketing texts (Werbebrief, newsletter). Exercises also include phone conversations and selling products and services using language games. Discussion, analysis and translation of texts taking into account cultural differences are also the fixed component of classes. Basic thematic areas are:

- Advertising as a form of communication;

- Linguistic means in advertising;

- Means of advertising and its message;

- Target groups and marketing;

- Advertising impact;

- Analysing and composing advertising slogans;

- English loanwords in German advertising;

- Polish-German comparative analysis.

Marketing classes include issues such as negotiations, trade correspondence and intercultural training. The effect of education should be, inter alia, spontaneous and correct response in a telephone conversation and a written expression of content promoting a product or service. At the same time, it is important to demonstrate not only knowledge of vocabulary but also different shades of meaning or wordplays (puns) necessary, for example, to edit an advertising text. The course prepares for work in the commercial or advertising industry and launching one’s own business. In the practical part of the course, its participants present a product that, in their opinion, is applicable for the German market. As part of these activities, the presentation of the product in a foreign language also takes place – and employers seek this type of skill.

4.2. Tourism

The linguistic training for the tourism industry is not terminological (typical, for example, for specialist technical languages), but is a social activity in a foreign language, spoken and written. In class, the learner acquires language skills facilitating employment in the tourism industry; however, the effects of education can be very versatile and interdisciplinary. The result of the course may even be a specific product, for example, a tourist publication. Tourism classes assume the task-based and ludic approach, preparing to work for travel agencies and portals offering such services. They focus on creativity, and their formulated objective is to promote Polish tourism in Germany, hence editing a convincing brochure (in a foreign language) on the region, cities, monuments or even one’s own district. The education will result in good knowledge of the phrases needed to promote a tourist region, the ability to select information from various sources (here, for example, non-use of German narrative in the promotion of Poland) and efficient translation of a promotional text taking into account cultural differences. The text may relate to a project involving looking for a partner or a sponsor (a genuine task).

4.3. Logistics

In the course on logistics, students learn about enterprise operations, breaking them down, and their relations with the outside world. Introduction to this subject is not easy for humanists but extremely useful; nevertheless, it prepares them well for work in many positions as it teaches the subject matter. Logistics facilitates learning about specifics of various professions and introduces issues related to the functioning of enterprises in the real-world labour market. A logistics language course allows students to gain valuable subject knowledge in business operations; it is also a fountain of terminology, professional phrases and expressions regarding transport and forwarding. In addition, it refers to other sectors of the economy, such as environmental protection or waste disposal systems interestingly. During classes, students learn about such concepts as Holysystem (in which waste and used packages are picked up from households), Bringsystem (households bring waste to a waste collection point), DSD (Duales System Deutschland), a system widely referred to in Germany as Grüner Punkt (from a label placed on the packaging) or Wertstoffhof (selective waste collection points) – (Strzelecka, 2018, p. 101). Without going into details, it suffices to say that most of the course participants encounter this terminology for the first time. Still, it is useful not only for future employees but also for those who intend to live in Germany.

5. Future of LSP teaching at universities

After the end of the academic year 2020/2021, a survey was carried out with a total of 35 participants – three groups of Institute of German Studies students – attending the German marketing and advertising language course for two semesters, based on the aforementioned strategies. These were two fifteen-person groups and a six-person group (participants of the commercial correspondence course, an element of the ”Communication in Business” module, in the previous academic year studying one of the Wirtschaftsdeutsch courses). Participation in the survey was voluntary. All respondents were under 30, i.e. in the group referred to as young adults. Some people (their proportion was not the object of study) combined education and work. Both the survey and the course took place online, with more than half of the respondents (54.5%) declaring that they would prefer classes to be held in person.

The results show that LSPs are worth investing in: 63.6% of the respondents stated they had learned more in the marketing and advertising course than during general language classes. Also, all the respondents expressed the view that German studies should include LSP training[6]. Furthermore, 81.8% of the students would be happy to participate again in classes on marketing and advertising, the same percentage of the respondents would take up the tourism course, and 45.5% of that group would take up the logistics course as well as the general language of the economy (Wirtschaftsdeutsch) course. The general question of whether higher education should prepare for professional work resulted in an interesting response – over 90% of the students said ”yes”.

The main direction in the development of LSP education should be an investment in a teacher who, in response to signalled needs, pursues more and more goals in classes, delivering professional, linguistic and intercultural content. A LSP teacher uses independently prepared materials, genuine or compiled, that Carolina Flinz defines as the ”secret curriculum” (Flinz, 2019, p. 11). Such materials do not always work. While the task-based approach and the ludic strategy seem to be the right direction for the future of LSP teaching – these educational methods prove to be highly efficient (majority of the surveyed students expressed their wish to participate again in the same classes; they recognise LSP as a ”helpful (tool) in searching for a job and in the future vocational life”). Such conclusions correspond with individualisation of education in line with teaching trends and guidelines advocated by the EU. These strategies are both effective and pleasant – tasks are not ”school-like” but authentic and, as such, willingly performed. The vocabulary used in practice is absorbed ”unknowingly”; therefore, there is no need to learn specialist terms and words by heart. Emotions (Kołtsut, 2020, pp. 150-151) evoked during the tasks increase concentration and perseverance in language learning, while motivation stimulates achievements and results (Walasek, 2021, p. 212). The learners are ”incidentally” involved in selecting information, comparing and analysing data to create their own creative foreign language texts. In contrast, the lecturer implements foreign language teaching goals and transfers the substantial content almost casually. Moreover, an LSP teacher practices interpersonal skills with students – and such skills are typically acquired through costly training delivered by professional coaches. Learners become autonomous (Siek-Piskozub, 2018, p. 66) without the tutor’s interference. The time ratio of teacher to student utterances improves. The teacher is ”relieved” from the teaching function and must only be authentic and on a par with students taking part in the game. Due to their experience, teachers organise students’ work and assist in sorting out and stimulating the learning process (Siek-Piskozub, 2001, p. 131). As the tutor does not constantly control work, the group is not affected by stress. The teacher helps solve tasks, while learners experience a sense of achievement (Siek-Piskozub, 2001, p. 19)[7].

Therefore, it can be stated that thanks to LSP in the humanities, motivation to learn increases. Over 90% of respondents answered ”yes” to whether philologists should be interested in LSP, and many of them considered those languages ”very important in foreign language learning”. This happens regardless of whether the final course objective is achieved by the tutor. Intercultural competence also belongs to learning outcomes. It is achieved while performing specific tasks related to the economy and role-playing – today, this competence is considered an element of linguistic competence (Siek-Piskozub, 2018, p. 45). Activities and simulated situations result in learners taking responsibility not only for their individual assignments (an own text) but also for the entire team task (a group text). This prepares for authentic intercultural real-life contacts and strengthens intercultural sensitivity (Siek-Piskozub, 2018, p. 66). As it turns out, students, while writing their diploma thesis, consider not only personal interests but also the requirements of the labour market – they select subjects closely related to their professional activities, sometimes even to tasks they were assigned by their superiors (Kic-Drgas and Prokop, 2018, p. 33).

6. Conclusions

LSP classes meet the needs of the labour market and form a good base for successful professional communication in many areas of the economy. Such real communication occurs only when the graduate demonstrates a high level of linguistic and non-linguistic competence, knowledge of the subject, and cultural and intercultural skills. Surveys carried out after the end of the summer semester 2020/2021 and own observations suggest that interest in courses combining these three factors is very substantial and that students are very active participants. Curricula with economy-related content facilitate graduates’ entry into the labour market. Also, the aforementioned surveys and general university surveys (very positive evaluation results regarding marketing and advertising courses) show that classes that focus on linguistic prowess and convey subject content and instil skills valuable on the market are particularly popular. Therefore, the language of the economy became a fixture in the curriculum, and such courses do not compete with general language classes but are their valuable complement.

Several conclusions may and should be drawn from the above considerations. The database should be constantly developed by collecting up-to-date information directly from LSP teachers. There are still unexplored territories for researchers wishing to devote attention to LSP teaching methodology and strategies. The research should assist in diagnosing teachers’ needs and developing a training network for those who want to devote time to finding out about LSP learning strategies. Groundwork projects are needed – if there are no other options – that would allow for synergy among scientific research, lesson strategies and work placements. It is the ideal to be sought to achieve a far-reaching goal, namely improved educational outcomes. LSP teachers in the humanities should be offered the opportunity of professional development in special courses, experience exchange with lecturers from universities of economics and participation in scientific conferences on languages for specific purposes.

References

Buhlmann, R., Fearns, A. (2000). Handbuch des Fachsprachenunterrichts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung naturwissenschaftlich-technischer Fachsprachen. Tübingen: Narr.

Flinz, C. (2019). Aktuelle Fragen zur Forschung und Lehre. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fachsprachenunterricht, 24(1), 1–20. Downloaded from tujournals.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/index.php/zif

Gajewska, E., Sowa, M. (2014). LSP, FOS, Fachsprache… Dydaktyka języków specjalistycznych, Lublin: Werset.

Held, M. (2015). Czego pragnie pracodawca? Czyli rzecz o wymaganiach wobec pracowników i kandydatów w dziedzinie języków obcych oraz umiejętności komunikacyjnych. In: M. Srebro, E. Typek, L. Zielińska (eds.), Przyszłość nauczania języków obcych na uczelniach wyższych (pp. 71–80). Kraków: Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny.

Janowska, I. (2011). Podejście zadaniowe do nauczania i uczenia się języków obcych. Na przykładzie języka polskiego jako obcego. Kraków: Universitas.

Kic-Drgas, J., Prokop, I. (2018). Kierunki badań nad językami specjalistycznymi w Instytucie Lingwistyki Stosowanej. In: A. Stawikowska-Marcinkowska, B. Grzeszczakowska-Pawlikowska (eds.), Speclang 2. Języki specjalistyczne. Edukacja – Perspektywy – Kariera (pp. 28–38). Łódź: WUŁ. doi: 10.18778/8142-391-5.03.

Kołsut, S. (2020). Zum Prozess des Fremdsprachenlernens aus der Perspektive des neurobiologischen Konstruktivismus. In: M. Krawiec (ed.), Challenges and Opportunities in Foreign Language Education (pp. 137–155). Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovacs.

Makowski, J. (2018). Planowanie kursu języka specjalistycznego na poziomie akademickim z uwzględnieniem specyfiki branży nowoczesnych usług dla biznesu. In: A. Stawikowska-Marcinkowska, B. Grzeszczakowska-Pawlikowska (eds.), Speclang 2. Języki specjalistyczne. Edukacja – Perspektywy – Kariera (pp. 52–76). Łódź: WUŁ. doi: 10.18778/8142-391-5.05

Siek-Piskozub, T. (2001). Uczyć się, bawiąc. Strategia ludyczna na lekcji języka obcego. Warszawa: PWN.

Siek-Piskozub, T. (2018). ICC in Polish foreign language education: Challenges and options. In: M. Krawiec, R. Pritchard (eds.), Seize the day: New perspectives on foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 41–73). Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac.

Sowa, M. (2015). Ewolucja programu kształcenia na filologii romańskiej w świetle wyzwań rynków pracy i Krajowych Ram Kwalifikacji. In: M. Srebro, E. Typek, L. Zielińska (eds.), Przyszłość nauczania języków obcych na uczelniach wyższych (pp. 111–122). Kraków: Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny.

Sowa, M. (2016). Nauczyciel języka czy nauczyciel zawodu? Kompetencje nauczyciela języka specjalistycznego. In: J. Łącka-Badura (ed.), Języki specjalistyczne w badaniach i praktyce (pp. 139–156). Katowice: Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny.

Sowa, M. (2018). Rzetelność źródeł informacji a trafność treści nauczania w planowaniu kursu języka obcego dla potrzeb zawodowych. Applied Linguistic Papers, 25(3), 121–134.

Strzelecka, G. (2017). Język niemiecki w biznesie i turystyce dla studentów germanistyki – problemy i wyzwania. In: K. Nowakowska, D. Romaniuk, A. Sochal (eds.), Humanistyka a praktyczny profil kształcenia uniwersyteckiego w nauczaniu języka, literatury i kultury w warunkach obcokulturowych (pp. 143–159). Warszawa: Uniwersytet Warszawski.

Strzelecka, G. (2018). Wozu brauchen wir die Logistik? Einige Überlegungen zum Fachsprachenunterricht. In: M. Krawiec, R. Pritchard (eds.), Seize the day: New perspectives on foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 93–104). Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac.

Walasek, M. (2021). Zu den Bedürfnissen und Motiven zum Fremdsprachenlernen von Personen im mittleren Erwachsenenalter. In: M. Krawiec, J. Kic-Drgas (eds.), Foreign language learning and teaching in theory, practice and research (pp. 201–216). Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac.

[1] Fachsprache Wirtschaft (Ger.).

[2] Fachsprachen (Ger.).

[3] Fach- und sprachintegriertes Lernen (Ger.).

[4] Ludische, spielerische Strategie (Ger.).

[5] Spaß (Ger.).

[6] Own study conducted after the end of the 2021 summer semester, currently prepared for publication.

[7] Erfolgserlebnis (Ger.)

***

From offline to online. LSP classes in Spanish philology during the pandemic

Izabela Kusicielek, Leonor Sagermann Bustinza

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

DOI: 10.47050/66515796.196-217

Abstract: The aim of the text is to present the author’s didactic concept and tools and methods implemented in online LSP classes in Spanish philology in Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań) during the pandemic. The starting point of this paper is to reflect on some factors which should be considered when preparing LSP classes at university level. The authors focus on some new ICT tools and methods implemented during online classes. The aim is to present as well student’s opinions and comments about online classes to better adapt materials and digital resources to their needs and implement some innovations in higher education that can be beneficial also after the pandemic.

Keywords:

- language for specific purposes (LSP)

- classroom teaching

- distance teaching

- ICT tools

- evaluation

- Spanish philology

- learning styles

- MS Teams

1. Offline and online LSP at the university level

Teaching language for specific purposes (LSP) is important in both philological faculties and other language study programmes, with the main goal of such classes being to prepare students for communication in a specific professional setting (Kic-Drgas, 2016, p. 39). However, it should be emphasised that their role does not consist only in developing communicative functions within various professional groups (Grucza, 2013, p. 6). Considering that the teaching of a LSP is closely related to the term ”specialist language”, it would be difficult to propose a methodology for classes without prior reflection on the common and differentiating elements of general language (GL) and specialist language, as these features should be considered by teachers in the planning and implementation of LSP courses (González Hernando, 2015, p. 2).

Assuming that we can work with texts that do not contain specialist elements, though it is impossible to find specialist texts without elements of general language, we conclude that GL is the foundation of specialised communication. However, we should all the while remember that (Kubiak, 2002):

- LSP differs from general language in specific features on many levels;

- LSP is not uniform in individual languages and is therefore not universal;

- there is no single LSP but only specialist languages of various fields.

The preparation of an LSP course is not an easy task due to the lack of specific top-down guidelines described in the ”Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment” (2003 [2001]). In university teaching, the implementation of LSP courses most often depends on the field of study and specialisation, and in philological faculties, usually on the abilities and preparation of the teaching staff. Additionally, attention must be paid to the profile and needs of students, bearing in mind, however, that curricula do not change frequently enough for these factors to be fully taken into account on the current basis. In teaching Spanish, the starting point for the preparation of curricula, textbooks as well as other teaching materials and exams is the ”Cervantes Institute Teaching Plan” (2006), but this extensive document also does not provide guidelines for the preparation of a LSP course. As such, the most important questions in curriculum development are as follows:

- What should we teach? What field of specialisation should we choose, what competencies and skills should we develop and what activities should we propose?

- How should we teach? Should the teacher specialise in one specific LSP or teach several of them? How to conduct classes effectively?

- How do we define class objectives? What should we consider: students’ career prospects, labour market…?

- Can a general language teacher conduct LSP classes? How does teacher training and professional development work in the case of LSPs?

In the era of a pandemic and prolonged online learning, we must also answer the following additional questions:

- How do we smoothly transition from classroom to online learning?

- Which tools should we choose?

- How do we motivate and activate students in remote classes?

- How do we evaluate and improve our professional skills and tools?

When designing curricula, preparing lesson materials or achieving educational goals, one should remember the specific character of a given group. Developmental psychology research indicates that adults can learn throughout their lives, showing great development potential resulting from crystallised intelligence (Strelau, 1987, p. 28). The concept of dividing intelligence into fluid and crystallised was proposed in 1971 by R. B. Cattell (see Strelau, 1987, pp. 27–28). Fluid intelligence is genetically dependent, whereas crystallised intelligence is the result of experience and learning, and as such, changes with age. It is greatly influenced by the culture in which a given person functions. For learning to be effective and efficient, it is necessary to provide optimal conditions, i.e. to consider what structure of knowledge to propose and how to utilise learners’ skills, attitudes and habits. Adults learn best when they (Kazimierska, Lachowicz and Piotrowska, 2014, p. 3):

- can refer to their own experiences;

- have an impact on the course of classes;

- can express their views without fear of judgment;

- can make mistakes followed by feedback;

- are actively involved in the learning process;

- understand the meaning and value of what they learn.

Conversations with students during consultations show that mental and physical well-being affects the effectiveness of their knowledge acquisition process. On the other hand, excessively long and monotonous lectures, incompetent and unprepared lecturers, the impossibility of putting the acquired knowledge into practice, as well as failure to adapt to the needs and expectations of students, may cause reluctance, resistance and very often irritation on their part. Classes during which certain learning outcomes are achieved should therefore correspond to David A. Kolb’s learning cycle (1984, p. 21).

Figure 1. Diagram of Kolb’s learning cycle

Source: Banaszak, Fojutowski and Moskwa (2020, p. 6).

In the model proposed by David Kolb, a learner should go through all four stages of the cycle for the learning process to be effective. By participating in certain activities, learners observe themselves and others, and the information reaches their senses. Then, in the reflection phase, they analyse what happened, process data and compare new experiences with what they already knew about the topic. The learning process continues, and in the next phase – conceptualisation, that is, creating theories – they combine facts and experiences using memory and abstract thinking. The last step is to put the acquired knowledge into practice. In the case of LSP classes, this can be implemented as a project, simulation, game or simply by applying the acquired information in professional activities.

The above form of teaching organisation and the application of work methods adapted to the assumed goals, with particular emphasis on the activity of students, could increase their motivation to learn and engage in classes. However, one should not forget about different learning styles and adapt them to the planned actions and activities in individual phases.

Table 1 presents Kolb’s cycle and the corresponding learning styles distinguished by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (1986), as well as proposals for activities and exercises that can be carried out with a group of learners (Kazimierska, Lachowicz and Piotrowska, 2014, pp. 5–8). Activists are individuals who learn through action and experience of taking risks – they are actors rather than passive observers. Reflectors focus on retrospection and pay attention to details; they do not like to act under time pressure. Theorists like ideas, models and systems, abstract thinking, inquisitive questions and intellectual criticism, as well as structured actions without delving into feelings. In contrast, pragmatists want activities to relate to the future profession, i.e. they like to learn practical skills. Various activities can be proposed, bearing in mind the diversity of students’ learning styles.

Table 1. Kolb’s cycle, learning styles and exercise suggestions

Source: Own study.

2. Practical Spanish Language Programme: LSP (PNJH EFE) in the 2019/2020 summer semester

Until March 2020, the university’s educational environment seemed to be long-term and well defined. Classes were conducted on campus, with new ICT technologies and tools used only as an element enriching the students’ actual encounters with teachers in the physical space. By the second half of March 2020, it turned out that it was necessary to organise remote classes at a short notice, quickly adapting to a new pandemic situation the end of which could not be determined.

In the Spanish Philology master’s degree programme, the Practical Spanish Language Programme – language for specific purposes (PNJH: EFE Español con fines específicos) segment covers three semesters. The table below describes the hourly and thematic schedule of the classes. The relatively small number of hours assigned to individual components is due to curriculum limitations. Business language exercises were intentionally included in the summer semester due to the upcoming internships or students’ employment during the summer break. The 30-hour press language block, implemented in the first semester of the second year, was to introduce students to the current socio-political issues in the Spanish-speaking culture.

Table 2. Hourly schedule of Spanish LSP classes in Spanish Philology

Source: Own study.

It is worth adding that in the 2019/2020 summer semester, 25 students studied Business Spanish in the second year of the master’s degree programme.

2.1. Transition from the ”real world” to virtual communication

The COVID-19 pandemic meant that ninety-minute meetings held once a week in the classroom had to be moved into the virtual space overnight. Printed/photocopied materials that previously made it possible to build a multisource dossier (with such things as original materials prepared by teachers) had to be scanned and downloaded. Whiteboards and pens were replaced with a shared screen on which important words and expressions that required students’ attention were written. Various technical problems related to the operation of the MS Teams platform on which all the classes were held had to be overcome in the first weeks. It turned out that although students do belong to ”a specific community of people for whom digital technology is a natural, albeit still distinct, environment” (Krauze-Sikorska and Klichowski, 2013, p. 70), they were not always able to handle the MS Teams platform. There were issues with the setup, browser or smartphone use. Sometimes, problems resulted from the low bandwidths or network overload, which made it difficult to conduct classes.

2.2. Forms and methods of work

Class materials were sent to the group e-mail, as well as uploaded to and shared on the MS Teams platform (in the II HISP MGR EFE/Negocios group during the 2019/2020 summer semester). Classes were held in real-time as scheduled. The lecturer delivered content using the screen-sharing function to present text and audio-visual materials. Students typically solved class exercises jointly or individually and less often in pairs for the sake of working time optimisation (making up for time lost due to technical problems). Students were encouraged to participate in discussions and to make individual statements; this included, for example, making a short commentary on the news related to the functioning of the world economy during the pandemic at the beginning of the classes.

Working in pairs after classes and on an ongoing basis, students did homework and exercises consisting in preparing brief overviews of selected economic issues they wanted to explore (students chose their topics from a previously presented list). The results of their work were consulted with and approved by the tutor.

The semester evaluation consisted of a grade for a written test prepared within MS Forms form, as well as a grade for working in pairs. Components of the evaluation changed compared to stationary classes due to the special mode of teaching in the 2019/2020 summer semester.

2.3. Survey and its results

Students were asked to complete a short questionnaire after the end of the semester. In total, 16 out of 25 class participants submitted their answers. As part of the first question, they assessed LSP online classes as compared to stationary classes – the average mark was 3.56 on the 5-point Likert scale (5 – very good; 4 – good; 3 – average; 2 – poor; 1 – very poor). The second question concerned the advantages of distance learning in the context of Spanish LSP classes (PNJH EFE). The students mentioned such benefits as:

- ”Easier access to materials”.

- ”Convenience and safety resulting from the lack of need to travel to the university and more freedom in time management”.

- ”Opportunity to improve proficiency in online tools. It was much easier to make presentations and discuss assigned topics. Working from home was comfortable and pleasant because the tutor knew how to operate the programme and helped solve problems”.

- ”Writing notes on a virtual board – the possibility of completing files online”.

Thanks to online learning, the students did not have to fill out materials for classes or take notes in the traditional form. The remote mode also made studying easier in terms of time management (no need to commute to the university) and improved students’ sense of security in the context of the pandemic. Moreover, it also enabled them to develop digital competencies through the introduction of new tools.

Another question concerned the disadvantages of distance learning as perceived by the students.

- ”Hampered information exchange due to very limited non-verbal communication. Lesser involvement of students in the classes. Various problems of a technical nature, e.g. connection-, sound-related”.

- ”Technical problems regarding the Internet connection, lesser sense of responsibility [while] speaking or preparing on the part of the students; more difficult access to a lecturer in the event of a problem or if you want to ask a question privately”.

- ”It is more difficult to focus while at home; I was benefitting much less [from classes] and I was less involved in distance learning activities than in face-to-face activities”.

- ”Online classes are much more tiresome than traditional ones; I find it harder to focus”.

- ”It bothered me that I did not know when I could take the floor and speak online because I did not physically see who was ‘getting ready’ for making a comment. The lack of live interaction with the tutor made me remember less. Reporting attendance on Teams was also a failure”.

- ”Household members and neighbours disturbing lectures and classes. Poor Internet connection; crashes resulting in missing classes. Lack of focus. No interaction”.

- ”Problems with communication (five speakers at a time). Disturbances in the reception of content delivered by students and teachers (e.g. due to a poor connection)”.

- ”Technical problems – no direct contact with the teacher; a feeling of alienation; it costs me a lot to speak up during classes”.

This question showed that interpersonal relations and non-verbal communication are very important factors in the classroom. Technical problems and spending long hours in front of the computer negatively affected the students’ concentration. The disabled webcams also made them feel insecure when they were to speak, which translated into limited class dynamics.

Finally, the students were asked what would help them find their way and improve the implementation of the online LSP Spanish classes. The proposals included such solutions as training in the use of the MS Teams platform, turning on cameras, recording classes and designating a place to store files for classes.

2.4. Stationary and distance education

As evidenced by the survey results, the perception of classes was very diverse, ranging from very positive since the students acquired and practised ICT skills, to frustration rooted in the lack of contact with other students and a feeling of being lost, alienated or even lonely. Interestingly, some people found the lack of physical, direct contact (like in a classroom environment) demotivating, while others considered being ”hidden” an opportunity – not having to face others, they willingly participated in discussions, spoke up or partook in solving problems together with others.

2.5. Technical problems

While the questionnaires contained repeated comments regarding technical problems, these problems were not caused by teachers but by external factors. The classes could not always run smoothly due to heavy Internet traffic. Despite the initial enthusiasm resulting from the opportunity to see each other online, the cameras had to be switched off eventually so that all participants could hear each other, and the meetings could work.

Recording classes turned out to be a very helpful solution. The students appreciated that option because it gave them a certain sense of security – they were able to ”catch up” in case of absence due to technical (equipment) or personal reasons (e.g. unforeseen circumstances). Moreover, they could go back to the material in question if they did not have enough time to write down what they considered important or interesting, or if they did not understand something.

From the perspective of the trainer, recording required overcoming own fears and limitations. Nevertheless, the positive aspects of recording meetings prevailed, as the procedure turned out to be an invaluable support in situations where the students lost connection for any reason. Importantly, the teacher did not assume that the students’ ”disappearances” during the classes were deliberate. The teacher and the students had a ”gentleman’s agreement” in this regard, making the latter act more responsibly and maturely.

Undoubtedly, the possibility of using recordings as a tool for self-evaluation turned out to be an added value – it enabled the trainers to improve their professional skills and tools, introduce new solutions and enhance the attractiveness and volume of the presented content.

2.6. Access to materials

One comment contained a suggestion concerning the materials for the classes. In stationary learning, the students received them successively on paper, and only occasionally in an electronic version. Since the mode of conducting classes changed, all materials were delivered in digital form on an ongoing basis (scanned paper documents and texts in an electronic form) and were available both in the group’s e-mail box and the course folder on the MS Teams platform. Some of the exercises were presented directly during classes and exclusively on the MS Teams platform, which could confuse those participants who read the content of the classes asynchronously.

3. New online teaching solutions in the 2020/2021 winter semester

The following subchapter is didactic and constitutes a description of our own experiences with delivering remote classes that began in March 2020.

In the 2019/2020 summer semester, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to transfer classroom activities to various online platforms, look for appropriate tools to conduct them, adapt forms of evaluation accordingly, as well as get used to new working conditions, without sufficient support or training since no one foresaw this situation. At that time, numerous preparations and efforts were undertaken to ensure that the needs and proposals of the students collected in the form of questionnaires would be considered in the next winter semester (2020/2021), which was also delivered entirely online. We focused on not sacrificing the content, making the most of the possibilities of distance learning, as well as engaging the students, ensuring good relationships and atmosphere in the classroom, providing the students with feedback and motivating them in many ways by proposing many diverse activities. We wanted to apply the learning styles of the students, bearing in mind that we conduct as many as 60 hours of Spanish for specific purposes classes in the winter semester.

Even though we cannot improve the quality of the Internet connection or resolve all technical problems, we do have the capacity to stimulate good group relations and create a good atmosphere that translates into more effective learning. Hence, the students were requested to have their cameras turned on from the very start to ensure more non-verbal communication and maintain focus and dynamics of work (it is more difficult to get up and leave or focus on some other activity with the camera on). This also makes it easier for the teacher to check if the students understand the discussed material. While switching the webcam on during online learning provides a mere substitute for real classroom interaction, it does make it possible to increase participant involvement. As a result, the level of stress resulting from limited social contacts is reduced and making open statements and group integration are facilitated. Previous experiences, as well as several updates introduced by MS Teams and other platforms over the holidays, reduced the impact that enabling webcams had on the connection quality, especially in small groups.

3.1. Evaluation

Taking into account the nature of the classes delivered, i.e. the practical learning of the Spanish LSP, it was necessary to consider changing the form of evaluation. Since written tests did not always work in online teaching, the final grade was the product of several activities that had the appropriate proportional value. The percentage distribution of different forms of evaluation during Spanish LSP distance classes, as presented below, was intended to consider student activity both during individual and group work. Further, we wanted to enable the development of soft skills like negotiation, cooperation, public speaking, presentations, creativity, flexibility, responsibility for the implementation of tasks, a sense of duty and the ability to adapt to the new way of conducting classes (in our case, online).

Figure 2. Components of the grade – Spanish LSP (PNJH EFE)

Source: Own study.

As far as class activity is concerned, the aspects considered included preparation for the meeting, participation in discussions, as well as the performance of exercises both during classes and offline. At the end of the semester, the students were also to prepare one or two issues of a specialist journal (depending on the group size). The 2020/2021 winter semester saw the release of a single issue of ”América Latina sin secretos”, which focused mainly on tourism in Spanish-speaking countries in America.

3.2. Working methods, that is, learning by doing

Online classes do not limit the possibilities of introducing various forms of work. Apart from interaction and having open discussions, the students can be asked to work in pairs or small groups. The latter form of work turned out to be very effective, especially during translation exercises concerning patients’ history, medical records and the course of diseases. The introduction of a new function of separate rooms has been a great asset for the MS Teams platform users.

Changing the form of work from stationary to online does not necessarily translate into a modification of the previously applied teaching methods; nevertheless, online classes should be carried out in a much more dynamic manner if technical conditions so allow (which was pointed out by the students in the surveys when addressing distraction and the lack of commitment). That is why we introduced a new activity during language lessons – an Oxford-style debate on the ongoing lockdown in Poland and other European countries. An Oxford-style debate is a very formalised form of a discussion between two four-person teams, although teams can be bigger for the purpose of the classes. The thesis of each debate should be a clear statement that can be confirmed or refuted (Kruszyński and Tarnowski, 2019, p. 10). The discussion is chaired by the Marshal who controls the time of speeches and ensures the smooth course of each speech. Apart from being very engaging and requiring group work, the debates allow participants to improve their skills in communication, public speaking, argumentation, stress management, as well as managing the time of speeches and discussions according to strictly defined rules. The organisation of an Oxford-style debate, considering each speaker’s role, is shown in figure 3.

Figure 3. Rules and tasks of speakers during an Oxford-style debate

Source: Kruszyński and Tarnowski (2019, p. 10).

Moving from offline to online mode also requires a shift in attitudes to exercises and activities, both assessed and non-assessed. The tasks should be creative and inventive, with fewer imitative content. Exercises such as dubbing the speeches of politicians, fragments of television programs, interviews, etc. are very effective in higher-level groups. However, it is crucial to be very precise when selecting a short fragment, which should be played several times and muted, as well as when setting the amount of time to complete the task. It would also be worth providing a topic or issue that will be the leitmotif of the prepared dubbing. Before the public presentation, everyone should have enough time to watch the film again, mute it, and practice synchronisation.

Student presentations have as many supporters as opponents. Nonetheless, allowing students to choose topics and conduct the presentations as they wish may result in making online classes more dynamic, facilitating group work, and increasing learners’ involvement. Before that, however, it is necessary to define the time and criteria for the presentation and exercises that the speakers should prepare for their fellow students and discuss their plan with the teachers during classes. Giving the floor to the students themselves will allow them to look at online classes from a brand new perspective as they will take on the role of lecturers and will have to present the selected topic themselves, as well as carry out exercises and other activities according to their own scenario. Furthermore, it will be their responsibility to engage other members of the group.

3.3. Feedback

A properly conducted assessment and feedback on its effectiveness are essential in today’s student-centred learning paradigm. Yet feedback should not be confused with the overall final mark. It is not our intention to discuss whether grades should be removed from university language classes – we merely wish to introduce brief feedback from the teacher and other group members. In the 2020/2021 winter semester, we asked the students to grade the presentations prepared by their colleagues in the following categories (on a scale from 1 to 10):

- presentation of the selected topic;

- selection of materials and prepared activities for the presentation of the topic;

- preparation and conducting of classes;

- opportunity to participate in activities conducted by fellow students and motivation to actively participate in the activities.

The students also had the opportunity to comment on the speeches.

Reliable feedback that should be provided immediately after a specific task is a vital aspect of the course. Each student presentation was reviewed in a one-on-one conversation with the lecturer, with all defects, shortcomings and errors, as well as positive aspects, discussed during its course. The students also had the opportunity to self-evaluate the presented topic and to address other students’ comments which, although sometimes critical, were usually constructive. By using this form of work and offering students the opportunity to decide on the course of classes and activities, it was they (and not the teacher) who were at the centre of the educational process.

3.4. Tools

Online classes offer great opportunities to use a variety of motivating, engaging and attention-focusing tools. Each of the available remote work platforms offers additional features that facilitate collaboration and the organisation of classes. Spanish LSP courses were conducted on the MS Teams platform in a team created specifically for this purpose. All materials were uploaded to the team’s folders so there was no need to send them anything via e-mail (which proved problematic in the previous semester). With webcams enabled, everyone was visible during the classes in the ”Large Gallery” or ”Together” modes, which improved communication and increased the dynamics of meetings. The new ”Raise Hand” function improved the quality and smooth course of the meetings. The chat proved also very useful, serving not only as a lesson board but also as a way of activating students (e.g. by allowing several students to submit answers simultaneously). Group work was facilitated by the previously mentioned separate rooms, which made it possible to work in various configurations. Despite the many inconveniences of online teaching, we believe that the MS Teams platform has improved our contact with the students and allowed us to reply to and exchange messages faster thanks to the selected team chat and private chat functionalities.

3.5. Meeting with an expert

Online work also made it possible to organise a meeting with an expert, the president of the guides association in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. As part of the PNJH EFE LSP course, the students were able to talk about the tourism industry during the pandemic and discuss other aspects of tourist guides’ work in Mexico. Such events bring new opportunities, allowing us to leave the confines of the classroom and get in touch with subject matter experts. While online classes made this form of meetings possible, the return to the stationary mode of learning does not mean that they should be done away with. It is possible to introduce such options permanently by holding online meetings in traditional lecture halls equipped with computers and appropriate screens (or connected to a projector).

3.6. Questionnaire and its results

After the end of the 2020/2021 winter semester, we once again asked the students about their thoughts on online classes. The group of students who shared their thoughts during the previous semester did not participate in the survey. A total of 10 second-year Spanish philology master’s degree programme students took part in the study.

In the first question, the students were again asked to grade the LSP online classes compared to the stationary classes – this time the average was 4.2 on a 5-point Likert scale. The second question concerned the advantages of distance learning in the context of Spanish LSP classes. The following opinions appeared among students’ comments:

- ”You can easily use materials that are on the Internet”.

- ”We were able to talk to a guide from Mexico, which would probably not have happened if not for the online classes”.

- ”We were able to work on audio-visual materials more often, which enriched the classes substantially, as we not only read articles but also listened to and watched various news and videos; we learnt about specific problems related to politics, health system and tourism in Latin American countries”.

- ”Making the most of different teaching methods, programmes and tools”.

- ”I believe that online classes allow you to process more material and develop your Internet and computer skills”.

- ”Lots of genuine materials. It is possible that there would be less during the classes at the university. More time for learning right after class with no need to commute”.

The opinions quoted above present those elements of distance learning that the students appreciated. Some of them were convinced that it was possible to implement more substantial batches of material; others appreciated the variety of forms of knowledge transfer and applied didactic tools that enabled such things as meeting an expert. Moreover, just like in the preceding survey, the students emphasised the lack of need to commute to the university, better time management and more frequent use of audio-visual materials.

Another question focused on the disadvantages of online learning:

- ”Spending long hours in front of a laptop screen is very tiring”.

- ”Video ‘stuttering’, but it’s understandable”.

- ”We did not have direct contact with friends from the group or the lecturer; it was much more difficult to focus while at home (without changing the location)”.

- ”The most burdensome part for me was working in many windows simultaneously, for example, when we had to watch a movie about the politics of a selected South American country, take notes and answer questions in a document, and have MS Teams open, all at the same time”.

- ”Among the disadvantages of distance learning in the context of EFE classes is the lack of dynamics typical for stationary classes where, in my opinion, it is easier to initiate and carry on a discussion. Another disadvantage is the reduced motivation of [...] students. It seems to me that it is much easier to mobilise to do things and engage in tasks performance when we are physically in the room”.

- ”Internet connection, difficult group tasks, much more material to be prepared independently than in traditional learning, lack of paper-based materials – strained eyes, many hours spent in front of a computer, every day”.

- ”Distance learning makes it difficult to carry out some activities, for example working in groups”.

The students’ answers again showed that using the computer for many hours can be very tiring. Remote learning also made it difficult to work in a group, reducing students’ motivation and commitment. The issues of technical problems and the need for direct contact with the teacher and colleagues were brought up again.

The three biggest problems and obstacles in online learning identified by the students in the fourth question concerned:

- online materials (not in a traditional form);

- housing conditions (lack of concentration, other household members, etc.);

- no contact with a teacher or students.

Among the most motivating factors that made students actively participate in classes were:

- genuine materials (articles, films, recordings);

- current topics of classes;

- interactive exercises;

- atmosphere and mutual relations.

Certain aspects identified by the students as problematic or motivating are contradictory in some respects, often due to the individual students’ needs. Although they previously considered the lack of direct contact a problem, the atmosphere and mutual relations during online classes were indicated as motivating and stimulating factors. Discrepancies were also evident in terms of training aids. Some students appreciate working on genuine materials (related to the current topic of the classes) while others prefer traditional aids.

4. Summary

In the first online semester (2019/2020 summer semester), students were asked to address four issues:

1. Evaluate distance learning as compared to stationary classes (5 – very good, 4 – good, 3 – average, 2 – poor, 1 – very poor).

2. What do you consider to be the advantages of distance learning in the context of PNJH EFE classes? (provide examples)

3. What do you consider to be the disadvantages of distance learning in the context of PNJH EFE classes and/or what obstacles did you encounter in the 2019/2020 summer semester?

4. What would help you to better adjust to and implement the PNJH EFE programme in the case of online classes?

When preparing materials and classes for the 2020/2021 winter semester, we particularly considered such things as comments on factors that would help the students adjust to and pursue the course of study better. This is why we put more emphasis on active forms of education, such as the Oxford-style debate, students’ presentations, interactive exercises and a meeting with an expert. All materials were stored in one place and organised in folders. Further, we used more interactive tools during classes (e.g. Kahoot!, Quizlet, Learnote, LearningApps or WordArt).

After the subsequent semester, conducted entirely online, we asked the students the same questions 1-3. In question no. 4, they were asked to choose the three biggest problems and obstacles in online learning, whereas in question no. 5 they were asked to identify three elements that motivated them to actively participate in the classes.

Thanks to the experience gained in the first months of online education, better preparation of both classes and materials, as well as considering the comments and needs expressed by the students, distance learning in the second semester was evaluated higher (4.2) than in the first semester (3.56).

The analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of online classes in the 2019/2020 summer semester and the 2020/2021 winter semester pointed to several common issues. The main disadvantages include technical problems, the need to spend many hours using a computer and the lack of direct contact with the lecturer and fellow students. As far as the advantages are concerned, the respondents frequently mentioned saving time, developing new digital competencies, easy access to materials and updating audio-visual documents.

In the survey conducted in the second semester of distance learning, the students focused on new forms and methods of work, while in the first, their focus was on the very transition to distance learning mode and the resulting difficulties.

Comparing the two semesters, we noticed that technical issues, a problem previously reported by students, did not appear that often in the second semester; this may be because the creators and administrators of the tools and platforms used by our university put in effort to improve their functionality and reduce the number of class disruptions. In addition, the MS Teams platform received new functions that increased the class dynamics. The only change in the MS Teams platform that we believe to be negative concerns the privacy policy of recordings that were previously automatically stored in Microsoft Stream and made available for download exclusively to the meeting organiser (other participants could only view the material). However, as of the 2020/2021 academic year, the recordings are available for download and viewing to all meeting participants, which is why some lecturers gave up on recording their classes altogether.

We realise that there are still problems beyond the realm of our agency, such as the quality of Internet connections and our students’ housing conditions. All the more, we should focus on those elements within our power that engage and motivate the students and help us deliver more dynamic content. All the tools we use should also have a specific and well-thought-out function, instead of being just a break or pure entertainment. We should also remember about issues that the students deem the most important, namely genuine materials, current topics, interactive exercises, and the virtual ‘classroom’ atmosphere and good mutual relations. It is worth recalling the words of Mark Sparvell, an educational leader at Microsoft: ”The greatest potential for technology in education is to humanise the learning, not simply digitise the content”.

Following the outbreak of the pandemic, both teachers and students radically redefined their roles in the higher education system. Thanks to the wider introduction of digital resources and more creative evaluation methods, a very rapid transformation took place – one that would likely take many years under normal circumstances. New solutions, often very innovative, will probably remain with us even after the pandemic ends. E-learning requires a lot of commitment on both sides – faculty staff and students – and only with their cooperation is it possible to succeed. Therefore, we fully agree with Paul Cowell (2021), who argues that distance learning has contributed to a change in the perception of students – lecturers started to treat them more like partners in the educational process.

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Notes on authors

Elżbieta Gajewska

Pedagogical University of Krakow

A Romanist and head of the Department of Language Didactics and Distance Learning at the Institute of Modern Languages at the Pedagogical University in Krakow. Her main research interests include LSP in the broad sense (their linguistic description and teaching), as well as changes in communication and foreign language teaching resulting from new technologies. She co-authored the monograph LSP, FOS, Fachsprache... Dydaktyka języków specjalistycznych. Apart from research and translation, she also works with the teaching sector by participating in national projects (coordinator of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) part of Małopolska Educational Cloud) and international projects.

Joanna Kic-Drgas

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

PhD, graduate of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań and Poznań University of Economics and Business (formerly known as Akademia Ekonomiczna), assistant professor at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Her research interests concern general glottodidactics, education and methodology of English and German teaching, specialist communication in a professional environment and LSP teaching (mainly law and economics).

Izabela Kusicielek

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

PhD in Linguistics. Lecturer of practical Spanish language learning and teaching at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań and a Spanish language teacher at Da Vinci Academic Secondary School in Poznań. Her research interests focus on natural language processing and the application of new technologies in foreign language teaching. Member of the global Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert community.

Małgorzata Niemiec-Knaś

Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa

Graduate of German philology at the University of Wrocław, where in 2005 she defended her doctoral thesis. Teacher with many years of experience in secondary education, teacher training college and university. Works at the Faculty of Humanities of Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa. The area of her research includes broadly understood didactics of foreign language teaching, including LSP teaching.

Jakub Przybył

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

Employee of the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Modern Languages, AMU. Graduate of Poznań University of Economics and Business and Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Experienced EFL & Business English instructor. Enthusiast of the application of psychology in foreign language teaching and methodology. His research interests span different variables that describe participants in the language learning process.

Leonor Sagermann Bustinza

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

PhD in Literary Studies, senior lecturer at the Institute of Romance Philology (Spanish Philology) at the Faculty of Modern Languages, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. She conducts classes in the Spanish language, literature as well as history and culture of the countries of the Spanish-speaking area. Working as a co-implementer of the National Spanish Language Competition project in the 2010–2016 period, she was the Secretary of the Main Committee and the Poznań Regional Committee of the Spanish Language Competition. Coordinates the Spanish as a Second Foreign Language Team (ELE2) at the Institute of Romance Philology, Adam Mickiewicz University.

Andrzej Skwara

Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa

Romanist, PhD in humanities, assistant professor at the Institute of Linguistics of Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa. His research interests include the French Enlightenment thought and the development of state institutions in Europe during the Enlightenment era, the life, activity and work of abbé de Saint-Pierre, the development of pacifist thought, research on the translator’s skills and tools, including the specificity of economic and legal translations, computer-assisted translation software and teaching French as LSP.

Magdalena Sowa

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS)

Graduate of Romance philology at the KUL, PhD in the field of Romance linguistics (specialisation in applied linguistics). Director of the Institute of Romance Philology at the KUL between 2012 and 2016. Recipient of multiple scholarships from the Government of the French Republic, graduate of École de Hautes Études Commerciales (Mastère spécialisé Ingénieur Affaires Européennes et Internationales) and Université Paris X Nanterre (DEA Sciences du Langage). Active member of scientific societies popularising foreign language learning. Since 2017, she has been a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Applied Linguistics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. Author of publications in the field of foreign language teaching, particularly LSP teaching and learning. Animator of workshops for students and teachers, author and content coordinator of educational programmes in the field of teaching foreign languages for professional purposes.

Grażyna Strzelecka

University of Warsaw

Germanist, researcher and teacher at the Institute of German Studies, Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw. She defended her German linguistics PhD thesis on the economic vocabulary of the 19th and 20th centuries. Author of the economy language teaching programme for German studies; until 2001, a member of the State Examination Commissions for the German Language at the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Justice. Author of guides to Poland for German publishing houses, co-author of the online course on reading economic texts ”Science for Europe” (2003). From 2001 to 2011, she worked in the foreign service of the Republic of Poland in Germany, implementing Polish-German cultural projects. Currently, she conducts classes in marketing, advertising, tourism and logistics using the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach for graduate students at IGS UW, developing her concepts and teaching methods; she also taught multilingualism at the European University Viadrina. Her research topic is the German language of the economy in the 19th and 20th centuries, and her educational interests include specialist language teaching. The research resulted in numerous publications on German linguistics and teaching and a textbook on LSP learning in logistics and shipping. Member of the Polish Society of Applied Linguistics (PTLS), Association of Polish Germanists (SGP) and Gesellschaft für Deutsche Sprache (GfdS).

Joanna Woźniak

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

PhD, assistant professor at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Teaching and research focus: specialist languages and their teaching, text and discourse linguistics, contrastive phraseology of German and Polish, including specialist phraseology. Member of the editorial team of the scientific journal Glottodidactica. An International Journal of Applied Linguistics.