Institute of Foreign Languages

Institute of Foreign Languages

Sukurta: 15 September 2013

uki5 Universiteto, LT–01513 Vilnius
Tel. 268 7266, fax. 268 7265
E-mail:

Director – Assoc. Prof.  Dr. Roma Kriaučiūnienė

STAFF

81 teachers (17 holding research degree)

MAIN RESEARCH AREAS OF THE INSTITUTE

Process of Teaching and Learning Modern Languages: Competences, Methodologies, Tendencies:

Research in Structural and Functional Peculiarities of Germanic, Romance, Slavonic and Lithuanian Languages
Research in Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Literatures and Cultures
Language Teaching as a Prerequisite of the Development of Professional Competences

CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS ORGANIZED IN 2013

5th international conference Linguistic, Pedagogical and Educational Challenges in Tertiary Education, 7–8 November, 2013, Institute of Foreign Languages, Vilnius University.

Seminars:

Interaction between the native and the second languages in CLIL and Implementing CLIL in the classroom: principles and actions

Integration of IELTS Strategies into the Classroom of ESP

The Importance of Tolerance in Intercultural Communication

How to make Lessons of Foreign Languages more attractive and effective?

FREPA – a Set of Instruments for the Development of Plurilingual and Intercultural Competences: Awakening to Languages; The Intercultural Approach; Integrated Didactic Approach; Intercomprehension between related languages: teaching materials – a series of workshops

A cycle of seminars The Newest Tendencies of Lexicology and Lexicography in Europe

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

5 Universiteto, LT-01513 Vilnius
Tel. 268 7271
E-mail:

Head – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aušra Janulienė

STAFF

Associate professors: Dr. A. Janulienė, Dr. J. Korostenskaja.
Lecturers : Dr. L. Arcimavičienė, Dr. L. Bikelienė, Dr. A. Riley, Dr. L. Bartkuvienė, A. Abraškevičiūtė (on maternity leave), R. Bačiulienė, V. Bitinaitė, V. Jonaitienė, L. Kazanavičiūtė, R. Montvilienė, B. Palovienė, G. Pleikienė, R. Sirvydė, D. Snapkauskaitė, V. Stankūnienė, R.Valiukienė, D. Vasiliauskienė, D. Valentinavičienė.
Assistants: V. Gricius, V. Eimulienė, R. Kalytienė (maternity leave), J. Kirejeva, A. Kuokštienė, A. Purvaneckienė (maternity leave).
Doctoral student: S. Kontrimienė.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Modernism
Mythology
Cognitive linguistics
Corpus Linguistics
Syntax
Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2013

Projects Supported by University Budget

Research in Structural and Functional Peculiarities of Germanic, Romance, Slavonic and Lithuanian Languages. Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Janulienė. 2010–2015.

Lect. Dr. L. Arcimavičienė focuses her research on the use of metaphors in media and political discourse. Besides metaphor in media and political discourse, the ideological nature of metaphor has been studied in the field of education.

Lect. R. Sirvydė analyzed conceptual metaphors and metonymies of fear and anger.

Assist. J. Kirejeva focuses on the Politeness Theory and its application in the analysis of contemporary drama.

Lect. Dr. Lina Bikelienė analyses connector usage in native and non-native learners’ English writing.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. J. Korostenskaja’s focus of research is phrasal verbs in English and generative syntax.

Main publications:

Arcimavičienė, L., 2013. The US-Russia Spy Swap of 2010 in media discourse: what the Commercial Transsaction metaphor implie. Discourse, Context & Media, Vol. 2, 14–21.

Bikelienė, L. Sentence Initial Additive Linking Words in Lithuanian Learners’ Language and British English. In: I. Šeškauskienė and J. Grigaliūnienė (eds.) Anglistics in Lithuania: Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Aspects of Study. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013, 198–208.

Bitinaitė, V., Snapkauskaitė, D., 2013. Explanatory Dictionary of English- Lithuanian Legal and Business Terms. Vilnius, Registrų centras, 613 p.

Language Teaching as a Prerequisite of the Development of Professional Competencies . Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Janulienė. 2010–2015.

Teaching materials developed by the staff are available online at www.vma.esec.vu.lt.

Several members of the staff prepared new course materials or updated the existing ones:English for students of Political Science, Language of Negotiations, Business English for Publishing, Effective Meetings and Successful Negotiations, Business English for Economists, East or West?

Concerning the project Development of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Education (2011–2013).

Assoc Prof. Dr. J. Korostenskaja was building taxonomy of EAP activities in a Lithuanian classroom.

Doctoral student lect. S. Kontrimienė explored the diverse perspectives and conceptualizations of spirituality, its components and relevant constructs as well as the influence of educational factors, such as proper and improper parenting, on the development of spirituality.

Main publications:

Valiukienė, R., 2013. Avenues for Peer Development in Cross-subject Teams. Verbum, vol. 4, 134–143.

EU funded projects

Development of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Education (2011–2013) funded by the European Structural Funds and Ministry of Education and Science under the Human Development Action Programme, Agreement No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-05-K-02-011.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Janulienė, lect. L. Kazanavičiūtė, assist. R. Valiukienė.

The goal of the project is to introduce subject teachers of the basic and secondary schools of Lithuania to the application of content and foreign language integrated learning approach.

Dr. L. Bikelienė is a recognised research partner of the research project Lexico-grammatical variation in advanced learner varieties funded by the Central Research Development Fund of the University of Bremen, Germany.

The project focuses on the research that shows learners using the features of more typical of speech than of academic prose, which suggests that they are largely unaware of register differences. Moreover, there is evidence that learners of various language backgrounds have similar problems and face similar challenges on their way to near-native proficiency. Also, when writing academic prose, many of the observed difficulties appear to stem from a lack of understanding of the rules surrounding academic writing, or from a lack of practice, rather than as a result of interference from first language academic conventions. Due to these similarities, the project refers to the interlanguage of these learners as advanced learner varieties (ALVs) .

Main publications:

Valiukienė, R., 2013. Avenues for peer development in cross-subject teams. Verbum, vol 4, 134–143.

OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Janulienė –

  • member of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English);
  • member of the Association of Applied Linguistics in Lithuania;
  • member of the English Speaking Union.

Dr. L. Bartkuvienė –

  • member of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English);
  • member of Oxford University ALUMNI.

Assoc. Prof. J. Korostenskaja –

  • member of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English).

Dr. L. Bikelienė –

  • member of LITAKA (Association of Applied Linguistics);
  • member of Learner Corpus Association (Université catholique de Louvain Centre for English Corpus Linguistics)

B. Palovienė –

  • member of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English);
  • member of the English Speaking Union;
  • member of ILNA (International Local Network Association).

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FOR PHYSICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

5 Universiteto, LT-01513 Vilnius
Tel. 268 7268
E-mail:

Head – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Roma Kriaučiūnienė

STAFF

Associate professors: Dr. Z. Mažuolienė, Dr. R. Kriaučiūnienė.
Lecturers: Dr. L. Chodzkienė, Dr. S. Postič, A. Dapšienė, L. Inčiuraitė, L. Giniūnienė, D. Gornatkevičienė, D. Janavičienė, J. Kašelionytė, O. Kudirkienė, L. Norvilienė, A. Pranculienė, I. Rozgienė, G. Sadeckienė, H. Shipman, I. Stasiūnaitė, A. Statkevičienė, D. Straižytė, A. Trečiokaitė, D. Zamuiskaitė, E. Židonienė.
Assistants: I. Gelžinytė, M. Ginaitytė, A. Jankūnienė, G. Petravičienė, D. Pinkevičienė, R. Stalnionytė, I. Vankevič (Snukiškienė), V. Vaskelaitė, L. Zavadskienė.
Doctoral students: L. Inčiuraitė, D. Pinkevičienė.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Applied linguistics
Morphology
Semantics
Didactics of foreign language teaching
English for Specific Purposes
Development of students’ linguistic and intercultural competences
Intercultural Communication
Teacher training
Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
Foreign language assessment and self-assessment

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2013

Projects Supported by University Budget

Research in Structural and Functional Peculiarities of Germanic, Romance, Slavonic and Lithuanian Languages. Assoc. Prof. Dr. R. Kriaučiūnienė. 2010–2015.

One of the research trends of the department is the analysis of structural and functional characteristics of the Germanic and Lithuanian languages. The doctoral student L. Inčiuraitė investigates the morphemic structure and formation of nominal words with neoclassical elements in Standard Lithuanian by the application of synchronic linguistic analysis.

The doctoral student D. Pinkevičienė explores the area of sociolinguistics with a focus on the linguistic diversity and the new terminology of polylingualism, translanguaging and metrolingualism. D. Pinkevičienė made a presentation Features of Adult Workplace Talk at the at the 3rd international conference of Applied Linguistics Languages and People: Space, Time, Identity (October 4, 2013) organized by Department of Lithuanian Studies, Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University, Lithuanian Association of Applied Linguistics (LITAKA). Her study investigates changes in the language of working Lithuanian city dwellers. These changes are taking place because of the multiple language resources that are now available due to the processes of globalization, urbanization and the increased mobility of workforce.

Research in Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Literatures and Cultures. Assoc. Prof. Dr. R. Kriaučiūnienė. 2010–2015.

Dr. S. Poštič, who is representing the second research trend of the Institute related to the traditions of literatures and cultures, and their relationship with the Lithuanian language and culture, made a presentation at the 5th international conference under the title To Act or Not to Act: How Coleridge Changed the Way We See Hamlet, where he examined the way Samuel Taylor Coleridge was able to recognise the hitherto neglected features of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. Most importantly, he identified with the main protagonist of the play, the Prince of Denmark, and described the unbridgeable gap between ambitions and power of imagination on the one hand, and inability to act on the other.

Language Teaching as a Prerequisite of the Development of Professional Competences. Assoc. Prof. Dr. R. Kriaučiūnienė. 2010–2015.

This trend is related to the analysis of the developmental issues of functional, professional and general competences and application of the research results to the teaching practice carried out by the below mentioned researchers of the department:

Lect. A. Pranculienė focuses on the role and the ways of how vocabulary and grammar in the Lithuanian STANAG 6001 test are assessed. The research indicates that there is no need to design separate papers for testing Vocabulary, Grammar or Language Use, as they are incorporated and assessed in tests of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.

Methodological tool Reading and Speaking for Students of Geology and Meteorology by I. Vankevič is aimed at developing reading and speaking skills for the students of Geology and Meteorology. The tool consists of 20 chapters containing reading, listening and speaking exercises. Introductory chapters are based on general topics of Natural Sciences, and then the topics on Earth science, Hydro science and Meteorology are covered. The tasks should help to learn professional vocabulary and teach discussion on professional topics. The methodological tool can be used as an additional tool for teaching English for Natural Sciences.

Mathematics and the Arts compiled by L. Giniūnienė is dedicated to the students of Mathematics studying at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. The aim of this teaching aid is to develop students’ reading and speaking skills. The publication consists of 12 texts concerning various fields of mathematics and the arts, such as geometry and architecture, solid geometry and sculpture, arithmetics and painting, topology and origami, trigonometry and photography.

Focus on Listening and Language compiled by A.Pranculienė is aimed at developing students’ listening skills, at the same time enhancing their vocabulary and revising grammar. TED Talks presentations are used as the source for exercises. The teaching aid consists of 15 units giving tools and opportunities to produce language on the topics relevant to the subject of Genetics.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. R.Kriaučiūnienė deals with the aspects of the development of English language learners’ intercultural communicative competence based on the analysis of the results of the empirical research into the respondents’ views on English language teaching/learning process and the results of educational project. The article entitled The Place of Values in Competence–based Learning at Universities, conference proceedings, Edited by Pixel. 3rd Conference edition, 2013, 801–806, provides some aspects of the development of foreign language students’ value attitudes in foreign language teaching/ learning process at contemporary universities.

Assoc. prof. Dr. R. Kriaučiūnienė and J. Karalienė (co-author) make an attempt to show that the focus in educational process should be placed not only on the enrichment of students’ academic knowledge, but also on nurturing learners’ moral values. In their article Foreign Language Leachers’ Approach to Values they presented the quantitative research to identify foreign language teachers’ attitudes towards values.

In the article Foreign Language Teachers’ Viewpoints on Intercultural Competence Development in Foreign Language Teaching/ Learning Process Assoc. Prof. Dr. R. Kriaučiūnienė together with A. Šiugždinienė present the analysis of viewpoints on the development of intercultural competence in the English language teaching/learning classroom. This research aimed at collecting data about classroom applications considering intercultural competence development. The analysis of the research results made it evident that present classroom practices for the development of intercultural competence are not sufficient and the foreign language teaching methodology should be improved and more purposefully aimed at developing of all the dimensions of intercultural competence in order to satisfy the needs of the learners in the present political and economical situation of the world.

Lect. L. Zavadzkienė made a presentation Student Feedback as a Tool for Measuring and Improving Study Quality at the 5th international conference Linguistic, Pedagogical and Intercultural Challenges in Tertiary Education. The presentation Shaping the Way of Teaching University Students to Give Effective Academic Presentations: Valuable Insights Obtained from Students’ Feedback at the international conference Speciality Language Studies in the Common European Higher Education Area: Theory and Practice by L. Zavadskienė focussed on the challenges university students have to deal with while preparing for and delivering an academic presentation in English.

Assist. A. Jankūnienė and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Z. Mažuolienė delivered the presentation Bilingualism: Choices to Be Made at the 5th international conference Linguistic, Pedagogical and Intercultural Challenges in Tertiary Education on 7 November 2013. They also wrote an article under the same title, which presented the research focusing on parents’ decision to raise children being bilingual.

Lect. Dr. Loreta Chodzkienė in her conference presentation identifies the teachers to be the main facilitators of the target competence and discusses whether teacher training programmes are designed well enough to educate them interculturally competent: The Importance of Intercultural Education in Teacher Training at the international conference Education at the Crossroads in the Development of Culture and Man: Insights from Meile Luksiene’s Legacy in Education into the Past, Present and Future held by the Lithuanian University of Education Sciences on 25–26 April 2013. L. Chodzkiene analyses the issue of teachers’ intercultural education and discusses the content components to be integrated into training modules in her article The Importance of Intercultural Education in Teacher Training: Theoretical Insights.

Dr. L. Chodzkienė and Prof. M. Barkauskaitė (co-author) disseminated their ideas on intercultural teacher training in the presentationEducation Project as a Means for Developing Teachers’ Intercultural Communicative Competence at the 3rd international conference The Future of Education organized by PIXEL on 13–14 June, in Florence. In the paper under the same title, published in the conference proceedings, edited by PIXEL, 2013, p.p. 363–366, they stress the importance of the component of experience that enables teachers to assess their attitudes towards other cultures and develop a higher level of ICC.

Dr. L. Chodzkienė has also been interested in the results of the foreign language teachers’ teaching results, especially English language proficiency and the level of intercultural communicative competence school leavers are able to achieve at school. At the IATEFL & LAKMA 15th international conference Intercultural Competences in the Global Village held on 11–12 October 2013 L. Chodzkienė disseminated the results of her survey in the presentation The Manifestation of Lithuanian Students’ ICC in the Socio-Cultural Environment of the UK. The analysis is based on the reflections presented by the respondents of Lithuanian origin who have recently been studying and residing in the UK.

Lect. I. Rozgienė and L. Vilkancienė (co-author) delivered the presentation entitled CLIL Teacher: Competences and Attitudes at the 5th international conference Linguistic, Pedagogical and Intercultural Challenges in Tertiary Education. In their presentation the authors described the results of the project Development of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Education.

Main publications:

Inčiūraitė. L., 2013. The semantics of colors in John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost. Studies about Languages, vol. 23, 95–103.

Pranculienė, A., 2013. Testing Language in the NATO STANAG Context. Studies about Languages, Vol. 22, 119–123.

Kriaučiūnienė, R., 2013. English Language Teaching/Learning as a Multifunctional Phenomenon: Intercultural Aspects. In: I. Šeškauskienė and J. Grigaliūnienė (eds.) Anglistics in Lithuania: Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Aspects of Study. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 228–249.

Chodzkienė, L., 2013. The Adjustment of Students from Lithuania to the Socio-Cultural Environment of the United Kingdom. Studies about Languages, vol. 23, 126–136.

Rozgienė, I., Vilkancienė, L., 2013. CLIL Teacher: Competences and Attitudes. Verbum, vol. 4, 122–133.

EU FUNDED PROJECTS

Development of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Education funded by the European Structural Funds and Ministry of Education and Science under the Human Development Action Programme, Agreement No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-05-K-02-011. (2011–2013). Lecturers dr. L. Chodzkienė, D. Pinkevičienė, I. Rozgienė, D. Straižytė, L. Zavadskienė.

The goal of the project was to introduce Subject teachers of the basic and secondary schools of Lithuania to the application of content and foreign language integrated learning approach. The idea of CLIL contributed to the development of the key competences necessary for the knowledge-based society members; it shaped the participants’ attitudes towards innovative and creative subject teaching, encouraged them to make the study process active via the application of practical teaching methods.

All the CLIL outputs are available at http://www.uki.vu.lt/lt/uki/tarptautiniai-rysiai/projektai/.

DIV.ED project entitled Diversity in the Learning Experience in (Higher) Education. Agreement No. 528049-LLP-1-2012-1-AT-ERASMUS-ESIN. (2012–2014). In the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme supported by the European Commission. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Roma Kriaučiūnienė and Dr. Loreta Chodzkienė – partners.

The Coordinating Institution of the project is Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria). Link - http://www.diversity-ed.eu The project partners from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and Portugal have pooled their varied expertise - experience in Erasmus exchanges at universities, distance and blended learning, visual arts and ICT-based pedagogy – to achieve the project aims.

Dr. Loreta Chodzkienė, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Roma Kriaučiūnienė and Dr. Olga Medvedeva (co-author) shared their experience of working in the project by organizing a workshop Diversity in Higher Education: why and how to use the DIV.ED products at the 5th international conference Linguistic, Pedagogical and Intercultural Challenges in Tertiary Education on 7 November, 2013. The workshop co-authors focused on the diversity in higher education and the DIV. ED. products (www.diversity.ed.eu) that suggest practical ways of developing competences and skills that are needed for successful performance in intercultural environment. The participants were given access to the study materials of the 6-ECTS-Module on Diversity that is designed for acquiring knowledge about the basic social concepts and for developing adequate awareness and attitudes in a motivating interactive way.

Dr. L. Chodzkienė participates in Nordplus Horizontal project NPHZ-2013/10022 Developing the Language Awareness Approach in the Nordic and Baltic Countries (DELA-NOBA), coordinated by Roskilde University (Denmark). The information about the project is available at: http://rucforsk.ruc.dk/site/en/projects/developing-the-language-awareness--eveil-aux-langues-approach-in-the-nordic-and-baltic-countries-nordplus-horizontal-project(58cc0b77-84a8-4b26-b2ab-7db9df2cedb2).html

The objective of the project is to disseminate and exchange results and experiences in education by examining how the Language Awareness/Eveil aux langues approach can be integrated and further developed in the Nordic/Baltic context. The project activities involve 21 partners from seven participating Nordic/Baltic countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden) and establish partnerships between universities and schools (primary and secondary schools) in these countries and between them. The project is expected to give the partners the possibility to establish a network, to adapt, develop and evaluate teaching materials for the Nordic/Baltic context, to collect information about plurilingualism in the Nordic/Baltic countries and to compare and disseminate the results.

OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

Assoc. Prof. Z. Mažuolienė –

  • member of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment.

Dr. L. Chodzkienė –

  • member of ESSE (European Society for the Study of English);
  • member of the Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania (LKPA);
  • member of the Lithuanian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (LAKMA);
  • member of the Editorial Board of the Scientific Committee of Wroclaw University, Poland.

Assoc. Prof. R. Kriaučiūnienė –

  • member of the Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania.

D. Pinkevičienė –

  • member of LITAKA (Association of Applied Linguistics);
  • member of the Lithuanian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

L. Zavadskienė –

  • member of the Lithuanian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (LAKMA);
  • member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL).

DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN LANGUAGE

5 Universiteto, LT-01513 Vilnius
Tel. 268 7271
E-mail:

Head – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Virginija Jūratė Pukevičiūtė

STAFF

Associate professors: Dr. V. Banionytė, Dr. D. Bukauskaitė, Dr. V. Pukevičiūtė.
Lecturers: PhD student D. Jarmalavičius, N. Matiukaitė, V. Paliukonienė.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Comparative Linguistics
Syntax
Morphology
History of Linguistics
German for Specific Purposes
German Literature of 19–20 c.c.
Foreign language teaching methodology
Development of learning to learn competence
Research methodology
Communication technologies
German of Law
German of Medicine
Terminology translation problems
Theory and practice of test design

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2013

Projects Supported by University Budget

Research in Structural and Functional Peculiarities of the Germanic, Romance, Slavonic and Lithuanian Languages. Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. Banionytė. 2010–2015.

This trend of research of the institute is supported by the investigations carried out by Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. Banionytė. Her investigation results were published a scientific article in the conference proceedings The dissemination of educational innovations in the context of modern foreign language teaching and learning. The researcher discusses the issue of stereotypes: the origin of their concept, definition, classification and their application to the process of foreign language learning. The author grounds her research on national stereotypes and marks that their comprehension makes intercultural communication successful.

Lect. D. Jarmalavičius studies the derivation of the words of Germanic origin in the first manuscripts of bilingual dictionaries of the Baltic languages. In 2013 D. Jarmalavičius completed his doctoral thesis The Word-Formation of German Compounds in Hand-written Bilingual Baltic Dictionaries from 15th to 18th centuries which is to be defended in February of 2014. He has also published an article related to his reseach topic where the analysis of the compounds of the 18th c. German-Lithuanian bilingual dictionary was presented.

Research in Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Literatures and Cultures. Assoc. Prof. Dr. D. Bukauskaitė. 2010–2015.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dalia Bukauskaitė pursued investigation on the equivalents of the legal terms in Lithuanian and German. The researcher published an article related to her investigation where she analysed the peculiarities of translating the legal terms of Agreements from/into Lithuanian/ German stressing the fact that translators of legal texts encounter some extra challenges since in different languages there happen to be no equivalents. Therefore, such problems can be dealt with in different ways, i.e. by using international terms or translating borrowings in relevant word groups. The latter way is especially useful when some legal terms are new in the Lithuanian legal system while the terminology in German is associated with cultural and linguistic peculiarities.

Language Teaching as a Prerequisite of the Development of Professional Competencies . Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. J. Pukevičiūtė 2010–2015.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. J. Pukevičiūtė conducts research in the field of Education science. She analyses the state of schoolchildren’s and pupils’ learning to learn competence and its development possibilities under the basis of foreign language teaching-learning. The researcher dedicated her two articles to the above mentioned topic where she discussed the application of memorising strategies to foreign language learning and the impact of physical environment on students’ learning. Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. J. Pukevičiūtė together with M. Antanėlienė (co-author) analysed upper-class schoolchildren’s attitudes towards physical learning environment and its importance to teaching. The research data revealed that the respondents had found the majority of components of the physical environment to be important, showed correlation between the feelings of comfort and security and learners’ abilities to concentrate on the subject taught.

Lect. N. Matiukaitė investigates the peculiarities of teaching German at the institutions of higher education, encourages students to participate in scientific discussions where students from all the universities of Lithuania present the problems of their research. At the conferenceLinguistic, pedagogical and intercultural challenges in Tertiary Education N. Matiukaitė made a presentation Projekt-Wettbewerb Deutsch im Studium und Wissenschaft – klipp & klar unter dem Aspekt der Mehrsprachigkeit und der Interkulturalität which diseseminated the good practice of students’ scientific discussions.

EU funded projects

Development of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Education funded by the European Structural Funds and Ministry of Education and Science under the Human Development Action Programme, Agreement No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-05-K-02-011. (2011–2013). Lect. D. Jarmalavičius and Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. J. Pukevičiūtė.

The goal of the project is to introduce subject teachers of the basic and secondary schools of Lithuania to the application of content and foreign language integrated learning approach. The idea of CLIL contributes to the development of the key competences necessary for the knowledge-based society members; it shapes the participants’ attitudes towards innovative and creative subject teaching, encourages them to make the study process active via the application of practical teaching methods.

OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

N. Matiukaitė –

  • member of the Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania (LKPA).

DEPARTMENT OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES

5 Universiteto, LT-01513 Vilnius
Tel. 268 7271
E-mail:

Head – Prof. Dr. Danguolė Melnikienė

STAFF

Professors: Dr. D. Melnikienė, Dr. D. Balšaitytė.
Associate professors: Dr. C. Caro Dugo, Dr. R. Syrovatskaja, Dr. L. Garbul, Dr. V. Makarova.
Lecturers: O. Ališauskienė, Dr. A. Belovodskaja, S. Kosova, J. Gonsales Krus, L. Pavan, R. Pankova, B. A. Strimaitienė, R. Tamošaitienė, A. Rascon Caballero, I. Subačienė.
Assistants: M. Šeleg, R. Širiakovaitė, A. Kučinskienė.
Doctoral student: A. Kučinskienė.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Phonetics
Lexicography
Lexicology
Content language integrated method (CLIL)
Cognitive Linguistics

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2013

Projects Supported by University Budget

Research of the Structures (Grammatical, Lexical, Semantic and Stylistic Peculiarities) of the Romance, Slavic and Lithuanian Languages, their Integration into the Teaching Process and Lexicographic Practice. Prof. D. Melnikienė. 2010–2015.

Prof. Dr. D. Melnikienė continued conducting her research into the aspects of bilingual lexicography. The monograph entitled Le dictionnaire bilingue: un miroir déformant? was published in 2013 by Herman éditeur, one of the most prestigous Publishing houses of France. The scholar deals with such lexicographic aspects as consistency and particularity of nomenclature compilation, dictionary bidirection and presentation of the cases of missing equivalents, etc.

Prof. Dr. D. Melnikienė participated in a number of international scientific conferences where she made the following presentations: Les Connaissances de l’arrière plan dans les dictionnaires bilingues at the international conference Le dictionnaire, livre du monde at the University of Napoli, Italy, in March 2013; Les emprunts dans les dictionnaires lituaniens at the international conference Le mots venus d’ailleurs dans les dictionnaires at Cergy-Pointoise University, Paris, France in June 2013.

The professor delivered a series of lectures entitles The Newest Challenges for Lexicography at the Beginning of 21st century (6 hours) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain). The scholar has also reviewed the encyclopedic dictionary about London by Sabine Albert, Londres, Une ville qui toujours se relevera des ruines, Paris, Honoré Champion, 206 p. in Verbum, Vol. 4, 2013, 148–151.

In the field of Phonetics Prof. Dr. D. Balšaitytė investigates the structure of the stressed vowel formants in the pronunciation of Lithuanians and Russians originated in Lithuania.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. L. Garbul applies diachronic and synchronic aspects to investigate the influence of interslavic lexical relationship on the lexis of the Russian diplomacy in the first half of the 17th century.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Carmen Caro Dugo has completed the translation of the poem Metai by K. Donelaitis into the Spanish language and published it under the title "Las estaciones del año" (Renacimiento, 2013). At the conferenceLinguistic, Pedagogica, and Intercultural Challenges in Tertiary Education held 7–9 2013, she presented the plenary speech The translation into Spanish of the poem Metai by K. Donelaitis. The presentation dealt with some aspects of the translation and analyzed one important stylistic element of the Lithuanian language in detail, i.e., the use of diminutive suffixes and their derivatives, and their translation.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. Makarova continued research on the presentation of the world view through the key words: an article on the analysis of the data related to the usage of the key word „enemy“: Скажи мне, кто твой враг, и я скажу тебе, кто ты: враг/priešas в картине мира русских и литовцев (на материале пословиц о дружбе) in peer-reviewed publication Лингвориторическая парадигма, № 18, 2013. The article focuses on the conclusions made as a result of the research into Russian and Lithuanian proverbs on friendship which contain judgments of both the phenomenon of friendship and hostility.

Doc. Dr. V. Makarova compiled a teaching aid entitled Как написать курсовую работу (How to write a Course Paper).

On the 3rd of May 2013 Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. Makarova made a public lecture The Enemy Image Design by the Lithuanian Media: the Issue of Poles during the seminar The Identity and Image of the Lithuanian Poles: the Enemy Image Design by the Lithuanian Media held at Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty of Humanities.

Lect. Dr. A. Belovodskaja analyses anonymous internet parody in the so-called internet folklore context based on internet folklore anthology Нетлор materials. In her articleСетевой фольклор как индикатор и средство трансформации коллективного когнитивного пространства published in the monograph Говорим как говорим. Разговорная коммуникация: интердисциплинарный подход, Gdansk, 2013, the researcher states that most of the texts are polycodic.

Lect. Dr. A. Belovodskaja made a presentationИнтегрированный подход к обучению иностранным языкам: опыт внедрения технологий web 2.0 в учебный процесс at the 5th international conference Linguistic, Pedagogical and Intercultural Challenges in Tertiary Education, on 7–9 November.

Lect. A. Rascon investigated Lithuanian students’ studying Spanish typical mistakes and his findings were revealed in publication Avance de análisis de errores de la interlengua en estudiantes lituanos de español in Verbum, Vol 4, 2013, p.p. 96–106. Once analyzed the seriousness of errors is determined from the point of view of whether it hinders communication or not; afterwards, both preventive and therapeutic error treatment in the classroom is proposed in order to be able to gain the utmost practical utility of this analysis.

Main publications:

Melnikienė, D., 2013. L’onomatopée dans le dictionnaire. La musicalité qui donne voix au monde. In: Les Cahiers du dictionnaire No 5, Paris, Garnier Classiques, 285–299.

Melnikienė, D., 2013. Les connaissances de l'arrière plan dans le dictionnaire bilingue. In: Gerflint (Programme mondial de diffusion scientifique francophone en réseau – The World Network of scientific research in French), Synergies Chine, Beijing, ISSN: 1776–2669, ISSN de l'édition en ligne 2260–6483.

Balšaitytė, D., 2013. УРОКИ ЖИЗНИ НА УРОКАХ ФОНЕТИКИ -
Светлой памяти Лии Васильевны Бондарко (1932–2007). Respectus Philologicus, vol. 23(28), 211–217.

Garbul, L., 2013. Значимость фактора межславянских языковых контактов в формировании русского литературного языка нового типа. Respectus Philologicus, vol. 23(28), 189–197.

Makarova, V., 2013. On the Discourse of the President of Lithuania. In: Bielinis, Lauras, 2013. Prezidentė. Antra knyga. Kaunas: Knygius, 144–147.

EU funded projects

Development of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Education funded by the European Structural Funds and Ministry of Education and Science under the Human Development Action Programme, agreement No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-05-K-02-011. (2011–2013).

Lecturers S. Kosova and R. Tamošaitienė.

The goal of the project is to introduce subject teachers of the basic and secondary schools of Lithuania to the application of content and foreign language integrated learning approach. The idea of CLIL contributes to the development of the key competences necessary for the knowledge-based society members; it shapes the participants’attitudes towards innovative and creative subject teaching, encourages them to make the study process active via the application of practical teaching methods.

Main publications:

Kosova, S., 2013. L’efficacité du travail en groupe dans l’enseignement secondaire des disciplines non linguistiques. Verbum, vol. 4, 114–122.

OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

Prof. D. Melnikienė –

  • editor-in-chief of the journal Verbum (Lithuania);
  • editorial board member of the international journal Les Cahiers du dictionnaire (France);
  • member of the International Association ,"Réseau Lexicologie, Terminologie, Traduction".

Prof. D. Balšaitytė –

  • editorial board member of the philological periodical Respectus philologicus (Lithuania);
  • editorial board member of the journal Verbum (Lithuania).

Assoc. Prof. C. Caro Dugo –

  • editorial board member of the journal Verbum (Lithuania).

Assoc. Prof. V. Makarova –

  • publishing editor of the philological periodical Respectus philologicus (Lithuania);
  • publishing editor of the journal Verbum (Lithuania).

Lecturer J. Gonsales Cruz –

  • member of the Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania (LKPA).