Can we really talk about the education of foreign language teachers? Or, more accurately, are we dealing with the process of shaping future teachers of English, German, Romance languages, Slavic languages, etc.? Which fields of research should be considered in this context? Which discipline leads the way: the humanities, or perhaps, in parallel, the social sciences? What are the core disciplines that provide the foundation for acquiring knowledge, developing skills, and shaping the attitudes of future foreign language teachers? What is the interplay between these fields, and where do their scientific boundaries lie? What constitutes the optimal environment for preparing trainees? Furthermore, in which language should this process of developing foreign language teachers take place? This article seeks to answer these and similar questions by integrating insights from disciplines such as linguistics, psychology, pedagogy, and (glotto)didactics, as well as many other disciplines. The goal of this text is to highlight the unique synergy of this specific scientific environment in the contemporary process of educating foreign language teachers, and to explore the processes of learning and teaching these languages. The article is divided into three sections: a theoretical and historical part, which includes an analysis of selected documents and texts; a contemporary part, which examines the current state through the lens of practical educational research; and a prognostic part, which outlines future research perspectives and formulates new hypotheses.

The relationship between linguistics and its language descriptions and language teaching research has always been contested and it generated non-homogenous opinions from the beginning of existence of that science. This paper undertakes a trial of broader examination of interrelation between these two disciplines over the last few decades. Considerations are based on example of the German linguistics and language education. It constitutes contribution to discourse on the identity and autonomy of language education as a science.

The aim of the article is to present and characterize the difficulties faced by individuals with hearing impairments in learning foreign languages. The basis of the study is an analysis of the foreign language education process, conducted using the example of a high school student with a cochlear implant. The study takes into account the characteristics of communication difficulties experienced by individuals with hearing impairments and their acquisition of foreign language skills. This analysis formed the basis for designing research aimed at collecting data to illustrate the specific challenges in learning foreign languages faced by a person with hearing loss. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach, employing a single case study. The research problems focus on difficulties in learning foreign languages, forms of psychological and pedagogical support, and their evaluation. The study participants include: a third-year high school student, two English language teachers, and one German language teacher. Analysis of the empirical material highlights the difficulties in all language skills reported by the student and observed by the teachers. It also describes the student’s educational background and the forms of support systematically provided by the school, as well as those implemented occasionally in response to immediate challenges.

Elements of gamification are increasingly being integrated into educational contexts, including language learning applications. While studies highlight benefits such as enhanced motivation and improved learning outcomes, few focus on the specific gamification features that make language learning apps appealing to users. This study analyzes the use of gamification elements in language learning apps and investigates user preferences. The study was divided into two phases. Its first part, a literature review, identified that points, leaderboards, levels, challenges, rewards, and content personalization are the most commonly used gamification features. Duolingo emerged as the most gamified app. The second phase of the study involved a quantitative analysis of survey data collected from 80 university students. Respondents were grouped into daily and occasional users of Duolingo. Data were gathered through a Google Forms survey distributed via student Facebook groups. The responses were analyzed statistically to examine correlations between preferences for gamification elements and motivations for language learning. The results showed that external motivations correlated positively with preferences for rewards and points, particularly among daily users. In contrast, users motivated by self-development preferred challenges. The analysis also revealed stronger correlations between gamification preferences and learning motivations in occasional users.

As schools are getting linguistically and culturally more diverse, it is necessary to develop teachers’ intercultural teaching competencies. This paper focuses on a transnational study conducted during three editions of a blended intensive programme in which 107 pre-service primary foreign language teachers from three countries participated. The goals of the programme were to engage future teachers in practices strengthening international and intercultural dimensions, and to broaden their knowledge and skills on language and content integration in different European contexts. The results of the study, which was conducted using different methods of data collection, including focus group interviews, surveys, analysis of lesson plans and classroom observations, showed the development of intercultural foundational competencies, i.e., strengthening of participants’ self-awareness and self-reflexivity in developing their cultural and disciplinary identities. The participants also developed competencies necessary to recognise learners’ needs to build effective classroom communities. Participants found it difficult to respond to diversity in the classroom by planning and implementing global and intercultural learning activities for pupils. The study shows that internationalisation is crucial for pre-service primary language teachers to improve their professional and intercultural competencies.

This paper focuses on the practice of shared reading of picture storybooks and its impact on the development of children’s second language (L2) skills, particularly receptive vocabulary. It presents findings from an empirical study conducted in a bilingual Polish-German kindergarten in Poznan, Poland, between 2017 and 2018. The primary objective of this study was to investigate to what extent learning processes occur during shared reading experiences in German as the second language and to identify the factors influencing learning outcomes. The study explored three variables: the duration of a child’s participation in the bilingual program, the congruence between visual illustrations and words forming the accompanying text, and the family’s linguistic background and language policy. The findings confirm that the impact of shared reading on fostering L2 development increases with the duration of a child’s participation in the bilingual program, indirectly highlighting the program’s effectiveness. Furthermore, children relied not only on illustrations, but also on verbal forms, to derive meaning, underscoring the importance of linguistic context in L2 learning. The family language factor had minimal influence on learning outcomes, indicating that shared reading benefits children regardless of the extent of German usage at home.

The primary aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between foreign language learners’ positive orientation and their perception of teacher and peer feedback. It also investigates gender differences and the relationship between the frequency of receiving feedback and the perception of its different dimensions. 429 foreign language university students were asked to complete an online questionnaire. Subsequently, statistical analysis of the data was carried out in order to obtain results, which indicated that positive orientation positively correlated with the feeling of comfort while receiving feedback, regardless of source or setting. Regarding the differences between genders, it was found that men felt more comfortable than women receiving feedback highlighting their mistakes and feedback given in public; conversely, women preferred feedback focused on positive aspects and feedback given in private. Finally, it was observed that students who receive feedback often feel more comfortable with the potentially stressful dimensions, such as a public setting and focus on mistakes. The most important pedagogical implication is that teachers should provide feedback regularly and employ strategies to boost their students’ positive orientation levels, which may in turn lead to their increased satisfaction from receiving feedback.

In an era marked by rapid change, educators face a persistent call to nurture creativity in students, prompting them to explore innovative solutions. This study investigates the role of students’ plurilingual resources in fostering creativity within a foreign language classroom at secondary school level. Students collaboratively produced literary writings (songs, poems, and short stories) in which they applied their plurilingual resources (all of languages they knew). This case study employs a bottom-up approach to analyse students’ texts to determine whether facilitating the use of their diverse linguistic resources, including the blending of codes and modes, acts as a catalyst for creativity. The research results indicate that the foreign language classroom can indeed serve as a platform for students to engage in various forms of language creativity. The findings also suggest that encouraging students to utilize their diverse linguistic resources enhances language creativity. Additionally, the analysis highlights that the collaborative nature of the task supports the notion that exploring multiple solutions, rather than adhering to a single correct answer, fosters creativity. Furthermore, evidence indicates that creating a safe environment for learners is crucial for encouraging playful and unconventional language use for creative purposes.

In teaching French as a foreign language in the philological context, insufficient attention is paid to the development of lexical and semantic competences, especially in relation to culture. The linguistic worldview is an ethnolinguistic concept that integrates many different lexical phenomena such as polysemy, derivation, connotation and word structures in order to show the close relationship between lexis and culture. Showing a word in a complex network of lexical-semantic-compositional relations is a tool with strong didactic potential. The aim of this study is to identify this potential in the context of teaching French vocabulary. We focus on the theoretical background of lexical and semantic competences and on the analysis of the relationship between language, culture and meaning in ethnolinguistic and cognitive terms. The empirical part explores, in a quantitative and qualitative way, the methodology of teaching lexis as it is implemented in French language textbooks. The result of our study shows that this methodology, in terms of the presentation of vocabulary and the number and types of lexical exercises, is not sufficient for learning the real meaning of words. The linguistic worldview is a tool that may meet this challenge.

The aim of this article is to reflect on the place of translation – understood as one of the forms of mediation activities – in the process of language education. The theoretical content is preceded by a description of the author’s own study conducted among Polish-speaking students learning French in bilingual classes. The aim of the analysis is to show the elements of translation that fit into the assumptions of text mediation which should be paid attention to in the process of language learning and teaching, and how to examine texts mediated by students.