Foreign Language Teaching in the 21st Century -
Learners 2.0 - Methods 3.0 - Challenges 4.0
Deadline for the submission of articles:
31 January 2018
About the Conference Theme
In the
early 21st century, foreign language teaching is exposed to
noticeable discrepancies. On the one hand, it is expected to be holistic and
immensely efficient; on the other hand, the language teaching methods developed
up to the present day are constantly challenged by ever-growing expectations
from various sides. Learners, in turn, are not always able to meet the varied
expectations concerning their learning behaviour as well as the concrete
progress they are to achieve. That is, both learners and methods are facing
multifarious challenges. The Fourth
Saarbrücken Conference on Foreign Language Teaching devotes itself to the
description and analysis of this situation as well as to possible solutions.
As is
suggested by the subtitle of the conference, the development of the new media
in the past few decades has been so rapid that - from an evolutionary point of
view - language learners, as well as human beings in general, have not yet been
able to cope with the new situation and all the intellectual and methodological
chances it entails. It is true that learners have already undergone some minor
evolution – i.e, progressing from Learners
1.0 to Learners 2.0 in a metaphorical
sense. They have, for example, made progress by frequently referring to online
software or even mobile applications for their diverse language learning
activities. Yet, they have not taken the next evolutionary step which would
permit them to instantly integrate new language items into their mental
lexicons. It can thus be stated that typical learners are lagging behind the
developments of the "modern" world around them.
The
methods nowadays developed by foreign language methodology and action research
are rather advanced as compared to those established and practised in the
middle (Methods 1.0) or at the end (Methods 2.0) of the 20th century.
It may, however, be admitted that in many cases, these methods do not reflect a
standard that would represent an enrichment to today's learning environments.
This implies that new methodological impulses that would get us closer to a
desirable learning and teaching environment represent a pressing necessity.
The
impulses required in this context can be labelled Challenges 4.0. These challenges concern all the parties involved
in foreign language teaching, i.e.:
● learners, who represent the target group
that is meant to benefit from all the efforts mentioned above and that is
confronted with all kinds of teaching methods ranging from traditional ones up
to highly modern methods, inclusive of those that will be developed in the
(near) future;
● teachers, who were trained in Methods 1.0 and - possibly - in Methods 2.0, but are expected to apply Methods 3.0 to their present teaching;
● language methodology, whose research is to
cover all possible learning environments, ranging from face-to-face learning
via blended learning up to autonomous learning that is expected to be
independent from space and time;
● the educational institutions involved,
i.e. schools and universities, ministries of education, and various
institutions of adult and in-service education,
● publishing houses that need to defend
their position in a market under constant digitalisation and that may, before
long, be confronted with the indubitable decline of importance of textbooks
published in paper form;
● any institution and research field that
may come into existence in the not-too-distant future.
All the
aforementioned groups of people and institutions are involved in the scenario described
above.
Set on
this background and addressing all areas of language teaching, the Fourth Saarbrücken Conference will deal
with the outlook of foreign language teaching and acquisition as can be
presently imagined and even predicted on the basis of the different indicators
perceptible in the relevant fields concerned.
Just as
its predecessors in 2011, 2013, and 2015, the Fourth Saarbrücken Conference on Foreign Language Teaching will be
closely documented on the Internet.
It was our great delight to announce that all the conference participants
were cordially invited to the State Chancellery of Saarland, the
office of the prime minister, on 2 November 2017.
