News

The Department of French Philology of the Faculty of Philology invites to an international conference Le mot dans la langue et dans le discours 3: la construction du sens. The conference will be held April 23–24, 2020. More information can be found below:

• Conference invitation and call for papers >
• Website of the conference >

On 4 October 2019, the conference "Translation in a modern society: the changing profile of a translator, ethics, expectations" will take place at the Conference Centre (Room 92) of the Faculty of Philology, Universiteto St. 5, Vilnius. The Conference is jointly organised by the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission and the Institute for Literary, Cultural and Translation Studies of the Faculty of Philology. There will be video conferencing between Vilnius and Brussels.

On 26 September, the results of applications for the first Baltic Research Programme were announced by a panel of experts that selected 7 projects out of 130 applications. The projects will receive € 6 million in funding throughout several years.

Among the selected projects are two projects coordinated by the University of Tartu, and researchers from Vilnius University are participants in one of them. One of the two selected projects is titled "Academic writing in the Baltic States: rhetorical structures through culture(s) and languages" and is supervised by associate professor Jolanta Šinkūnienė, a scholar at the English Philology Department of the Institute of English, Romance, and Classical Studies.

The Baltic Research Programme is a joint research programme of three Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The Programme is funded under the 2014-2021 financial mechanisms of European Economic Area (EEA) states (Island and Lichtenstein) and Norway. The aim of the Programme is to fund scientific research as a form of regional cooperation. There will be three calls for applications for the Programme: in 2018, a call for applications was announced Estonia; in 2019, Latvia will conduct the application selection process; in 2020, the call for and selection of applications will take place in Lithuania.

Click to find out more about the Baltic Research Programme and the results of the 1st call for applications.

Dr Gina Kavaliūnaitė-Holvoet, researcher at the Department of Baltic Studies of the Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic (BKKI), has prepared a facsimile of the manuscript of theChylinski Bible, the first translation of the Bible into Lithuanian. The book is published by Vilnius University Press and is titled (in Lithuanian and Latin) “Samuel Boguslaus Chylinski's Bible, Vol. 2: The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Rendered into Lithuanian by Samuel Boguslaus Chylinski. A Facsimile of the Manuscript in Lithuanian = Biblia Lithuanica Samueli Boguslai Chylinski. Tomus 2: Novum Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Lithvanicâ Linguâdonatum a Samuelo Boguslao Chylinski. Manuscripti Lithuanici imagines digitales“, Vilnius: Vilnius University, 2019. 

A website dedicated to the first Lithuanian Bible, www.chylinskibible.flf.vu.lt, has also been launched. The website will be supplemented and improved in the future.

The publication of the Chylinski Bible was funded by the Lithuanian Research Council under the project “The research and facsimile and interactive digital publication of Samuel Boguslaus Chylinski's New Testament” (contract No LIP-022/2016). The project brought together an international team of researchers, including Dr Rūta Čapaitė (Vilnius), Mgr Bartłomiej Kowal (Warsaw), Mgr Valentinas Kulinič (Vilnius), Dr Wolf-Dieter Syring (Buxtehude), Dr Felix Thies (Frankfurt am Main), and project supervisor Dr Gina Kavaliūnaitė (Vilnius).  

Members of the Institute of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, spent the last weeks before the new academic year developing and updating the descriptions of ESP courses taught to students of various study programmers at VU.

The centerpiece of this process was training concocted by Dr Johan Fischer, Director of the Centre for Languages and Transferable Skills at the University of Göttingen, who has over 25 years of experience in ESP. During the training, lecturers of the Institute of Foreign Languages focused on the task-based-learning (TBL) approach to language learning.

We interviewed Dr Fischer about TBL and its advantages as a learning strategy.

– Could you tell us how task-based learning functions?

The aim of TBL is for students to experience real, lifelike situations during English classes. These are tasks that the students will encounter later in their studies when they will be conducting research. One has to think of realistic, daily situations faced by students and researchers, and to adapt language learning to these situations. The most important aim of such learning is to ensure that students feel free and confident when communicating in a foreign language about their studies and about research in their field. TBL also takes into account what aspects of language use could be improved and what else can be learned in English lessons of this type.

TBL has been introduced at Göttingen a decade ago, and we constantly review and refine it based on the needs of students. All my colleagues who used to base their teaching of traditional methods of language teaching switched very quickly and enthusiastically to task-based-learning. I can feel the same enthusiasm at Vilnius University.

When TBL is applied, the teacher also learns from his/her students, and learns a lot of diverse information. TBL is not about cramming grammar, and is not as boring as some other methods. The aim is to get students to see the learning process creatively. Students are much more motivated to look for creative solutions and to present in a foreign language that which is interesting to them and relevant for their studies and future work, including their achievements, research, and discoveries.

– How is task-based learning different from regular learning using a workbook and role play?

The Companion Volume to the Common European Framework of Reference, published in 2018, emphasizes that linguistic competence is crucial for creating a common European education sphere. This document underscores the importance of person-centered language learning and teaching that would help each student to express his/her thoughts and personal ideas. This style of learning does not aim to simulate stereotypical situations. Learners are encouraged to present their thoughts and interests, and to talk about things that are relevant and important to the learners themselves.

– Is the method of learning the only difference, or is there also a difference in examinations and assessment?

I visited Vilnus University in early summer to conduct a professional training course for the lecturers of the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Philology. During the training, we learned to apply task-based learning. We are now continuing this work and preparing assessment tasks that would reflect and supplement this learning method. We are developing a new structure of examination that would be different from regular language examinations.

We avoid basic grammar tests and seek to teach students to communicate information about their study and research subjects as well as their thoughts to a specific audience. We also aim to restructure the courses so that students could work in groups throughout the semester, and the final assessment would also be related to their group work and field of research. The exam primarily focuses on productive skills, i.e., writing and speaking, although they are closely related to listening and reading, as the students will have to prepare spoken and written material in groups using authentic sources, e.g. videos and text.

Each semester the Faculty of Philology offers study programmes and courses on 23 different languages. Most foreign languages are taught by specialists from abroad, who comprise 17 percent of the Faculty’s 300-strong staff. We interviewed Dr Noémi Bulla, a lecturer of Hungarian at the Faculty, about her decision to come to Vilnius University and what the University will be like in 10 years, when it will celebrate its 450th anniversary.

Honored to teach at VU

“I feel honored and privileged to teach at Vilnius University, especially in the Stephen Báthory Room of the Faculty of Philology. Stephen Báthory established Vilnius University 440 years ago. He was not only the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, but also the Duke of Transylvania. At the time, Transylvania was a part of Hungary, and we Hungarians are very proud of Stephen Báthory.

Because of his activities as a ruler, politician, and military leader, Stephen Bathory also earned the respect of Lithuanians, and the period of his rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is referred to as the Hungarian golden age”, said Dr Bulla.

International environment

“I visited the capitals of the Baltic states as a student. They left a big impression on me, but I had no idea that I would come back here as a lecturer. When I learned that Hungarian was going to be taught in Lithuania, I thought that I would be glad to apply my teaching experience in a new environment, especially in a country that has so many links and similarities to Hungary”, recounted Dr Bulla, who started working at Vilnius University two years ago.

According to Dr Bulla, she has been pleasantly surprised by the multilingualism of Vilnius University’s community. “It is amazing that for most of my students Hungarian is the fourth, fifth, or even sixth foreign language. Last year, I attended a conference of international teachers of Hungarian and was very proud when the “Excellent Student” award was presented to one of my students from Vilnius University. This year, several students were awarded scholarships for attending summer courses in Hungary.”

Faith in the University’s future

“I believe and I wish that Hungarian and the languages of other smaller European nations would become an organic part of Vilnius University. I have noticed clear positive progress in this direction. I was pleasantly impressed by the Faculty’s positive and constructive view of developing the teaching and promotion of the Hungarian language from the very outset.

Multiculturalism, openness, and multilingualism create a lot of added value, and I believe that in the future the University will reach results that today we can only dream of”, reflected Dr Bulla.

The Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University offers free Hungarian language and culture courses taught by Dr Noémi Bulla. Hungarian can be chosen as an elective subject. Courses of Hungarian and other foreign languages are also available to the public as part of the non-formal education programme. Those interested can register at mvg.vu.lt 

On 26-28 September 2019, the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University will host the 5th International Conference of Applied Linguistics “Languages and People: Communication in a Multilingual World”. The Conference is jointly organised by Faculty’s Institute of Applied Linguistics and the Lithuanian Applied Linguistics Association (LITAKA).

The Conference is dedicated to the latest research of Lithuanian and foreign scholars in the areas of sociolinguistics, language policy, discourse analysis, translation, language teaching and learning, language acquisition and testing, corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics, pragmatics, and other areas of applied linguistics.

Among the Conference’s keynote speakers are renowned scholars of applied linguistics, including Monica Schmid (University of Essex), Anna Mauranen (University of Helsinki), and Daniel Perrin (Zurich University of Applied Sciences).

All interested in applied linguistics are welcome to attend. More information is available at http://www.taikomojikalbotyra.flf.vu.lt.

On 4 September, 97 international exchange students from 19 European and other countries visited the Faculty. Giedrė Matkėnienė, Mobility Coordinator at the Faculty, introduced the students to studies at the Faculty of Philology, the history of Vilnius University, the Faculty‘s structure and the Students’ Representation.

In total, 364 international exchange students from 28 countries chose to study at the Faculty of Philology this semester.