Tools and Methods for Teaching Less Taught Languages in Higher Education
Editors: Witold Ucherek, Freiderikos Valetopoulos, Aleksander Wiater
Publication Date: December 2025
Article Length: 30,000 characters
Language: French, English, Polish
Author Guidelines (to be followed): https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/n/about/submissions
Defining what less commonly taught languages are is a complex issue. As pointed out by Kakoyianni-Doa et al. (2020: 9): “Mais l’appellation MoDiME n’est pas sans poser problème car les langues n’assument pas le même statut dans les divers systèmes éducatifs. En Australie, par exemple, le chinois, le japonais et l’indonésien, largement enseignées dans les écoles comme L2, ne peuvent plus être considérées comme MoDiMEs. En effet l’échelle « +/- dit/enseigné » est liée à des facteurs de nature politique, éducative, sociolinguistique ou psycholinguistique qui font naître des problématiques didactiques variées. Il convient donc dans toute recherche ou projet d’étude engageant des langues MoDiMEs de définir quel point de vue sera choisi et quelle(s) problématique(s) seront abordées.”
This complexity has also been highlighted by Gor and Vatz (2009: 234), who remind us that “[f]or instance, in the US, languages such as Persian and Japanese have only recently become thought of as LCT, not because of the number of speakers of those languages, which has not changed significantly, but because those countries have come to play an increasingly important role in the global political arena and economy, whereas a language such as Dutch, which is equally, if not more, uncommon in foreign language curricula, is not classified as LCT. Furthermore, LCTLs are not universal, that is, a language classified as LCT in one country may be the predominant foreign language in another country”.
In our case, we consider that factual factors such as the number of learners in formal education, the status of the language in the pre-university educational system, and the role of the foreign language in the university system can help define a language as a less commonly taught language (see, for example, Valetopoulos et al., 2016, or Tsaknaki and Valetopoulos, 2020; for the Polish context, see Kucharczyk, 2020, and Smuk, 2020). Learners of these languages often encounter difficulties in accessing them, either due to a lack of resources or a lack of opportunities to practice the language actively or even passively in less formal contexts, such as watching films or listening to songs. While this is the case for languages like Serbian, Polish, or Greek, the situation for French, Spanish, or German seems quite different. French, rich in resources and with a culture that has experienced significant influence, is seeing a decline in the number of learners, whereas Spanish seems favored by its positive image and increasingly attracts learners (see, for example, Djordjevic Léonard and Kostov, 2021). German, on the other hand, is a highly sought-after language in certain European countries for professional reasons, while it suffers from a lack of learners in neighboring countries like France (see, for example, the OFAJ report, 2023).
This issue is part of a scientific continuity (see the publications below) that has allowed various researchers to reflect on different aspects. For this volume, we invite participants to consider the following three areas:
- Learner Corpora: What is the contribution of learner corpora in teaching less commonly taught languages in higher education? What is the impact of observations through learner corpora on teaching tools and methods?
- Formal, Informal, and Non-formal Learning: What are the modalities of informal and non-formal learning in less commonly taught languages, and what is their impact on formal teaching in different institutional contexts? What are the tools for raising awareness and objectifying these modalities in language classes? What is the impact of mobility in an endolingual environment on the development of various skills?
- Tools and Practices: What are the non-manual tools used in the teaching of less commonly taught languages, and how can linguistics, literature, or translation be integrated into pedagogical practices?
REFERENCES :
- Djordjevic Léonard Ksenija et Kostov Jovan, 2021, Enseignement/apprentissage du français dans les Balkans : Poitiers de vue et études de cas, Aracne.
- Gor Kira and Vatz Karen, 2009, Less Commonly Taught Languages: Issues in Learning and Teaching. In Michael H. Long and Catherine J. Doughty (éds), The Handbook of Language Teaching, (pp. 234-249), Blackwell Publishing.
- Kakoyianni-Doa Fryni, Monville-Burston Monique, Papadima-Sophocleous Salomi et Valetopoulos Freiderikos (dir.), 2019, Langues Moins Diffusées et Moins Enseignées (MoDiMEs)/Less Widely Used and Less Taught languages Langues enseignées, langues des apprenants/Language learners’ L1s and languages taught as L2s, Peter Lang.
- Kucharczyk Radosław, 2020, La place des langues minoritaires, régionales et étrangères dans l’enseignement primaire et secondaire en Pologne, in Tsaknaki Olympia et Freiderikos Valetopoulos (éds.), pp. 90-103.
- OFAJ, 2023, Panorama, Analyses franco-allemandes et européennes, Contextes et défis de l’apprentissage de la langue du partenaire dans une Europe plurielle, https://www.ofaj.org/sites/default/files/media/panorama-6-contextes-et-defis-de-lapprentissage-de-la-langue-du-partenaire-dans-une-europe-multiling.pdf
- Smuk Maceij, 2020, Panorama des langues dites majoritaires/minoritaires dans l’enseignement supérieur en Pologne, in Tsaknaki Olympia et Freiderikos Valetopoulos (éds.), pp. 104-123.
- Tsaknaki Olympia et Freiderikos Valetopoulos (éds.), (2020), Langues moins diffusées et moins enseignées (MoDiMEs) : valeur ajoutée pour les langues largement diffusées, Journal of Applied Linguistics, numéro 33.
- Valetopoulos Freiderikos, Boskovic Sanja et Rançon Julie (éds), 2016, Enseigner le français langue étrangère à des apprenants natifs de langues modimes, Revue du Centre Européen d’Etudes Slaves, numéro 6.
Key deadlines
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31st January 2025
Peer review completed by the end of March 2025
Closing date for manuscripts to be published by the end of April 2025
To be published by the end of December 2025