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  • The evolution of foreign language learning in higher education: a risky approach
    Publication . Delplancq, Véronique; Lopes, Ana Maria Costa; Pereira, José Manuel de Almeida; Martin, Justine Anne Sophie Celine; Casañ-Pitarch, Ricardo; Gillain, Romain; Fidalgo, Susana
    The introduction of active pedagogies into teaching practices is creating renewed motivation and energy for teachers and students alike. These varied pedagogies, marked by a few trends, represent, particularly in higher education (HE), a tremendous opportunity to modernise content and make the learning environment livelier and more open. However, it should be acknowledged that many difficulties have arisen, and many challenges need to be overcome. It is not only a question of selecting suitable active teaching methods, but it is also vital to define strategies that are appropriate to the target audience, the time available, and the skills being pursued to be flexible and responsive enough to reorient learners very quickly, even during class time, and to create activities that are motivating and effective in terms of learning. The impact on assessment is evident. Digital tools play a major role in this new paradigm, but they can also lead to problems in the students' work if they do not identify with the target digital tools. Learning foreign languages (FL) is becoming more communicative and interactive. In this sense, online platforms, mobile applications, and multimedia resources offer tremendous opportunities to develop multiple skills and diversify knowledge influenced by social and professional demands. This research shows the results of studies carried out in recent years with students of the Media Studies degree at the Higher School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal) in FL courses. We will introduce the active teaching methods used, discuss the pedagogical devices, lesson plans and choices made regarding the digital tools used, and list the difficulties encountered by the teachers and the major challenges they had to tackle in order to guarantee and maintain the students’ motivation and commitment throughout the course. Keeping these ideas in mind, the assessment of skills and knowledge also needs to evolve to better guarantee the fulfilment of the learning objectives. In conclusion, the risks created by this deep and extremely rapid evolution are inherent to the extraordinary opportunities to rethink FL learning and test new activities characterised by promoting creativity at the HE level. The key factor lies in the adaptability of all the participants involved in the process, the willingness to move ahead, away from the comfort zone of traditional approaches and to innovate in a reasonable and effective way.
    2025-06-30Conference paper Open access Show more