Self-assessment is a key learning strategy for autonomous language learning, enabling learners to become more aware of the learning process, more ready to take responsibility for their own learning, empowered to make their own changes and to relate learning to individual needs. Also it may help learners to become more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as of strategies which best suit their particular learning styles and hence to become more reflective and autonomous explorers of language. This paper discusses why self-assessment is important in the toolkit of foreign language learners aged 55+ and presents techniques which help develop self-assessment skills in foreign language learning in this group of learners. One of the most effective self-assessment tools in working with students aged 55+ is The European Language Portfolio.
This article is devoted to the value and role of the project method with the use of information and communications technologies in the development of entrepreneurship competence in foreign language learning. In the first part of the paper the author defines several meanings of entrepreneurship, focusing mainly on definitions of personal entrepreneurship. The article points out that the project method creates the conditions under which students develop an entrepreneurial attitude, learn group interaction and acquire communication skills, which are important for the socialization of adolescent students. The main purpose of project method is to turn a foreign language from a passive object into an active action. Particular attention is paid to the stages of the project with the use of the information and communications technology in foreign language learning.
Developing learners’ lexical subsystem is one of the most important tasks of foreign language didactics. The observable turn towards vocabulary (“Wortschatzwende”) has contributed to an in-depth reflection on learners’ lexical competence, including their strategic competence. The aim of this paper is to present results of a correlating research concerning the influence of personality variables (understood according to the Five-Factor Model) on the range and frequency of strategies used by Polish high-school students to learn German vocabulary. The research project described in this paper was conducted in April 2021. The Polish adaptation of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory was applied to examine the learners’ personality traits. The Polish version of Schmitt’s Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire (VLSQ) was used to investigate students’ preferred strategies for learning German vocabulary. Based on the conclusions from the research, an attempt was made to formulate practical guidelines for foreign language teachers concerning the possibilities of developing learners’ lexical competence. The report is complemented by a list of open research questions and problems in this field.
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