Digitally-Enhanced Foreign Language Education for Active European Citizenship and Democratic Culture / ENLACED

Programme:      Erasmus+

Key action:        Cooperation partnerships in higher education

Start date:        October 1, 2024

End date:          September 30, 2026

Duration:          24 months

Coordinator:  George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences, and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Romania

Partners:      

  1. Tetra Solutions Ltd., Bulgaria
  2. University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria
  3. University of Nicosia, Cyprus
  4. Sumy State University, Ukraine

Objectives:                  

The overall objective of our project is to modernize foreign language education at the tertiary level based on a digitally-enhanced challenge-based approach to learning centered around European citizenship and democracy issues.

The specific objectives are to:

  • Develop a methodological foundation for modernizing foreign language education at tertiary level, based on a synergy of contemporary language teaching methodologies, intercultural citizenship education theory and challenge-based learning
  • Develop and integrate into the partner HEIs’ curricula new modules for teaching English, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, and Ukrainian as a foreign language in the form of citizenship & democracy digital breakout challenges embedded in a bespoke web-based app
  • Build capacity of foreign language teachers to use the developed methodology and pilot the project’s teaching/learning resources and tools with university students
  • Enhance exploitation of the project results and raise awareness of foreign language teaching and learning as a means of promoting democratic culture in higher education

Key results:

  • Conceptual Framework providing a methodology for modernizing foreign language education.
  • 10 units of learning for each of the targeted languages – English, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, and Ukrainian.
  • Transnational Teacher Training workshop in Cyprus and Intra-institutional Teacher Training workshops in each partner university.
  • Piloting of the ENLACED units with students at partner universities.
  • Project transferability guidelines and sustainability plan.
  • Forums “Foreign Language Education for Active Citizenship and Democratic Culture” in all partners’ countries.

Target groups:

Institutional level:

  • Higher education institutions and their schools, departments and structures providing education in foreign languages, in particular English, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian and Ukrainian as a Foreign Language.
  • Other education providers (e.g. VET and adult education centres) interested in integrating the project’s methodology in foreign language education and training.
  • Community organizations that can support the implementation of intercultural citizenship education in cooperation with HEIs by enhancing transfer of knowledge and community outreach.

Individual level:

  • Members of university academic councils, responsible for curriculum update and integration of the new challenge-based learning approach in the foreign languages’ curricula.
  • Academic staff, lecturers and teachers, responsible for design and delivery of foreign language education and training.
  • Students at partner universities and other HEIs across Europe studying English, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian and Ukrainian as a foreign language, incl. students from ethnic minority, migrant and refugee, and international students (mobility participants); students studying languages as a major, and those studying English as a cross-cutting compulsory discipline.
  • Language teachers and learners, interested in using the project’s learning resources and tools.

Project website: www.enlaced.eu