PROJECTOUR: PROJECT BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING WITH BUSINESS GERMAN GROUPS

Abstract

The features of generation Y and their changing habits in use of tools (GOOGLE, 2016) and the current labour market expectations pose new challenges also for language teachers: instead of frontal teaching patterns new methods aiming the development of soft skills are needed (ANDERSON – GANTZ, 2013).
The German Section of the Language department is now working on the implementation of project based language teaching concept of which we have already presented in several scientific conferences (KÓSIK – KÉTYI, 2017; TÖRÖK – UGRAI, 2017). One of the main pillars of our work is the development of the teaching material, which transmits knowledge and prepares student projects. Our teaching material is based on cooperative techniques, which are of prime importance in project works: cooperation, discussion, game and competition. These tools enable collaborative knowledge building, in which the activity and proactivity of
students have a central role.
The main componentof the units are the project tasks, which similarly to real life mean a problem solving process. The tasks and the methodological instructions were developed by the last year established research group of innovative teachers of the German section.
The other main pillar of our work is a mixed research. Our sample are first year-students learning Business German (N=65). According to our research questions the frequency of foreign language use of students in authentic, job-related situations will increase and their problem-solving and motivation skills as well. Both
cooperation between the students and between the teachers are becoming increasingly intensive - “Both student and teacher learn, but also the organisation does” (NAHALKA, 2001).
The pre-measurement was conducted in September 2017 already, first data analysis was made in December.
The final research results complemented with our teaching experience will be available in December 2018, and we are going to publish them at several scientific conferences and journals.