Idegennyelv-tanítással foglalkozó szervezetek a felsőoktatásban

Abstract

This study explores the situation of foreign language teaching in higher education based on managerial interviews. Organizational units offering foreign language courses in different higher education institutions operate in different organizational frameworks with different degree of independence and acceptance. The goals and content of language teaching is substantially defined by the language skills of the students entering the higher education institution. Most of the institutions primarily focus on supporting students in acquiring the language exams necessary for obtaining a diploma. All institutions offer language teaching for specific purposes, however their interpretation of it widely differs. Several organizational units teach subclasses which develop professional communication in foreign languages. The opportunities of students to access foreign language learning are good and the institutions aim to achieve multilingualism.

In addition to language teaching, organisations carry out several activities: many of them operate language schools, provide language certification, professional translator trainings, and all organisations conduct translation and proofreading within the university. These activities increase both the prestige and the economic independence of the organisations, but at the same time they usually absorb many resources. In terms of scientific work there are large differences. Almost half of the organisations don’t have or have very few lecturers/researchers and the organisations have different approaches to this. The organisations which identify themselves more as language schools tend to be more accepting with this, but for the improvement of the up-to-date professional communication, the research-based developments are necessary.

Organisations dealing with foreign language teaching try to serve the needs of universities, as a result, development and professional cooperation within the universities are important.