​Action Research Communities for language teachers is a project funded by the European Centre for Modern Languages (2016 to 2018). It aims to support teachers in European language classrooms in using action research as an essential tool for the development of reflective classroom practice.
Through this project we are making techniques for action research widely available to language teachers across Europe by establishing a community of practice and strengthening professional language teaching networks by forging links between academic expertise on action research and good practice in language classrooms. We want to show how research feeds into practice and practice feeds into research. Language teachers participating in the project will have opportunities to reflect on practice and to propose and test innovations while working collaboratively. We hope to demonstrate how action research can be beneficial to both teachers and learners in languages and can contribute to improvements in language education and support teachers in feeling more autonomous in their classrooms.
We are also designing action research tools which help to foster dialogue between teachers in different sectors and creating European models for peer learning activities which can be implemented both at school and national level.
We have organised a number of events for teachers aimed at introducing action research techniques and enabling them to develop collaborative projects to carry out in their own classrooms. These included an action research workshop for German teachers in Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania and a workshop for teachers and teacher trainers/educators from 18 European countries in Graz, Austria. Participating teachers in Graz identified their own action research interests and formulated collaborative group proposals for a set of pilot classroom projects. Collaborative projects are currently underway covering a diverse range of topics, including critical thinking skills, use of social media in language teaching, target language use, student-centred classroom activities and intercultural competence. Several projects focus on CLIL approaches.
Two participants from Ireland, Mary Kenny (ESOL and Development Officer, Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board) and Kenia Puig (Languages Advisor, Post- Primary Languages Initiative) have conducted a particularly interesting project on the impact on learner autonomy of teaching vocabulary noticing strategies in EAL and MFL contexts. They concluded that teachers themselves are well placed to improve practice in their own classrooms and that teachers can feel empowered by the experience of doing action research. Mary and Kenia will be presenting their results at our network meeting in Graz in May 2018.
More information on all the collaborative projects is available here: https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2016-2019/Professionallearningcommunities/Results/tabid/3040/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.
All project results and action research tools will be published on the website: http://www.ecml.at/actionresearch
 

EU Leaders met in Gothenburg to explore how the EU's education and culture policies can make a greater impact on the creation of jobs, economic growth and social fairness throughout the EU.
Ahead of the meeting, the European Commission set out its position on the way forward towards a European Education Area and a stronger focus on EU culture. The need for a high level of education and training better suited to today's labour market, the right to study in other EU countries, and the role of culture as the backbone of EU unity were all emphasised.  


"Education and culture are the key to the future – both for the individual as well as for our Union as a whole. It is how we turn circumstance into opportunity, how we turn mirrors into windows and how we give roots to what it means to be 'European', in all its diversity. When Europe's leaders meet in Gothenburg this week, we must seize the opportunity and make sure education and culture are the drivers for job creation, economic growth, social fairness and ultimately unity."
 (President Juncker, 14 November 2017)

Germanistik in Ireland (Jahrbuch der/ Yearbook of the German Studies Association of Ireland) is a peer-reviewed, MLA-listed journal that appears annually and is published by Hartung-Gorre Verlag (Konstanz). The aim of the Yearbook is to provide a forum for the publication of research in German Studies in the broadest and most inclusive sense, comprising literary and cultural studies, history and Landeskunde of the German-speaking countries, applied and theoretical linguistics, German as a Foreign Language and Fachdidaktik including German for special purposes, and other related areas. The Yearbook is open for contributions in German, English and Irish. The yearbook also carries reviews and conference reports.


Each volume features a thematic section devoted to a particular topic. This section may also be guest-edited. Vol. 13 (2018) of the Yearbook will be guest edited by Barbara Siller and Marina Durnin (University College Cork) and will feature a selection of articles on the topic of ‘Self-Reflection’. Colleagues interested in guest editing a future themed volume of Germanistik in Ireland should contact the general editor Gillian Pye ([email protected]).


For the non-thematic section of Vol. 13, we would now like to invite contributions on current research in the broad discipline of German Studies. Articles should be submitted for consideration by 31 March 2018 by emailing the general editor Gillian Pye ([email protected]), attaching the proposed contribution as a word document. Articles should not exceed 6000 words. A link to submission guidlines can be found on the GSAI website at
 https://germaninireland.wordpress.com/yearbook/
 
 
Germanistik in Ireland (Jahrbuch der/ Yearbook of the German Studies Association of Ireland) ist eine international referierte und MLA-gelistete Zeitschrift, die jährlich im Hartung-Gorre-Verlag (Konstanz) veröffentlicht wird. 
Das Jahrbuch versteht sich als Forum für Forschung in ‚German Studies‘ im umfassendsten Sinne, was literarische und kulturwissenschaftliche Studien ebenso wie Geschichte und Landeskunde der deutschsprachigen Länder, angewandte und theoretische Linguistik sowie Fachdidaktik, Deutsch als Fachsprache und verwandte Gebiete einschließt. Das Jahrbuch veröffentlicht außerdem Buchbesprechungen und Konferenzberichte. 
Beiträge werden auf Englisch, Deutsch oder Irisch veröffentlicht.


Jeder Band enthält eine thematische Sektion, die oft von Gastherausgebern betreut wird. Bd. 13 des Jahrbuchs wird von Barbara Siller und Marina Durnin (University College Cork) herausgegeben und wird eine Auswahl von Artikeln zum Thema „Selbst-Reflexion“ beinhalten. KollegInnen, die an der Gastherausgabe eines zukünftigen thematisch ausgerichtete Bandes interessiert sind, sollten sich bitte an die Gesamtherausgeberin Gillian Pye wenden ([email protected]) wenden. 


Interessierte KollegInnen sind eingeladen, für die allgemeine Sektion von Bd. 13 Beiträge zu beliebigen Themen aus dem Bereich der German Studies einzureichen. Vollständige Artikel  sollten bis zum 31. März 2018 per Email-Anlage (Word document, höchstens 6000 Wörter) an die Herausgeberin Gillian Pye ([email protected]) geschickt werden. Beiträge, die sich im weitesten Sinne auf den thematischen Schwerpunkt beziehen, sind selbstverständlich ebenfalls weiterhin willkommen. Ein Merkbatt zur Einrichtung der Beiträge findet sich unter Submission Guidelines auf der Website der GSAI  https://germaninireland.wordpress.com/yearbook/
​

Following a meeting on Saturday where a presentation was made about the 200 hours minimum required for the MFL Junior Cycle (Reference: MFL Specification for Junior cycle MFL), and the concern expressed by a number of secondary school MFL teachers over the number of teaching hours, the OVFL group decided to set up a group that will work on assessing the amount of hours dedicated to MFL in secondary schools, especially at Junior cycle. The result of the assessment will inform further actions dedicated to supporting MFL teaching in secondary schools. This is also in light of the publication of the Foreign Language strategy which seeks to increase language learning in Ireland. 

The idea is to create a focus group of teachers who will firstly gather data on the number of hours given to languages, secondly identify strategies, suggestions to maximise the amount of hours when needed, and also make DES and NCCA aware of the predicament that the secondary schools MFL teachers find themselves in. 

For this, we are looking for teachers in secondary schools would be interested in getting involved in the focus group. If you are, please fill in this contact form as soon as you can and we will be in contact with you. Sandrine Pac-Kenny, the secondary level rep on OVFL will coordinate it. Please feel free to contact her. 

Link to contact form: https://goo.gl/forms/U5n70CzNTntB4Gqm1