Foreign Language Acquisition and Teaching

Research in this field is closely related to the main practical activities of the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures: teaching foreign languages and cultures and training foreign language teachers for different education levels. Several other research fields of our college, especially comparative studies of cultures, literature and linguistics, provide a theoretical basis for developing teaching methodologies and elaborating new learning materials.

One of the major research fields of our college is contrastive linguistics, with a focus on a usage-based, functional approach to studying a wide variety of language pairs. Contrastive studies are often driven by specific teaching issues and provide a valuable basis for research in the field of foreign language teaching. Another field of research is related to the issues of language acquisition, with a specific interest in the influence our native language and other acquired languages have on learning foreign languages and in language acquisition more generally. These studies are generally based on different learner language corpora. Since most of our researchers are practitioners and teacher trainers, an important part of our research activities pertains to teaching methodology and the development of targeted teaching materials, with a special focus on issues of intercultural competence, language-learning for special purposes, and using ICT in foreign language teaching. Besides these main clusters, the members of our college are interested in issues related to language testing and the sociolinguistic situation in Estonia.

Our college prides itself on its multilingualism and this provides a fertile ground for research on different topics related to contrastive linguistics. Our researchers collaborate closely with the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics and there are many ongoing projects between linguists from different departments. The central focus is on taking a usage-based, functional approach to studying various language pairs. The following is a non-exhaustive list of the language pairs studied: Estonian-English, Estonian-German, Estonian-French, Estonian-Russian, Estonian-Spanish, Estonian-Swedish. The language pairs are mostly analysed from the synchronic perspective by taking a semasiological and/or onomasiological approach. Specific topics include rhythm, word stress, demonstratives, aspect, voice, tenses, modal verbs.

Selected publications:

Kruse, Mari (2020). Palabras cognadas en el vocabulario académico del inglés, español y estonio. [Cognate words in the academic vocabulary of English, Spanish and Estonian] e-AESLA, 6, 253-266.
Kupp-Sazonov, Sirje (2019). Deminutiivsete noomenite funktsionaalsusest vene ja eesti keeles mõningate Tšehhovi jutustuste ning nende tõlgete näitel. [On the functionality of diminutive nouns in Russian and Estonian using some A. Chekhov stories and their Estonian translations as examples] Lähivõrdlusi. Lähivertailuja, 29, 113−140.
Treikelder, Anu; Amon, Marri (2018). The temporal uses of French devoir and Estonian pidama (‘must’). In: Ayoun, Dalila; Celle, Agnès; Lansari, Laure (Ed.). Tense, Aspect, Modality, and Evidentiality (41−64). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (Studies in Language Companion Series; 197).
Asu, Eva Liina (2017). Eestirootsi keele prosoodia tunnusjooni. [Some features of Estonian Swedish prosody] Mäetagused, 68, 9−26.
Pajusalu, Renate; Kaska, Maret; Klaas-Lang Birute; Pajusalu, Karl; Treikelder, Anu; Vihman Virve-Anneli (2017). Characteristics of request formulation in Estonian, Finnish, French, Lithuanian and Russian. Language Typology and Universals, 70 (3), 455−488.
Käsper, Marge (2016). 'Võima', 'saama' ja 'suutma' prantsuse modaalverbi 'pouvoir' vastetena. Võimalikkuse määratlemine ja rõhutamine eituses. [The verbs 'võima', 'saama' and 'suutma' as equivalents of the French modal verb 'pouvoir'. Definition and intensification of possibility in negation.] Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics (ESUKA – JEFUL), 7 (2), 75−92.
Lõbus, Triin (2016). Võimalikkus hispaania keele modaalverbi poder ja eesti keele modaalverbide semantikas. Tõlkevastete analüüs. [Possibility in the semantics of the Spanish modal verb poder and the Estonian modal verbs saama and võima. Analysis of translation equivalents.] Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri / Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 7 (2), 125−158.
Kupp-Sazonov, Sirje; Külmoja, Irina (2014). Grammatikakategooriate sekundaarsest kasutusest: vene ja eesti ajavormid. [On secondary use of grammatical categories: Russian and Estonian tense forms] Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühingu aastaraamat, 10, 177−192.
Tammekänd, Liina (2015). Demonstratives in Võro and Estonian narratives. Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri / Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 6 (2), 191-216.

Research in the field of language acquisition mainly focuses on the interlanguage of Estonian-speaking learners of different foreign languages. Our researchers are interested in the influence that our mother tongue or previously learned foreign languages have on the acquisition of foreign languages, basing their studies on various learner language corpora. Several studies focus specifically on linguistic interference issues in L3 or L4 learning.

Selected publications:

Treikelder, Anu (2017). La structure de la phrase en français et en estonien : quelques observations sur les difficultés des apprenants de FLE estophones. Revue du Centre Européen d'Etudes Slaves, 6.
Armon-Lotem, S., Haman, W., Jensen de Lopz, K. Smoczynska, M., Yatsushiro, K., Szczerbinski, M., van Hout, A., Dabasinskiene, I., Gavarró, A., Hobbs, E., Kaman-dulyte, L., Katsos, N., Kunnari, S., Nitsidou-Michaelidou, Chr., Sundahl Olsen, L., Parramon, X., Sauerland, U., Torn-Leesik, R. and van der Lely, H. (2016). A Large-Scale Cross-linguistic Investigation of the Acquisition of Passive. Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 23 (1), 27-−56.
Kruse, Mari (2014). Võõrkeeleõpe kui sotsiaalne, sünergiline ja teadvustatud protsess. [Foreign language learning as a social, synergetic and conscious process.] Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri / Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 5 (3), 37−56.
Nõlvand, Janeli (2012). Ispol'zovanie dialektizmov — zaimstvovanij iz kontaktirujushhih jazykov na uroke inostrannogo jazyka. SLOVO.RU: BALTIJSKIJ AKCENT (54−56). Venemaa, Kaliningrad: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Press. (4).
Zagura, Natalja (2012). Focus on the form versus focus on the message in lingua franca conversation. Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühingu aastaraamat, 8, 275−287. Tallinn: Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühing.
Miliste, M. (2011). Über den Einfluss der Muttersprache und anderer (Lerner-)Sprachen bei estnischen Lernenden von Deutsch als L4. Triangulum: Germanistisches Jahrbuch für Estland, Lettland und Litauen, 16, 73−91.

The main areas of interest of our college in the field of teaching methodology include ICT-assisted learning of foreign languages, teaching languages for special purposes and integrating cultural topics into the teaching process. Studies in this field mostly lead to practical outcomes, including teaching materials and e-learning objects.

Several practitioners of our college participate in the teaching quality enhancement programme of the University of Tartu, which encourages the academic staff of the university to study their own teaching practice and to share their experience with colleagues.

Selected publications:

Koorits, Katrin; Miliste, Merje (2020). Sihtkeele kultuuriruumist lähtuva identiteedi kasutamine algtaseme võõrkeeleõppes. Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühingu aastaraamat = Estonian papers in applied linguistics, 16, 109−124. DOI: 10.5128/ERYa16.07. [The use of target-culture-inspired identity in foreign language classroom for beginners]
Tamm, Gerly; Kõiv, Kristi; Zagura, Natalja; Rozgonjuk, Dmitri; Türk, Ülle; Taimalu, Merle; Külmoja, Irina; Podberjoznaja, Galina; Agajev, Sergei; Konstabel, Kenn (2016). Õpetajate enesetõhususega seotud mõõtevahendi kohandamine (inglise keelest eesti ja vene keelde). [Adaptation of the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) English Version into Estonian and Russian] http://www.ester.ee/record=b4640921*est
Kikerpill, Tiina; Türk, Ülle (2013). Tekstisisesed seosed eesti keele kui teise keele lugemistestis: mõõtmisvahendi valiidsus. Lähivõrdlusi. Lähivertailuja, 23, 122−147.10.5128/LV23.05. [Testing understanding text cohesion and coherence in Estonian as a second language: The validity of different task types]
Türk, Ülle; Tender, Tõnu (2013). Re-Designing the School-Leaving Foreign Language Examinations in Estonia. Language Testing in Europe: Time for a New Framework? Proceedings: Language Testing in Europe: Time for a New Framework? University of Antwerp, 27 – 29 May 2013. Ed. Jozef Colpaert, Mathea Simons, Ann Aerts, Margret Oberhofer. Antwerp: University of Antwerp, 232−235.