Vocabulary is the basis for receptive and productive language use. Influential theories on second language acquisition and learning consider vocabulary and grammar to be complementary, rather than opposing elements of language. Vocabulary is viewed as an integral component of learner grammars that is worth promoting and consolidating in the foreign language classroom. In recent years, digitialisation has seen the development of many learning apps and platforms that provide new opportunities...

Language exchange activities are widely viewed as a means of promoting language and intercultural competence and as a way to motivate students to learn a foreign language. Indeed,  recently, educational policy has strengthened its commitment to advance and intensify language exchange.

In Switzerland, language immersion and bilingual education programmes have been both promoted and in demand for quite some time. The topic has also been the focus of numerous scholarly studies that, however, are not always known or accessible. In addition, there is a degree of uncertainty about which findings can be compared or generalised. This project aims to collect existing scholarly literature and documentation and to analyse the information according to theme.

As the question of the teaching-learning of French in vocational schools in Switzerland is under debate once again, it is essential to study and understand the place and role of French as a school discipline, a working tool and a subject of discourse in the context of vocational training. A historical perspective will be used for this purpose, since examining current issues from a historical perspective allows for a better understanding of the origins of phenomena and the factors that...

The learner's native language(s) have an impact on second language acquisition. All speakers ‘ languages share the processes that enable their functioning and also their knowledge repertoires, such as the phonological repertoire (Flege, Bohn & Jang, 1997; Kartushina & Frauenfelder, 2014). The functioning of languages and their common repertoires can generate cross-linguistic interferences and transfers, which either hinder or facilitate second language acquisition.

The basis of this report, commissioned by the association BERNbilingue, is a systematic evaluation of current studies on French as a foreign language lessons at primary and secondary schools that use the Mille feuilles and Clin d'oeil learning materials. The report aims to compile findings on the following three questions: 1) How well do students in the Passepartout region master the basic competences and achieve the curriculum goals? 2) How do teachers rate the Mille feuilles/Clin d'oeil...

This project culminates in a book in four languages that is designed for the general public. In the book, roughly 40 expressions in Rhaeto-Romanic (all idioms), Italian, German (including examples in Swiss German) and French are compared. The selected expressions have the same meaning in all languages yet employ different, sometimes amusing metaphors; humorous images from all linguistic regions are used to illustrate the expressions.

This PhD project explored multimodal pictorial, musical and movement-based interventions that are intended to promote self-regulated learning processes. Scholarly findings increasingly indicate that scholastic success is not rooted solely in subject knowledge and general intelligence, but that scholastic achievement is also influenced by psychosocial factors with little known significance in learning (Kuhl, 2001).

The project deals with the linguistic diversity of German as a foreign language from a theoretical as well as practical point of view. The empirical study sheds light on the question of how GFL-beginners (CEFR level A2) deal with standard varieties of German in listening comprehension, and searches to identify potential correlating factors. The results are expected to provide theoretical and practical implications for German as a foreign language.

Financed by Fond d’Innovation de la Faculté des lettres, University of Fribourg The aim of this project is to test the use of the digital collaborative writing tool FRAMAPAD https://framapad.org to support the note-taking skills of allophone students attending courses in the humanities.