Prof. Aleksandra Vranes, PhD Prof. Ljiljana Markovic, PhD

1. LANGUAGE LEARNING INNOVATIONS, CURRICULUM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE Prof. Aleksandra Vranes, PhD Prof. Ljiljana Markovic, PhD

2. OUTLINE • 1. The Need for an Innovative Approach to Language Learning • 2. Innovations in Educating Philologists, Translators and Interpreters • 3. Contribution Effected by The Faculty of Philology • 4. Curriculum Design • 5. Conclusions

3. The need for language learning innovations • The Council of Europe, European Parliament, European Commission, United Nations, UNESCO draw attention to: • the need for lifelong learning of foreign languages • the necessity to increase plurilingualism as a precondition of multicultural understanding • this requires language learning innovations

4. The emergence of modern ICT and language learning innovations • ICT have connected people around the world • improved their communication and cooperation • fostered the exchange of experiences in all fields • especially in areas related to languages and social studies • advantages of ICT should be incorporated within philology studies

5. Language learning innovations at the Faculty of Philology • Faculty of Philology introduced language learning innovations • thus contributed to the development of a national strategy aiming at increasing language culture of Serbian people • curriculum of the study program "Language, Literature, Culture" follows new tendencies • these are primarily in accordance with the concepts of multidisciplinarity and multiculturalism

6. Innovations in educating philologists, translators and interpreters • students must study foreign languages • also learn about the culture, especially the cultural environment of the community • foreign language and cultural studies must merge and interlace • universities should develop modularity and electiveness of philological and cultural courses • thus fostering plurilingualism and multiculturalism

7. Requirements for innovating education for aforementioned professions in the field of public administration: • formulation of language education policy and strategy • acceptance of a common frame of reference for living languages • financial, personnel, space and technical support to universities • rationalization and standardization of quality requirements for these professions

8. Requirements for innovating education for aforementioned professions in the domain of educational institutions: • specify the level of theoretical knowledge and skills attained by professors during their academic education • define outcomes in terms of content, methods, techniques, materials and strategies • align them with those in foreign universities at all levels of studies

9. Serbia’s strategy for overall improvement of educational process • Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development adopted the Strategy for Educational Reform in Serbia until 2020 • Bologna process principles are fully respected by the Serbian institutions through: • mutual recognition of diplomas and exams • harmonization of study programs • clarifying and making teaching methods and materials complementary at all levels of studies

10. Innovations in learning foreign languages at the university level • three main essential requirements that faculties should fulfill are: • conduct the teaching of significantly greater number of languages in a professional manner • training of personnel possessing adequate language competences and knowledge, as well as pedagogical-psychological and methodological knowledge, abilities and skills • application of adequate methodology and methods of foreign language teaching

11. Contributions of the Faculty of Philology to innovated philology studies • developed study programs aiming at contributing to the advancement of language, literature and culture studies in Serbia • aiming at educating future philologists, translators and interpreters who can find a suitable employment at the global labor market • resulting in ideal form of interpreter, a connoisseur of two or more languages, literatures and cultures • striving to continuously organize adequate practice in a variety of educational and economic institutions

12. Particular efforts of the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade • developed curriculum for learning Serbian as a foreign language at the MA level • created Digital Library of the Faculty of Philology - remarkable textual base for scientific research • enriched publishing production by issuing numerous publications in the fields of language, literature and culture studies • particular emphasis on the thematic collections of international scientific conferences

13. Expected outcomes of innovated language learning studies • Faculty of Philology will help define and achieve goals crucial for the development of Serbia • increase of the employment rate arising from the higher quality of education • contribute to the creation of multicultural open society within Serbia • organize and sustain lifelong education in the field of language acquisition skills

14. CuRRiculum Design and course development • curriculum - academic content taught at schools or universities • nowadays the process of curriculum design and development is greatly influenced by : • the free access to information • principles that lead from information societies to knowledge societies • objectives previously defined and postulated by UNESCO

15. Free access to information - impact on the curriculum design and development • universities should develop courses with a syllabus aiming at: • developing the consciousness of the need for freedom of access to information; • promoting social responsibility; • struggling for attaining intellectual freedom in a society; • facilitating an understanding of ethical and legal issues in the process of information distribution; • providing a discussion on free access to information and postulates of personal and social freedom;

16. Objectives defined and postulated by UNESCO • fostering digital opportunities and social inclusion • strengthening capacities for scientific research, cultural creation and information sharing • enhancing learning opportunities through access to diversified contents and delivery systems

17. The University of Belgrade • research-oriented university focusing on scientific excellence with 31 faculties and 11 research institutes • institution with a long tradition of higher education and research in the fields of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Engineering and Technology, Medical Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities • offers 90 undergraduate, 6 integrated, 128 master and 67 doctoral study programs, as well as 24 academic and 5 professional specialization study programs • university that has more than 85 000 students with more than 3 000 academic and research staff providing superior academic competencies

18. The Faculty of Philology • an integral part of the University of Belgrade • an educational institution marking two hundred years of tradition in higher education • boasts a wide range of educational, cultural and scientific interests and activities • offers the study of 34 languages, cultures and literatures • an institution that follows modern trends in curriculum design and development and fosters language learning innovations

19. presents a unique place where a curriculum can be created fully in line with modern trends in higher education and merge several areas of social sciences and humanities • introduced language learning innovations via the means of digital technologies • one of the leading institutions in Serbia in terms of developing intercultural and multicultural projects • thus encouraged the development of multiculturalism in Serbia

20. The curriculum design and development of the Language, Literature, Culture program (LLC ) • various fields of social sciences and humanities can no longer be studied separately • only by merging and interlacing them the comprehensive education can be achieved • Faculty of Philology has designed and developed the curriculum for the study program Language, Literature, Culture at BA, MA and PhD level • LLC curriculum enables more than 1000 students to choose from more than 30 different languages, literatures and cultures every academic year

21. Foundations of the LLC study program • fully in accordance with the Strategy for Educational Reform in Serbia until 2020 • primarily created and developed in order to follow up with the European Higher Education Area and the Europe 2020 strategy • curriculum modelled after the curriculums of the most prominent European universities • developed out of the need for a multidisciplinary approach to studying social sciences and humanities

22. Disciplines encompassed by the LLC study program • disciplines belonging to the field of social sciences and humanities: • above all to the field of philology • also enclosing the following research fields: the study of literature, theory and history of literature, comparative literature, language teaching methodology, methodology of teaching literature, applied linguistics, translation, cultural studies, communication studies, library and archival science studies

23. Advantages of LLC study program • students attend various theoretical courses and a certain number of courses closely related to their main research area • possibility of choosing courses suggests openness, flexibility and adaptability to the interests of each student • Aim: making capable future graduates to respond to the new requirements of the Serbian and European labour market

24. The application of digital technologies within the LLC study program • ICT - means of initiating language learning innovations within the LLC program • LLC courses resemble to the Massive Open Online Courses • Faculty of Philology uses for this purpose the Moodle platform as: • an open source Course Management System • a tool for dissemination of information to students attending courses belonging to Language, Literature, Culture study program at all levels of studies

25. Major advantages of using Moodle platform within the LLC study program • learning process is more efficient and faster • constant availability of course information • accessibility to a wide range of media, resources and links facilitating teaching and learning process of foreign languages, literatures and cultures • possibility of posting tasks online at any time and place, as well as easy editing • facilitated interaction with professors and between course participants • overall confidentiality of grades

26. Conclusions • Faculty of Philology of Belgrade University contributed to the amelioration of the status of language, literature and culture studies in Serbia • Institution fully dedicated to: • designing and further developing the curriculum for study programs entirely in accordance with the modern trends in the higher education • initiating language learning innovations by applying modern digital technologies