Focus Groups meeting at the CercleS Conference

Focus Groups meeting at the CercleS Conference

Several of our FGs are meeting in person in Rome on the morning of Thursday, 10 September, ahead of the official Conference opening that afternoon. Through our FGs, we want to provide a community where members with common interests can interact, share, and learn from each other. For an overview of our FGs, please see this page.

We invite members to join one of the FGs on the morning of 10 September. Please see the information below and the agendas or programmes provided by the FG coordinators for their meetings in Rome. In addition, please let the FG coordinators know if you will be attending, or whether you would like to be added to their mailing list.

 

FG ADAPT (Accessibility, Diversity, Assessment, and Pedagogical Transformation)

PART I – presenting the ADAPT FG: vision and theoretical grounding

1. Welcome
2. Why ADAPT? The rationale

• Global & European context
• Theoretical foundations

1. ADAPT Focus Group – aims & structure

Main goals:

• Promote inclusive and accessible language education and assessment.
• Raise awareness among stakeholders.
• Develop & disseminate good practices.
• Foster collaboration across institutions.

Areas of action:

1. Research & mapping
2. Pedagogical development
3. Knowledge exchange
4. Student voice

Highlight of intended impact:

• Improved course accessibility
• Improved assessment accessibility
• Maintained academic rigour
• Stronger European collaboration

1. Challenges in European Language Centres – micro-reflection

Challenges:

1. Limited resources
2. Limited awareness & non-disclosure
3. Limited institutional guidelines

PART II – discussion, mapping & collaborative task

1. Group task: “From challenge to framework”

• Scenario-based collaborative task

1. Plenary discussion & mapping

• Immediate actions
• Structural needs
• Research questions

1. Strategic brainstorm & next steps

• What should ADAPT prioritise in the next 12 months?

 

Detailed agenda and programme available here:

 

FG Associate Members

“Cross-Institutional and Cross-border Collaborations: Shared Challenges, Practices and Opportunities for Professional Development”

The Associate Members Focus Group connects CercleS Associate Members, offering them a platform to share their expertise, discuss distinct challenges, and explore new opportunities. By gathering members from diverse institutional backgrounds, this Focus Group fosters a uniquely rich, multilateral exchange.

We warmly invite you to join the CercleS Associate Members Focus Group in Rome this September to share your expertise, tackle shared challenges, and help shape the future of our multilateral network.

Here is a general overview of our meeting agenda:

• Arrivals & Icebreaker

A quick, informal round of introductions.

• Opening Remarks & Objectives

Brief overview of the Focus Group’s mission.

Setting the goals for the session.

• Shared Expertise & Distinct Challenges

Institutional Spotlight & Roundtable Discussion: Members share brief insights into their current institutional contexts.

• Opportunities & Forward Planning
• Key takeaways and final reflections.

 For more information please contact the AM FG coordinators: Elis Kakoulli Constantinou (elis.constantinou@cut.ac.cy ) and Eleni Kakrida (ekakrida@aua.gr )

 

Detailed agenda and programme available here:

 

FG EMI in Higher Education

I Introduction 9.00-9.30

•  Introduction and ice-breaking activities.

II Background 9.30-10.30

•  Focus Group – mission and vision; Activity report: September 2024 – September 2026.
• EMI experience at PUT: training of content teachers, EUNICE EMI course & BIP.
• EMI – survey for academic teachers: Results of the study and discussion.

…………………………..Break (10.30-10.45)……………………………….

 III Groupwork 10.45-11.30

•  EMI teaching and the problems encountered by content teachers and students.
• SWOT analysis: EMI for teachers vs. EMI for students.
• Controversial issues in EMI / EME.
• The current research areas – what does the literature tell us?
• Factors impacting effective EMI – dos and don’ts.
• Developing training programs for content teachers.
• EMI resources
• Outcomes of groupwork.

IV Summary and conclusions 11.30-12.00

• Reflections for the future.
• Webinar in 2027 organised by the FG – preliminary assumptions.

 

Detailed agenda and programme available here:

 

FG Internationalisation and Language Policy  

The questions this focus group will address over the coming years include the objectives of internationalisation, the stakeholders affected by this process, and the role Language Centres can play in this new environment. Each of these questions will be analysed from several different perspectives. It is also important to highlight the role that university alliances within the European Union will play in the internationalisation process, fostering deeper cooperation, mobility, and shared strategies that directly influence the positioning of Language Centres.

 

FG LSP (Languages for Specific Purposes)

For the LSP Focus Group meeting in Rome, the session will centre on the ongoing development and discussion of the LSP White Paper, alongside short contributions from members on related research projects, pedagogical initiatives, and emerging ideas relevant to Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP).

We have already received a number of proposals for contributions, reflecting strong interest from colleagues and covering a range of pedagogical and research-informed practices within LSP.

The meeting is designed to be participatory and member-driven, offering a space for sharing practice, exchanging research insights, and identifying future directions for the FG’s work.

We look forward to welcoming colleagues to what we hope will be a lively and productive session.

 

FG Learner Autonomy

Since CercleS was established in 1990, language centres have offered their learners various ways of improving their language skills. They are often innovative places where new pedagogical approaches and devices for language learning are proposed. Among the different learning possibilities offered to students in language centres, some aim at facilitating the development of learner autonomy. Some language centres indeed offer tools such as self-access centres, and language advising facilities that enable learners to take more control of their learning to support autonomisation. The purpose of this Focus Group is to investigate the relationships between learner autonomy and language centres. It will also try to clarify the concept of autonomy, which, although widely used in language learning publications these last 30 years, is complex and open to various interpretations.

 

FG Management and Leadership

The Management and Leadership Focus Group invites colleagues involved in the leadership and management of Language Centres to join an open meeting at (date and time) during the XIX CercleS Conference in Rome.

This meeting is dedicated to the finalisation of the Focus Group’s Mission Statement and to defining its practical implications for the CercleS community. Our discussion will focus on three areas:

• facilitating cooperation, share expertise and promote best practices among Language Centres;
• promoting innovation and implementation of new insights, methods and technologies in language education;
• encouraging research-informed language education.

Together, we will aim to match these priorities onto existing CercleS training opportunities, courses, events, initiatives and other forms of support, professional development and networking; we will also explore new forms of training and collaboration where needs are not yet sufficiently addressed. The outcomes of the meeting will be presented at the General Meeting to give a clear illustration of the current portfolio opportunities within CercleS and future directions of support CercleS can offer to its community.

Participants will be invited to contribute with their expertise, share perspectives from their own institutions and help shape future initiatives for the wider CercleS community.

Colleagues who are unable to attend are warmly invited to share their ideas and reflections by email (to libor.stepanek@cjv.muni.cz).

Looking forward to meeting you in Rome!

 

FG Plurilingualism

La création de ce Focus Group s’inscrit dans la continuité des activités du FlexiLingua Group, un collectif interuniversitaire (Université Masaryk, Université libre de Bruxelles, Université de Fribourg) actif depuis 2019 dans des projets à portée internationale.

Parmi nos réalisations figurent des publications (CASALC Review, ouvrages collectifs), des conférences internationales (Brno, 2022, 2024 et 2026), ainsi que des programmes collaboratifs tels qu’Erasmus+ BIP et Movetia. (Plus d’informations : https://www.cjv.muni.cz/en/about-us/pluri).

Nos objectifs :

• soutenir l’intégration des stratégies plurilingues et pluriculturelles dans les enseignements dispensés par les centres de langues universitaires ;
• valoriser les pratiques existantes et promouvoir un plurilinguisme réaliste ;
• encourager une utilisation flexible des langues ainsi qu’un échange harmonieux entre différentes cultures et perspectives ;
• partager des informations, favoriser les échanges académiques et créer un réseau de chercheurs et d’enseignants de langues intéressés par l’emploi plurilingue des langues ;
• rechercher des synergies entre différentes pratiques didactiques et pédagogiques.

Programme de la rencontre du FG à Rome :

• faire connaissance les uns avec les autres;
• état des lieux ;
• présentation des réalisations du groupe ;
• espace de discussion et d’échange de bonnes pratiques, de projets et d’idées innovantes ;
• élaboration d’un plan d’action (webinaires, création d’un espace commun de partage, ouvrages collectifs, etc.) ;
• atelier d’activités pratiques et de partage.

Le Focus Group vise à élargir ce réseau, à partager les bonnes pratiques et à renforcer les synergies autour du plurilinguisme dans l’enseignement supérieur. Nous invitons chaleureusement toutes les personnes intéressées à nous rejoindre et à contribuer à cette dynamique collaborative.

 

FG Plurilingualism

The creation of this Focus Group builds on the activities of the FlexiLingua Group, an inter-university collective bringing together Masaryk University, Université libre de Bruxelles, and the University of Fribourg – which has been involved in internationally oriented projects since 2019.

Our achievements include publications (CASALC Review, edited volumes), international conferences (Brno, 2022, 2024 and 2026), as well as collaborative programmes such as Erasmus+ BIP and Movetia.
(Further information: https://www.cjv.muni.cz/en/about-us/pluri)

Our objectives are to:

• support the integration of plurilingual and pluricultural strategies into language teaching practices in university language centres;
• highlight existing practices and promote a realistic approach to plurilingualism;
• encourage flexible language use, as well as harmonious exchange between different cultures and perspectives;
• share information, foster academic exchange, and create a network of researchers and language teachers interested in the plurilingual language use;
• identify synergies between different didactic and pedagogical practices.

Programme of the FG meeting in Rome:

• getting to know one another;
• overview of the current situation;
• presentation of the group’s achievements;
• space for discussion and the exchange of good practices, projects and innovative ideas;
• development of an action plan, including webinars, the creation of a shared space for resources, edited volumes, etc.;
• workshop involving practical activities and sharing.

The Focus Group aims to expand this network, share good practices, and strengthen synergies around plurilingualism in higher education. We warmly invite all interested colleagues to join us and contribute to this collaborative initiative.

 

Those who plan to attend the meeting should please complete this form.

 

Detailed agenda and programme available here:

 

FG Testing and Assessment 

Language teachers, test developers and testers within the CercleS community are invited to engage in a lively discussion on how language testing and assessment at university should look and could be developed further in the future, how tests could be made more authentic and engaging for the test-taker, how they could be more in line with the underlying action-oriented approach of the Council of Europe’s CEFR (2001) and its Companion Volume (2020), and what new approaches might be promising.

The FG Language Testing and Assessment was set up in November 2009 in Toulouse, and has met again in 2010 (Messina), 2011 (Madrid), 2013 (Barcelona), 2015 (Brno), 2018 (Poznań), 2019 (València), 2020 (in Göttingen; and – online meeting – in Brno) and 2021 (Göttingen – online meeting).

As an outcome of this Focus Group, a series of workshops on language testing (and teaching) has been initiated that took place at ZESS at the University of Göttingen in 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. The programme and the outcomes of the online workshop which took place in October 2021 can be found here: https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/649909.html.

Finally, the different providers of university language certification systems within CercleS have started closer cooperation in 2015 leading to the creation of NULTE – Network of University Language Testers in Europe – in 2018. Further information about NULTE is available at cercles.org/nulte/.