The activities of the Focus Groups

A Focus Group (FG) is a gathering of informed individuals or experts who wish to share their point of view and experience on a topic or problem in a specific area. 

For the current list of active FGs and their coordinators, see this page.

Focus Groups are mainly self-organised interest groups concentrating on research, exchange, and development on topics of interest to the CercleS community. CercleS promotes more active participation among its member institutions and their staff via Focus Groups. These groups help members to: 

• learn from each other with the aim to further develop ideas, 
• enhance the quality of our everyday work, and 
• stimulate innovation and involve more CercleS members in the daily management of our network. 

CercleS offers organisational and financial support for Focus Group meetings. We invite FG coordinators to see the letter from the Executive Committee (dated 13 Feb 2026) about the conditions for and process of requesting financial support on this page in the members’ area. CercleS members are invited to express their interest in and commitment to working in any of the activities listed below.  

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and there are many other activities CercleS could focus on. Ideas and suggestions are very welcome. If you are interested in joining a CercleS Focus Group or suggesting a new one, please contact the General Secretariat at generalsecretariat@cercles.org or the relevant FG coordinator. 

FG ADAPT (Accessibility, Diversity, and Pedagogical Transformation)

There is an increasing number of learners with specific needs in higher education, and given the particular nature of language learning and language assessment, many teachers and test developers are faced with the challenge of how best to include these learners. Therefore, the main aims of this focus group are:

• To promote inclusive and accessible language educationfor all university students, including those with disabilities, learning differences, or atypical learning profiles.
• To raise awarenessamong language educators and institutional stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities of teaching students with specific needs in higher education. This includes advocating for best practices in applying the CEFR principles to diverse learners.
• To develop, share, and disseminategood practices, pedagogical models, and standardised assessment support frameworks that enhance accessibility and equal participation.
• To foster collaborationamong CercleS member institutions and other international networks working in inclusive education and language pedagogy.

Among others, ADAPT FG activities will be:

• Research and Mapping
  • Map institutional practices, accommodations, and support services available for students with specific needs.
  • Identify and analyse the range of specific needs among language learners in higher education contexts across Europe.
  • Collect teachers’ feedback and experiences about inclusive teaching approaches.
  • Carry out research on the criteria used to grant accommodations in language testing and their effect on construct validity.
• Pedagogical Development
  • Develop adaptable teaching strategies, materials, and assessment tools for inclusive language classrooms.
  • Carry out an analysis of existing institutional guidelines and develop a framework of reference for institutional guidelines.
• Capacity Building and Training
  • Design and deliver professional development workshops and webinars for language teachers and assessment staff.
  • Guide collaboration between language teachers, disability support centres, and academic departments.
  • Analyse and provide training on the application of the CEFR Companion Volume descriptors (e.g., mediation, sign language) in curriculum design and assessment.
• Knowledge Exchange and Dissemination
  • Contribute to CercleS conferences, newsletters, and policy discussions to ensure visibility of inclusive education issues.
• Student Empowerment and Voice
  • Collect student feedback and experiences to inform inclusive teaching approaches.
  • Encourage student participation in co-designing and evaluating language courses.

FG coordinators: Lídia Jordà Sánchez (lidia.jorda@ua.es), Marina Macià Pérez (marina.macia@ua.es), Katarzyna Matuszak (katarzyna.matuszak@put.poznan.pl) and Jackie Robbins (jrobbins@uoc.edu)

FG Associate Members 

So far, Associate Members have not played a central role in CercleS and do not always feel they are a part of our confederation at the same level as full members. In some cases, they are not in a position to create a National Association. With this Focus Group, we would like to invite Associate Members to become more active in CercleS by discussing their specific problems, their needs and their potential, sharing with us their experience and competencies. 

FG coordinators: Eleni Kakrida (ekakrida@aua.gr) and Elis Kakoulli Constantinou (elis.constantinou@cut.ac.cy)

FG 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 coordinators: Giovanna Tassinari (giovanna.tassinari@fu-berlin.de) and Justine Paris (justine.paris@univ-paris-diderot.fr)  

FG EMI in Higher Education 

EMI has received much attention in recent years focusing both on teachers with their difficulties and challenges as well as on students with their problems and potential benefits. Therefore, we hope that the EMI Focus Group will be of interest to CercleS members.

Aims:

• to explore EMI in Higher Education;
• to investigate the role of language centres in creating and supporting professional development programmes and educational initiatives in the area of EMI;
• to design, pilot and implement tailored courses & training sessions for EMI teachers;
• to produce general guidelines for EMI teachers and teachers-to-be;
• to improve FL and content teacher collaboration for EMI.

Objectives and activities: 

• to design a questionnaire in order to gather data from content teachers, language teachers and students concerning past experiences and future challenges in the area of EMI;
• to create content area interest groups to exchange teaching materials, pedagogical approaches and resources used in EMI classes;
• to support networking among FL teachers and content teachers;
• to set up intensive EMI courses for HE lecturers through the language centres;
• to conduct and share research projects on the effectiveness of EMI in higher education.

FG coordinators: Edyta Olejarczuk (edyta.olejarczuk@put.poznan.pl) and Nuala Mederski (nuala.mederski@put.poznan.pl)

FG Internationalisation and Language Policy 

In September 2022, during the CercleS conference in Porto, it was decided that the issue of language policy is now largely dependent on the broader topic of internationalisation. Rather than creating a new focus group, the Language Policy Group has been renamed and relaunched with a new set of priorities, including some previously covered.

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.

We are a new and dynamic group, very open to welcoming new members, as our theme requires the broadest possible vision. Our next meeting will be held via Zoom, but we do plan to meet in person in the future, either in Spain—home of the current coordinators—or elsewhere within our network.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you are interested in these topics or if you have suggestions regarding the direction we should take.

Focus Group Coordinators: Adriana Peña (Adriana.Pena@ub.edu) and David Carrascosa Cañego (David.Carrascosa@uclm.es)

FG Language 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/. 

FG coordinators: Barbara Sawicka (barbara.sawicka@put.poznan.pl) and Laurent Rouveyrol (laurent.rouveyrol@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr)

FG LSP 

Over the past few years, a number of individual initiatives have led to the organisation of several Languages for Specific Purposes-related events across Europe, demonstrating the growing interest in the subject. This Focus Group aims to integrate and sustain those efforts in order to establish and develop a dynamic network of LSP practitioners, representing the broadest possible range of languages and disciplines. 

Our objectives are

• to provide and foster a forum for reflection, informed by theory and/or classroom practice; 
• to support colleagues new to LSP; 
• to encourage colleagues working in LSP to disseminate their work (for example in the form of conference papers or publications based on the above); 
• to identify areas for collaboration such as resource creation/sharing, exchange of best practice or cross-border projects; 
• to organise and/or support LSP-dedicated events; and 
• to maintain regular communication on all of the above with the members of the Focus Group. 

FG coordinators: Benoît Guilbaud (B.Guilbaud@sussex.ac.uk) and David Tual (dhpt2@cam.ac.uk)  

FG Management and Leadership 

The Focus Group is a low commitment network for directors and managers within language centres to share opportunities, challenges and questions, and to provide collegial support in management and leadership across the CercleS membership. The aim of the Focus Group is to develop discussion, activities and projects according to shared strategic interests. Membership and participation in the Focus Group and its activities are intended to be fluid according to specific interests of individual members. 

The Management and Leadership Focus Group also supports the Aspire to Inspire training programme. This is a key element of support for existing, new and future leaders of language centres and language programmes, and is delivered by experienced colleagues from within CercleS. 

FG coordinator:  Libor Štěpánek (libor.stepanek@cjv.muni.cz)

FG Plurilingualism 

The creation of this Focus Group builds on the ongoing work of the FlexiLingua Group, an inter-university collective (Masaryk University, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Fribourg) active since 2019 in internationally impactful projects.

Our achievements include publications (CASALC Review, collective volumes), international conferences (Brno, 2022 and 2024), and collaborative programs such as Erasmus+ BIP and Movetia. [More information is available at https://www.cjv.muni.cz/en/about-us/pluri].

We focus on key areas related to plurilingualism:

1. Plurilingualism and Reflexivity

• The construction of plurilingual identities through metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness.
• Reflexive practices as teaching tools and research methods, including narratives and auto/biographical approaches to understand plurilingual acquisition.

2. Pluricultural Competence and Plurilingual Repertoire

3. Language Policies in Educational Institutions

• Multilingual curricula and linguistic geography.

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

FG coordinators: Kateřina Sedláčková (katerina.sedlackova@cjv.muni.cz) and Beatriz Calvo Martín (beatriz.calvo.martin@ulb.be )

FG Teacher Training, Teacher Education, Staff Exchange 

European universities, CercleS members, represent a heterogeneous picture of language programmes provided within tertiary educational institutions in terms of a) various languages, b) at various CEFR levels, c) the number of contact lessons required, d) limits set on the number of students attending the lessons, e) language teacher profiles, f) language teacher qualifications requirements, etc. 

To make sure that teachers are adequately prepared for their positions, the Focus Group: 

• cyclically collects the information on the above-mentioned aspects of language teachers’ posts 
• cyclically collects the information on the training provided to language teachers at individual member universities 
• enhances the cooperation and networking of language teachers at member universities in the above-mentioned areas 
• enhances the cooperation in joint projects among member universities in the above-mentioned areas
• enhances pedagogical resource sharing 
• “lobbies” for the sake of the language teaching profession in HE in governmental, non-governmental and employers’ bodies 

FG coordinator: Helena Šajgalíková (helena.sajgalikova@euba.sk) 

FG Translation 

The Translation Focus Group aims to find ways of sharing ideas and expertise among colleagues in HE language centres working in the area of translation, whether they form part of stable dedicated units or are simply involved in this activity on a more ad hoc basis. Particularly (though not exclusively), we are concerned with working together in order to produce and disseminate HE-relevant translation resources that directly benefit day-to-day work in the field. 

FG coordinator: Francesc Galera Porta (Francesc.Galera@uab.cat)