Georgia

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities with Tbilisi State University in Georgia.

Types of mobility:

Staff exchange

Project duration:

2024-2027

About the project

This Erasmus+ ICM project is the second consecutive three-year project from project coordinator Dick Smakman, through which language teachers conduct school visits. Pairs of researchers (language teachers), one from Leiden University and one from Tbilisi State University, visit a range of secondary schools and carry out classroom observations. English-language teachers observe English-language classes, French language teachers observe French classes, and German-language teachers observe German classes. Each pair visits at least one school in the Netherlands and one in Georgia.

They interview teachers and students and document the classroom environment, paying particular attention to cultural symbols such as posters, maps, and other visual displays. Another major focus of the project is the analysis of teaching materials and the extent to which they perpetuate particular cultural associations with languages. The visiting teachers investigate how links between languages and cultures are constructed in the classroom and how these associations shape language teaching and learning. They also examine whether communicative norms and behavioural conventions associated with particular language varieties are reflected in the language being taught. For example, is English-taught primarily through an Anglo-Western framework of politeness and interaction? Is Parisian French presented as the unquestioned norm in French-language instruction? Is German taught through learning materials that emphasise stereotypically German cultural practices, such as buying Bratwurst from a local butcher?

Particular attention is paid to the representation of linguistic and cultural diversity within the language communities concerned. The project therefore examines whether less widely known varieties are adequately represented, including varieties spoken in former colonial territories and other multilingual settings.