Writing has traditionally been a neglected area of foreign language teaching, and most probably the least popular skill to acquire among students. However, it has lately emerged as an important element of the communication dyad, which also involves speaking, i.e. the oral manifestation of social interaction and exchange of information. When explaining writing in practical terms, the focus falls on showing that there should be a link between real-life needs and instruction, both from the perspective of the language and from that of the task. Understanding writing systematically not only guarantees successful writing outcomes, but also leads to the acquisition of a secondary set of language-related abilities: an informed selection of grammar and lexical structures; a logical pattern of organization in the development of ideas; an appropriate choice of register and style; an overall better approach to writing tasks and contextualizations. This article aims to discuss writing as a productive skill while proposing six different approaches that successfully marry both the linguistic dimension and the task-related awareness students need to acquire in order to successfully express themselves in written forms.

The new requirements regarding the professionalization of the Romanian armed forces derived from our country’s becoming a NATO and EU member state. The challenges of the 21st century battlefield demand the development not only of certain soldierly skills, but also of the abilities to properly function in a multicultural context. The cadets of the military academies are the future officers that will operate in the international theatres of operations. Being engaged in multinational formations and having to work side by side with foreign military personnel, our cadets need to have a good command of the English language, as well as to acquire and develop the intercultural skills necessary to appropriately function in a multicultural environment. Thus, a shift in the curricula of the Romanian military academies has been made, from an emphasis on the transmission of knowledge content to a focus on relating language to the target culture and developing cadets’ linguistic and intercultural competences. This paper suggests some methods and techniques that have proven efficient when teaching basic military English in the Land Forces Academy.

Education has to constantly adapt and renew itself in order to

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented crisis in all areas of human activity. In the field of education, this new and unexpected situation has led to an extraordinary shift of paradigm, as a considerable amount of institutions and faculty have been forced to pivot from purely face-to-face lessons to wholly online contexts, despite minimal preparation time and training. This paper aims to analyse the implications of this turn, as well as some of the key lessons that can be garnered from it. The gauge of this article will be on lessons learned, from the perspective of the changes that occurred in role of the teacher in the online context and the ramifications these have on teachers’ role and responsibilities.

Communication is a fundamental skill for the existence and survival of societies. In the learning of a foreign language, classroom practice should focus with priority on developing communicative skills. Oracy, a term coined by Andrew Wilkinson in 1965, is defined as the ability to express oneself efficiently, effectively, and fluently. Having strong oracy skills involves the capacity to structure one’s thoughts in a way that is comprehensible to others, and accurate control of both vocabulary and grammar, in order to transmit a clear message. In the same way that literacy is essential for reading and writing, oracy is necessary for becoming a good speaker and listener. This paper will define oracy as a language teaching strategy, establish an oracy framework, and detail on oracy subskills. The practical part takes a pedagogical approach to the concept of oracy and underlines its importance in the teaching of a foreign language by integrating oracy skills and sub-skills in an applied discussion exemplified by concrete classroom practice.