JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY, KRAKÓW

Register for ALTE Kraków 2011

An ALTE member since 2005, the Jagiellonian University is the oldest university in Poland and the second oldest university in Central Europe. Founded in 1364, the University houses both the School of Polish Language and Culture, which achieved the European Commission's European Label Award for innovations in language teaching, and the Center for Polish Language and Culture, which offers academic courses for foreign students. Both the Centre and the School played an important part in the development of an examination system for Polish as a foreign language. Commissioned by the Polish Ministry of National Education and Sports, the first exams in the system took place in 2004.

The University will be hosting ALTE Kraków 2011 in its Auditorium Maximum, located in the heart of Kraków. This impressive complex, opened in 2005, comprises lecture rooms and a 1,200 seat auditorium.

The Jagiellonian University has been involved in ALTE since 2000, becoming a full member in 2004. The University's Center for Polish Language and Culture in the World was closely involved in the development of the current examination system for Polish as a Foreign Language, commissioned by the Polish Ministry of National Education and Sports. A State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language has since been set up, with the University's Professor Wladyslaw Miodunka as its Chairman. We ask Professor Miodunka about the University's relationship with ALTE, and about its role as host of ALTE Kraków 2011:

Why did the Jagiellonian University become involved in ALTE?

When we became an associate ALTE member, in 2000, we had just begun work on the certification of the Polish language; when the first exams were held, in 2004, this coincided with Poland joining the European Union, and as a result we could become a full ALTE member.

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How does the University contribute to the work of ALTE?

All Polish language teachers working at the University's Center for Polish Language and Culture in the World are active members of the certification team and are therefore active in ALTE; in fact, one of our best known contributors is Dr Waldemar Martyniuk (a plenary speaker at ALTE Kraków 2011) and the experience he gained by participating in ALTE activities resulted in his appointment as Executive Director of the European Center for Modern Languages, in Graz.

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What do you consider to be the current reputation of ALTE, and how do you see this reputation evolving?

I think that the importance of ALTE will grow. We must remember that the process of European language certification is currently based on the CEFR, which has been translated into many European languages, including Polish (in 2003). The related ALTE standards have a direct impact on the administration of Polish language proficiency tests and, as a result, on the process of teaching and testing our language in Poland and abroad (in both Europe and also in the USA, Korea, China, and Japan). The changes that have taken place in Polish language teaching have inspired teachers and researchers of other non-European languages; in 2010, for example, Dr Ewa Zajdler (of Warsaw University) published a work in which she applied European standards to the teaching and testing of Chinese as a Foreign Language in Poland. I admire her work and I hope she will speak about it at ALTE Kraków 2011.

Many nations do not see the value in actively promoting their own language, and language teachers are perceived as enthusiasts engaged in work that is interesting but without any future. For these enthusiasts, joining ALTE (and then obtaining European funding) is a reward for their persistence, and gains them both national and European recognition. I have been engaged in teaching Polish as a Foreign Language for the past 40 years and I have observed this process taking place in Poland. For us, therefore, joining ALTE meant joining Europe - something I have been striving for since I studied in France in the 1970s. I strongly believe that ALTE has a future; its success, however, depends on ALTE's leaders.

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Why did you offer to host ALTE Kraków 2011?

The last time an ALTE conference took place in Kraków, Polish was perceived as one of the 'new' European languages. It seems to me that every period of 'novelty' has to come to an end and so, in discussions with Dr Martyniuk, we decided that by hosting the next ALTE conference we could signal that the languages of Central and Eastern Europe are now mainstream in ALTE, and we could also show that ALTE's ideas are important and relevant to language teaching and testing in this region of Europe.

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What benefits will hosting the conference bring to the Eastern European language testing community?

As a university professor I expect that the conference will provide an opportunity to meet the best and the most experienced specialists in the field of language teaching and testing. We learn all our lives from many people, and from time to time it is important to hear from the most eminent in the field – to listen to them, and to discuss their ideas.

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What key outcomes do you hope will emerge from the conference?

Central and Eastern European languages are mostly Slavonic and Baltic - different in structure from Roman and Germanic languages, and so I hope that ALTE Kraków 2011 will discuss issues such as new trends in the teaching and testing of these languages, and language policy in this part of the continent. I also hope that we can discuss a very important issue, namely whether it is possible to transfer teaching methods and techniques from language to language and, if so, to what extent and with what reservations. Therefore, for all delegates, I hope that ALTE Kraków 2011 will be a chance 'to re-charge our intellectual batteries'.

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For more information on the Jagiellonian University and the Auditorium Maximum, please follow the links below:

http://www.alte.org/members/polish/ju/en/index.php
http://www.kampus.uj.edu.pl/auditorium.htm