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Department of Methodology of
Foreign Language Teaching
Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Research activity
In parallel with its main task as a university structure that organizes and conducts the pedagogical training of students from the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, the Department of Methodology of Foreign Language Teaching develops serious scientific research activities. Scientific research is directed both at the specifics of the initial pedagogical training of future teachers and at foreign language teaching as a separate research area. The introduction in 1949 of a university course in methodology places as the main task before the newly appointed teachers-methodologists the need to develop textbooks and teaching aids on methodology in the respective language. Already in 1955, the first university textbook on methodology of the French language by Slavcho Dimitrov and Pavel Patev appeared, which underwent two editions. In the 1960s, a new "Methodology of the French Language" (P. Patev), which has four editions, "Methodology of the German Language" (A. Ilieva), which has undergone three editions, "Methodology of the Turkish Language" (X. Mahmudov), "A Short Course in Methodology of the English Language" (A. Ilieva), "A Manual for Seminar Exercises in Methodology of the German Language and Pedagogical Practice" (D. Stoycheva), "A Manual for Pedagogical Training in the French Language" (M. Petrova), "A Manual for Seminar Exercises in Methodology of the English Language and Pedagogical Practice" (L. Savova), as well as some methodological guides for individual classes, were published. In addition, the members of the department publish textbooks, publish articles, summarize the experience of teaching, and also research the principles of the work that is carried out in teaching and learning a foreign language. The special feature of the Department's scientific research is that the theory of foreign language teaching is considered in close connection with teaching practice. The main theoretical positions are clarified, taking into account the development of modern methodology and the established scientific knowledge and facts from linguistics, psychology, pedagogy and other sciences close to methodology.
The scientific research of the Department examines foreign language teaching from various research perspectives, with the aim of presenting the current state of this process. The authors apply modern theoretical schemes, discuss the advantages of one or another research school and strive to build a modern theoretically grounded view of foreign language teaching, which takes into account the Bulgarian model in this area: bilingual foreign language teaching, the model of early foreign language teaching, and also the not so traditional suggestopedic model. The scientific activity of the Department includes methodological and linguistic developments and research, with methodological publications being predominant and leading.
Note: The text on the research activity at the department is based on materials from the following literary sources :
Vesselinov, D. (2008). Chronicle of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology 1988-1965. Sofia, St. Kliment Ohridski University Press. ISBN: 978-954-07-2734-9.
Vesselinov, D. (2011). Chronicle of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology 1965-1988. Sofia, St. Kliment Ohridski University Press. ISBN: 978-954-07-3249-7.
Vesselinov, D. (2020). The Methodology of Foreign Language Teaching at Sofia University. Linguodidactic Perspectives. Sofia, St. Kliment Ohridski University Press. pp. 9-47. ISBN: 9782-954-07-4982-2.
Links to scientific publications:
Annual of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology
Foreign Language Teaching Journal