Refleksje nad pożądanymi kierunkami zmian… w szkolnym kształceniu polonistycznym (głos w dyskusji)

The author describes desirable paths of changes in Polish language school education. Base for the analysis is the research conducted in 2017 on students’ attitude towards Polish language as a subject, as well as students’ works created during the distance learning in 2020. According to the author, any changes in the curriculum should be preceded by research conducted on students in order to determine their needs and skills. Addressing changes to unspecified target is the main reason for ill-success of the reforms which were introduced during the past 20 years. Polish language teaching in schools of each level should be more focused on enhancing students’ linguistic skills. The changes should also include the sphere of literature, culture, and media knowledge. The author points to the fact that the reform should involve also teachers-to-be and the way they are prepared for teaching, as well as further education of Polish language teachers.

The End of the War in the Pacific

The Allies were making plans to invade the Japanese main islands in late 1945 and spring 1946 when the Japanese government, following the dropping of the atomic bombs and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Japan, decided to bring the war to an end and the Emperor broadcast the decision on the radio on 15 August. On 27 August a fleet of Allied ships entered Tokyo Bay and the surrender ceremony took place on 2 September on board the battleship USS Missouri. On board the British battleship HMS King George V was a British naval officer who had learnt Japanese at the US Navy Japanese Language School: he acted as interpreter when a Japanese pilot came on board to guide the ship to its anchorage. Other surrender ceremonies took place in Hong Kong, Singapore and other places which had been captured by Japanese forces: on each occasion Allied linguists were present to act as interpreters.

The Wavy Navy in the United States

In 1943 five junior officers in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve made their way to Boulder, Colorado, to join a course at the US Navy Japanese Language School. The US Navy had turned its attention to Japanese language training before the outbreak of war, largely thanks to the efforts of two intelligence officers who had grown up in Japan. While the US Army began training Japanese Americans, the US Navy Japanese Language School did not accept Japanese Americans as students but did use them as teachers. Most of the five RNVR officers already had extensive naval experience, including combat on the high seas, but they finished their 18-month course too late to be able to play much of a part in the war, unlike their American fellow students, who saw action in the Pacific.

Adult EFL Learners’ Drives to Improve Their English in Private Language Schools

The present study investigated EFL adult learners' reasons behind learning English in a new setting with a mixed-design research methodology. The subjects of this study were forty adult English language learners, 20 males and 20 females, who were learning English as a foreign language in a private English language school in Istanbul. Necessary data regarding the participants’ reasons for learning English were collected through two instruments: questionnaires and interviews. The data analysis revealed that external factors such as finding a job and personal interests such as the desire to make friends urged and encouraged the participants to enrol in the private English language school to improve their English after a hard day of work or study. The study's findings concluded that both instrumental and integrative motivation played roles in the participants’ drives to study English.

Autonomy Orientations of English Language Teachers in Turkey

The present study aimed to explore autonomy orientations of English language teachers' work at an intensive language school in Turkey. The autonomy orientations of the teachers were analysed through self-determination theory. The study also investigated if these orientations vary according to the teachers’ gender, years of experience, and department of graduation. The investigation was carried out through an autonomy orientations questionnaire. Data were collected from 111 language teachers, 11 of whose opinions were utilized for further analysis. The results showed that teachers had moderate autonomy supportive orientation, which was reported to be risky. Moreover, gender was the only variable that had a significant effect on the autonomy orientations. The teachers mainly blamed the education system for restricting their adoption of the autonomous orientations. The results imply the necessity of explicit training on how teachers can be encouraged to have more autonomy supporting orientations.