Some Closing Remarks
At
the end of the II AELFE International Conference, after three days of intensive
but productive work, let me conclude by saying just a few words by way of
“some closing remarks”.
After a full year to organize this complex and challenging event, first of
all, I’d like to thank the executive committee for their outstanding
effort and dedication which includes the invaluable contribution of non-teaching
members of staff, and , at last but not least, a team of energetic and professional
students of ISCAP.
Thank you very much for a job well done.
Another positive aspect I’d like to mention today is the fact that so
many people were interested in attending this meeting and especially the considerable
number of papers that were presented this year.
We have tried to plant the seeds, now let’s hope we all can share a
good harvest.
We have had time to share experiences, to learn with each other and most important
to socialize, as it allowed us to make informal contacts with so many different
people from so many different national and professional contexts.
The opening session set the tone of the meeting, as it helped us to acknowledge
the importance of this kind of events to the development of our association
which, according to the words of Professor Marinela, has entered a new era
of existence — the end of its youth and the beginning of its adulthood.
The brilliant presentations of our two guest speakers – Prof. Maria
Jose Sá-Correia and Margaret McGuinity, who honoured us by accepting
our invitation, offered us two insightful approaches to the main topic of
this conference, which was The Future of Languages for Specific Purposes in
the European context of the twenty-first century.
As Prof. Maria José said and I quote “we are training our students
not only to acquire communicative skills, we are also establishing patterns
of knowledge and behaviour”.
Integrated
into the four main areas of discussion –
• Speech analysis,
• Application of Information technologies,
• Lexicology, terminology and translation and
• Didactics of LSP and LPP -
we were presented with 75 outstanding, thought-provoking presentations, whose quality and depth I would like to emphasize.
We
had a wide variety of topics, which ranged from the current trends of LSP,
from online learning to multimedia applications, from the use of the Internet
in professional and educational contexts to intercultural business interaction.
I can undoubtedly say that there was indeed something for everybody.
We also had a brief glimpse of the subject matters and specialised fields
that nowadays language teachers have to deal with in the daily course of their
professional life.
From medical English to gastronomy, from French marketing to tourism, together
with the more specific areas, such as pedagogical or terminological aspects,
on all these fields we had the opportunity to learn the most recent developments.
One of the most important trends of this conference seems to be the recent
technological innovations such as the introduction of multimedia and the use
of electronic tools in the teaching-learning process. Indeed we are facing
an era of transition and quoting Prof. Maria José Sá-Correia
once again, we are dealing with a new concept – “the e-languages
in a global context”.
The number of presentations that dealt with e-learning and namely, the use
of the web for educational purposes is rather impressive.
In today’s society, where communication is paramount, we are at the
frontline when it comes to prepare our youth to meet the challenges of a Europe
without borders.
Besides, as teachers and researchers of LSP, we ourselves have to prepare
to the challenges of the new technologies and to know how to integrate these
tools into our professional contexts. This is in fact the path we need to
go through.
To conclude, and paraphrasing Professor McGuinity, a language teacher of LSP
is a Jack of all trades, what a privilege, even if masters of none. But, as
somebody has said, there’s no virtue in knowing the answers. It’s
the asking of questions that really matters. And that we’ve had plenty.
Maria da Graça Bigotte Chorão
Relator
ISCAP, 13 September
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