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Summary It is hardly possible to find a person who has never been faced with a challenge of learning another language. If asked, some would share their from-miserable-to-jubilant experiences of language learning at school, others would disclose the nail-biting moments of despair when a career chance just slipped from their hands due to the lack of the required language competences, whereas many would question if there is the best age to start learning a new language and if it should necessarily be one’s childhood. Having considered such popular queries as above, the present article has come to a conclusion that the early initial age of learning another language, while undeniably adds to the success of gaining good communicative competences and generates plenty of other benefits, does not deprive a person of a possibility to master a language in a mature age. Learning a language in adulthood, nevertheless, is more sensitive to the motivational and methodological decisions, but the benefits reaped from active plurilingual practices in the elderly age prove to be highly valuable. From a methodological perspective, it is a conceptual article inspired by a conference discussion1 and drawn on empirical evidence from previous relevant inquiries, longitudinal studies and international research projects. As such, the article is an attempt to pass the relay baton to further studies into the factors that have an impact on the successful development of plurilingual competences and add to the overall value of plurilingualism.

the versatile research carried out in political linguistics has revealed the peculiarities of political texts thereby opening vast possibilities for a fruitful application of the findings to the curriculum of an EsP course of English for Politics corresponding to C1/C2 level of CEFR (2001). the present study analyses the knowledge and experience of students of political science in identifying, using and analyzing metaphor and metonymy in political discourse in the English language. Methodologically, the study is a small scale analysis carried out with the use of a questionnaire delivered to 55 students, where students are asked to answer questions with respect to their general knowledge and understanding of the use of metaphor and metonymy. they are further asked to identify metaphorical and metonymical expressions in a piece of political discourse. Finally, they are requested to express their opinion about the role of metaphor and metonymy in the creation of political texts. the results show that students demonstrate quite good theoretical knowledge of figurative language, namely metaphor and metonymy, however, their discourse analytical skills are rather poor. this conclusion can be made on the basis of students answer to the self-evaluative questions placed to them and on the basis of the given practical task.

In light of the changing picture of gender representation in politics and most importantly in political leadership, Lithuania should be granted a special position among examples of women political leaders’ success stories. On the one hand, the general proportion of female MPs in the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas [1] , is not at all impressive with 26 female (18%) vs. 115 male (82%) MPs in 2008–2012 term and 34 female (24%) vs. 107 male (76%) MPs elected in 2012. On the other hand, however, the highest political offices in Lithuania were held by women in 2008–2012 term: namely the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Speaker of Seimas Irena Degutienė, the Minister of Finance Ingrida Simonytė and the Minister of National Defence Rasa Juknevicienė. The situation itself can be seen as a breaking point with regard to widely-quoted stereotypic assumptions, for instance, professions related to politics, economics and military issues are typical male professions (R. Lakoff, 2000, 2003; Walsh, 2001) or some underlying statistical evidence like the one provided by Wodak (2003) that women rarely occupy the top authoritative positions. Moreover, with around two years in office in her second term President Grybauskaitė has been largely enjoying people’s support in popularity polls. This not only demonstrates a dramatic shift from traditional gender divisions of women being ‘silenced’ (Cameron, 1998, R. Lakoff, 1975), but also a rather significant move from the female discourse of resistance and survival presented by Martin-Rojo (1997) to the discourse of success. G. Lakoff (2004) claims that for political discourse to be successful it needs to be built on values. With these observations in mind, the present paper aims to investigate how such values as responsibility, fairness, active agency, etc. are delivered through choices of pronouns (Cf. Wilson, 1990) and equivalent morphological forms by the main political leaders in Lithuania: the President Dalia Grybauskaitė and the former Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius. The data for analysis come from transcripts of political interviews available in the media. The study is based mainly on qualitative discourse analysis with some quantification for comparison. [1] The statistics is supplied by The Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved from: http://www.vrk.lt/lt/2012_seimo_rinkimai/statistika.html . DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/2335-2027.8.3

Remiantis jau atliktais IDKM įgyvendinimo Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose tyrimais, galima teigti, kad šio pasaulyje jau seniai taikomo ir gana populiaraus metodo diegimas Lietuvoje taip pat nėra pradinėje stadijoje, tačiau jį sklandžiai ir sistemingai diegti labiausiai kliudo teisiniai apribojimai, kokybiškos Lietuvos moksleiviams pritaikytos mokymo medžiagos ir kvalifikuotų IDKM mokytojų stoka. Dėl pastarosios priežasties IDKM pamoką dažnai veda du mokytojai – dalyko ir užsienio kalbos, todėl šio metodo įgyvendinimui tenka didesnės išlaidos. Siekiant pabrėžti kvalifikuotų, IDKM taikančių Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojų parengimo svarbą, straipsnyje analizuojama viena iš svarbių IDKM pedagogų kompetencijų – gebėjimas veiksmingai taikyti informacines komunikacines technologijas IDKM pamokoje. Straipsnio tikslai: išanalizuoti mokytojų, besirengiančių taikyti IDKM, IKT naudojimo įpročius įvairiose kasdienio gyvenimo ir profesinės veiklos terpėse ir ištirti jų požiūrį į IKT taikymą, integruojant dalyko ir kalbos mokymą; palyginti bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojų ir aukštosios mokyklos dėstytojų požiūrį į technologijų veiksmingumą mokant(-is). Straipsnyje taip pat apžvelgiamas bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų infrastruktūros sąlygų tinkamumas taikyti IKT pamokų metu ir popamokinėje veikloje. Tyrimas atliktas Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Užsienio kalbų centre (VDU UKC), naudojant duomenų kiekybinę analizę. Tyrimo respondentai – 96 Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojai. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad mokytojai vertina technologijas kaip galimybę paįvairinti IDKM pamokos didaktiką ir metodiką, panaudojant autentiškus šaltinius užsienio kalba, diferencijuojant užduotis ir mokymo procesą, skatinant mokinius mokytis savarankiškai, pasirenkant individualizuotą mokymo(-si) tempą, organizuojant kūrybinį komandinį mokymąsi, kurio metu mokiniai tampa tyrėjais, rengiant bendrus projektus su kitų mokyklų, miestų ir šalių bendraamžiais, be to, mokytojų nuomone, IDKM pedagogo kompetencijų tobulinimas yra tiesiog neatsiejamas nuo IKT, atveriančių langą į informacijos ir komunikacijos pasaulį bei leidžiančių neribotai varijuoti IDKM pamokos turiniu ir forma. Present article generally focuses on the implementation of content and language integrated learning (CLIL ) methodology in Lithuanian schools of general education. Although CLIL has already enjoyed quite a long history of its application in various parts of the world and has to some extent been present in Lithuanian schools, the problematic aspects of its implementation in Lithuania are still pending to be resolved. Among a few shortcomings such as the lack of legal regulations or the absence of the ‘whole school policy’ approach, insufficient CLIL teachers’ competences can be placed at the top of the problem list. This is evidenced by the fact that the most popular type of CLIL in Lithuanian schools entails a subject teacher and a foreign language teacher working together in a CLIL class. To improve the situation the subject teachers need to perfect a number of competences including CLIL didactics, application of active methods, use of ICT, etc. to be prepared for a quality CLIL class. In light of this observation, the present study aims at analysing teachers’ attending a CLIL training course attitudes towards the application of ICT in various contexts ranging from the daily life routines to professional activities and to CLIL classes as a fertile area for ICT-based activities. It also aims at comparing the attitudes of teachers from general education schools with the ones obtained from university language teachers and students in earlier studies. It is an analytic quantitative study with 96 teachers participating as respondents. The study has revealed the teachers’ largely positive attitudes towards the application of ICT in CLIL classes indicating a number of advantages: the use of authentic subject-related resources in a foreign (target) language and the possibility to differentiate tasks and the teaching process as well as to motivate and organise students’ individual work. The application of ICT in CLIL classes is also highlighted by the teachers as an effective means of fostering students’ creativity through subject-related team projects such as webquests or by initiating cooperation with students from other schools and countries.

Straipsnyje analizuojamos informacinių technologijų panaudojimo bei nuotolinio ir mišraus mokymo(-si) problemos mokant(-is) bendrosios anglų kalbos A1-B2 lygmenimis aukštajame moksle. Aprašomas tyrimas pristato dėstytojų požiūrį ir patirtį, mokant užsienio kalbos šiuolaikiniais IKT grįstais metodais. Šiandieninė visuomenė ypač jautri ir imli informacinių technologijų naujovėms, jų taikymui bei efektyviam panaudojimui. Kompiuterinė kalba šiuolaikiniams studentams yra tapusi „gimtąja kalba“, kurią jie išmoksta ankstyvoje vaikystėje kompiuterinių žaidimų forma ir kuri natūraliai įsilieja į visas jaunimo veiklas tiek privačiame gyvenime, tiek ir viešosiose erdvėse. Esant tokiai situacijai, užsienio kalbų dėstytojams efektyvus ir produktyvus IKT panaudojimas tampa tikrai nelengva užduotimi, netgi iššūkiu. Straipsnyje pateikiami ir analizuojami teigiami ir neigiami mišraus kalbų mokymo(-si) metodikos aspektai, kai kalbų mokymo(-si) procesas vyksta derinant virtualų ir auditorinį darbą. Šiuo tyrimu autorės siekia palengvinti minėtą dėstytojų užduotį, išsiaiškinant ir išanalizuojant dėstytojams kylančias abejones, jų poreikius bei pastabas. Tyrimas atliktas Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Užsienio kalbų centre, respondentai 24 anglų kalbos dėstytojai. Tyrimas paremtas kokybinio tyrimo metodologija, naudojant neformalaus interviu bei anketavimo metodą. The paper deals with the application of ICT and the use of blended teaching and learning within the curriculum of general English at the levels A1-B2 in tertiary education. The research presented in the paper focuses on analyzing the language teachers' experience in computer assisted language teaching as well as their practices and attitudes towards the blended learning courses created at the Centre of Foreign Languages at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). Given the fact that the contemporary society is especially sensitive with regard to the development and the application of innovative technologies and given the fact that current and future university students are increasingly 'digital natives', the task of language teachers to make the best use of ICT in teaching languages becomes their most acute need and their biggest challenge. Therefore, the authors of the present paper take it as their aim to ease the above indicated task of the teachers by scrutinizing and casting light on their relevant doubts, needs and endeavours. The research was carried out at the Centre of Foreign Languages (VMU) with 24 teachers of English taking the role of the respondents. The research is based mainly on qualitative methodology including the methods of an informal interview and a questionnaire.