English Language Dimension and Competence in the Romanian Higher Education
4 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2011
Date Written: August 23, 2011
Abstract
Under the circumstances provided by globalization and people’s ever increasing mobility, foreign language knowledge, be it only partial, becomes a necessity. English has definitely got farther than any other language got, or wanted to get and interest concerning this language is a major preoccupation of our days, and why not a legitimate one. Romania is a country part of the European Union and we took steps forward in promoting English as the language of science. For Romanians, English language has become one of the most important ways of communication with other European peoples or people throughout the world, especially after 1989. The importance of English language in getting good jobs or in attending good Romanian/European universities has increased a lot after the communist period, replacing the importance and the use of Russian and French languages. The thing that can be concluded from this is that, at least for the coming years, English represents a very useful and very much needed communication, academic and/or professional tool .As most of Romanians are still west-oriented though, the West from where the mobility and opportunities come, and where the knowledge of English language is a requirement in many cases. ‘Higher education’ means programs of study, training or training for research at the post-secondary level provided by universities or other educational establishments that are approved as institutions of higher education by the competent state authorities, and/or through recognized accreditation systems;’ (UNESCO Conference, Paris 1997). According to the requirements of the European Union the Romanian academic authorities created programs of study and training for the pre-service preschool, primary and secondary teachers so that the Romanian children start learning English from an early age. Our paper intends to present several of these programs and methods which were implemented after 1989.
Keywords: specialization in English, higher education process, competences
JEL Classification: Z00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation