language Center
A language center (also: Fremdsprachenzentrum , English (Foreign) Language Center) is an institution at universities and technical colleges that coordinates and offers language courses primarily for university students . In many cases, the courses have to be paid for by the participants themselves. Discounts for students are common when the language courses can be counted as part of the study program, for example as so-called key qualifications or key competencies.
Language centers differ in principle into (a) those that also offer the practical language courses of the foreign-language courses (the so-called philologies ) and thus compulsory components of the study of English , Romance and Slavonic Studies, etc., and (b) those whose language courses are primarily different aimed at non-language students , so-called listeners of all faculties . The following applies to both types of language centers: The aim of language training is to further develop the foreign language competence of the learners and to contribute to their intercultural competence .
Where language courses are not part of the compulsory study program, separate certificates for work and study abroad are often awarded. Many language centers also offer media libraries and self-study centers, advice on autonomous learning and the placement of tandem partners.
Language centers play an important role in the internationalization of universities. In university rankings , their offers often play an important role as an evaluation criterion.
Instead of language centers, many universities and Goethe Institutes have so-called " language learning centers " that combine language teaching with language research and language didactics.
See also
- Working group of language centers , language teaching institutes and foreign language institutes (AKS)
- Common european reference framework
- Language Center of the Technical University of Łódź