From 22 February to 5 March 2021 with the initiative of the Faculty of Translation and Philology Professor PhD Gloria Gutierrez Almarza from Nottingham Trent University (UK) delivered online lecture series titled “Focus on research and aspects of teaching a FL” for the teaching staff and postgraduate students. The lecture series involved interactive discussions on various aspects of research activities, in particular, starting from international requirements for writing a research proposal and writing a master dissertation and doctoral thesis of postgraduate students, including literature review and research methodology, analysis of data collection methods, processing primary sources and statistical analysis of data used in research. On top of that, during the second week of the online course, the lecturer has focused on modern technologies in teaching a foreign language at higher institutions as well as the formation and evaluation of students’ intercultural communicative competence.
Special attention has been paid to the experience of British universities in organizing foreign language and cultural placement that offers students the opportunity to spend a semester or year abroad throughout the academic year.
Undoubtedly, the lecture series by Professor Gloria Gutierrez Almarza have brought useful and thoughtful ideas to the practice of teaching a foreign language at higher educational institutions, and also made a tremendous contribution to the research activities of the discussion participants. All the participants have enjoyed the lectures and expressed their sincere gratitude to Dr. Gloria Gutierrez Almarza for sharing her knowledge and academic expertise on both the research journey and teaching a foreign language in the context of intercultural communication. Dr. Gloria said she was impressed by the teaching staff and students of our university, and expressed her appreciation and readiness to continue the academic cooperation with Ablaikhan University.
