8th Bremen Symposium

Lifelong learning, interculturalism & multilingualism, flexible teaching and learning formats, online assessments, autonomy - these were the perspectives from which well over 200 conference participants from many countries, including Zessko, engaged in scientific exchange on the framework topic "Rethinking the Role of Language Centers: Flexibility, Relevance & Vision" at this year's Bremen Symposium from March 1-3, 2023. After years of working together remotely via Zoom & co, it was great to see familiar faces in person again and to establish new relationships.
Organized by the Language Center of the Universities of Bremen (SZHB) in cooperation with the Association of Language Centres, Language Teaching Institutes and Institutes of Foreign Languages at German Universities (AKS), the international Bremen Symposium on Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages at Universities has been a fixture for many years, offering the opportunity to discuss new developments in research and teaching as well as to exchange ideas with colleagues about their own practices and current issues.
The presentations, workshops and discussions emphasized that language centers are more relevant than ever in internationalized research and teaching spaces, as well as having to face new challenges through their own professional practice with scientific foundation, reflection and flexible pragmatism paired with visions. This became topical not least because of the highly discussed topic of generative AI language models and tools. Much of what was discussed in Bremen will be factored into the future work at Zessko.
 

Text: Christoph Lehker

Published on March 23, 2023