Unconventional ways of learning Polish by Ukrainian refugees will be investigated by researchers from the University of Gdańsk and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Researchers from Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University and Italian psycholinguist Jacopo Saturno are also involved in the project. The initiative has received funding of PLN 222,800 from the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).
Researchers want to study the process of learning Polish among refugees who acquire these competencies from informal sources - 'Polish state institutions are not prepared for the influx of nearly 4 million Ukrainians with refugee experience, nor are they able to rapidly organise and provide them with proper teaching,' - says prof. dr hab. Przemysław Gębal, head of the project.
Various local initiatives, public schools or educational platforms will be included in the research. These groups include, among others, independent online tutors or YouTubers. In addition to identifying the above entities, the team will also analyse their teaching methods and strategies.
Researchers from UG and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań received PLN 228,800 for this purpose as part of the NAWA Intervention Grant, which supports international cooperation of research teams or international mobility of researchers undertaken in response to sudden, important, unforeseen developments. Biologists from UG received funding from the same source for the project 'Dogs of War: Natural Selection in Domestic Dogs during War'.
- 'Another important link in our international development is our scientific cooperation with the renowned Italian psycholinguist dr Jacopo Saturno from the Italian University of Bergamo, who researches the acquisition of Polish as a foreign language by Eastern Slavs,' - the project's creators say.
The project entitled. 'Mapping New Agents and Trends in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language to Ukrainian Immigrants in Poland' will be carried out by a team consisting of applied linguists, Polish language glottodidacticians and cultural anthropologists: prof. dr hab. Przemysław Gębal (UG) - project manager, dr Irena Chawrilska (UG), dr Zbigniew Szmyt, prof. UAM (UAM), dr Karol Krzyżosiak (UAM).
