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At the Centre for Scandinavian Studies, we recently had the opportunity to speak with Gisle Tangenes, a guest lecturer from Norway, who visited us from 23th–28th September. His visit was organized through Erasmus+ funding for staff mobility from enterprises abroad. For the students of Vilnius University, Gisle has taught lectures and practical seminars on the Norwegian language, its history, and contemporary culture. Currently teaching at the Norwegian language school Lingu, Gisle brings a rich and diverse academic background to our faculty, having deeply explored subjects such as religion, philosophy, political science, and Norwegian literature. We sat down with our guest to discuss his work, his thoughts on the intersection of religion and free speech, and his experiences in teaching.

Your academic journey spans multiple disciplines, including religion, philosophy, political science, as well as Norwegian language and literature. Could you tell us more about your academic background and what led you to pursue these diverse fields of study?

First of all, thank you for your interest, and above all for your incredible hospitality during my lovely week here at Vilnius University. You are lucky to have such beautiful surroundings for your Faculty of Philology, and the Centre for Scandinavian Studies is a gem.

Well, I guess I have always been drawn to foundational problems of the human condition, so Philosophy was a natural choice. Eventually I got a six-year Master (cand.philol) in that, also including an intermediate level of Political Science and International Relations. I was into everything from Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science to Ethics and, especially, Political Philosophy. Within the latter I focused on normative questions of cultural and religious diversity in modern society. However, my master’s thesis was on Social Ontology: How social reality is essentially constituted by shared understandings, mediated by language. 

Later, after getting into language teaching, I took a couple of hundred credit points in Norwegian Second Language Acquisition and Nordic Languages and Literature, a.k.a. Scandinavian Studies. In addition I completed one-year programs in English, History, Comparative Religion, and Practical Education, thus becoming a “Lecturer with additional education”. Maybe one day I’ll get a doctorate, but in truth I’d rather spend my time teaching, helping others reach their goals. 

That aside, my greatest passions are probably history, classical music, and literature, as well as exploring different cultures. I genuinely enjoyed Vilnius.

Please tell us more about Lingu, the language school where you currently teach. What sets it apart from other language institutions, and how does it cater to the diverse needs of its students?

At Lingu we focus on blended learning, where teacher-led classes – often online, but some of them physical – are combined with advanced online resources which marshal the power of interactive learning. It has made Lingu a market leader in Norway, winning government contracts as well as all kinds of enterprise and private clients. We have many fine teachers, I would say, constantly learning from each other.

Currently, Lingu is focusing on integrating AI assistance in a way that supplements rather than replaces the teacher-student relationship. We are also enhancing the learning journey to introduce Norwegian as efficiently as possible, with Norwegian as the main support language in our courses. Our online interactive resource, Samaneh’s Journey, provides the option to choose learning support in multiple languages, offering a more personalized experience for learners.

It’s exciting to forge a partnership with your Centre for Scandinavian Studies. There is a lot of promise for continued mutual enrichment through the Erasmus+ Mobility Program. For example, I’m pleased that our Language Café was such a success and will be continued, even with other languages taught at the Centre.

Your second MA thesis, in Scandinavian Studies, will be a discourse analysis of the debate surrounding the Muhammad cartoons controversy in Norway, a highly sensitive and complex topic. Could you tell us more about what drew you to this subject and what you’ve found to be the most interesting or surprising insights so far?

My new thesis does indeed examine the aftermath of the publication, initially by a Danish newspaper in 2005, of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. It led to riots, a diplomatic crisis and terrorist attacks. The cartoons were republished by a Norwegian magazine, making Norway too a target of the wrath and initiating years of public debate about the proper scope of free expression. So I chose this topic as it brings together a number of my interests: Language, religion, politics, and the dilemmas of a modern multicultural society. 

Approaching the debate from a sociocognitive perspective, I look at how the respective sides construe the controversy in terms of who is aggressor and victim. For those who want limits to free speech, the original publication was a xenophobic provocation by elite conservative members of the majority against a vulnerable minority whose feelings deserve protection. For their adversaries, the true oppressors are global religious leaders seeking to misuse the penal code to censor criticism of their powerful and restrictive ideology. 

It’s fascinating to see how these underlying models frame the discourse, shaping the rhetoric being deployed. For those familiar with the field, I have modified the classic Toulmin schema to accommodate this newer sociocognitive approach, using that to structure the analysis.

Given your diverse academic background and the unique insights you’ve gained from your studies, how have these different fields influenced your teaching? Additionally, how do you integrate this interdisciplinary knowledge into your approach to language education, and what is your overall philosophy of language teaching?

A broad humanistic background comes in handy at higher levels, and at any level it may help one connect with particular students. That said, the meat and potatoes of language teaching is certainly applied linguistics – grammar, phonetics and so on. I’m a firm believer in good old-fashioned subject matter knowledge, inspiring trust and confidence. Yet it must be used pragmatically, based on practical experience. A fraction of the grammar rules generate most of the typical learner’s mistakes at every skill level, so it is good to know what to prioritize.  

Of course, language is so much more than rules. Fundamentally speaking, the very notion of “rules” is just shorthand for recurring formal patterns within linguistic varieties. I am partial to Construction Grammar theory, particularly usage-based models, and see a potential for implementing its insights through AI-assisted learning. We are at the start of a revolution, but hopefully, human teachers won’t be obsolete. Students would miss us – or so they say!   

Teaching is a practical skill, but there are some principles at play. Two of the key ones are to empathize with the learners and to keep them actively engaged. The first principle involves understanding where the students are currently at, where they need to go, and which route is fastest for them in particular. It also means helping them feel safe to view their mistakes as learning opportunities. Furthermore, the teaching resources should include creative material. Art, film, music, poetry, stories, games – anything to stimulate imagination and emotion. 

This brings us to the second principle. Strictly speaking, no one ever teaches anyone anything. Rather, one enables learning by modifying the environment in specific ways. Even when we lecture, we are just producing certain sounds and gestures which may, or may not, be processed as meaningful input. And obviously, most teaching is more interactive than lecturing. So a teacher is really a facilitator, a coach. 

Norway is a sea-faring nation, so let me indulge in a sailing analogy. The “wind in the sails” is inductive learning based on comprehensible input, as well as the learner’s output. Without this, there is no progress. Formal instruction corresponds to steering, adjusting the course to ensure an efficient passage. And that is done by raising awareness of significant patterns in the target language. In turn, this also primes learners to notice those features in future input. But instruction should be as interactive as possible. For instance, mistakes are preferably corrected by helping learners make their own revisions, providing clues as required. 

I am perhaps happiest when moving among tables of busy students who are conversing based on prompts provided. Then I can offer calibrated feedback by speech and gesture, sometimes capturing what a learner just said on my portable mini-whiteboard and helping to sort it out. This is where a certain personal warmth and finesse is essential. You want to coax people out of their shells and push them gently, not put them on the spot. 

I was impressed by the level attained by the second-year students and the dedication shown by all of the students. Clearly you’re doing something right. Hope to be back one day!

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and perspectives. Everything you have told about teaching resonates so deeply with what we are striving to achieve here at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies. We are truly grateful for your kindness, insightful teaching, and all the knowledge that you have shared during your visit. Hope to welcome you back soon!

Interviewed by Rūta Šileikytė Zukienė

The Centre for Scandinavian Studies is pleased to invite you to a seminar with its PhD students on the literature of the Anthropocene, which will take place tomorrow (Friday the 13th) at 15:00-16:30 in room 314b. Mikael Schultz Rasmussen will present his paper "The Entangled Dead: A Post-Anthropological Approach to Death and the Dead in Karl Ove Knausgård's Morgenstjernen and Ulvene fra evighetens skog" and Radvilė Musteikytė's paper "From the personal to the environmental and back again: The Rhetoric of Solastalgia in Richard Powers' Bewilderment and Escammi Itäranta's The Moonday Letters".

We are happy to introduce a new student-led initiative: "Discourse". This English-language literary magazine is dedicated to bridging gaps between different faculties and connecting local and international students through creative expression, vibrant exchange of ideas, critical thought, and meaningful dialogue. Through diverse contributions from various disciplines, "Discourse" fosters collaboration to enrich our cultural landscape. "Discourse" offers a platform to share your creative and critical explorations, whether you translate or write poetry and fiction or engage with literature and philosophy through essays. Embrace complexity, seek purpose, and initiate conversation. Join us in celebrating the power of words and the unity of minds!

Discourse Magazine - Team (vu.lt)

Are you interested in becoming a language tutor? We are seeking volunteers to lead in-person language cafés in their native or first language at Vilnius University. This is the first time we're offering this opportunity in person, and we'd love to have you on board! Simply fill out the form, and we’ll get in touch with you. 

The upcoming edition will run from 23 September to 6 December 2024. If you're ready to help others practice a new language, register here to become a tutor! 

What is a Language Tutor?  

The Arqus Language Café is a virtual or in-person meeting space where students and staff from Arqus partner universities can practice language skills in an informal setting. These cafés are not structured language courses but rather conversational gatherings. As a tutor, your role will be to guide discussions, provide support, and encourage participants in their language learning journey. Don’t worry—we’ll provide you with training, guidelines, conversation topics, and strategies to help lead the sessions. 

Don’t hesitate—sign up today to become an in-person Language Café Tutor! 

For more information, click here to learn about the Arqus Language Café. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Orinta Gerikaitė at or email us at . 

2023/2024 spring semester exam retakes will be held from the 3rd until the 16th of September.

Retake dates for BA students >

Retake dates for MA students >

The dates are constantly updated as soon as the professors announce them.

If you cannot find the date for the needed subject, please contact the professor and follow the information on Faculty's website.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 

The Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University is pleased to announce that Vuk Vukotić has been awarded the 2024 Dominique Jacquin-Berdal Prize, established by the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (United Kingdom) and the "Nations & Nationalism" journal, for his article "Are languages and dialects inventions of nationalism? On the problem of totalising metalanguage". The prize encourages young scholars to publish original research on ethnicity and nationalism.

The abstract states: Scholars of nationalism generally acknowledge that what counts as ‘a language’ and what as ‘a dialect’ is determined by historical and political circumstance, that both notions are idealisations of linguistic practice rather than objective entities and that the reality of language is fuzzy and complex. However, they nevertheless continue to talk about (and analyse) ‘linguistic entities’ in the same way nationalists do: as homogenous, closed systems. Paralleling Brubaker's "groupist language", this paper proposes the notion of "totalising metalanguage" to signify all ways of talking about linguistic phenomena that reify them into unproblematically existing objects. I analyse the historical development of dialectology in Croatia and Serbia from the 19th century until today to show how dubious linguistic taxonomies have been presented in the discourse as objectively existing linguistic entities. The paper invites scholars of nationalism to seek alternative approaches to the language-dialect dichotomy than that offered by the outdated model of Joshua Fishman.

The most common question I get at this period of my life is "Why did you decide to study in Lithuania?" The simple answer I always give, which by now I know by heart in both English and Lithuanian, is that I always wanted to study in Europe, and when I visited a few countries after high school I liked Lithuania the most. But for the most part, I was throwing a dart while blindfolded. I knew a good bit about Lithuania's culture and history and found it interesting, but not extremely moreso than, say, Poland or Estonia. The university having a relatively early admissions deadline and offering what I wanted to study (linguistics, as a part of English philology) was the greatest contributing factor to my decision to study in Lithuania and VU specifically.

But for the effects of this decision on my life today, its initial spontaneity could not be less relevant. Lithuania has become a second home for me - as I say, Lietuva yra mano antrieji namai. The language, culture (including some specific activities such as grybavimas, hunting for mushrooms), and lifestyle of the people here have become part of who I am. I often say that I've grown up in Lithuania - I came here when I had just turned 19, and, four years later, almost everything I know about the "adult" world has a Lithuanian hue. Many people, friends and strangers alike, have called me an "honorary Lithuanian", a title which they all-the-more earnestly give me when they learn I have no Lithuanian roots whatsoever. At the very least, I agree with them that I have become somewhat assimilated into the Lithuanian culture and society.

Lithuania itself has provided me with ample opportunities to enrich both my own life and that of others. In December 2022, Marc Okrand, the inventor of the Klingon language from Star Trek, came to the university to give a talk to the philology department about the creation of this language. I found his talk fascinating, having put my linguistic learning at VU to use in making my own language, but more importantly it allowed me to meet with the US embassy's entourage accompanying him. Through this encounter, I have eagerly sought out volunteering in areas managed by the embassy, such as talking about American culture to curious students around Lithuania and hosting an "English speaking club" at the International Ukrainian School in Vilnius, who I'm currently working with the embassy to get funding for science equipment for. This volunteering has made me friends all over, namely in Biržai, which I've visited numerous times and is by now the "second city" for my life in Lithuania. I've also had the great experience of participating in the VU ambassador program (you could say I'm VU's "ambassador" to the US), and in the course of it I've helped a number of incoming American students know what life and studies are like here at VU, and how to prepare themselves.

But another important component in the additions to and mutations of my character over the past four years is my university experience. No one finishes university with the same experiences fundamental to who they are as when they started, and for me, studying in a new country, this was all the more so. I would say the most salient lesson that VU has given me is how to properly think. Intellectual thought is moreso conducting science than making art; a scientific method of analysis can, and must, be applied to any such thinking for it to be worthwhile. Consistently doing research, studying for myself, and putting my thoughts into writing in my university career has instilled in me a meticulous, open-minded way of thinking, which I use for everything from making life decisions to writing long texts for any purpose. This aspect of the intellectual culture at VU is, in my limited experience with other universities, fairly unique, and certainly one of the most valuable, practical learnings students will come away with.

Perhaps surprisingly after all I've said, my goal from here is to study international humanitarian law back in the US. Living in Lithuania and learning its history, as well as being so close to the war in Ukraine and its effects (particularly teaching students from cities that are now rubble) has ignited me with a motivation and passion to use the rigorous academic skills that VU has instilled in me to improve, and intensively and invariably apply the international legal frameworks that are supposed to defend human rights. I almost feel that it would be selfish of me to go into a different, easier field that I have less passion for and can't help people as directly with. Put simply, I want to dedicate my career to helping the most vulnerable people of our era, in a lasting and consistently-applicable way. As for my decision to return to the US, having a career there is the most likely trajectory my life will take, so it makes sense for me to study for part of my education there. But we'll see what the future holds; maybe Lithuania will become my pirmieji namai someday.

The best advice I can give VU students, current or future (and really to anyone) is to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way. Even in my own time here, there are definitely things that happened to me that I could have made something of, and allowed to slip past me. You will almost always regret inaction more than a failed attempt. Whether it's talking to an interesting person, getting an assignment done in the time best suited for doing so rather than rushing later, or visiting a new place, life is full of ways to improve the standing of our future selves. And, while a student, that is the most important principle to follow.

The Institute of Foreign Languages at the Faculty of Philology, in collaboration with the University of Western Macedonia (Greece), is organizing an international interdisciplinary conference titled “Nurturing Critical Minds: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Education and the Workforce.” This event will occur at Vilnius University, Faculty of Philology, Lithuania, on 27–28 June 2024. The conference is also supported by various faculties of Vilnius University, including the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, and the Faculty of Philosophy.

The primary aim of the conference is to explore the development of critical thinking (CT), a crucial skill for university graduates in the 21st century. Critical thinking is essential for effective participation in society and success in professional careers. Educational institutions are tasked with equipping students with CT skills, which labor market institutions highly value for their ability to solve complex problems and offer innovative solutions. Consequently, university curricula must focus on developing both discipline-specific and general competencies.

CT development is a key learning outcome across various disciplines in university programs. Speaking about the reasons for organising this conference, the Director of the Institute of Foreign Languages, serving as Chair of the Conference Organizing and Scientific Committees Prof. Roma Kriaučiūnienė, emphasizes the importance of integrating general competencies into foreign language teaching and learning. This aligns with the Institute's research objectives, which include investigating how CT and general competencies are cultivated in language education. The conference was also inspired by the Institute's participation in the Erasmus+ project Think4Jobs, which addressed CT development in teacher education, foreign language teaching, economics, IT, and medicine.

Research by El Soufia and See (2019) highlights that explicit instruction of CT skills is most effective. Despite the emphasis on CT in higher education, these skills are often not taught systematically at the undergraduate level. The conference aims to raise educators' awareness of the need for explicit CT instruction and to explore the best methods for achieving this.

By adopting a holistic approach, the conference will examine the role of CT in various academic disciplines and its importance in the labor market. The interdisciplinary nature of the conference will bring together diverse perspectives on CT development in university education.

The Vice-Dean for Strategy and General Affairs of the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics at Vilnius University Prof. Jurgita Markevičiūtė underscores the importance of CT in data sciences: “In today's world, we are surrounded by a wealth of data, which is easy to manipulate and draw false conclusions from. Teaching statistics with critical thinking enables students to go beyond memorizing formulas and procedures. It develops their ability to analyze data, interpret results, and draw meaningful conclusions while adhering to ethical principles.”

The conference aims to present research on CT development across various university disciplines, share best practices, raise awareness about the importance of CT, and highlight exemplary practices. It will serve as a platform for educators, researchers, and labor market professionals to explore innovative strategies, share insights, and collaborate on integrating CT skills into educational curricula.

The event programme