Iphras as an E‑Learning Platform for Idiomatic Competence

Abstract

The integration of E‑learning has expanded in a variety of directions to a degree that its successful application is of great importance to all sectors of education and training. E‑learning can offer unquestionable advantages to everyone involved in both the assessment and the knowledge transfer process (Owens and Floyd 2007; Luchoomun, McLuckie and van Wesel 2010; Damyanov and Tsankov 2016). Some of the challenges of e‑learning methods rest in choosing the right platform, and in determining the scope of the selected material as well as the adequacy of its user friendly methodology. Among the features of e‑learning platforms that are applicable to a wider audience is the criterion of multi‑language application. As regards E‑learning in foreign language education, there are three pragmatic and cultural aspects which are often omitted from the e‑learning system: 1) the transfer of idiomatic competence; 2) the acquisition of cultural concepts; and 3) the inclusion of small and endangered languages. This is not the case with the elaboration of the e‑learning platform IPHRAS ‑ Interphraseologie für Studien‑und Berufsmobile. The proposed paper presents its main achievements and focuses on the methodology for foreign language learning in a multilingual electronic environment. The process is facilitated by the incorporation of thematically structured multiword units (idioms and collocations). Its priority is easy access to a variety of languages, including Greek, Turkish, Romanian, Bulgarian, through more popular languages such as English and German. The degree of translation equivalence of its elements facilitates not only multilingualism, but also the initial phase of mastering the vocabulary of additional languages. The IPHRAS platform was elaborated by an international team of Balkan researchers and language instructors and funded by the European Commission within the Lifelong learning program.