ROMANIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN A BLENDED LEARNING APPROACH

The aim of the current paper is to present the experience of the academic staff of the Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication from The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) in teaching Romanian as a Foreign Language as part of the Preparatory Year of Romanian Language for Foreign Citizens. The latter program was initiated in 2014 and is the first such program accredited by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) in 2017. Since the launch of the program, it has been attended by more than 250 students from all over the world, who have benefited from a blended learning instructional approach. Teaching and learning activities have been based on a combination of classroom techniques and digital media resources that will be described in the article. A one-of-a kind digital support is provided through the Oportunidance platform, developed through an international project that was awarded the European Language Label 2016 for innovation and creativity in foreign language teaching and learning. The efficiency of the blended learning approach to teaching Romanian as a Foreign Language will be discussed by reference to the successful integration of graduates on the educational market in Romania, which will be briefly referred to in the article.