Combining formal and non-formal foreign language learning: first insights into a German-Spanish experiment at university level

In this article we will present the first results of a pilot study that aims at creating, evaluating and optimizing opportunities for language learning at university level. Learners of Spanish in Austria and learners of German in Spain face quite similar problems: large groups, a short period of time available and an important progress to be made. This project results from the co-operation between the University of Alicante and the University of Vienna and brings together learners of Spanish in Austria and learners of German in Spain via online tandems. In a first step, the role of Spanish and German as L3 will be described in the background of European language policy, then online tandem learning will be methodologically contextualised and positioned. The third part provides a description of the project, the obstacles and problems when setting up online tandems, and finally a first evaluation of the project with respect to its aims.