MARIA KATSANTONI

Maria Κatsantoni, Associate Professor, Director of the Postgraduate Programme ''Teaching French as a Foreign Language''
School of Humanities - Hellenic Open University - Open and Distance Learning

Module GAL 10 Subject area: Teaching French as a Foreign Language: Development of language and communication skills, and assessment of written and oral language
e-mail: [email protected]

Μaria Katsantoni holds a degree in French and Greek Language and Literature awarded by the University of Athens.
She holds two (2) master’s degrees: DEA in Language Sciences and Translation (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3) and DESS (Μaster II Pro) in the field of Social Sciences and Management (Department of History, Geography, Sociology), specialising in the Sociology of Culture and Cultural Planning. In 2003 she obtained a PhD (Doctorat Nouveau Régime) in Language Sciences from the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, while a large part of her PhD thesis was carried out at Brown University on Rhode Island in the USA (2001) on a scholarship granted by the French State, the focus being on postmodern writing practices (polyphony - dialogism - hybrid writing).

She has a long and multifaceted teaching background (2003-2026), and an international presence at Universities in Greece and abroad, including the University of Cyprus, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Paris Sorbonne-Paris IV University, the Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense University  as invited professor and the Hellenic Open University.
In the framework of Open and Distance Learning, she has been collaborating with the Hellenic Open University on a steady basis from 2004 to date, initially as a member of Collaborating Teaching Staff (2004-2016) in the Postgraduate Study Programme titled “Postgraduate Specialisation of French Language Teachers. From 2016 to 2021, she also collaborated on the Joint Postgraduate Study Programme in «Creative Writing» (Joint Degree) offered by the Hellenic Open University and the University of Western Macedonia. She was given a grant by the Hellenic Open University via the Erasmus+ mobility programme for academic staff and researchers (teaching and training) at Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense University, Νational University of Science and Technology POLYTEHNICA Bucharest-University Center of Pitesti, University of Lorraine - Académie de Nancy INPE.


She served as a salaried scientific associate (2005-2007) in the research programme implemented by the Academy of Athens for the publication of the Dictionary of Modern Greek Usage. She also took part in the research programme (2007-2009) implemented by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs – Operational Programme “Education and Initial Vocational Training”- EPEAEK (PE02 Language Proficiency Assessment and Certification System – in terms of implementing the standard methodology for assessing foreign language proficiency as regards the French Language – National Foreign Language Exam System KPG). She actively took part in the Programme for the Reform of Undergraduate Study Programmes (Undergraduate Study Programme Reform – EPEAEK 2007-2008) implemented by the Department of French Language and Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and also submitted a proposal to introduce the innovative – at that time – module of Creative Writing and Reading to the Department. She recently (2022) served as local coordinator for Greece in the framework of the initiative titled RELANG Relating foreign language curricula, tests and examinations to the CEFR and its Companion Volume implemented by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECLM/CELV in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the Hellenic Open University.

She has an international presence and considerable participation in conferences, public lectures and trainings in Greece and abroad, while her extensive, original and independent studies have been published in Greek and international scientific journals, conference proceedings and edited volumes.
Her research fields and interests focus on the study and teaching of French, the development and assessment of written and oral communication skills, the relation between writing and reading in the school and academic community, the analysis of literary and non-literary narratives through interdisciplinary views that relate to text-linguistic, pragmatic, narratological and pedagogical approaches. She has edited and published the edited volume titled Sentiers d’écriture, published in 2013 (pp. 205), which presents pedagogical techniques for the production of written creative language.