This doctoral dissertation is part of a systemic reflection and aims at identifying the relationship between different methods of teaching and learning languages due to the evolution of the historic-cultural environment of the Banat region. I put forward the hypothesis that the resources and the strategies used by the pupils within the informal and non-formal environment of languages can be mobilized within formal language learning under certain conditions: the pupil’s commitment, the development of his/her self-efficiency and the expert’s help. The contribution of theories, namely of the ecological theory (Van Lier, 2004), has lead me to question my thinking on the potential existence of a 4th environment favourable to the synergy of resources and strategies present within these environments.In order to support this hypothesis, I have established a two-stage protocol: firstly, an inquiry of pupils and teachers of the Banat region under the form of a questionnaire has been addressed to one hundred secondary school pupils and twenty teachers, and a qualitative inquiry through about ten semi-directive interviews. Secondly, I have established a learning device within this 4th environment, a blog, with an audience of five pupils from the fifth grade of a secondary school in Timişoara. I have thus analysed the strategies and the commitment of the Romanian pupils in order to demonstrate that an approach relying on the awareness of the relevance of the use of resources and strategies within the informal and non-formal environments is responsible for optimising the performances of pupils in foreign language.
Revisiting the concepts of formal and informal learning in a plurilingual and multicultural environment : English in the Banat region, Romania - a case study