ISSN 2029–2236 (print) ISSN 2029–2244 (online) SOCIALINIų MOKSLų STUDIJOS SOCIETAL STUDIES 2013, 5(1), p. 137–150. Socialinių mokslų studijos/Societal Studies  Mykolo Romerio universitetas, 2013  Mykolas Romeris University, 2013 ISSN 2029–2236 (print), ISSN 2029–2244 (online) http://www.mruni.eu/lt/mokslo_darbai/SMS/ http://www.mruni.eu/en/mokslo_darbai/SMS/ BRIDGING THE GAP: YOUNG PHILOLOGIST ACADEMY Violeta Janulevičienė, Kristina Gedgaudaitė Mykolas Romeris University, Institute of Humanities, Department of Applied Languages Ateities 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania Telephone (+370 5) 2714 613 E-mail: vjanul@mruni.eu; k.gedgaudaite@mruni.eu Received on 10 October, 2012; accepted on 21 January, 2013 Abstract. Young Philologist Academy (YPA) is a newly launched project initiated in 2011and developed by the staf of Foreign Languages Department, Institute of Humanities. Te main aim of the project is to fnd an efective way to promote studies of the English Philology and Linguistics among fnal and penultimate year high school students, to foster their creativity and critical thinking abilities and to encourage cooperation between the University staf and students. Te meetings of YPA lasted from November 2011 till June 2012, all of them tackling specifc English language aspects or focussing on some issues of life in the UK. Five guest speakers and twenty two staf members at the Foreign Languages Department contributed to the project. Over 100 students from Vilnius, Alytus, Anykščiai, Utena, and surrounding areas registered their interest in the project at the initial phase; this rather big number signalling the expressed demand for such type of learning. Troughout the duration of the project, YPA students were asked to complete several questionnaires in order to assess their own linguistic abilities and the success of the project. Te fndings obtained from the analysis of these questionnaires could be of interest to both university and high school English teachers as they highlight some of the needs of the English learners that a successful English language course should address. Participants’ demographic data, self-assessment of their English language