Plurilingual education and languages of education / Education plurilingue et langues de l’éducation J Sheils, Language Policy Division, Council of Europe Division des Politiques linguistiques - www.coe.int/lang/fr
• CE approach to language education policy • Guiding principles for plurilingual education • I nstrum ents: CEFR & ELP • Languages of schooling / langues de scolarisation • Languages of education / langues de l’éducation
European Cultural Convention ( 1 9 5 4 ) • encourage the study by its ow n nationals of the languages, history and civilisation of the other Contracting Parties and grant facilities to those Parties to prom ote such studies in its ow n territory, and endeavour to prom ote the study of its • languages, history and civilisation in the territory of the other Contracting Parties and grant facilities to the nationals of those Parties to pursue such studies in its territory.
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages w w w .coe.int/ m inlang - m onitoring m echanism Language Policy Division ( Strasbourg) w w w .coe.int/ lang - policy review s, European reference instrum ents…. European Centre for Modern Languages ( Graz) w w w .ecm l@at - im plem entation: good practice, innovation…
‘The Council of Europe does not have a policy-m aking function independently of its m em ber states’ ( Byram ) respect diversity of contexts agreed policy principles and tools – reflect CoE values decisions as close to point of learning as possible
plurilingualism : all are entitled to develop a degree of com m unicative ability in a num ber of languages over their lifetim e in accordance w ith their needs linguistic diversity: Europe is m ultilingual and all its languages are equally valuable m odes of com m unication and expressions of identity; the right to use and to learn one’s language( s) is protected in Council of Europe Conventions
m utual understanding: the opportunity to learn other languages is an essential condition for intercultural com m unication and acceptance of cultural differences dem ocratic citizenship: participation in dem ocratic and social processes in m ultilingual societies is facilitated by the plurilingual com petence of individuals social cohesion: equality of opportunity for personal developm ent, education, em ploym ent, m obility, access to inform ation and cultural enrichm ent depends on access to language learning throughout life.
A plurilingual person has - a repertoire of language and language varieties - com petences of different kinds and levels w ithin the repertoire ‘enable individuals to be plurilingual either by m aintaining and developing their linguistic plurilingualism or by helping them to develop from m onolingualism ( or bilingualism ) into plurilingualism ’ ( Guide for the Developm ent of Language Education Policies in Europe) - developing learners’ consciousness of their existing repertoires of languages and language varieties and their ability to develop and adapt those repertoires to changing circum stances in lifelong learning - developing respect for the plurilingual repertoires and identities of others
Com m on European Fram ew ork of Reference for Languages ( CEFR) : learning, teaching, assessm ent ‘a logical development of the modern languages programme of the Council of Europe over the last forty years’ 1971: unit/ credit system > feasibility study ‘not appropriate for the CoE to impose arbitrary decisions on the field in this manner or to pre- empt the decisions of others more closely in touch with the needs, interests and characteristics of learners’
system s approach - linking objectives, courses, m ethods, m aterials and assessm ent in a coherent m anner w hat the learner needs to DO in using the language for com m unication The Threshold Level ( van Ek) , CoE 1 9 7 5 ; ‘Un Niveau-Seuil’ ‘..m ake the process of learning itself m ore dem ocratic by providing the conceptual tools for the planning, construction, conduct and evaluation of learner-centred courses closely geared to needs, m otivations and characteristics of the learners and w hich prepare them for future learning in a lifelong perspective’ ( Trim )
Sym posium : Transparency and coherence in language learning in Europe: objectives, evaluation, certification ( 1 9 9 1 ) > com m on European fram ew ork: - international cooperation; - m utual recognition of qualifications; - com m on basis for all partners to situate and coordinate language provision; - exchange of inform ation; - tool for critical reflection flexible, open, dynam ic, non-dogm atic
‘W e have NOT set out to tell practitioners w hat to do or how to do it. W e are raising questions not answ ering them . I t is not the function of the CEF( R) to lay dow n the objectives that users should pursue or the m ethods they should em ploy’. CEFR - a tool to be adapted, supplem ented and m odified according to the context of use and the needs of the learners ‘concertina like reference tool w ith categories and levels that can be expanded/ contracted, elaborated/ sum m arised, adopted/ adapted according to the needs of the context’ ( North)
Action Plan for Linguistic Diversity European I ndicator of Language Com petence ‘the realisation of a pressing need for educational instrum ents better geared to the variety of language needs in Europe w hich coincided chronologically w ith the CEFR providing the basic elem ents of a solution’ ( Goullier, 2 0 0 7 Forum , Strasbourg)
Report on use of CEFR : ‘I n general, the CEFR seem s to have a m ajor im pact on language education. I t is used – often as the exclusive neutral reference – in all educational sectors; its value as a reference to coordinate the objectives of education at all levels is w idely appreciated’
‘One of the aim s of the Fram ew ork is to help partners describe the levels of proficiency required by existing standards, tests and exam inations in order to facilitate com parisons betw een different system s of qualifications. For this purpose the descriptive Schem e and the Com m on Reference Levels have been developed. Betw een them they provide a conceptual grid w hich users can exploit to describe their system .’ ( CEFR, p. 2 1 )
Manual: Relating Exam s to the CEFR - fam iliarisation - specification - standardisation training + benchm arking - standard setting - external validation standardised I llustrative m aterial – by language - + cross-linguistic benchm arking Reference Level Descriptions / Réferentiels
potential of the CEFR not fully expoited - development of plurilingual curricula - assessment/recognition of plurilingual repertoire > profiling ‘the m om entum generated by the CEFR in Europe is starting to bring about a new balance in term s of responsibilities, placing increased w eight on horizontal relationships am ong m em ber states and thus raising the issue of responsibility from a new perspective’ ( Goullier, 2 0 0 7 )
danger of a technocratic and restrictive view of education ( Coste) plurilingual and intercultural com petences linked to education for dem ocratic citizenship, intercultural understanding and social inclusion ‘..policy instrum ent that can and m ust be utilised to serve carefully considered, com m itted policy objectives that reflect Council of Europe values and principles underpinning its approach to language education’
Encourager les institutions à utiliser le Cadre européen de référence élaboré par le Conseil de l'Europe pour planifier ou réform er l’enseignem ent des langues d’une façon cohérente et transparente, dans le sens d’un renforcem ent de la coordination internationale et de la diversification de l’apprentissage des langues.
Encourager le développement et l’utilisation par les apprenants dans tous les secteurs de l’éducation d’un document personnel (Portfolio européen des langues) dans lequel ils pourraient inscrire leurs qualifications et autres expériences linguistiques et culturelles significatives de manière transparente au plan international, en motivant de cette manière les apprenants et en reconnaissant leurs efforts d’étendre et de diversifier leur apprentissage des langues à tous les niveaux et tout au long de la vie.
PEL : fonction pédagogique : autonom ie… fonction d’inform ation : com petences & expériences passport de langues - - biographie langagière dossier - 9 7 portfolios validés - 2 9 pays 2 m illions PEL…. Europass ( UE)
Le PEL : - développer le plurilinguism e : toutes les langues secondes ou étrangères dans le repértoire plurilingue du propriétaire du PEL - inciter son propriétaire à réfléchir sur la m anière dont il/ elle apprend les langues et développe son repértoire plurilingue et ses com pétences interculturelles. apprentissage réflexif… autoévaluation… autonom ie de l’apprenant… apprentissage interculturel
Language( s) of schooling / langue( s) de scolarisation - language as a subject/ langue com m e discipline - language across the curriculum / langue d’enseignem ent ( des autres disciplines)
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