In Europe
Claude Truchot
Groupe d'étude sur le plurilinguisme européen
Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, France
4:00 pm, Tuesday, *November 1*
1418 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive
*note change of date*
Comments from Laird Boswell
University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of History
Abstract
Though world language policies in Europe are not restricted to European institutions, their initiatives tend to take a growing importance. The two institutions which intervene are the European Union and the Council of Europe. Their main field of intervention is precisely language education policies. This presentation will try to evaluate the nature and the scope of their actions.
Several instruments have been designed within the Council of Europe: The Threshold Levels, the Common European Framework of Reference, and recently the Language Portfolio. They can be considered as planning tools for language teaching and learning at a European level. Their implementation reveals a standardization of practices at this level, mostly related to political et economic motivations and particularly to the role taken by certification. The European Centre for Modern languages, an institution of the Council of Europe, plays an important part in their dissemination, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
The role devolved to the European Union in the field of education being limited, its actions have mostly developed through educative exchange programs involving schools, universities and vocational institutions. The program dealing with the linguistic dimensions of these educative exchanges, Lingua, will be presented.
Two major initiatives were recently taken by these institutions. A Guide for Language Education Policies has just been designed by the Council of Europe. An action plan for the promotion of linguistic diversity and language learning was launched by the European Union in 2004, backed by an important financial investment. Behind these initiatives lies the question: which language teaching and learning for which languages? In the answers given, the central concepts of "diversity"
and "diversification" may not have exactly the same meaning.
This series is free and open to the public. It is made possible with generous support from the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science Anonymous Fund.
For more information, contact Dianna Murphy at (608) 262-1575, diannamurphy@wisc.edu. |
