TECHNICAL TRAINING

UNIT 2

Education in a Multilingual society

Policy for Developing Second and Third
Languages as Media for Learning
Oreto Martnez

SUMMARY
I. INTRODUCTION. THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND THE LANGUAGE
POLICY DIVISION
II. STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES
III. SOCIOECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES
IV. GLOBALIZATION.

CONTENT

AND

LANGUAGE

INTEGRATED

LEARNING. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).

V. LANGUAGE LEARNING REASEARCH
VI. LANGUAGE EDUCATION POLICIES FOR DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP
AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
VII. MULTILINGUAL CURRICULA. CLIL DIMENSIONS
VIII. KEY TERMS
IX. REFERENCES

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I INTRODUCTION
The Council of Europe (founded in May 1949) with its Language Policy Division is
carrying out programmes to contribute to the promotion of human rights,
democratic citizenship, social cohesion and intercultural dialogue. Projects are
related to the development of language education policies with a particular
emphasis on plurilingualism, Common European Standards and language
education rights and responsibilities. The language Division has been a pioneer on
international cooperation in language education since 1957 for the member states
of the Council of Europe. The results of the Divisions programmes have led to a
number of recommendations, which provide political support for its policy
instruments and initiatives.
The language Policy Division organised the Year of languages 2001 with the
European Commission, the aims of which are promoted in the annual day of
languages. Those of the European Centre complement the language Division
programmes for Modern Languages, which was set up in 1994 with the mission of
the implementation of language policies and the promotion of innovative
approaches to the learning and teaching of modern languages.

In 1995, the European Commission published the White Paper on Education and
Training explaining the need of speaking three languages. Quotes from: Fourth
General Objective of the white paper on education and training, teaching and
learning: Towards the Learning Society European Commission. (DG XXII and
DGV), 1995.

Its no longer possible to reserve proficiency in foreign languages for an elite

or for those who acquire it on account of their geographical mobility......its
becoming a necessity for everyone.......to be able to acquire and keep up
their ability to communicate in at least two community languages in addition
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to their mother tongue. It could even be argued that secondary school

pupils should study certain subjects in the first foreign language learnt

It concluded that language learning is becoming a need and that minority

languages should be promoted too. It was the first time they talked about new
concepts such us the Digital Gap, Multilingualism and CLIL.

II. STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES

*Listening Task. Clip 1*. Listen to the clip and take notes on the most
important ideas. Share with the rest of the class.

Students feel that new skills are needed in a new and changing world;
competences related to communication skills in order to use the Internet and to
have a better access to qualified jobs. It is also a fact that traditional language
learning methodologies have not given the expected results.
The new millennium has emerged with radical changes regarding, not only social
and economical changes, but educational shifts, too. It seems clear that all these
facts related to globalization and ICT are having an impact on what and how we
teach, thus, the following are considered the most important factors affecting
educational practices.

The advent of a digital age, meaning the widening opportunities of

information exchange and knowledge building.

Globalization, meaning that the world is interconnected.

Learning languages becomes a need in order to do business.

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III. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON LANGUAGE LEARNING

PERSPECTIVES
Early Language learning is also supported by scientific research in the field of
Multilingual Learning, which is now seen as something positive. Researchers who
state that Infants and youngsters can be very good at acquiring languages when
they are used at home support these ideas. Thats why people sometimes think
that we learn languages best when we are very young; however, successful
language learning can be achieved at any age when people have the opportunity
to receive instruction, and at the same time experience real life situations in which
they can acquire the language. In this sense, new methodologies are now being
implemented. (See CLIL).

IV. SOCIOECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

*Listening task 2. Task. Clip 2*. Listen to the clip and take notes on the most
important ideas. Share with the rest of the class. (Summary on Slides)

In several parts of the word, l3 is changing from being a subject in the curriculum to
being a basic skill like l1, numeracy, literacy or ICT. That may be due to the fact
that employers are beginning to expect a high degree of English fluency as an
essential, rather than a desirable requirement of job seekers.
Introducing l3 into a curriculum may pursue different objectives, from better skills in
language learning to better subject learning; however cognitive skill improvement is
also at the heart of the CLIL methodology.
Other

factors

should

be

taken

into

consideration:

greater

intercultural

understanding, better individual chances on the job market, better access to

scientific research or even greater national economic competitiveness.

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V. GLOBALIZATION: CONTENT AND LANGUAGE LEARNING.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
Globalization used to be a word very distant from ordinary people living in Europe,
but now globalization has gone global, things are changing very quickly and
societies try to adjust to a new reality of life, in an interconnected and
interdependent world. Thats why we must prepare youngsters for this new reality,
both enabling them to cope with change and to regard it as a source of
opportunities. We educators are being led to rethinking what we teach and how we
do it. All that has resulted in educational innovations, CLIL being one of them. CLIL
involves competence building in languages and communication while developing
professional skills at the same time to better prepare young people for the
knowledge society. One other reason may be economic success; the ability to use
different languages can became important work force factors to make a location
attractive for international organizations. Recent research shows significant data
indicating there may be a relationship between reduced development of
neurodegenerative diseseases and multilinguialism.

VI. LANGUAGE EDUCATION POLICIES FOR DEMOCRATIC

CITIZENSHIP AND SOCIAL INCLUSION (2006-2009)
Within this European context, the language Policy Division has launched a project
on all the languages of education. The focus is on languages of instruction in
school, often the national or official language, and also the mother tongue of the
majority of the students, being for some others their second language, adding a
third language, which is considered as a need in our European context.

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It is indented to promote a coherent and holistic approach to language education

policies, in order to organize plurilingualism and diversification in a planned manner
so that decisions are coherently linked.
They are addressed to all those involved in education decision making, from the
Ministry of Education, to the Principal of the school, providing a wide inventory of
possible forms of organisation of language education, embracing not only mother
tongue languages but foreign language teaching too. (See From Linguistic Diversity
to Plurilingual Education: Guide for the development of language education polices in
Europe).

Council

of

Europe

language

education

policy

aims

to

promote

(http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/):

Plurilingualism:
All are entitled to develop a reasonable degree of communicative ability in a
number of languages over their lifetime in accordance with their needs.
Linguistic diversity
Europe is multilingual and all its languages are equally valuable modes of
communications and expressions of identity, the right to use and to learn ones
language(s) is protected in Council of Europe Conventions.
Social cohesion
Equality of opportunity for personal development, education, employment, mobility,
access and cultural enrichment depends on access to language learning through
life.
Democratic citizenship
Participation in democratic and social processes in multilingual societies is
facilitated by the plurilingual competence of individuals.
Mutual understanding

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The opportunity to learn other languages is an essential condition for intercultural

understanding and communication.

VII. MULTILINGUAL CURRICULA. CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

LEARNING DIMENSIONS
According to the CLIL Compendium Development Team, set up with the support of
the European Commission, multilingual curricula must arrange learning taking into
account 5 dimensions based on issues relating to:

Culture

Environment

Language

Content

Learning

Each of these includes a number of focus points implemented differently according

to 3 major factors:

Age-range of learners

Socio-linguistic environment

Degree of exposure

The dimensions are idealistic and usually heavily inter-related. This means that in
real-life, it is likely that a school will wish to achieve successful outcomes in relation
to more than one dimension at the same time.

1. The Culture Dimension A. Build intercultural knowledge & understanding

B. Develop intercultural communication skills
C. Learn about specific neighbouring countries/regions and/or minority
groups
D. Introduce the wider cultural context
2. The Environment Dimension

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A. Prepare for internationalization, specifically EU integration

B. Access International Certification
C. Enhance school profile
3. The Language Dimension
A. Improve overall target language competence
B. Develop oral communication skills
C. Deepen awareness of both mother tongue and target language
D. Develop plurilingual interests and attitudes
E. Introduce a target language
4. The Content Dimension
A. Provide opportunities to study content through different perspectives
B. Access subject-specific target language terminology
C. Prepare for future studies and/or working life
5. The Learning Dimension
A. Complement individual learning strategies
B. Diversify methods & forms of classroom practice
C. Increase learner motivation

* Listening task 3. Clip 3. Listen to David Graddol, Take notes on the most
important ideas. According to him, why is CLIL a seismic shift as far as the
future of English learning is concerned?

VIII. Key Terms

Additional language: Increasingly used instead of terms such as foreign,

second or minority language, to refer to any language other than the first
language.

Bilingual Environment: An environment in which two languages are used.

Certification: Officially-recognized documentation used in some form of

assessment.
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Discourse Type: The type of communication found in the learning

environment (ex. classroom).

Exposure: The proportion of CLIL teaching experienced by a learner in a

school year.

Low - about 5-15% of teaching time

Medium - about 15-50% of teaching time

High - over 50% of teaching time

Foreign Language: A language which is not usually used in the surrounding

social environment.

ICT: Information and Communications Technology.

Immersion Method: One specific form of CLIL usually involving extensive

exposure and very specific linguistic conditions in the environment.

Intercultural Knowledge & Understanding: Understanding of ones own in

relation to other cultures.

Language Awareness: Sensitivity to the similarities and differences between

languages.

Language Shower: Used to describe very short, but often continuous,

exposure to CLIL.

Learning Styles: An individuals preferences or approaches to learning.

Learning Strategies: The ways in which individuals learn.

Majority Language: The main language used in the surrounding social

environment. This often means national language but not always.

Minority Language: The language used by a minority in the surrounding

social environment.

Monolingual Environment: An environment in which one language is most

widely used in the surrounding social environment.

Mother Tongue: This is generally used to refer to the first language a child
acquires and uses, but in some cases children will be fully bilingual and thus

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may not actually have one first language, but perhaps two or more first
languages.

Multilingual Environment: An environment in which three or more different

languages are actively used.

Native Speaker: A person who considers the target language to be his/her

first language.

Plurilingual Attitudes: Attitudes that support the value of being able to use, to
a greater or lesser extent, three or more languages.

School Profile: The public image of a school.

Second Language: Used to describe a language widely used in the

surrounding environment not considered to be a foreign language.

Target Language: The language used for CLIL.

Trans-languaging: Where more than one language is used in the CLIL

classroom environment.

IX. REFERENCES
www.coe.int/lang
www.clilcompendium.com
www.onestopenglish.com

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