TY - JOUR
T1 - Pluralistic Approaches to Languages in the Curriculum
T2 - The Case of French-speaking Switzerland, Spain and Austria
AU - Daryai-Hansen, Petra
AU - Gerber, Brigitte
AU - Lörincz, Ildikó
AU - Haller, Michaela
AU - Ivanova, Olga
AU - Krumm, Hans-Jürgen
AU - Reich, Hans H.
PY - 2015/1/2
Y1 - 2015/1/2
N2 - While the idea of plurilingual competence is widely established theoretically and promoted in European language policies, it is not implemented in educational practice, where separate plurilingualism is still dominant. The idea of languages as autonomous entities is e.g. reflected in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scales. The paper introduces to the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA). Pluralistic approaches use teaching and learning activities involving several (i.e. more than one) varieties of language, e.g. the language(s) of schooling, foreign languages, regional, minority and migration languages. FREPA thereby offers tools to put the theoretical insights and language policies into practice. The article illustrates how pluralistic approaches, in recent years, have been used in the process of large-scale national and regional curriculum renewals in Austria, French-speaking Switzerland and Spain. By promoting plurilingual education on the macro-level and including languages that are still neglected in most European curricula, these countries make a key contribution to diminishing discrepancy between theory and practice. The three cases manifest the context specificity of language-planning decisions and support supra-level comparisons by defining the specific aims and contents of plurilingual education. Furthermore, the curricular implementations offer the possibility to discuss the implementation in actual classroom practice.
AB - While the idea of plurilingual competence is widely established theoretically and promoted in European language policies, it is not implemented in educational practice, where separate plurilingualism is still dominant. The idea of languages as autonomous entities is e.g. reflected in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scales. The paper introduces to the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA). Pluralistic approaches use teaching and learning activities involving several (i.e. more than one) varieties of language, e.g. the language(s) of schooling, foreign languages, regional, minority and migration languages. FREPA thereby offers tools to put the theoretical insights and language policies into practice. The article illustrates how pluralistic approaches, in recent years, have been used in the process of large-scale national and regional curriculum renewals in Austria, French-speaking Switzerland and Spain. By promoting plurilingual education on the macro-level and including languages that are still neglected in most European curricula, these countries make a key contribution to diminishing discrepancy between theory and practice. The three cases manifest the context specificity of language-planning decisions and support supra-level comparisons by defining the specific aims and contents of plurilingual education. Furthermore, the curricular implementations offer the possibility to discuss the implementation in actual classroom practice.
U2 - 10.1080/14790718.2014.948877
DO - 10.1080/14790718.2014.948877
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1479-0718
VL - 12
SP - 109
EP - 127
JO - International Journal of Multilingualism
JF - International Journal of Multilingualism
IS - 1
ER -