Is English still the dominant language of higher education? – LRE is a panelist in Guardian live chat

Posted on by
Reply

Language Rich Europe is looking forward to being a panelist on tomorrow’s Guardian live chat - Is English still the dominant language of higher education?

Join the panel on the Guardian’s website on 15 February from 12-2pm GMT for a live chat on issues such as whether global higher education is being dominated by one language and what the implications of this might be on institutions.

The live chat is in partnership with ETS TOEFL and panelists include:

You can read more about Language Rich Europe’s research into languages in higher education institutions on our website:

Language Rich Europe launch – Denmark

Posted on by
1

In the latest of our launch events, Language Rich Europe will be launching the results of its research in Denmark on 6 February 2013. The programme is as follows:

Welcome: Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen, Director, Danish Language Council

Presentation of LRE project: Aneta Quraishy, LRE Senior Project Manager, British Council

Presentation of LRE results: Professor Guus Extra, Tilburg University

Languages in Denmark in 3 language monitors, LRE, ELM and META-net: Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen

Multilingualism in Denmark: Writer and Adj. prof. Peter Harder, Copenhagen Business School, Network for multilingualism ‘Ja-til sprog‘

Questions and panel discussion.

There will also be live-tweeting from the event from Language Rich Europe’s twitter account

You can read the results of the Denmark LRE research in Danish and English on our website.

Language Rich Europe 2012 roundup

Posted on by
Reply

Image

2012 has been a good year for Language Rich Europe as we took to project from behind the research scenes into the public arena. You can follow us via the website, blog and on twitter (with now over a 1000 followers). We have launched the project and generated debate in all participating countries (although we have the Denmark event to look forward to in February). Workshops on research results, local language issues and thematic topics ranging from business, to media and education have taken place and we of course had a vibrant group of over 160 Language Rich Europe partners and stakeholders come together in London in December for the first international conference. That is not to say that LRE over the year has not also been presented at and engaged with many external conferences and events.

In 2013 Language Rich Europe fans have the following few example points to looks forward to:

- An enhancement of the existing website by added multilingual components.

- An opportunity to play with our research data to pull out your own comparisons and reports.

- Language Rich Europe recommendations at European and local level to be presented to EU and Council of Europe Policy makers.

- A final Language Rich Europe Conference in Brussels in March 2013.

- The LRE publication available in 20 languages.

Simon Ingram-Hill of course took over as Project Director in September 2012, but I leave you with some words from previous Project Director, Martin Hope. A nice video put together by our sponsor Rosetta Stone. Thank you.

I hope 2013 brings you all much linguistic diversity, fun and passion.

Yours,

Aneta Quraishy, LRE Senior Project Manager

Key Findings: Languages in Primary Education

Posted on by
2

Language Rich Europe research provides a rich source of cross-national insights into multilingualism across the education sectors. You can browse all the national/regional profiles or simply focus on primary education by reading on:

Image

ORGANISATION

  • According to both the EU and CoE, all young European children should learn two languages in addition to the national language(s) of the country in which they reside.
  • In primary education, apart from Italy and Ukraine, all countries/regions offer extra support for newcomers in learning the national language.
  • Apart from Wales, all countries/regions report foreign language provision in primary education. Denmark and Greece make two foreign languages compulsory, while 18 countries/regions have one compulsory foreign language. In England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, foreign languages are optional.
  • Foreign languages are taught from the first year of primary in 12 of the countries surveyed, from the mid-phase in seven, and from the final phase only in the Netherlands, Scotland and Switzerland.
  • English, French and German emerge as the most commonly taught foreign languages. In many cases, one of these languages is the compulsory subject to be studied by all pupils. Italian, Russian and Spanish are other languages offered either as compulsory or optional foreign languages.
  • Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is widespread for foreign languages only in Spain, while this approach is being used in 13 other countries/regions, although not systematically.
  • Seven countries/regions report using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) explicitly in foreign language learning, although more may base their national/regional standards on its principles and approaches. A1/A2 is the CEFR target for this age group of foreign language learning.
  • Apart from Denmark and Estonia, Regional/Minority languages are offered in 22 countries/regions. R/M language classes and lessons in other subjects taught through R/M languages are open to all pupils irrespective of language background in 20 countries/regions, although Bulgaria and Greece only target native speakers of these languages. The offer is rich in a number of countries/regions, with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine offering four or more R/M languages either as subjects or, in the majority of cases, as a medium of instruction. Twelve countries/regions report widespread CLIL, with another six reporting it in some areas.
  • Only five countries/regions report offering immigrant languages at primary level. These are Austria, Denmark, France, Spain and Switzerland (in the canton of Zurich). In France and Switzerland, immigrant language classes are open to all pupils, while in Austria, Denmark and Spain they are reserved for native speakers of immigrant languages. Spain and Switzerland offer lessons partly in school hours, whereas in the other countries they are offered as extra-curricular activities. Achievement in immigrant languages is not linked to any national, regional or school-based standards, although the development of language skills is monitored in all countries. Lessons in immigrant languages are fully funded by the state in Austria and Denmark, whereas in France, Spain and Switzerland they are mainly supported by the country of origin.

Image

TEACHING

  • In primary education qualified language teachers are employed to teach languages as follows in the countries/ regions surveyed: 16 out of 24 in the national language, 17 out of 22 in R/M languages, 14 out of 23 in foreign languages, and two out of five in immigrant languages. In Austria, England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Switzerland, foreign languages are taught by generally qualified classroom teachers. Pre-service and in-service training is widespread in most countries/regions except for immigrant languages.
  • A clear area for development in foreign language teaching is teacher mobility: nine countries/regions out of 24 report having no support at all in this area, and only Catalonia and Switzerland report structured teacher mobility programmes. More should be done to stimulate language teachers to spend more time in the country of the language they are teaching to acquire higher level linguistic and cultural competencies.
  • A number of countries/regions are taking active measures to increase the supply of language teachers. Basque Country, Denmark, Estonia and Switzerland are recruiting national language teachers. Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Friesland, Hungary, Lithuania and Ukraine are recruiting extra foreign language teachers. Basque Country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain and Ukraine are recruiting R/M language teachers. None of the countries/regions surveyed are actively recruiting immigrant language teachers.

Scottish Parliament launches inquiry into foreign language learning

Posted on by
2

On Friday 14 December 2012 the Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee launched an inquiry into the teaching of foreign languages in primary schools:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/56920.aspx

“Earlier this year, the Government recommended that children should learn a second language from Primary 1 and that learning of a third language should start no later than Primary 5. The Committee has determined that it wants to look at this policy aim, the capacity within the curriculum for this, and the role of languages in supporting the economy.

The Committee would welcome views from parents, teachers and pupils for its inquiry. A call for views has been published at the Committee’s website at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/57808.aspx

Issues to be explored in the Committee’s investigations include funding (including use of EU funds); the skills base and teaching resources available for language tuition; the capacity within the curriculum to accommodate greater language study; the choice of languages for teaching; and the role of languages in economic development.”

 

You may also be interested in the Language Rich Europe research in Scotland and the following blog posts:

 

- Language Rich Europe hits the headlines

- Scotland – a multilingual country?

- Edwin Morgan – poetry’s ambassador for multilingualism

 

What has Language Rich Europe been up to lately?

Aside

Language Rich Europe has had a very busy few months! In this post, LRE Director Simon Ingram-Hill reflects on some of the project’s recent activity.

After the launch events across the 25 participating European countries and regions this summer and the 50+ consultative workshops so far held, there was major LRE media coverage in a number of countries not least Scotland on 26 November about the lack of foreign language competence in UK hurting British business competitiveness.

We have just held our first major international conference at the British Academy with 160 policy makers and high level practitioners, debating key results from the research findings. British Council CEO Martin Davidson then launched the English version to 250 stakeholders of LRE’s CUP publication ‘Trends in Language Policies and Practices for Multilingualism in Europe’.

Other indications of how seriously this project is being taken: the full report is to be published in 19 other languages; we presented LRE to the all-party parliamentary committee on Modern Languages at the House of Lords on 10 December; key recommendations are being formulated for presentation at the European Parliament Brussels on 5 March.

And best? At the Report’s launch Caroline Parker signed a number of songs to much applause reprising her acclaimed performance at the Paralympics 2012 opening ceremony. Sign language by the way is an official minority language in many European countries.

Caroline Parker signs songs

Find out more from Simon Ingram-Hill and the Language Rich Europe website

Language Rich Europe in the Netherlands – Multilingualism in Business and Education

Posted on by
1

lre- pin wheel logo300x267As part of the Language Rich Europe project, we are holding workshops across Europe to discuss the findings and plan the next steps. In this blog post, Lorcan Murray, an intern at British Council Netherlands, writes about the workshop held in Utrecht in November.

Much ado about Language

On an unseasonably warm and sunny day, Projects Team Netherlands made its way to the heart of the country, to the lovely city of Utrecht (which meant Lorcán, the intern, had a much shorter commute, so he was happier than usual!). Our purpose was to host a Language Rich Europe workshop with our partners Levende Talen and Mercator, at the wonderful location of Silverijn, on multilingualism in business and education.

We arrived nice and early to deal with last minute preparations (“put the banner over there. No, over there. Hmm, a bit more the left.”) and panics (“What do you mean, you don’t know where the name badges are?!”), and welcomed our seventy invitees to arrive in dibs and drabs. Some arrived too early; some arrived unfashionably late, but eventually we were all gathered for the introduction from Toon van der Ven, the Chairman of Levende Talen and moderator of the afternoon, which kicked-off the programme.

Mr van der Ven was followed by a panel consisting of Ms Sena Dora International Account Manager at ABN AMRO (about being multilingual at a bank), Ms Debbie Ceiler, director of secondary school Bernardinus College (about her school offering a wide language programme), Dr. Michel Wauthion, Education attaché at the French Embassy in The Hague (about the situation on foreign languages offered in secondary education in France) and Professor Guus Extra (about LRE results for Netherlands and other European countries). Each panel member ended the discussion with a thought provoking point of view. Unfortunately, Your Humble Author was unable to witness this panel discussion, as, well; someone had to welcome the late-comers!

Fortunately, Your Humble Author was able to take part in one of the four group workshops, with each group containing a panel member, and so off we all split to our designated rooms. (Your Humble Author was in Group 4. Group 4 was the best group.) In these groups we discussed the point of view put forward by our respective panel member. In the case of Your Humble Author, it was foreign languages offered in France and the interesting idea of entrelinguisme – where you learn several similar languages at the same time, in this case French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian – was debated.

After all too short a time, the lively and interesting discussion was drawn to a close and we all reconvened to relay our findings and recommendations to the other groups. The findings of group 4? That there needs to be a more national consistency in language teaching, rather than have every school have a different language policy. Since you cannot speak every language, the need to be selective in which languages we teach is paramount. How do we choose? Unfortunately, that question proved too big for the timeframe!

The programme came to a close with a nice lecture from Jacomine Nortier from Universiteit Utrecht about the advantages and prejudice of multilingualism, including a delightful video example of code switching: a child switching between English, French, and Filipino in the same sentence!

And so the day came to end with a borreltje in the gezellig basement of Silverijn, and an excellent chance to network. Proost!