Multicompetence Approaches to Language Proficiency Development in Multilingual Education

2008 ◽  
pp. 1552-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Jessner
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Multilingual Education

scholarly journals TEACHING LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svitlana Vavilina
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Integrated Learning ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Teacher Language ◽  
Multilingual Education ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Individual Support ◽  
Instructional Technique ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

The article looks at the prospects of multilingual education in Ukraine. Upon examination of the number of government initiatives, it becomes clear that higher education of Ukraine is open for innovations that will allow Ukrainian students and graduates participate in academic and professional mobility within the European Community. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is one of the approaches that have been introduced to meet the needs of rapid internationalization in European universities. Its relevance to teaching languages for specific purposes has been shown by demonstrating the correlation between the main dimensions of this approach and the four components of professional intercultural communicative competence. The main focus is on the methods and techniques that a language teacher should be aware of in order to be able to teach in a language-sensitive way. To achieve this there must be a clear understanding of differences in acquiring basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. The implications are that the former can be acquired implicitly in the process of active learning, while the latter can be developed only with the use of cognitively demanding tasks. Thus, teacher language awareness requires metacognitive thinking that help teachers plan and teach their lessons efficiently. This research supports the argument that academic skills should be taught by means of scaffolding, an instructional technique of providing individual support that enables learners to build on prior knowledge and internalize new concepts. Therefore, under these conditions, CLIL teachers should certainly opt for explicit instruction and integrate this type of strategies into their classes.

Multilingualism across the lifespan and its impact on brain health in the elderly

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Leca
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
European Population ◽  
Cognitive Health ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Multilingual Education ◽  
Constructive Dialogue

Abstract The highest percentage of population aged 60 or over is currently to be found in Europe. Over the coming decades, Europe is estimated to remain the continent with the oldest people. By 2050, the European population aged 60 or over will exceed 30 %, and those aged 80 or above will be approximately 12 % of the total EU population. Due to this demographic change, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases associated with ageing is also expected to increase. Ensuring a smoother transition to an older population by preserving the cognitive health of European seniors may therefore be one of the most important challenges of the following decades. This paper critically examines the latest studies investigating the putative role of multilingualism in delaying cognitive decline by contributing to the cognitive health preservation. “Cognitive reserve” AND “multilingualism”, “cognitive reserve” AND “bilingualism”, “cognitive decline” AND “bilingualism” were used as keywords for study retrieval in searching the Web of Science, Pubmed, and PsychInfo databases for English-language research articles. Despite some controversies, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting multilingualism may play a significant role in preserving cognitive health in the elderly by enhancing cognitive reserve. The roles of language proficiency and the age of acquisition, as well as the number of languages spoken, are also considered in maximizing the positive effects in the elderly. The significance of these results, in the European context of population ageing, in bringing together cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, linguists and educationists in a constructive dialogue, with the aim of promoting lifespan multilingual education with a role in preserving cognitive health in the elderly, are also discussed.

Languages of schooling in European policymaking: present state and future outcomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Lorenzo ◽  
Fernando Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Multilingual Education ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Future Outcomes ◽  
European Language Policies

AbstractEuropean language policies have unfolded under the umbrella of the Council of Europe and the European Commission over the last past decades. The major goal has been so far to handle autochthonous multilingualism and preserve language diversity. Major developments in this area has been followed by new political and educational targets. The first one is the spread of high levels of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) across all the student population. High CALP levels imply the acquisition of high order skills triggered by the practice of advanced language structures at school, mostly through language across the curriculum schemes. Secondly, their interests lie in the development of second language instruction competence (SLIC); i.e. the ability to process school content in a variety of languages so that multilingual education does not affect communicative levels only. CALP and SLIC will mark the political goals for language policy in the nearby future and it so happens that languages of schooling provide a framework to operationalize these goals. Following on past research on European multilingual language policies, this paper intends to explore the means to make this language policy happen in schools. The major concepts, innovations and policies discussed will be illustrated with examples from the course of History.

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