scholarly journals European identity and multilingualism

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-260
Author(s):  
Damir Velički ◽  
Katarina Aladrović Slovaček
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
The European Union

n the official documents that regulate certain segments of education in Croatia, the terms Europe and European (identity) appear. In this paper the authors analyse the concept of European identity and reach the conclusion that it has not been unambiguously defined. The term European identity is closely connected within the European Union with multilingualism. Through a policy of multilingualism, the European Union strives to preserve language diversity in Europe. The authors of this paper start from the question of whether foreign language learning increases the feeling of being connected to Europe and present the results of a study that was conducted at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb in 2018/19.

scholarly journals A Cross-Departmental Approach to Supporting Students with a Disability Affecting Foreign Language Acquisition

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Lys ◽  
Alison May ◽  
Jeanne Ravid
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Foreign Language Study ◽  
Foreign Language Requirement ◽  
Language Requirement ◽  
Important Objective

Abstract In order to enhance mobility, competitiveness, and opportunities for work, the European Union lists the ability to communicate in a foreign language and to understand another culture as an important objective in their language education policy. Knowledge of a foreign language is also an important objective for many American universities, which require students to study a foreign language as a prerequisite to graduate. Students with documented disabilities affecting the learning of a foreign language or students with poor foreign language learning skills, therefore, pose a significant challenge, since a foreign language requirement may prevent such students from graduating unless universities are willing to make special arrangements such as having students graduate without fulfilling the requirement or letting them take substitution classes. The question of what to do with such students is at the heart of this article. It describes how one mid-sized private university with a two-year language proficiency requirement has approached the problem to ensure that policies are implemented fairly. Rather than pulling students out of the foreign language classroom, the university succeeded in keeping students engaged with foreign language study through advising and mentoring across departments

scholarly journals Interactions between European Citizenship and Language Learning among Adolescent Europeans

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mairin Hennebry
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Young People ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Member State ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Questionnaire Data ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Citizenship ◽  
The Subject

Recent enlargement of the European Union (EU) has created debate as to the suitability of current structures and policies for effectively engaging citizens and developing social cohesion. Education and specifically modern foreign language (MFL) teaching are argued by the literature to play a key role in equipping young people to interact and communicate effectively in the ever-changing European context and to exercise their rights as European citizens. However, much of the empirical research to date has focused on adult understandings of European citizenship. Furthermore, very few studies consider whether current MFL teaching is addressing issues of European citizenship or offer a comparison of provision between one member state and another. This study presents questionnaire data from four European countries to investigate young people's current understanding and awareness of European citizenship and the perceived contribution of their language learning experience to this awareness. Findings suggest that knowledge about European citizenship is patchy across the four countries. Reports on learning in MFL lessons indicate a mismatch between the role identified for the subject in the development of European citizenship and the situation in the classroom. Data gathered from English pupils suggest that these issues are more acute in England than they are in France, Spain or Ireland.

Teachers' Experience as Foreign Language Online Learners

2014 ◽  
pp. 41-59
Author(s):  
Congcong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
K 12

Due to the continuing linguistic and cultural diversity among K-12 students in the US and across the English-speaking world and the increasing influence of digital technologies on learning, this qualitative study was conducted to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions of learning a foreign language online, and how such experience influences teaching linguistically, culturally, and technologically diverse students. Participants comprised 35 teacher education students, all of whom took a 9-week online Chinese language/culture course. A variety of surveys with closed and open-ended questions were conducted before, during, and after the course. Data were collected online and then coded and analyzed. The participants’ responses suggested that: 1) new forms of online learning were engaging to teacher-learners with diverse learning styles, prior technological experience, needs, and goals; 2) the pre-service teachers perceived that online foreign language learning during their teacher education program enhanced their linguistic, cultural, and technological awareness; and 3) the participants felt that they benefited from being prepared to work with linguistic, cultural, and technological diversity in classrooms. This study has implications for similar contexts around the world.

scholarly journals Intercomprehension – A Mere Dream or a New Way of Learning in Globalised World?

Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3(60)) ◽  
pp. 155-166
Author(s):  
Dominika Dzik
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Global Trade ◽  
Global Communication ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Unknown System

Nowadays, due to the increased mobility of people and a rapidly developing global trade, a knowledge of more than one foreign language is indispensable. However, mastering several languages throughout a lifetime seems to be an unattainable goal. One of the possible solutions to this problem is the use of English for global communication. But owing to the fact that in the European Union, considerable emphasis is placed on preserving linguistic and cultural diversity, there is a need to increase intercommunication between people speaking different languages. The present paper discusses the concept of intercomprehension, which is recently proven to be the most effective approach to language learning. Its main aim is to encourage students to rely on the similarities that exist between languages belonging to the same family in order to be able to deal with comprehension problems. This concept focuses primarily on mastering receptive skills, which are crucial in the process of decoding the messages expressed in an unknown system. The paper also reports on the advantages of intercomprehension and methodology that could be applied to the process of developing each individuals’ competence.

scholarly journals Teachers' Experience as Foreign Language Online Learners

2014 ◽  
pp. 89-107
Author(s):  
Congcong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
K 12

Due to the continuing linguistic and cultural diversity among K-12 students in the US and across the English-speaking world and the increasing influence of digital technologies on learning, this qualitative study was conducted to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions of learning a foreign language online, and how such experience influences teaching linguistically, culturally, and technologically diverse students. Participants comprised 35 teacher education students, all of whom took a 9-week online Chinese language/culture course. A variety of surveys with closed and open-ended questions were conducted before, during, and after the course. Data were collected online and then coded and analyzed. The participants' responses suggested that: 1) new forms of online learning were engaging to teacher-learners with diverse learning styles, prior technological experience, needs, and goals; 2) the pre-service teachers perceived that online foreign language learning during their teacher education program enhanced their linguistic, cultural, and technological awareness; and 3) the participants felt that they benefited from being prepared to work with linguistic, cultural, and technological diversity in classrooms. This study has implications for similar contexts around the world.

scholarly journals Teacher education

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-95
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Teacher Professional

05–188Comber, Barbara (U of South Australia, Australia; [email protected]), Making use of theories about literacy and justice: teachers re-searching practice. Educational Action Research (Oxford, UK) 13.1 (2005), 11–26.05–189Gu, Qing (Nottingham U, UK; [email protected]), Intercultural experience and teacher professional development. RELC Journal (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) 36.1 (2005), 5–22.05–190Heilbronn, Ruth (Institute of Education, U of London, UK; [email protected]), The National Strategy for KS3 and its application to modern foreign language teaching. Language Learning Journal (Rugby, UK) 30 (2004), 42–49.05–191Orland-Barak, Lily (Haifa U, Israel), Portfolios as evidence of reflective practice: what remains ‘untold’. Educational Research (London, UK) 47.1 (2005), 25–44.05–192Tsou, Wenli (National U of Taiwan, China; [email protected]), The effects of cultural instruction on foreign language learning. RELC Journal (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) 36.1 (2005), 39–57.05–193Walkington, Jackie (Canberra U, Australia), Becoming a teacher: encouraging development of teacher identity through reflective practice. Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education (ATEA, Australia) 33.1 (2005), 53–64.05–194Zacharias, Nugrahenny T. (Satya Wacana Christian U of Indonesia, Indonesia; [email protected]), Teachers' beliefs about internationally-published materials: a survey of tertiary English teachers in Indonesia. RELC Journal (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) 36.1 (2005), 23–37.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Learning a Foreign Language Online

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Congcong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
K 12

Due to the continuing linguistic and cultural diversity among K-12 students in the US and across the English-speaking world and the increasing influence of digital technologies on learning, this qualitative study explores pre-service teachers’ perceptions of learning a foreign language online, and how such experience influence teaching linguistically, culturally, and technologically diverse students in the U.S. Participants comprised 35 teacher education students, all of whom took a 9-week online Chinese language/culture course designed specifically for pre-service teachers. Surveys with closed and open-ended questions were conducted before, during, and after the course. Data were collected online and then coded and analyzed. The participants’ responses suggested that: 1) new forms of online learning were engaging to teacher-learners with diverse learning styles, prior technological experience, needs and goals; 2) the pre-service teachers perceived that online foreign language learning during their teacher education program enhanced their linguistic, cultural and technological awareness; and 3) the participants felt that they benefited from being prepared to work with linguistic, cultural, and technological diversity in classrooms. This study has implications for similar contexts around the world.

scholarly journals Frühe Mehrsprachigkeit in Slowenien

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 501-517
Author(s):  
Andreja Retelj
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Added Value ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Language Schools

In many documents, the European Union has set the promotion and development of multilingualism as a goal and commitment. Although many foreign and domestic studies demonstrate the benefits of early foreign language learning/second language acquisition, and thus the development of early multilingualism, the decision to involve pre-school children in various forms of language learning is solely in the hands of parents. Parents who enrol their children in foreign language activities can choose between different private providers – language schools – as there is no foreign language kindergarten in the compulsory programme. Some kindergartens offer language classes, mostly English, given by external providers, but there is a fee for this offer. Since there is no systematically regulated foreign language teaching in preschool in Slovenia, we were interested in the attitudes of parents whose children go to kindergarten towards early foreign language learning and early multilingualism. The results of the research, which included parents of kindergarten children from all statistical regions of Slovenia, show that multilingualism has positive connotations and that parents perceive multilingualism as an added value that should be developed from childhood, as it allows children to learn about other cultures and other languages during a period that is extremely favourable for learning a foreign language, and does not represent any additional effort. At the same time, the results also clearly show that a large proportion of parents understand multilingualism to mean learning English and not necessarily other languages. However, this tells us that it will be necessary to invest quite a bit of effort in informing parents and the public about the real benefits of speaking more languages.

scholarly journals FRUSTRATION AND HOPE: A REVIEW OF THE RESPONSE UNDERTAKEN IN NATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMES TO LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED RATES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Education ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition ◽  
National Programmes

 This review and discussion focused on surveys and reports regarding the rate of foreign language acquisition and attainment within national compulsory education systems, academic analyses of the results obtained, and national programmes and initiatives designed to address the shortcomings revealed in them.  The proposed reasons for lower-than-expected acquisition and attainment in foreign language learning within countries including the European Union, Colombia, Vietnam and Ecuador were reviewed in detail. These reasons, and the measures undertaken as a result to remedy these flaws, were evaluated through a comparison with recent academic research relating to these factors, and through com- parison between the different experiences revealed in the surveys and reports.  These comparisons found that some of the measures undertaken were fit for purpose and were likely to yield some improvements in acquisition rate, although to a lesser extent than those projected by some of the national programmes, while identifying some aspects which have been overlooked. The conclusion highlighted in which aspects of the teaching and learning of foreign languages requires greater focus is needed in order to effect the desired changes.  

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