Download the text "Specifying languages’ contribution to intercultural education. Lessons learned from the CEFR"

Download the French version of the text "Specifying languages’ contribution to intercultural education. Lessons learned from the CEFR" (Spécifier la contribution des langues à l’éducation interculturelle. Les enseignements du CECR)

Overview

The humanist perspective of language teaching, the continuation of a long-standing cultural tradition in Europe, has now led to a didactic approach we have come to call intercultural education, designed to allow learners to react thoughtfully when they come into contact with the various forms that otherness can take. The aim of this text is twofold: to put the concept of intercultural education in practical terms and to posit the necessary conditions for specifying those terms, in other words, the criteria that any corresponding benchmark instruments should meet. The CEFR is used as a reference instrument. That does not mean “singling out” parts of the CEFR that may be useful elsewhere, but rather drawing support from its approach and structure.

Download the text "Multicultural Societies, Pluricultural People and the Project of Intercultural Education"

Download the French version of the text "Multicultural Societies, Pluricultural People and the Project of Intercultural Education" (Sociétés multiculturelles et individus pluriculturels : le projet de l'éducation interculturelle)

Overview

Contemporary societies are multicultural and Europe as a whole is multicultural. It was ever thus but the complexity is increasing as a consequence of mobility and migration. It is important to clarify the impact of this societal phenomenon on individuals who are potentially or actually pluricultural as a consequence of experiencing multicultural social life. The threats to social cohesion which increased multiculturalism brings, have to be counter-acted by education for intercultural dialogue which depends on intercultural competence. Compulsory education is thus required to respond to this situation by developing learners' intercultural competence. It can do so through language education which introduces learners to other cultures external or internal to their own society. Educational systems can also give learners access to other cultures and their discourses within the curriculum, i.e. the cultures of the different subjects and the identification with the specific modes of being and perceiving which inhere in each subject and group of subjects, for example in history as a subject and in the social sciences as a whole. The school thus introduces learners to different kinds of culture, a concept that hence needs careful definition.

Contents

• 1. Complex phenomena, concepts and terminology
• 2. European societies are multicultural societies
• 3. European societies are plural societies
• 4. Pluricultural people with intercultural competence
• 5. Intercultural dialogue and social cohesion
• 6. Intercultural education and multicultural societies

Download the text "Plurilingual and pluricultural competence (rev. 2009)" 

Download the French version of the text "Plurilingual and pluricultural competence" (Compétence plurilingue et pluriculturelle [rév. 2009])

Download the English version of "The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters"

Download the French version of "The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters"  (Autobiographie des rencontres interculturelles)

Download the Italian version of "The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters" (Autobiografia degli Incontri Interculturali)

Download the Polish version of "The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters" (Autobiografia spotkań międzykulturowych)

Download the Russian version of "The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters" (Дневник межкультурного общения)

The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters has been developed to promote intercultural dialogue. It is a personal tool that encourages users to think about and learn from intercultural encounters that have made a strong impression on them. It is suitable for cross-curricular and general use in formal and non-formal educational contexts.

An intercultural encounter can be an experience between people from different countries, but it can also be an experience with individuals from other cultural backgrounds within the same country for example from other regional, linguistic, ethnic or religious backgrounds. Therefore, the Autobiography aims to promote respect for diversity both nationally and across borders.

The website of the "Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters" is available in 5 further languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Russian.

Download the text "Languages and identities"

Download the French version of the text "Languages and identities" (Langues et identités)

Download the text "Intercultural Competence"

Download the French version of the text "Intercultural Competence" (Compétence interculturelle)

Download the text "Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching – A practical introduction for teachers"

Download the French version of the text "Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching – A practical introduction for teachers" (Développer la dimension interculturelle dans l’enseignement des langues – une introduction pratique à l’usage des enseignants)

Download the French version of the text "Sociocultural competence in language learning and teaching" (La compétence socioculturelle dans l'apprentissage et l'enseignement des langues vivantes)

Download the text "Young people facing difference"

Download the French version of the text "Young people facing difference" (Les jeunes confrontés à la différence)