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Language Support
for Adult Refugees

menu
  • Home
  • Introduction
    • The Council of Europe and language policy for migrants/refugees
    • Refugees: some essential background
    • Cultural and language awareness
    • Language learning
    • Guidelines, overview of the sections and FAQs
  • Preparation & Planning
    • Some points to think about
    • Needs analysis
    • Planning content
  • Activities
    • Getting started
    • Learning vocabulary
    • Thinking about language learning
    • Scenarios for language support
    • Mapping journeys and interacting with the host community
  • Resources
    • List of all tools
    • Glossary
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    • Selection of links
    • Language support to children
  • About the Toolkit
    • Piloting
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You are here:
  1. Democracy and Human Dignity
  2. Language support for adult refugees
  1. Resources/
  2. Glossary/

Glossary

Asylum seeker

An asylum seeker is someone who, by making an application for asylum, asks another country (not their country of origin) to provide protection against persecution. Seeking asylum is regulated by international agreements, such as the Geneva Convention or the Dublin III Regulation, as well as by national law.

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (Council of Europe, 2001) describes what language users/learners can do in the languages they know and provides a basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, the design of teaching and learning materials, and the assessment of foreign language proficiency.

CEFR website: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment

Communicative situations

Situations in which two or more people interact with each other for a given purpose. The situation may be face-to-face or by means of a telephone (oral communication), or it may involve e-mail, SMS messages or other written forms of communication. Elements of the context usually influence communication.

Domain

A broad sector of social life. Major domains relevant to language learning/teaching and analysed in the CEFR are: educational, occupational, public, and personal.

European Language Portfolio (ELP)

Developed by the Council Europe as a companion piece to the CEFR and used to manage and document language learning and support learner self-assessment.

ELP pages have been developed for adult migrants and can be found at www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/instruments

Functions, communicative

The purposes for which language is used in communication, such as inviting, apologizing, enquiring, narrating etc.

Host community, Host country

A society which refugees have joined, or a country they have arrived in, sometimes in transit but often with the intention of remaining for a certain period or permanently

Informal learning

“Learning that takes place outside schools and colleges and arises from the learner’s involvement in activities that are not undertaken with a learning purpose in mind” (See also:  ‘non-formal learning’).

See also: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/formal-non-formal-and-informal-learning

Intercultural awareness

Involves awareness of other cultures in relation to one’s own. The Council of Europe promotes a view of intercultural awareness that is founded on tolerance, respect for diversity, and avoidance of stereotyping.

See also: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/awareness-raising-intercultural-

Language repertoire, linguistic repertoire

The language or languages that a person can use to communicate in different contexts and for different purposes. When a person’s repertoire includes two or more languages, it is quite usual for him or her not to have the same level of proficiency in each language.

See also: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/repertoire-language-

Learning preferences

The ways in which individuals prefer to learn or are best able to learn, for example by using visual images, making associations between different concepts, learning by heart, repetition  etc.

Legal status

The status according to law of persons in migration situations, for example, asylum seeker, refugee, resident etc.

Linguistic capital

An individual’s accumulated knowledge and experience of using languages, and competence in them.

See also Language repertoire

Literate / Literacy

Concerns a person’s ability to read and write in one or more languages, and the degree of competence they have in reading and writing.

See also:

  • www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/literacy
  • www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/literacy-profiles

Mediator, linguistic ~

A person who facilitates communication between individuals where one or both parties may have difficulty, perhaps because they speak different languages, have low proficiency in the language of communication or are unfamiliar with the terminology being used.

Migrant

The Council of Europe uses the term ‘migrant’ to refer to all those who have migrated, including asylum seekers, those who have obtained refugees status or a similar type of protection, and so-called ‘economic migrants’.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) defines a migrant as any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away from his/her habitual place of residence, regardless of the person’s legal status.

Multilingual

The Council of Europe uses “multilingual” to refer to societies, regions or countries where two or more languages are spoken (see “plurilingual”)

Needs, communicative ~

The linguistic resources that learners must acquire in order to be able to communicate in a given range of situations.

See: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/tailor-made-courses

Non-formal learning

“Learning that takes place outside formal learning environments but within some kind of organisational framework. It [….] is the result of intentional effort, but it need not follow a formal syllabus or be governed by external accreditation and assessment.” (See also ‘informal learning’)

See: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/formal-non-formal-and-informal-learning

Plurilingual

The Council of Europe uses “plurilingual” to refer to persons who are able to communicate, at whatever level of proficiency, in two or more languages.

See also “multilingual”.

Profile, linguistic ~

The language and literacy characteristics of an individual (or group), specifying their level of competence in different languages, their ability to listen and speak, read and write, in different communicative situations, etc.

Realia

Real objects, such as items of food, personal possessions etc., that can be used in language activities to aid understanding and relate learning to the real world.

Reference levels

Progressive steps in acquiring a language, described in the CEFR as levels (for CEFR see above).

See also: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/cefr-and-profiles

Refugee

For the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), refugees constitute a distinct group of people because they have left their home in response to serious threats to life and liberty.

Role-play

An activity for language support in which learners take the part of participants in an interaction, for example between a traveller and someone giving him or her information

Scenario

A social activity (such as looking for accommodation, buying clothes, going to a restaurant) consisting of a predictable sequence of communicative situations and involving language activities of different kinds.

See: www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/scenarios-in-language-teaching-and-learning-for-adult-migrants

Script

The writing system of a language, such as Arabic, Cyrillic (for Bulgarian, Russian etc.), Roman (for Italian, French, English etc.).

Self-assessment

The process of evaluating one’s own competence, for example in a language. The European Language Portfolio can be used for this purpose.

Stereotype

A commonly shared image of a person, social group, nationality etc. that is based on simplified, fixed and sometimes prejudicial ideas.

Tailor-made course

A course (here, a language course) that is designed to meet the specific needs of a particular group, based on their existing competence and their future communicative needs.

See also www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/tailor-made-courses

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  • List of all tools
    • List of all tools
  • Glossary
  • Web directories
  • Selection of links
  • Language support to children
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