From a language teaching perspective, neighbouring language can have a significant influence on peoples’ future desire to learn other languages. To develop language skills, role models who motivate language acquisition through positive emotions are needed: languages should be perceived as valuable and useful. In this context, a border region plays a key role because it represents geographical, social, historical, economic and political proximity to the neighbouring language and country. This proximity provides unique opportunities in language teaching (that are often neglected in everyday teaching practice).

Among other things, it provides an opportunity to achieve intercultural competences in the neighbour country in a unique way, because in border regions you can be ‘both cognitively and emotionally’ at home in more than one cultural area. However, this requires fundamental changes in the attitudes that people on both sides of the border have towards each other. It also requires changes in the way people identify with the border region. A neighbouring languages approach can help to promote these desirable changes, but it also requires language policy measures that promote the learning of the neighbouring languages (cf. Polzin-Haumann, Putsche and Reissner 2019; Raasch 1999/2002/2005).

For didactic purposes, border regions offer unique opportunities and unique learning spaces. By crossing borders, people can experience the neighbouring language and intercultural situations in an everyday context and this can happen from a very early age. The neighbours’ language and culture can be discovered concretely and in direct interaction with native speakers. In this way students can experience that the neighbouring language is useful in everyday life while building bridges to each other across borders.

The model was further developed in the context of action research, especially in the French-German border region Alsace/Baden Wurttemberg (cf. Faucompré 2014, 2017, 2018; Faucompré and Putsche 2015, 2017; Putsche 2013, 2016; Putsche and Faucompré 2016, 2017). 

It is important for border region didactics is to start from the specific living environment of learners. A first step is to ask oneself questions like: What are my learners interested in at the moment (in their free time, at school,…)? What is important to them? Have they already had experience of the border region? Have they taken part in an exchange or internship?, etc. You can also discuss these questions with your students and discover experiences, challenges and needs together. According to your reflection and/or discussion, you can choose authentic linguistic material from the border region for your language classes, e.g. a flyer from a museum, food advertisement, a company website, etc. Depending on the professional sector, you can also combine language learning with vocational content. In this way, teachers can facilitate and support the students' motivation, awareness and reflection processes. 

But how can we talk about neighbouring languages?

References in Danish, French and German

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