Glossaire multilingue de termes clés de l’éducation aux langues

This term denotes learners of a similar age or persons following the same training or doing the same job (e.g. educators or teachers).

Concept proposed in 1993 (with further development in 2002) by J. Boutet. It refers to the role played by language (written or spoken) in a specified occupational task, as well as in more informal communicative practices at work – which, if ignored, may hinder proper integration at work. Linked to this are the issues of occupational culture and workplace sociability.

For more on informal aspects of workplace communication, see Teiger Catherine (1995), “Parler quand même : les fonctions des activités langagières non fonctionnelles”, in Borzeix Anni and Fraenkel Béatrice (eds.) (2001), Langage et travail, communication, cognition, action, CNRS Éditions, Paris, 379 .

A stakeholder is anybody who can affect or is affected by an organisation, strategy or project, for example an educational program. They can be internal or external and they can be at senior or junior level.

Another metaphor that can be applied usefully to the study of the Linguistic Landscape in metropolitan areas is the notion of cities as texts (Mondada 2000). Viewed in this light, cities are dense with signs that must be deciphered, read and interpreted by citizens who participate in the consumption of the moving, literary spectacle of the metropolis. Calvet (1994) signaled that the texts of cities are not equally accessible to all; they are relatively cryptic and readers must be culturally and linguistically informed to decipher their meanings. The texts of cities define and delimit who their readers are since they address particular audiences. […] Drawing children’ s attention to layered readings of texts in different languages of the linguistic landscape thus entails developing critical literacy so that they learn to listen to the multiple voices in their communities (Barton et al. 2000; Comber and Simpson 2001; Gutiérrez and Rogoff 2003). Critical literacy activities bring to the fore a reading of texts that makes more explicit to young readers the tensions between unity and discord in society and helps them situate the socio-historical contexts of written communication.¹

Children are encouraged to ask:

• What are the interests of the writers and readers of texts?
• What is at stake for them in producing and decoding texts?
• Who has power to determine what languages appear in texts?

The study of linguistic landscape aims to add another view to our knowledge about societal multilingualism by focusing on language choices, hierarchies of languages, contact-phenomena, regulations, and aspects of literacy. […] There is a clear link between identity theory, linguistic landscape theory and language learning.²

Key words

visibility, cities as texts, the readers of the texts of cities, layered readings of texts in different languages, critical literacy activities, language choices and hierarchies of languages, identity and languages

Eine andere Metapher, die zur Studie von Sprachenlandschaften im städtischen Kontext verwendet werden kann, ist das Konzept von Städten als Texte (Mondada, 2000). So betrachtet sind Städte voller Zeichen, die von teilnehmenden BürgerInnen, die die Metropolenshow konsumieren, interpretiert werden müssen. Calvet (1994) berichtet, dass die Texte der Städte nicht jeden gleichermaßen erreichen. Sie sind relativ undurchsichtig und die LeserInnen müssen über kulturelle und sprachliche Instrumente verfügen, um deren Sinn zu verstehen. Die Texte der Städte sprechen ihre Leserschaft an oder schließen diese aus, denn sie wenden sich an spezifische Zielgruppen [...] Indem die Jugendlichen auf mehrere Interpretationen der in mehreren Sprachen dargestellten Texte einer Sprachenlandschaft aufmerksam gemacht werden, wird kritisches Lesen gefördert: sie lernen auf verschiedene Stimmen in ihren Gemeinschaften zu hören (Barton et al., 2000; Comber und Simpson, 2001; Gutierrez und Rogoff, 2003). Durch kritische Leseaktivitäten können junge LeserInnen Spannungen zwischen Einheit und Kontrast in der Gesellschaft und die Rolle des wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Kontexts in der schriftlichen Kommunikation verstehen. SchülerInnen werden ermutigt, zu fragen:

• Was interessiert AutorIn und LeserIn?
• Wer entscheidet, welche Sprache(n) in einem Text verwendet werden sollen?

Die Analyse der Sprachenlandschaft zielt darauf ab, unserem Wissen über soziale Mehrsprachigkeit eine weitere Vision hinzuzufügen, indem sie sich auf Sprachenauswahl, Hierarchien von Sprache, Kontaktphänomene, Regeln und Aspekte der Alphabetisierung konzentriert. [...] Es besteht ein offensichtlicher Zusammenhang zwischen der Theorie der sprachlichen Identität, der Theorie der sprachlichen Landschaft und dem Sprachenlernen.

Schlüsselwörter

Sichtbarkeit, die städtische Landschaft als Lesetext, Hierarchien der Sprachen, Leseübungen, Sprachenauswahl, Identität und Sprachen

An approach to language education focusing on active real-life oriented use of language in learning and teaching as well as in assessment; builds on and goes beyond the communicative approach proposed in the 1970s. An action-oriented approach also takes into account the cognitive, emotional and volitional resources and the full range of abilities specific to and applied by the individual as a social agent (CEFR, 2001: 9)

Relevance is one of the principles of quality. Relevance refers to meeting the needs, objectives and purposes of the users in a way which is appropriate to the social, cultural and educational characteristics of the context.

To test a scheme, project, assessment activity etc. before introducing it more widely. (A pilot usually refers to something less extensive than pre-testing).

Workplace (place de travail in Swiss French, lieu de travail in France) describes the visible environment where work is performed, including the physical environment (space, temperature, noise, tools), the human environment (colleagues, present either physically or virtually – e.g. via phone, walkie talkies, or the internet) and the organisational environment (shift rotas, repetitive or varied work). The invisible context, such as the legal framework, the different cultures linked to work, is generally not included. The workplace features in research conducted in the English-speaking world (including Australia and New Zealand) in the area of Workplace studies.

An individual’s capacity to communicate in two or more languages, a whatever level of proficiency.

An individual’s capacity to call upon the different resources represented by his/her knowledge and skills in different languages in order to handle as effectively as possible the communication tasks with which he/she is confronted. The levels of competence in the different languages may be unbalanced, but they complement one another to form a single competence which should be built upon and of which it is important to be fully aware.

See Plurilingual competence

A “communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact” (CEFR, p. 4). Plurilingualism is distinct from multilingualism. The latter refers to the simple coexistence of languages in society or at the level of institutions and individuals without any focus on interconnectedness. Plurilingualism stresses the dynamic use of multiple languages in social situations and the complex and evolving linguistic repertoire of language learners/users.

According to the Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe (Beacco and Byram, 2007: p. 10), plurilingualism is “the potential and/or actual ability to use several languages to varying levels of proficiency and for different purposes”. A distinction is thus made between “plurilingualism as a speaker’s competence (being able to use more than one language) and multilingualism as the presence of languages in a given geographical area: there is a shift, therefore, from a perspective focusing on languages (a state may be referred to as monolingual or multilingual) to one that focuses on speakers”.

To this plurilingualism that concerns “languages” should be added the competence to use varieties within a given language, whether they be dialects, sociolects or registers – what Wandruszka (1971) calls “internal plurilingualism”. This second aspect of plurilingualism is all the more important for education, as school itself and its subjects rely on specific registers (Beacco et al., 2016: p. 83).

Plurilingualism is not limited to mastering languages or language varieties. It also includes the competence to “switch from one language to another according to the situation” (Coste, Moore and Zarate, 2009: p. 19), whether this involves “switching from one language to another in the same conversation” (cf. code-switching, ibid. ), linguistic mediation or the use of one language or variety to understand or produce in another language or variety (see certain descriptors of dimension 2 of the reference framework produced in this project), or to learn it (as in the didactics of intercomprehension).

As regards plurilingual and pluricultural competence, the definition given in the Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education seems to be the most comprehensive: “Plurilingual and intercultural competence is the ability to use a plural repertoire of linguistic and cultural resources to meet communication needs or interact with other people, and enrich that repertoire while doing so. Plurilingual competence refers to the repertoire of resources which individual learners acquire in all the languages they know or have learned, and which also relate to the cultures associated with those languages (languages of schooling, regional/minority and migration languages, modern or classical languages)” (Beacco et al., 2016: p. 10). This definition is in line with those proposed by Coste, Moore & Zarate as early as 1997 (2009: p. 11), and then by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001: p. 168).

3.1. A language policy is a statement of action [...] It is concerned not so much with where the children in a school [...] are going but more with how they are going to get there. […] A language policy is “a document compiled by the staff of a school, ... [that] identifies areas in the school’s scope of operations and programs where language problems exist that need the commonly agreed approach offered by a policy ... It is a dynamic action statement that changes along with the dynamic context of a school”.

3.2. A whole-school language policy will recognize the existing strengths of both school and community, and will give clear guidelines for further reflecting and improving abilities and values. […] developing a whole-school language policy can be of benefit to pupils, staff, parents and others associated with your school.

[…] A whole-school language policy is a dynamic action statement consisting of principles, aims and strategies. It is a shared document for all stakeholders and expresses a common vision of the role and status of all languages relevant to life within a school. It is ideally developed following organised discussions, a school language audit and a profiling exercise. A healthy policy would be authored and owned by all stakeholders. It should include a rationale for its aims, as well as a declaration about who is responsible to carry out which tasks by when.

3.3. Language policy [...] is shaped by three main factors: language practices, the actual-related behaviour of individuals and institutions; language management, the official and unofficial rules regarding the choice and nature of language codes; and language ideologies [...] the understandings, beliefs and expectations that influence all choices made by language users.

Hornberger and McKay, 2010

KEY WORDS

„Eine Sprachenpolitik ist eine Absichtserklärung [...]. Sie interessiert sich nicht so sehr für die Ziele, die die SchülerInnen verfolgen, als vielmehr, wie sie sie erreichen werden. [...] Eine Sprachenpolitik ist "ein Dokument, das von dem Schulkollegium verfasst wurde ... [das] Bereiche im Leben und in den Lehrplänen der Schule identifizieren sollte, in denen Sprachen ein Problem darstellen, das um gelöst zu werden eines durch Politik eingeleiteten gemeinsamen Ansatzesbedarf. ... Es ist eine dynamische Absichtserklärung, die die Entwicklungsbedingungen der Schule mitträgt.“

„Die Sprachenpolitik einer Schule muss die Stärken der Schule und der Gemeinschaft, in der sich die Schule befindet, anerkennen und eine klare Anleitung zur Reflexion und Verbesserung von Fähigkeiten und Werten bieten. [...] Die Entwicklung einer umfassenden Sprachenpolitik der Schule kann für SchülerInnen, Kollegium, Eltern und alle, die sich mit der Schule befassen, hilfreich sein. […] Eine Sprachenpolitik auf Schulebene ist eine dynamische Absichtserklärung, die Grundsätze, Ziele und Strategien enthält. Es ist ein von allen geteiltes Dokument und zeigt eine gemeinsame Vision der Rolle und des Status aller in einer Schule unterrichteten Sprachen. Idealerweise stammt dieses Dokument aus Diskussionen, einer Prüfung der Schulsprachen und einer Übung zur Profilbildung. Das Abschlussdokument sollte auch einen Aktionsplan mit Zielen und eine Erklärung darüber enthalten, wer für was bei der Durchführung der Aktivitäten verantwortlich ist.“

Die Sprachenpolitik [...] wird von drei Hauptfaktoren beeinflusst: Sprachpraktiken – das tatsächliche Verhalten von Individuen und Institutionen – Sprachenmanagement – die offiziellen und inoffiziellen Regeln für die Auswahl und Art der Sprachcodes – und Sprachideologien – die [...] Interpretationen, Überzeugungen und Erwartungen, die alle Entscheidungen der Person beeinflussen.

Schlüsselwörter

Gemeinsame Sichtweise, Aktion, Änderung, Hinweise, die Schule und ihre Gemeinschaft, dynamische Aktionsaussage, ein gemeinsam genutztes Dokument, die Sprachpraxis, das Sprachenmanagement, die Sprachideologien

A student portfolio is a document in which those who are learning or have learnt for example a language – whether at school or outside school – can record and reflect on their learning and cultural experiences. The European Language Portfolio (ELP) was developed by the Council of Europe to support the development of learner autonomy, plurilingualism and intercultural awareness and competence. Self-assessment, being a central feature of the ELP, provides the link between the ELP and the Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR).

A tool promoted by the Council of Europe since 2002 enabling users to record their experiences and competences in the different languages they know or are learning in a comprehensive and internationally comparable manner. This personal document invites users to take stock of their experience, conduct self-assessments, plan their future learning and document all their linguistic competences – whether or not they were acquired in a formal educational setting. The European Language Portfolio is developed locally, on the basis of the guidelines set out by the Council of Europe, to take account of the needs of particular target groups and the distinctive features of different education and training systems.

Someone in an educational profession, for example a teacher, teacher educator, head teacher, curriculum designer or textbook writer, actively reflecting on his/her practice in relation to his/her experience in the light different criteria. Principles of quality, such as relevance, validity, reliability, transparency and sustainability can support such reflection.

The actual implementation or use of an idea or a method, as opposed to theories relating to it. In education, a stage when learners work actively on the language or an aspect of the language.

To test a scheme, project, assessment activity etc. before introducing it more widely. Pre-testing usually refers to something more extensive, structured, and rigorous than piloting.

Principles that inform the quality assurance of a project. Principles of quality such as relevance, validity, reliability, transparency and sustainability are intended to guide the design of processes and products.

Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the relation – similarities and distinctive differences – between the ‘world of origin’ and the ‘world of the target community’ and beyond; intercultural awareness is enriched by awareness of a wider range of cultures than those carried by the learner’s L1 and L2.

The development of linguistic and communicative competence depends on children trusting in their ability to express themselves in a language. This will give them the confidence to test their capacity for self-expression by freeing themselves from utterances or expressions of which they have a good command and trying to combine elements of the language in order to better express what they wish to communicate to others or the educator.

This term denotes the communicative context in which individuals’ communicative, linguistic, pragmatic and sociolinguistic competences are called upon to perform communicative tasks (understanding written or oral texts, participating in oral exchanges, drafting a text, etc.). Based on the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, a distinction is drawn between reception activities (oral and written comprehension) and production activities (spoken production, oral interaction, writing independently or in interaction).

See Language activities

Production is one of the four modes of communication alongside reception, interaction and mediation. The expression or thought of information in oral or written language.

This describes the social process by which any trade or occupation transforms itself into a true ‘profession’ of the highest integrity and competence. It involves the development of a professional character and a code of conduct or ethical standards by which the professionals have agreed to behave. By ‘profession’ we understand an occupation that requires extensive education or specialized training and some level of reflection on the tasks involved.

Es beschreibt einen sozialen Prozess, bei dem jede Tätigkeit oder berufliche Beschäftigung zu einer wahren „Profession“ von höchster Integrität und Kompetenz transformiert wird. Dies bezieht sich auch auf die Entwicklung einer professionellen Persönlichkeit mit entsprechenden Verhaltensregeln oder auch auf die Entwicklung ethischer Standards, die von den betreffenden Fachleuten eingehalten werden. Eine „Profession“ ist als berufliche Beschäftigung zu verstehen, die eine fundierte Ausbildung oder eine fachspezifische Schulung unfasst. Dies schliesst ein gewisses Maß an Reflexion über das betreffende Aufgabenfeld ein.

A plurilingual profile is made up of different languages and language varieties at different levels of proficiency in terms of various competences and skills. It is dynamic and changes in its composition throughout the life of an individual.

An overall description of the aims, content, and organisation of courses in an educational institution (ministry, school, etc.) generally providing a framework of objectives for different levels and sometimes defining methodologies to be used.

According to Wikipedia, this term is used in marketing to mean the dissemination of information about a product, product line, brand, or company. For LACS (“Language associations and collaborative support”), this involves raising awareness of the value of the work of language teacher associations and of the ECML in order to enable them to benefit from it. A range of promotional activities can be employed in order to achieve this awareness, such as advertising, press releases, presentations, web sites, literature etc.

Nach Wikipedia wird dieses Wort im Marketing gebraucht im Sinne einer gezielten Verbreitung von Informationen über ein Produkt, eine Produktreihe, einer Marke oder Firma. Für LACS bezieht sich dieser Begriff auch auf die Wertschätzung der Arbeit der Sprachenverbände und des EFSZ. Um das Bewusstsein dafür zu stärken, kann man eine Reihe von Kommunikationsmaßnahmen initiieren, wie z. B. Anzeigen schalten, Presseberichte schreiben, Präsentationen halten, Webseiten unterhalten, Fachliteratur zur Verfügung stellen, usw.