The ability to observe and participate in new experiences and to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge, modifying the latter where necessary. It may involve varying degrees and combinations of aspects of social and communicative competence and linguistic knowledge.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The ability to observe and participate in new experiences and to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge, modifying the latter where necessary. It may involve varying degrees and combinations of aspects of social and communicative competence and linguistic knowledge.
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
Academic language is the type of language necessary to successfully participate in, comprehend, and communicate in cognitively demanding and context-reduced, age-appropriate activities (Himmele & Himmele, 2009[1]). It is not usually learned outside the classroom setting (Chamot & O’Malley, 1994[2]).
[1] Himmele P. & Himmele W. (2009), The language-rich classroom: A research-based framework for teaching English language learners, ASCD.
[2] Chamot A. U. & O’Malley J. M. (1994), The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, New York.
Source: ECML resource website A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling (2016-2019)
The quality or state of being accountable, liable, or answerable; especially an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
What has been learned in a course of instruction.
Achievement can be recorded in a variety of ways, but in particular, when using the European Language Portfolio (ELP), as levels of the Common European Framework of Reference, i.e. A1 to C2.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The unconscious learning process that occurs when language is used in real situations, as opposed to formal learning (e.g. in the classroom).
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Research methodology carried out in the course of an activity or occupation, typically in the field of education, employed by teachers who wish to improve their approaches and practices.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A teacher decides to systematically investigate an aspect of his/her practice and take action to change it.
“A form of self-reflective inquiry by participants, undertaken in order to improve understanding of their practices in context with a view to maximizing social justice” (Carr & Kemmis, 1986, p. 162).
Carr W. and Kemmis S. (1986), Becoming critical: Education, knowledge and action research, Falmer Press, London, p. 162.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
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)
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 9,
https://rm.coe.int/16802fc1bf.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
This approach views users and learners of a language primarily as ‘social agents’, i.e. members of society who have tasks (not exclusively language-related) to accomplish in a given set of circumstances, in a specific environment and within a particular field of action.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Action-oriented tasks are real-life tasks that implies a clear and tangible goal. Learners engaged in an action-oriented task strategically perform actions using their own specific competences to achieve a given result.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
To adapt – without changing the core content – the CEFR descriptors to make them appropriate for a particular context.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
An additional language refers to any language the language learner learns besides his or her mother tongue(s). From a teaching perspective, the term encompasses all the languages used in the learning process, as this formulation “underscores the belief that additional languages are not necessarily inferior or superior nor a replacement for a student’s first language” (Jud, Tan & Walberg, 2011, p. 6).
Judd E., Tan L., Walberg H. (2001), Teaching additional languages, Brussels, International Academy of Education, Belgium.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
Agency is defined as the realised capacity of people to act upon their world and not only to know or give personal intersubjective significance to it and also as the way teachers use power, influence and science to make decisions that affect positive social change (Moore, 2016).
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
In sociology and philosophy, agency is the capacity of an entity (a person or other entity, human or any living being in general) to act in any given environment. An agent is an individual engaging with the social structure. Agency may either be classified as unconscious, involuntary behaviour, or purposeful, goal directed activity (intentional action).
Key words
- Act
- Activity / Action
- Engaging with the social structure
- Agent
- Directed activity
Bandura Albert (2001), “Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective”, Annual Review of Psychology, 52, p. 1-26.
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
Procedures used in alternative assessment include self-assessment, peer-assessment, portfolios, student-teacher conferences, interviews and observation. These can be monolingual or multilingual.
Term in French:
évaluation alternative
Les procédures utilisées dans l’évaluation alternative comprennent l’auto-évaluation, l’évaluation par les pairs, les portfolios, les conférences élèves-enseignant·es, les entretiens et l’observation. Elles peuvent être monolingues ou multilingues.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
Analytic discourse allows an action researcher to increase awareness of the important characteristics of a situation. It is usually carried out in a group. The action researcher provides the group with information on the situation and then the group members pose questions to gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation. Critical comments should not be allowed (Feldman, Altrichter, Posch & Somekh, 2018: 100-101).
Feldman A., Alrichter A., Posch P. & Somekh B. (2018), Teachers investigate their work: An introduction to action research across the professions, 3rd edition, Routledge, London, p. 100-101.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
A way of tackling language teaching, e.g. through grammar and translation or
through communicative tasks.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Set of principles guiding the educator’s choices. Examples include:
- the “holistic approach”, which views the child’s natural functions in their globality and their complementarity and prioritises activities which allow children to combine the use of speech, the other senses and motor or perceptual functions;
- the “play-oriented approach”, which sees play as crucial to the growth of young children and the development of their abilities, including the development of linguistic competences;
- the “communicative approach”, which posits that the most effective methods for developing competences in a language consist in setting learners communicative tasks which they must perform, alone or in groups, with the educator’s assistance.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The use of the right word or register in a situation, e.g. familiar terms between friends or formal terms between business associates.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
In the ROADMAP, area refers to the nine thematic aspects which are seen essential in designing and developing a school culture that aims to develop the whole school approach to support language/s of schooling. These areas are partially overlapping, and certainly interrelated. The areas are as follows: Awareness of language dimension, Developing language knowledge and skills, Metalinguistic awareness, Role of languages in learning, Attitudes towards languages, Promoting informal language learning, Language resources at school, Orienting newcomer students and families, and Professional development.
Source: ECML resource website A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling (2016-2019)
Within the conceptual framework of an action-oriented approach, different aspects of language use need to be defined, taught and analysed, for example fluency, flexibility, coherence, appropriacy, and precision.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Assessment in education is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs to refine programs and improve students’ learning. Assessment data can be obtained from directly examining student work to assessing the achievement of learning outcomes, or can be based on data from which one can make inferences about learning.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The measuring of a student’s performance in a course according to the aims and objectives of that course. (see
Achievement)
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Assessment is the purposeful gathering of data on student learning for an appropriate administrative or pedagogical purpose. Some assessments are diagnostic and/or formative, aimed at tuning adaptive teaching strategies or offering supportive feedback on written assignments. More formal assessment is likely to be periodic perhaps in the form of an examination or a standardized test. Testing can either be norm – referenced (ranking students) or criterion-referenced (assessing against benchmarks). The purposes of assessment vary, but will include feedback on assignments, verifying learning achievements, meeting certification needs, and ‘gate-keeping’ -- managing the progress of individuals through the system. Assessment cannot, therefore, be a politically or morally neutral activity.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
The use of a task or an activity to allow students the opportunity to use assessment to further their own learning. Self and peer assessments allow students to reflect on their own learning and identify areas of strength and need. These tasks offer students the chance to set their personal goals and advocate for their own learning.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Commonly referred to as formative and/or diagnostic assessments. Assessment for learning is used to check student progress during a unit or block of instruction. Teachers build on the outcomes of this type of assessment to adjust their teaching objectives, practices and classroom instruction to suit the needs of the students. Similarly, students are provided valuable feedback on their own learning.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A document that articulates the expectations for an assignment, lists the aspects important for successful completion, and describes levels of quality. Rubrics usually contain evaluative criteria, quality definitions for those criteria at particular levels of achievement, and sometimes a scoring system. They are often presented in table format and can be used by teachers when marking, and by students when planning their work.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Commonly referred as summative assessment, assessment of learning is used to measure, record and report on a student’s level of achievement in regards to specific learning expectations. It is generally used at the end of a unit or module.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Not false or copied; genuine; real. In language education, reflecting genuine situations of language use; may refer to situations as well as texts (spoken or written) and tasks.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Having the freedom and ability to act independently, for example in education. The autonomous language learner takes responsibility for the totality of his/her learning situation. S/He does this by determining his/her own objectives, defining the contents to be learned and the progression of the course, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring this procedure, and evaluating what s/he has acquired.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Independence. Learner autonomy refers to a student’s ability to set appropriate learning goals and take charge of his or her own learning.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The ability to:
- be aware of and understand the learning objectives of a set task as well as its parameters (for example the constraints ensuing from the type of interaction learners engage in);
- define personal objectives (within the institutional framework);
- choose how to implement these learning objectives: working options, activities and resources are selected to create an action plan. This will be supported by:
- evaluating existing knowledge, skills and resources at hand;
- identifying resources to overcome any personal shortfall;
- being able to use these resources (including digital resources) to successfully complete the task at hand ;
- implement this action plan;
- critically assess the process and resources used;
- reflect on how the whole process contributed to the development of autonomy both as language learners to complete the set tasks and as language users to interact in real life.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
A capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision-making and independent
action, e.g. the learner using own strategies, such as paraphrasing, to get around a lack of specific vocabulary.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A detailed description of a specific level of student performance, often represented by samples of student work; used as a point of reference for decisions regarding students’ educational attainment.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Building up a common understanding of qualitative levels of performance through discussion and the comparison of work samples in relation to standardised definitions and examples (benchmarks). (See, for example, the CoE Manual, Supplement D.)
José Noijons, Jana Bérešová, Gilles Breton and Gábor Szabó (2011),
Relating language examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Language: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR) – Highlights from the Manual, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg.
José Noijons, Jana Bérešová, Gilles Breton and Gábor Szabó (2011),
Relier les examens de langues au Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues : Apprendre, enseigner, évaluer (CECR) – Les points essentiels du Manuel, Editions du Conseil de l'Europe, Strasbourg.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“The acronyms BICS and CALP refer to a distinction introduced by Cummins (1979) between basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. The distinction was intended to draw attention to the very different time periods typically required by immigrant children to acquire conversational fluency in their second language as compared to grade-appropriate academic proficiency in that language. Conversational fluency is often acquired to a functional level within about two years of initial exposure to the second language whereas at least five years is usually required to catch up to native speakers in academic aspects of the second language.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
“The coexistence of two languages within a community or a person.”
“A bilingual person is not two monolinguals, but a whole person with a particular linguistic competence, who should be analyzed as such.” (Grosjean, 1993, p. 16)
Baker C. & In Jones S. P. (1998), Encyclopedia of bilingualism and bilingual education, Multilingual Matters.
CIEP (2010), Bilinguisme et enseignement bilingue (bibliography), March 2010.
Duverger J. (2005), L’enseignement en classe bilingue, Hachette FLE, Paris, p. 133-134.
Grosjean F. (1993), « Le bilinguisme et le biculturalisme – Essai et définition », Tranel, 19, p. 13-41.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
An individual’s capacity to communicate in two languages, at whatever level of proficiency.
Condat Sophie (March 2010), Bibliographie – Bilinguisme et enseignement bilingue, CIEP, Sèvres.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
This might contain: a record of language courses, self-directed learning, formative self-assessment, visits and exchanges undertaken, literary and other written texts read in a non-native language, spoken and audio-visual texts listened to or watched, a ‘language learning diary’, setting down the results of self-observation or reflection on experience.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A familiar term referring to both learning and management styles. Where it applies to learning, it denotes an exploration and discovery approach in which the learner arrives autonomously at knowledge and understanding and then interacts with the teacher to confirm and consolidate these. It can also denote an implementation process in which teachers are the driving force in innovation, rather than inspectors or advisers. (See
Top down)
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
An opportunity for classroom practitioners to make changes and enhance practice on the ground. Action research is an example of a bottom-up approach. It stands in opposition to top-down approaches where changes to practice are decided on by people in positions of power, i.e. management.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
A list of descriptors for one level of proficiency and/or different communicative activities, for use in learners’ self-assessment and/or teachers’ continuous assessment.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is an internationally recognized system for describing language proficiency. The CEFR is designed to provide a transparent, coherent and comprehensive basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, the design of teaching and learning materials, and the assessment of foreign language proficiency.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A comprehensive overview of the philosophy of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), describing its general and communicative language competences, communicative language activities and strategies.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Social actor who participates in the construction of a societal project, promoting, for example, inclusion, health, well-being, environmental protection, or the fight against inequalities. He/She contributes to the evolution and transformation of the context, but also of communities, and therefore of the rights, responsibilities and values that they represent.
Term in French:
transformateur de la société
Acteur social qui participe à la construction d’un projet de société, promeut, par exemple, l’inclusion, la santé, le bien-être, la protection de l’environnement ou encore la lutte contre les inégalités. Il contribue à faire évoluer le contexte, mais aussi les communautés, et donc les droits, responsabilités et valeurs qui les sous-tendent.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is “a dual focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for learning and teaching of both content and language”. CLIL is a widely used term and can be defined as an “umbrella term covering a dozen or more educational approaches (e.g., immersion, bilingual education, [...] and enriched language programmes”.
Mehisto P., Marsh D. & Frigols M. J. (2008), Uncovering CLIL, Macmillan Education, Oxford, p. 9 and 12.
Term in French:
EMILE
L’enseignement d’une matière par l’intégration d’une langue étrangère (EMILE) est « une approche éducative à double objectif dans laquelle une langue supplémentaire est utilisée pour l’apprentissage et l’enseignement à la fois du contenu et de la langue ». EMILE est un terme largement utilisé et peut être défini comme un « terme général couvrant une douzaine d’approches éducatives ou plus (par exemple, l’immersion, l’éducation bilingue, [...] et les programmes linguistiques élargis ».
Term in German:
CLIL
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) ist „ein dual fokussierender Bildungsansatz, in dem eine weitere Sprache verwendet wird, um sowohl die Sprache als auch den Inhalt zu vermitteln und zu lernen“. CLIL ist ein recht weiter Begriff und kann definiert werden als „ein übergeordneter Begriff, der ein Dutzend oder mehr Bildungsansätze (z.B. Immersion, bilingualer Unterricht, […] und erweiterte Sprachenprogramme) umspannt“.
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has established itself as the generic term for content and language integrated learning.
CLIL is a dual focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of content and language with the objective of promoting both content and language mastery to predefined levels (Maljers, Marsh, Wolff, Genesee, Frigols, Martín, Mehisto, 2010).
This broad term includes a number of approaches that A. Geiger-Jaillet, G. Schlemminger, and C. Le Pape Racine have set forth more precisely (see A. Geiger-Jailet, G. Schlemminger & C. Le Pape Racine (2016), Teach a subject in another language: Methodology and professional practice: CLIL-EMILE approach, 2nd edition, Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt, chapter 1).
Émilangues, EMILE / CLIL, site d’accompagnement pour les sections européennes ou de langues orientales,
www.emilangues.education.fr/formation/bibliographies/Emile__clil_ouvrages_et_articles
Coyle D., Hood P., Marsh D. (2010),
Content and Language Integrated Learning, Cambridge University Press.
Mehisto P., Marsh D. & Frigols M. J. (2008),
Uncovering CLIL, Macmillan Education.
Geiger-Jaillet A., Schlemminger G. & Le Pape Racine C. (2016),
Enseigner une discipline dans une autre langue : méthodologie et pratiques professionnelles : Approche CLIL-EMILE, Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt, 2
e édition.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
An educational approach where the additional language is used for the learning and teaching of content and language with the objective of promoting both content and language learning.
Coyle D., Hood P., Marsh D. (2010),
CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning, “A window on CLIL”, 1-10, available at
https://assets.cambridge.org/97805211/30219/excerpt/9780521130219_excerpt.pdf.
Maljers A., Marsh D., Wolff D., Genesee F., Frigols-Martín M., Mehisto P. (2010), based on Marsh D. & Wolff D. (éds.) (2007),
Diverse contexts – Converging goals: CLIL in Europe, Peter Lang, Frankfurt.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
CLIL in other subjects means that languages that are not the language of schooling are used in subject teaching, e.g. by reading texts in French or German as additional language in social sciences.
Term in French:
EMILE dans d’autres matières
EMILE dans d’autres matières signifie que des langues qui ne font pas partie de langues de scolarisation sont utilisées dans l’enseignement des matières,
par exemple en lisant des textes en français ou en allemand comme langue supplémentaire en sciences sociales.
Term in German:
CLIL LOTE in anderen Fächern
CLIL in anderen Fächern bedeutet, dass Sprachen, die nicht Unterrichtssprachen sind, in Sachfächern benutzt werden, z.B. wenn man Texte auf Französisch oder Spanisch als zusätzliche Sprache(n) in Fächern wie Gesellschaftskunde liest.
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
CLIL in the language classroom means that content from other subjects is integrated in language teaching, e.g. by using materials from biology, history or art in foreign language education.
Term in French:
EMILE en classe de langue
EMILE en classe de langue signifie que le contenu d’autres matières est intégré dans l’enseignement des langues, par exemple en utilisant des matériaux de biologie, d’histoire ou d’art dans l’enseignement des langues étrangères.
Term in German:
CLIL im Sprachenunterricht
CLIL im Sprachenunterricht bedeutet, dass Inhalte aus anderen
(Sach-)Fächern in den Sprachenunterricht integriert werden, z.B. indem Materialien aus den Fächern Biologie, Geschichte oder Kunst im Sprachenunterricht verwendet werden.
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
Meaning does not pre-exist the communication or the reception of a written or an oral text. It is co-constructed by interlocutors or by the reader or the hearer in interaction with the text. Meaning is thus the product of collaboration, i.e. the interactional work accomplished by all the participants in the interaction (also the author of a given text). All interlocutors contribute to the co-construction and the negotiation of meaning, even when they contribute in different languages or with para-verbal or non-verbal behaviours (such as gestures, mimic, interjections, …). In case of clashes in the interaction, misunderstandings, lack of a common language or uneven linguistic competences in the language of interaction, the mediator plays a crucial role in building bridges between interlocutors and/or across different sources of information. He can, for instance, participate in the co-construction and negotiation of meaning by “co-constructing ideas/solutions; asking others to explain their thinking and identifying inconsistencies in their thought processes; summarising the discussion and deciding on next steps” (Council of Europe 2020: 109).
Further reading:
Piccardo E. and North B. (2019), The action-oriented approach: A dynamic vision of language education, Multilingual Matters, Bristol.
Council of Europe (2020),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume, Strasbourg, available at
www.coe.int/lang-cefr.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
“Code switching (or code mixing) is a phenomenon linked to the concurrent use of more than one language or language variety. It occurs when a multilingual person shifts between one language or language variety and another, for instance from German to English, or from a formal to a casual register. Such switches, manifested syntactically and phonologically, are used to serve communicative purposes. The multilingual resources involved can be influenced by the social.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin; words in languages that share a similar meaning, spelling and/or pronunciation. (The word cognate derives from the Latin noun cognatus, which means “blood relative”.)
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“patterns that have arisen from the demand that participants within the institution school orient towards explicit or implicit learning goals and the fact that they have the repeated need for communicating about ways of handling and acting upon curricular content, concepts, and facts (cf. cognitive process dimension of Anderson et al. 2001). It is their very nature to provide speakers with schemata (discoursal, lexical and grammatical) for coping with standard situations in dealing with the task of building knowledge and making it intersubjectively accessible.” (Dalton-Puffer 2013: 16)
Dalton-Puffer Christiane (2013), “A construct of cognitive discourse functions for conceptualizing”, EuJAL, Vol. 1 no. 2, p. 1-38.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
The quality of parts meshing together to make up a holistic entity. For example, parts of a programme (objectives, teaching, assessment) or parts of a text (beginning, middle, end). Joined-up thinking.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
In the context of this project, collaboration in teachers’ work is seen as an essential component for transforming educational practices, because it breaks teachers’ isolation and facilitates change. Collaboration involves professional interactions that are more or less interdependent, determined by common tasks or objectives (Dochy et al., 2015: p. 23), such as the desire to co-construct a school culture marked by pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. Here we adopt a strong interpretation of the concept of collaboration as a fundamental means of transforming teaching knowledge and practices. This includes cooperation between teachers and/or with other actors within the educational community, and is reflected in actions of assistance, support, and capable of leading to a plurilingual and intercultural education.
Further information
As explained by Villavicencio, Jaffe-Walter & Klevan (2021), “The literature on teacher collaboration emphasizes that effective collaboration involves a ‘deprivatization’ of practice (Little, 1990) as teachers come together to reflect on and share information related to teaching and learning, engage in inquiry into students’ needs, and learn new pedagogical strategies (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Datnow, 2011; Little, 2003; McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001)” (pp. 103-227). In this sense, collaboration is considered essential if teachers want to change established teaching methodologies and act to make plurilingual and intercultural education a reality in language and culture teaching/learning contexts.
References
Dochy F., Kyndt E., Raes E., Vangrieken K. (2015), “Teacher collaboration: A systematic review”, Educational Research Review 15, pp. 17- 40.
Mesquita L., Pinho A. S. & Andrade A. I. (2016), “Trabalho colaborativo docente e educação plurilingue: que subversões a uma gramática da escola?”, Revista iberoamericana de educación, Vol. 70, 1, pp. 201-222.
Sannen J. et al. (2021), “Connecting teacher collaboration to inclusive practices using a social network approach”, Teaching and Teacher Education, 97, pp. 1-14.
Villavicencio A., Jaffe-Walter R. & Klevan S. (2021), “You can’t close your door here: Leveraging teacher collaboration to improve outcomes for immigrant English Learners”, Teaching and Teacher Education, 97, pp. 103-227.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
Ability to communicate, work and co-construct meaning with others using digital technology.
Term in French:
littératie de la collaboration
Capacité à communiquer, travailler ou co-construire du contenu en utilisant le numérique.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
The Common European Framework of Reference provides a common basis for the creation of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks, etc. across Europe. It describes in a comprehensive way what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively. The description also covers the cultural context in which language is set. Through its Global Scale and the Self-assessment grid, it also defines levels of proficiency which allow learners’ progress to be measured at each stage of learning and on a life-long basis. These two features are central to assessment for the European Language Portfolio (ELP).
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A commonly agreed ascending scale of levels, identified by standardised codes (e.g. B2, C1…) for proficiency in a range of linguistic skills, e.g. listening, spoken interaction or writing.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
To facilitate the organisation of courses and to describe progress, the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) presents six Common Reference Levels. The six levels are not intended to be absolute. Firstly, they can be grouped into three broad categories: Basic user (A1 and A2), Independent user (B1 and B2) and Proficient user (C1 and C2). Secondly, the six reference levels, which represent very broad bands of language proficiency, are very often subdivided.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Teaching approach where negotiation for meaning is critical. Collaborative learning and peer interaction are important.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Sensitivity to language and language use, involving knowledge and understanding of the principles according to which languages are organised and used.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The ability to use one or more language varieties to communicate according to the context.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 9, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
The ability to use one or more language varieties to communicate.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 9, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Term in French:
compétences communicatives
Capacité à utiliser une ou plusieurs variétés de langue.
Source: ECML resource website Young children’s language learning pathways (2020-2023)
The distinction between the ability of getting a message across and the level of quality of the language used. Often referred to as fluency versus accuracy, the opposition highlights the need for targeted focus on either element at different moments of the teaching/learning process.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The communicative language activities proposed by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) are based on the action-oriented philosophy of the document and are close to real-life language use, grounded in interaction in which meaning is co-constructed. Activities are presented under four modes of communication: reception, production, interaction and mediation.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Communicative language competence refers to the qualitative aspect of an individual’s overall language proficiency. In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the communicative language competence comprises linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Can be defined as the ability to use language accurately, effectively and appropriately in a specific social context.
According to the CEFR, communicative language competence consists of three elements:
- linguistic competences (refer to knowledge of and ability to use language resources, e.g. vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, to form well structured messages);
- sociolinguistic competences (that is the ability to use language appropriately in different social contexts);
- pragmatic competence (is concerned with the knowledge of how messages are organised, structured, arranged and sequenced, and used to perform communicative functions)
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
A means learners use to mobilise and balance their resources (general and communicative competences) in order to carry out activities and accomplish tasks. The use of communication strategies in the different kinds of communicative activities generally includes Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and Repair. Communication strategies are distinct from learning strategies.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Objectives of the educational action that target the enhancement of learners’ active use and further development of their language(s) in a situation of real-life communication.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style.” (Swales 1990: 58)
Swales J.M. (1990), Genre Analysis – English in academic and research settings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Acts of communication with one or more interlocutors which are generally undertaken by a language user in pursuance of his or her needs in a given situation as opposed to tasks where the sole purpose is that of introducing / reinforcing language forms.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession, or a concern or interest for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. This definition reflects the fundamentally social nature of human learning.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/). “Learning occurs in communities of practice through legitimate peripheral participation”* (Lave & Wenger 1991: 98); “for this to happen, learners must participate in a practice; learners must be allowed to play at least a peripheral role - at least temporarily... learners’ practice must be accepted as being a legitimate form of practice within the profession.&rdquo (Feldman, Altrichter, Posch & Somekh 2018: 48).
*Legitimate peripheral participation is one component in the model of situated learning proposed by Lave & Wenger (1991) and involves newcomer learning (Cox 2005).
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
The sum of knowledge, skills and characteristics that allow a person to perform actions.
Grammatical competence = knowledge of/and ability to use the grammatical resources of a language.
Language competence = a combination of:
- Linguistic competence: includes lexical, phonological, syntactical knowledge and skills and other dimensions of language as a system.
- Sociolinguistic competence: refers to the sociocultural conditions of language use.
- Pragmatic competence: concerned with the functional use of linguistic resources, the mastery of discourse, cohesion, coherence, the identification of text types and forms, and such intentional devices as irony and parody.
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
The capacity to call upon one’s personal resources, consisting of knowledge, attitudes and skills, to perform a task. In the use of languages, communicative competence draws on linguistic (lexicon and functioning of the language), sociolinguistic (social rules in use of the language) and pragmatic components to perform a communicative task. Communicative competence is therefore based on knowledge about the functioning and use of languages, skills in implementing that knowledge and the capacity to adopt a favourable attitude to communication (e.g. ability to listen, desire to exchange with others, etc.).
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
In many countries, competence goals or aims are defined for subject curricula. Competence goals express what students are expected to learn or be able to do at certain stages in their education.
Rey B., Carette V. (2006), Les compétences à l’école : apprentissage et évaluation, De Boeck.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
As with the Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures (FREPA) (see the entry Pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures in this glossary), we have adopted the following theoretical framework, drawing from various works in the field of educational sciences:
Competence refers to “the ability of a subject to mobilise, in an integrated way, internal resources (knowledge, skills and attitudes) and external resources to effectively address a set of complex tasks” (Beckers, 2002: p. 57).
Candelier et al. (2012) give an example of the link between a competence (adaptation) and the internal resources set out by FREPA (pp. 84-91). As for external resources, we might think of a dictionary, or a person with competence in a language whom we can ask for help.
Further information
As Le Boterf (1994: p. 16) points out: “While it is clear that a competence can only mobilise internal resources if the individual disposes of these resources, and that therefore working towards mastery of a competence presupposes working towards mastery of the internal resources that it mobilises, most authors insist that "competence does not reside in the resources (knowledge, abilities, etc.) to be mobilised, but in the actual mobilisation of these resources”.
It is worth noting that another Council of Europe reference framework uses the distinction between competences and resources, the Reference Framework of Competences for a Culture of Democracy (www.coe.int/en/web/reference-framework-of-competences-for-democratic-culture/rfcdc).
Beckers J. (2002), Développer et évaluer des compétences à l’école : vers plus d’efficacité et d’égalité, Labor, Bruxelles.
Candelier M., Camilleri-Grima A., Castellotti V., de Pietro J.-F., Lörincz I., Meißner F.-J., Schröder-Sura A., Noguerol A. & Molinié M. (2012), Le CARAP – Un Cadre de référence pour les approches plurielles des langues et des cultures – Compétences et ressources, Conseil de l’Europe, Strasbourg, available at http://carap.ecml.at.
Le Boterf G. (1994), Repenser la compétence. Pour dépasser les idées reçues : quinze propositions, Éditions d’Organisation, Paris.
Schröder-Sura A. (2018), “Der Referenzrahmen für plurale Ansätze zu Sprachen und Kulturen (REPA)”, in Melo-Pfeifer S. and Reimann D. (Hg.), Plurale Ansätze zu Sprachen und Kulturen in Deutschland: State of the Art und Perspektive, Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen, pp. 79-106.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
Way to (inter)act which demonstrates a certain degree of expertise, know-how and skills in digital technology.
Term in French:
agir compétent
Façon d’(inter)agir qui fait preuve d’une certaine maitrise du numérique et de ses usages ainsi que de savoir-faire dans ce domaine.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
A principle used for devising teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks, that directly address the intended learning outcomes (Biggs and Tang 2011). Coherence between assessment, teaching strategies and intended learning outcomes in an educational programme.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Social actor who uses digital technology solely to access information and looks at what is disseminated. Activities such as surfing, researching, reading, listening, watching, browsing, and any other tasks linked with data processing (checking, evaluating…) correspond to this category.
Term in French:
consommateur et spectateur
Acteur social qui utilise le numérique uniquement pour accéder à des informations et regarder ce qui est diffusé. Les activités de type naviguer, rechercher, lire, écouter, regarder et tout ce qui concerne le traitement de l’information (vérification, évaluation…) correspondent donc à cette catégorie.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
“Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) occurs when ‘subject’ teaching and learning (e.g. in Physics, Geography or Integrated Humanities) takes place concurrently with language teaching, particularly with respect to a foreign language. In English Language Teaching (ELT), forms of CLIL have previously been known as ‘content-based instruction’, 'English across the curriculum' and 'bilingual education.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
The context of implementation includes the circumstances and conditions which influence the decisions and actions taken during the process.
Context in language use can mean either (a) the text in which a spoken or written item is embedded or (b) the dimensions of the communicative situation (e.g. social) in which discourse is produced or understood.
Refers to events and situational factors (physical and others), both internal and external to a person, in which acts of communication are embedded.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The evaluation of a student’s progress throughout a course of study, as distinct from a summative, final assessment.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Co-operation is the process of working or acting together with others for mutual benefit.
There are four main conditions that tend to be necessary for cooperative behaviour to develop between two individuals:
- an overlap in desires;
- a chance of future encounters with the same individual;
- memory of past encounters with that individual;
- a value associated with future outcomes.
One of LACS’ aim is to further co-operation between language associations accross countries and languages.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
Social actor who produces new content, practices, tools, as well as new ways to interact (on forums, blogs or wikis, etc.) and who actively engages in the digital society.
Term in French:
créateur
Acteur social qui crée de nouveaux contenus, pratiques, outils, mais aussi de nouvelles façons d’interagir (dans des forums, blogs, wikis, etc.) et qui participe activement à la société numérique.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Way to (inter)act which adopts a critical stance towards digital technology and its content and leads to reflection on its advantages and limitations.
Term in French:
agir critique
Façon d’(inter)agir qui porte un regard critique sur le numérique et ses contenus et donne lieu à une réflexion sur ses atouts et limites.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
The term cross-lingual transfer refers to a situation that occurs when, in order to meet their needs for comprehension or expression, speakers draw on the linguistic resources available to them. In doing so, they sometimes resort to lexical knowledge or syntactic skills associated with another language. These transfers can be of great assistance: the closeness between two linguistic systems makes it possible to overcome difficulties, save valuable time and progress in the acquisition of a language. The ability to make such transfers needs to be developed. It plays a part in learning strategies. In some specific cases it may of course happen that a transfer made does not work or results in the use of an incorrect expression.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
Cross-linguistic mediation is an everyday social activity and occurs when there is a need to communicate information from (at least) one language into another (or others), to have something clarified, to (re)interpret a message, to sum up what a text says for one or more persons, for an audience or for a group of readers, etc. taking into account the addressee, the communicative scenario or situation and the aim of the communicative encounter or task.
Term in French:
médiation interlangues
La médiation interlangues est une activité sociale quotidienne qui intervient lorsqu’il est nécessaire de communiquer des informations d’une langue (au moins) vers une autre (ou plusieurs), de clarifier des informations, de (ré)interpréter un message, de résumer ce que dit un texte pour une ou plusieurs personnes, pour un public ou pour un groupe de lecteur·rices, etc. en tenant compte du destinataire, du scénario ou de la situation de communication ainsi que de l’objectif de la rencontre ou de la tâche communicative.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
Cross-linguistic mediation tasks are those tasks which require users of languages to relay information from one language to another for a given communicative purpose or to engage in meaning negotiation across languages.
Term in French:
tâche de médiation interlangues
Les tâches de médiation interlangues sont des tâches qui demandent aux utilisateur·rices de langues de relayer des informations d’une langue à une autre dans un but communicatif donné ou de s’engager dans une négociation de sens entre les langues.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
The capacity, based on knowledge acquired about the history, civilisation and culture of a country or a group of countries with at least a partly shared history, to identify, understand and respect references shared by the inhabitants of a cultural area, their collective behaviour and the ways of living together which are prevalent there. When people have cultural competences related to several different areas, they possess a pluricultural competence which also enables them to put this knowledge into a relative perspective.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
A cognitive and communicative activity which involves, on the one hand, seeking to reduce any possible tension between several individuals or groups of individuals possessing different cultural references and, on the other, promoting mutual knowledge and understanding of these references to foster cohesion and co-operation between these individuals or groups.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A cyclical approach to language learning means that you come back to things at regular intervals to develop them further.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Methods and/or instruments used to investigate something from different angles, for example questionnaires, interviews or observations.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Declarative knowledge is the awareness and understanding of factual information about the world. Such information must be true; the person must believe it to be true, and the person must be in a position to know it. Typical items of declarative knowledge might include: that A is the first letter of the Roman alphabet, that Liisa Kauppinen was formerly the President of the World Federation of the Deaf, and that there is an organisation called the European Network of Sign Language Teachers (ENSLT).
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
A brief statement in which the characteristics of performance at a given level/skill are defined.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The descriptors, or illustrative descriptors, in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) are stand-alone statements used to clarify and characterize different aspects of language proficiency.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A type of systematic but flexible research methodology, based on the collaboration between researchers and practitioners, aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The systematic study of designing, developing, and evaluating instructional programmes, processes, and products that must meet criteria of internal consistency and effectiveness.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Diagnostic assessment is a type of assessment which examines what a student knows and can do prior to a learning programme being implemented. Assessment of students’ skills and knowledge upon entry to the programme helps the teacher meet individual students’ needs, optimize his/her planning and teaching, and provides a baseline against which to assess progress.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The evaluation of children’s competences may pursue very different aims and, therefore, vary in form and content. Diagnostic assessment is a form of evaluation which serves to identify what children have learnt, their needs and the most suitable learning methods. The results of the assessment necessarily influence subsequent work with the children and the goals pursued.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Local or regional variant of an official national language, often characterised by
phonological, lexical and even grammatical differences from the latter.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
“The competent and positive engagement with digital technologies (creating, working, sharing, socializing, investigating, playing, communicating and learning); participating actively and responsibly (values, skills, attitudes, knowledge) in communities (local, national, global) at all levels (political, economic, social, cultural and intercultural); being involved in a double process of lifelong learning (in formal, informal and non-formal settings) and continuously defending human dignity.”
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
Digital literacy results from the intertwining of three main sets of competences within an ethical and critical framework: technology literacy, meaning-making literacy and interaction literacy.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
The term diglossia refers to a situation in which two varieties of the same language co-exist in a language community. Each variety is used for quite distinct functions. In many contexts, diglossia involves a standard and non-standard variety of a language, and language choice is determined by register and/or a feeling of emotional closeness respectively distance (Kyriakou, 2019).
Kyriakou M. (2019), “A critical review of the theory of diglossia: A call to action”, International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT), pp. 334-340, DOI: 10.32996/ijllt.2019.2.5.38.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
The concept dimension is used to indicate a subcategory of an area. Each dimension illustrates the principles, approaches, procedures or concrete actions manifesting the implementation of the particular area into the school practices. They enable the development of the whole school approach to support language/s of schooling. The dimensions are expressed as statements in the self-assessment tool, to be evaluated by different stakeholders.
Example: Awareness of language dimension covers the three following dimensions:
- Emphasis on language learning,
- Being language models,
- Importance of challenging activities.
Source: ECML resource website A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling (2016-2019)
“literacy skills specialized to history, science, mathematics, literature or other subject matter” (Shanahan & Shanahan 2008). Also called secondary literacy.
Shanahan T & Shanahan, C. (2008), “Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy”, Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 78/1, pp. 40-59.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Discourse (from Latin discursus, “running to and from”) denotes written and spoken communications of different kinds with a focus of co-construction and negotiation of meaning between interlocutors.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“The use of the term ‘discourse community’ testifies to the increasingly common assumption that discourse operates within conventions defined by communities, be they academic disciplines or social groups. The pedagogies associated with writing across the curriculum and academic English now use the notion of ‘discourse communities’ to signify a cluster of ideas: that language use in a group is a form of social behaviour, that discourse is a means of maintaining and extending the group’s knowledge and of initiating new members into the group, and that discourse is epistemic or constitutive of the group’s knowledge.” (Herzberg B. 1986)
Herzberg B. (1986), “The politics of discourse communities”, Paper presented at the CCC Convention, New Orleans, La, March 1986. (Quoted in J. M. Swales, 1990, Genre analysis, CUP, Cambridge.)
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
In testing, an item that focuses on a single point of knowledge.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The spreading or giving out of news, information, ideas, products etc. to a lot of
people. In the context of the ELP, it can occur at more than one stage in a project, e.g. drawing initial attention to the existence of a pilot project; later spreading advice and training information as part of wider implementation; later still, making others aware of successes achieved as a result of implementation.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
To scatter or spread widely.
To spread information on the latest achievements in teacher education, effective language association collaboration and ECML (European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe) work through practical interventions (workshops, publications, newsletters, web sites and web fora) to interested organisations and individuals.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
Linguistic diversity is the coexistence of different languages within the same geographical area. While the PLURIWELL project is chiefly concerned with diversity in terms of languages, it is worth defining diversity in broader terms. In the classroom, teachers encounter students with a wide range of social identities. Differences can be found in terms of students’ abilities, learning styles, gender and sexual identities, ethnicities and countries of origin, religions, socioeconomic status, etc. Schools should seek to harness all the potential of diversity, as research has shown that attending schools with classmates from diverse backgrounds is beneficial for all students. It should be noted that diversity should be viewed as both a reality on the ground (classrooms around the world are becoming increasingly diverse) and as a subject to be embraced and explored with students (as learning about diversity can help them become more thoughtful, respectful and empathetic).
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
The use of outside sources, documents, to support the viewpoint or argument of an academic work. The process of documentary research often involves some or all of conceptualising, using and assessing documents.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The broad sectors of occupational, educational or social life in which people operate.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A collection of samples or examples of language use either in a real (e.g. work) or simulated (e.g. classroom) context.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Real-world tasks have a dual focus or grounding, combining real life and educational contexts. While carrying out such a task, a contributor is both a learner (within a teaching and learning context) and a user (inter)acting with people outside the educational context.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
“The process whereby education is changed and becomes different. Action research involves teachers in making and creating worthwhile educational change.” (Elliott 2015: 19)
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
In this publication this term denotes any person in charge of groups of children under seven years of age in a school or pre-school institution.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
A person at a national level with whom the Council of Europe interacts with regard to the development and implementation of ELPs.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Any person or group that is in the process of designing and producing an ELP model.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Authority or power given to someone to do something. The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A simplified or distorted version of target language production, due either to
interference by the learner’s mother tongue or to the misapplication of already taught patterns.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Free, inclusive way to (inter)act in line with his/her own values and which is respectul of others, of the law (as long as it is deemed relevant) and of values such as democratic values for example.
Term in French:
agir éthique et responsable
Façon d’(inter)agir libre, inclusive, en accord avec ses propres valeurs et qui respecte les autres, les lois (dans la mesure où elles sont jugées pertinentes) et les valeurs, par exemple les valeurs démocratiques.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
A document in three parts (Language Passport, Language Biography and Language Dossier) in which an individual may voluntarily record his or her linguistic achievements (including intercultural competence) to date. It has both a ‘reporting’ and a ‘pedagogic’ function, which is to say that it provides not only evidence of achievement, but also key information about the learning characteristics and preferred learning style of the user.
The reporting function addresses the concern of the Council of Europe to promote individual mobility.
The pedagogic function is of value to the teacher, by indicating approaches most likely to be effective with the user in question and to the learner, by raising his or her awareness of what is happening in the learning process. It addresses the Council of Europe’s concern to foster the development of learner autonomy and to promote lifelong learning.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
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.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
A document in three parts (Language Passport, Language Biography and Language Dossier) in which an individual may voluntarily record his or her linguistic achievements (including intercultural competence) to date. It has both a ‘reporting’ and a ‘pedagogic’ function, which is to say that it provides not only evidence of achievement, but also key information about the learning characteristics and preferred learning style of the user.
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
The process of observation and measurement for the purpose of determining ‘effectiveness’ (see fit for purpose). Sometimes used synonymously with assessment, however usually includes a wider perspective (e.g. programme evaluation). In the current context, evaluation thus includes the processes of (a) ongoing monitoring to check that progress is being made, (b) establishing whether the target is reached and (c) determining whether the programme itself optimises progress.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The retrospective analysis of an educational process or of a stage therein, in order to determine how well it has achieved stated aims and objectives. Assessment of learners’ achievements is part, but not the whole, of evaluation. The results of evaluation will become the basis of future course planning. It often includes nonquantifiable information from questionnaires and consultations.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Kirkpatrick's four levels of training evaluation
This grid illustrates the basic Kirkpatrick structure at a glance. It relates specifically to training programmes not aimed specifically at educational contexts, but can be used more broadly as a tool for reflection in the LACS project (bearing in mind that there are many other models available).
Drawing on and adapting the definition of ‘evaluation’ on the Public Policy website (accessed 2 October 2009), evaluation is designed to judge the benefits of a policy, intervention or activity. It involves the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data concerning the need, design, implementation and impact of the intervention or activity. Data can be quantitative and qualitative in nature. There is no single way of carrying out an evaluation, as it depends on the purpose, context and the desired impact. The methodology should therefore be justified, with due regard for ethical issues. One example of evaluation, based on Kirkpatrick’s (1994) evaluation theory1, suggests that it can operate at four levels:
- reaction, or thoughts and feelings;
- learning, or increased knowledge or capability;
- behaviour, or the extent of implementation or application;
- and results, or the effects of the changed behaviour.
Anderson-Sabourin
Kirkpatrick D. (1994), Evaluating training programs.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
In the case of action research it is the collection of data (observation protocols, photos, questionnaires, conversations), which help the teacher-researchers to increase understanding of, and improve their teaching.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
(Also known as physical mobility) involves moving to a different environment, for a short or long period, for different reasons and in different directions. For instance, students move to another learning environment to participate in a course, to complete teaching/vocational practice or to work on a project with partners from different learning contexts. They may move on their own, as in the case of university students who study for one or a few semesters at a university in a different city or country. Children and adolescents more often move in groups with their teachers; for instance, one or more classes from one school travel to meet their peers in a partner institution.
Bleichenbacher Lukas, Brogan Kristin, Cole Josephine, Cuenat Mirjam Egli, Höchle Meier Katharina, Muller Chantal, Szczepanska Anna (2015),
Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility – Practical resources for teachers and teacher trainers – Handbook, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, (for more details, see section 1.3).
European Union (2009),
Green Paper: Promoting the learning mobility of young people,
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0329:FIN:EN:PDF.
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
The state or degree of being easily or conveniently done. Something that is possible to do; capable of being done or carried out.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Language or language variety which children acquire in their family environment and which they use for their first verbal interactions with other family members and the outside world. In some cases a child may have several first languages.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
“First language: language variety(ies) acquired in early childhood (approximately before the age of two or three years) in which the human language faculty was first acquired. This term is preferred to mother tongue, which is often inaccurate as the first language is not necessarily that of the mother alone.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
“First language: language variety(ies) acquired in early childhood (approximately before the age of two or three years) in which the human language faculty was first acquired. This term is preferred to mother tongue, which is often inaccurate as the first language is not necessarily that of the mother alone” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 114).
"The first languages of migrants have many origins: some are other European languages that may allow a degree of mutual understanding with the official varieties of certain countries and are themselves official or regional varieties. Others are from outside Europe, but familiar because of colonial history which provided some contact, or, conversely, are perceived as very different. These, in their turn, are the languages of countries or large cultural groupings or minority languages in the countries of origin. (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 57)
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“The family strategies for transmission of the first language of such communities can vary greatly and may be explicit or implicit: using the language systematically in private communication, regular visits to the country of origin, classes provided by an association or in host education systems. For others, pressure from the surrounding community and the wish to facilitate integration in the host country lead them avoiding the first variety. However, this abandonment of the heritage language may be experienced as a loss of identity by succeeding generations, who then try to re-appropriate the linguistic variety they ought to have inherited.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 56)."
"First language is the term of academic origin used to refer to what is generally understood by the term mother tongue. […] Mother tongue is the corresponding everyday term which, however, has affective connotations such as family and origin that are not present in the term first language. Furthermore, it is not always correct since children do not acquire their first language only from their mothers and they may acquire several first languages (two or more) simultaneously in multilingual family environments. Native language and heritage language are other terms used in this sense and they also have similar associations with a group to which one belongs, with which one identifies. It will be noted that the linguistic variety in which one may define one’s belonging to a group is not necessarily the first language, but may be a variety acquired later on.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 51).
“It may also be the one through which the child begins to discover and appropriate the rules of language and, at the same time, the rules of linguistic behaviour (for example, who, how and when to greet).” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 51).
[First language is] the primary acquired language of a child. This term presupposes potential multilingualism, which means a specification of one of several (possibly later to be acquired) languages as the first learned language or a significant language in a person’s linguistic biography. (Glück, Helmut (Hrsg.). (2000), Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 2. erweiterte Auflage. Stuttgart/Weimar, 192). [Translation by Franziska Plathner]
“The first languages of people or of groups that have been obliged to settle in other countries are another type of minority language.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 56)."
Term in German:
Erstsprache(n)
"Erstsprache: Sprachvarietät(en), welche in der frühen Kindheit (bis zu einem Alter von zwei bis drei Jahren) erworben worden ist/sind, in der sich das menschliche Sprachvermögen erstmalig in einer natürlichen Sprache fest begründet. Dieser Begriff wird gegenüber dem Begriff Muttersprache bevorzugt, der häufig insofern ungenau ist, als dass die Erstsprache nicht unbedingt nur die der Mutter ist" (Language Policy Division (2007). Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 114). [Übersetzung ins Deutsche von Franziska Plathner]
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
Language with which a child has no regular contact in his/her family environment and which is not used in relations with peers or adults in his/her immediate environment or to regulate everyday life in the institution.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
“A language described as such in the curriculum laid down by the central (or top-level) education authorities. In some countries, foreign languages may be referred to as modern languages or the second or third language. The description used is based on an education-related definition, unrelated to the political status of a language.”
Term in French:
langue étrangère
« langue considérée comme telle dans le programme d’études défini par les autorités centrales (ou supérieures) de l’éducation. Dans certains pays, les langues étrangères peuvent être qualifiées de langues modernes ou de deuxième ou troisième langue. La qualification repose sur une définition liée à l’éducation et est sans rapport avec le statut politique de la langue visée. »
Term in German:
Fremdsprache
„Sprache, die in den von den zentralen oder obersten Bildungsbehörden festgelegten Lehrplänen als ‚Fremdsprache‘ gilt. In einigen Ländern werden Fremdsprachen auch als moderne Sprachen oder die zweite oder dritte Sprache bezeichnet. Diese Einstufung bezieht sich ausschließlich auf das Bildungswesen und betrifft nicht den politischen Status einer Sprache.“
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
An ongoing process of gathering information on the extent of learning, on strengths and weaknesses, which the teacher can feed back into their course planning and the actual feedback they give learners.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
What people do by means of language, e.g. ‘Enquire about the well-being of others’, ‘Seek confirmation of one’s understanding of what has been said’.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Words used to express a particular function (e.g. Can you tell me…? When seeking information).
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Refers to the different functions, e.g. the uses of language.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
This term refers to all the regular patterns which may be observed in the phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatic and sociolinguistic uses of a particular language.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Competences not specific to language, called upon for actions of all kinds, including language activities; defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as savoir (declarative knowledge), savoir-faire (skills and know-how), savoir-être (‘existential’ competence) and savoir-apprendre (ability to learn).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“A genre is a culturally determined way of getting things done, with patterns that can be predicted, to varying degrees, by members of a particular culture. It is a social activity that has a purpose, is enacted through stages and is realised through language. In terms of the school subjects, the genres are the ‘practices’ (actions combined with visual and verbal texts) that the teacher and students engage in.” (Polias 2006: 49).
Polias J. (2006), “Assessing learning: a language-based approach”, in Mikael Olofsson (ed.), Symposium 2006, Nationellt Centrum för SFI, HLS, Stockholm, Sweden.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
A genre, or text type, refers to specific features of a text, either spoken or written, which make use of conventional formulations, registers, images, etc.; these help the learner in anticipating and comprehending text structure and content (CEFR, p. 165). Examples of genres are a personal text message, a newspaper article, an advertisement, an email, a report, etc.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
www.coe.int/lang-cefr.
Term in French:
genre
Un genre, ou type de texte, fait référence à des caractéristiques spécifiques d’un texte, oral ou écrit, qui font appel à des formulations, des registres, des images, etc. conventionnels ; ceux-ci aideront l’apprenant·e à anticiper et à comprendre la structure et le contenu du texte (CECR, 2001: p. 126). Un message textuel personnel, un article de journal, une publicité, un courriel, un rapport, etc. sont des exemples de genres.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
“A genre is a culturally determined way of getting things done, with patterns that can be predicted, to varying degrees, by members of a particular culture. It is a social activity that has a purpose, is enacted through stages and is realised through language. In terms of the school subjects, the genres are the ‘practices’ (actions combined with visual and verbal texts) that the teacher and students engage in.” (Polias 2006: 49)
Polias J. (2006), “Assessing learning: a language-based approach”, in Mikael Olofsson (ed.), Symposium 2006, Nationellt Centrum för SFI, HLS, Stockholm, Sweden.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Goals usually describe desired general outcomes related to visions and values (e.g. plurilingualism, self-reliant, interculturally competent citizens).
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Goal setting can be guided by goal-setting criteria (or rules).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A good practice is not only a practice that is good, but a practice that has been proven to work well and produce good results, and is therefore recommended as a model. It is a successful experience, which has been tested and validated, in the broad sense, which has been repeated and deserves to be shared so that a greater number of people can draw on it.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A representation giving a clear and effective picture to illustrate a concept or procedure. Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use of typography, space, image and colour.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Organisation by the educator of a group of children to establish procedures conducive to learning. This includes the different strategies used by the educator to get and keep the children’s attention, maintain discipline and allow them to contribute in an orderly fashion. It also includes planning and management of activities and the transitions between them, the start and end of sequences, and the organisation of individual work, work in pairs and group work. Good group management presupposes effective use of teaching aids, resources (IT facilities and software etc.) and classroom space.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Learning which “seeks to fully activate all aspects of the learner’s personality (intellect, emotions, imagination, body) for more effective and comprehensive learning.”
Bureau international d’éducation (BIE-UNESCO), Glossary of curriculum terminology, Holistic learning approach, available at
www.ibe.unesco.org/fr/node/12216, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
This term refers to language(s) or varieties of languages spoken at home with parents and family/community. There is an emphasis on the social space, the home, and the fact that this language differs from the language(s) used in other social spaces such as schools. (Mary et al. 2021)
Young A. and Mary L. (2021), “Blurring the borders between research and practice: video as a tool to develop knowledge about language and empower (student) teachers in multilingual pre-school classrooms”, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29:3, pp. 351-362.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
One of the on-going processes throughout ELP use is the self-assessment of work and progress in learning, and recording this on a chronological basis. It is important to remember that self-assessment is valid both as a form of assessment and as an instrument of learning. With the support of teachers, learners can develop their skills of self-assessment and will become increasingly aware of learning demands, personal learning styles and how they may achieve success.
All ELP pages prompt learners to think, assess and record. The support of teachers is essential in the early stages of a language course but over time learners become empowered to carry out these procedures themselves. The ability to self-assess is a key transferable skill and, as such, will support learners far beyond the language class. (Lazenby Simpson 2012: 32)
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
In a language learning context, identity is defined as the complex negotiating process between the learner and his or her environment, as the identity of the speaker is context-based, plural and dynamic and is portrayed through the languages the speaker uses (Soler & Sugranyes, 2022).
Soler D. & Sugranyes C. (2022), “Understanding the plurilingual researcher in context”, Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen, 51 (2), pp. 53-67.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
“Immersion refers to the teaching of content exclusively through a foreign language. The emphasis is placed on subject teaching, and the language serves only as a means of delivering that instruction. We evaluate students’ knowledge of the subjects taught and not their proficiency in the foreign language.”
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
The effect created by an approach or idea, model or procedure, including tests or assessment processes. Impact is considered both in terms of the influence on teaching and education in general, and on the individuals who are affected by the actions and results.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The intended or real effect of an ELP on both the process and outcomes of language learning (e.g. innovative and stimulating classroom practice and/or significant improvement in learning achievements).
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A type of research that focuses on impact/effects of different approaches to language learning, teaching and assessment in different contexts and at different levels (individual, pedagogical, and structural).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The process of turning planning into action in a supportive, learner-focused environment. This also involves adapting the planned course flexibly and appropriately to circumstances and learner needs.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The process whereby an ELP is brought into systematic use by learners. It can be a complex process, incorporating planning, securing resources, promotion of the ELP concept among target teachers, learners and others, dissemination of advice and information, monitoring and evaluation.
The European Ministers of Education recommend that the governments of member states, in harmony with their education policies, create conditions favourable for the implementation and wide use of the ELP according to the Principles and Guidelines laid down by the Education Committee. Successful implementation depends on clear goals, commitment, effective structures and support, and a sustained effort.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Any person directly (e.g. teacher) or indirectly (e.g. adviser) carrying responsibilities or preparing to take responsibilities for planning, monitoring and reporting of ELP implementation projects on an operational level.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Facts and quantifiable data which can be measured and which will provide evidence about whether certain quality standards have been achieved. Very often, indicators are formulated as statements to which it is possible to answer Yes or No.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s information concerns and needs, and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address issues or problems at hand; it is a prerequisite for participating effectively in the Information Society, and is part of the basic human right of lifelong learning” (Prague Declaration, UNESCO, 2003, p. 1).
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
Way to (inter)act on the basis of verified and accurate information and/or which demonstrates a knowledge of digital technology, its limitations and its dangers.
Term in French:
agir informé
Façon d’(inter)agir sur la base d’informations vérifiées et exactes et/ou qui démontre une connaissance du numérique, de ses limites et de ses dangers.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Something that is put in, taken in and/or operated on; texts proposed to learners to hear, read or see, and/or texts they themselves deliver for the use of others.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Refer to the combination of at least two skills, e.g. listening and writing for note
taking.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The core feature of oral or written communication between two or more people; requiring both receptive and productive competence but also social and pragmatic skills. In interaction, meaning is co-constructed.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The process of intercomprehension refers to speakers’ making links between two or more linguistic systems that they are familiar with to varying degrees in order to communicate.
Note:
The intercomprehension process is based on the interaction of the following two principles: the exploitation of the language contact phenomenon and the strategies of convergence and divergence during intergroup contact.
In Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages) (2013), Glossary: ECML programme 2008-2011 “Empowering language professionals”, p. 182.
Blanche Benveniste C. & Valli A. (eds.) (1997), “L’intercompréhension: le cas des langues romanes”,
Le Français dans le Monde, Recherches et applications, Hachette, Paris.
Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages) (2013), Glossary: ECML programme 2008-2011 “Empowering language professionals”, Graz, p. 182, available at
www.ecml.at/Portals/1/20140130_Glossary_ECML%20MTP3_EmpoweringLanguageProfessionals_with%20index_FINAL.pdf, accessed 23 February 2017.
Dabène L. & Degache C. (eds.) (1996), “Comprendre les langues voisines”,
Études de linguistique appliquée, 104.
Doye P. (2005),
L’intercompréhension – Etude de référence, Conseil de l’Europe (Division des politiques linguistiques), Strasbourg.
Gajo L. (2006), “L’intercompréhension entre didactique intégrée et enseignement bilingue”, in
Actes du Colloque “L’intercompréhension entre langue voisines” organisé par la DLF, CIIP, Suisse, les 6 et 7 novembre 2006 à Genève.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the relations – similarities and distinctive differences – between different cultural communities. These communities may include the learners’ cultural communities, those of speakers of the languages they are learning or others too.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
The ability to communicate and interact effectively and appropriately with people of other national, regional or social cultures.
Term in French:
compétence interculturelle
La compétence interculturelle est la capacité de communiquer et d’interagir de manière efficace et appropriée avec des personnes d’autres cultures nationales, régionales ou sociales.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
The ability to communicate and interact effectively and appropriately with people of other national, regional or social cultures.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Intercultural competence can be defined as “the capacity to experience cultural otherness and use it to:
- reflect on matters that are usually taken for granted within one’s own culture and environment;
- evaluate one’s own everyday patterns of perception, thought, feeling and behaviour in order to develop greater self-knowledge and self-understanding;
- act as mediators among people of different cultures, to explain and interpret different perspectives.”
Interculturality
involves being
open to,
interested in,
curious about and
empathetic towards people from (any) other cultures. (…)
Interculturality
does not involve identifying with another cultural group or adopting the cultural practices of the other group.
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
Capacity to interact positively, i.e. critically and empathetically, with any form of otherness. This competence is based essentially on skills and attitudes, but is developed through verbal interaction with educators and peers on the occasion of encounters with manifestations of otherness in the immediate or more distant environment. It is distinct from cultural competence and pluricultural competence (cf. cultural competence).
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Acquiring knowledge and understanding of people whose cultures are different from one’s own.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Words or expressions having the same meaning, being used in several languages in more or less adapted forms. (See also Cognates)
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Mediation is intralinguistic if the need to relay information occurs in situations where just one language is being used. It is mediation within the same language but across discourses, texts and individuals.
Term in French:
médiation intralangues
La médiation est intralangues si le besoin de relayer des informations se produit dans des situations où une seule langue est utilisée. Il s’agit d’une médiation à l’intérieur d’une même langue mais à travers des discours, des textes et des individus.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
Thinking about a complicated issue in a holistic way that includes all the important aspects and elements (e.g. thinking of planning, teaching, resources, teacher development and assessment when planning a curriculum)
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
There are multiple areas of knowledge. i.e. declarative knowledge (savoir) is
understood as knowledge resulting from experience (empirical knowledge) and from more formal learning (academic knowledge).
Sociocultural knowledge is knowledge of the society and culture of the community or communities in which a language is spoken.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The capacity to call upon one’s personal resources, consisting of knowledge, attitudes and skills, to perform a task. In the use of languages, communicative competence draws on linguistic (lexicon and functioning of the language), sociolinguistic (social rules in use of the language) and pragmatic components to perform a communicative task. Communicative competence is therefore based on knowledge about the functioning and use of languages, skills in implementing that knowledge and the capacity to adopt a favourable attitude to communication (e.g. ability to listen, desire to exchange with others, etc.).
See competence
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Also called “background knowledge”, this is the knowledge we may have of the information chain from sourcing, producing, to sharing and distributing.
Term in French:
connaissance de la création et de la diffusion de l’information
Aussi appelée « background knowledge », il s’agit ici de la connaissance que l’on peut avoir des modes de création, production, partage et de diffusion de l’information.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
The erroneous use of L1 features, in constructing a foreign language, that do not belong to that language, e.g. in L1, a speaker says ‘I am thirsty’, whereas in L2, a native speaker would say, ‘I have thirst’.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Third and/or further foreign language which is not identical with the L2. The L2 and the experience of learning a first ‘foreign’ language seems to play a specific role in a learner’s language repertoire in being a kind of model for subsequent ‘foreign’ language learning. Plurilingual individuals tend to have varying degrees of competencies in their various ‘foreign’ languages so that there is justification for labelling the languages differently and not all as “L2”.
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
Autochthonous = the original language spoken in a particular region / area.
Dominant = pertaining to the majority of people of a particular country.
Foreign = external, different from the spoken language of a particular nation.
Migrant = pertaining to people who have arrived in a foreign nation.
Minority = pertaining to only a part of the population of a particular country.
National = pertaining to a particular nation.
Official = chosen by the government to represent the whole nation.
Regional = pertaining to a particular region / area.
Second = pertaining to a particular nation, but not the first and not chosen as official.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
“Systemic Functional Linguistics sees language as a means for learning about the world. It models learning as a process of making meaning, and language learning as building one’s meaning making potential to make meaning in particular contexts. Knowledge is viewed as meaning, a resource for understanding and acting on the world. All knowledge is constituted in semiotic systems with language as the most central.” (Mohan et al. 2010: 221).
Mohan B. & Leung C. & Slater T. (2010), “Assessing language and content: A functional perspective”, in Amos Paran, Sercu Lies (eds.), Testing the untestable in language education, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, pp. 217-240.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
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).
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The exercise of one’s communicative language competence in a specific domain in processing (receptively and/or productively) one or more texts/utterances in order to carry out a task.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
language awakening
The term language awakening refers to teaching practices wherein part of the activities concern languages that the school does not intend to teach (which may or may not be the mother tongues of some pupils) (Candelier 2017).
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
"[Language awareness is] concerned with fostering communicative ability, increasing people’s knowledge and sensitivity about how language is used in a variety of contexts and environments, and raising levels of positive, informed tolerance. (…) It seeks to promote the ability, through education, not only to use language effectively but also to assess the use and abuse of language in the context of everyday life; it emphasises what is appropriate rather than what is perceived to be correct or incorrect" (Harvey, 1988).
Harvey, P. (1988) Language awareness. English Today. The International Review of the English Language 13 (1), 23-26." "Language awareness is a broad term, and it may be appropriate to focus on different elements in different contexts. Hawkins (1999) sees language awareness as a ‘pentagon’ of five elements: mastering the mother tongue; language awareness in the curriculum; education of the ear; ouverture aux languages; and learning how to learn the foreign language.
In the publication, "Language and cultural awareness: practical ideas for classroom use" (Evans et al. 2005), Lamb identifies three main aims of language awareness programmes:
- Investigating language: developing an awareness of language
- Learning how to learn: developing an awareness of language learning
- Enjoying diversity: intercultural awareness and multilingualism
<br>
Evans, J., Wicksteed, K. and Chambers, P. (2005) Language and cultural awareness: practical ideas for classroom use. (London: Specialist Schools and Academies Trust).
Hawkins, E.W. (1999) Foreign Language Study and Language Awareness. Language Awareness 8 (3&4), 124-142."
"Twenty-five years ago, in the UK, the different kinds of language teacher (of foreign languages, of English mother tongue, English as a second language, ethnic minority languages and the classics) remained sealed off from each other, in schools, universities and training colleges. Teachers of these subjects never went into each other’s classrooms to hear what their colleagues were saying about language. They had not even tried to agree a common vocabulary in which to talk about language. In the years that have elapsed, little has changed in this respect, though there have been isolated advances. Pomphrey and Moger (this issue) report on a pioneering project in the parallel training of foreign language and English teachers. Our ALA journal Language Awareness has been influential in promoting discussion of the issues. But the absence of collaboration still blocks the development of a coherent language apprenticeship in the schools” (Hawkins, 1999: 124).
Hawkins, E.W. (1999) Foreign Language Study and Language Awareness. Language Awareness 8 (3&4), 124-142."
Term in German:
Sprachbewusstheit
"[Sprachbewusstheit ist] bemüht darum, Kommunikationsfähigkeit zu fördern, das Wissen und die Sensibilität von Menschen darüber zu erhöhen, wie Sprache in verschiedenen Kontexten und Lebenswelten gebraucht wird, und schließlich, das Niveau positiver, einsichtsvoller Toleranz zu heben. (...) Sie will durch Bildung nicht nur die Fähigkeit fördern, Sprache effektiv zu verwenden, sondern auch den Gebrauch und Missbrauch der Sprache im Kontext des Alltagslebens zu erkennen; sie betont eher, was angemessen ist und weniger, was als korrekt oder inkorrekt angesehen wird"" (Harvey, 1988).
Harvey, P. (1988) Language awareness. English Today. The International Review of the English Language 13 (1), 23-26. [Übersetzung ins Deutsche: K.-B. Boeckmann]"
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
This approach to language education involves putting in place activities to stimulate observation, analysis and reflection in relation to a plurality of languages, including languages which are neither spoken nor being learnt by the children. It helps children to acquire positive, open-minded attitudes towards linguistic and cultural diversity and to feel confident about their own repertoires.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
« Language awareness refers to the kind of knowing when we step back from the direct experience of using language and develop a systematic meta-cognition concerning its codes and conventions, in short how language „works‟. Although at one level this consists of explicit know-ledge about language as an apparatus both in everyday life and specific social contexts, it also supports critical deconstruction of texts (i.e. facilitates rhetorical criticism) enabling the learner to see through language that manipulates or discriminates ».
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
Language awareness refers to the ability to adopt a reflective attitude towards linguistic elements and their use, otherwise stated as the ability to reflect on language ... in order to develop metalinguistic abilities (according to www.unipress.dk/media/3546132/srogforum_58__moore3.pdf).
This term is broad, and it may focus on different elements in different contexts. Hawkins (1999) sees language awareness as a “pentagon” of five elements: mastering the mother tongue; language awareness in the curriculum; education of the ear; ouverture aux langues; and learning how to learn the foreign language. (Boeckmann et al. 2011: 73)
Boeckmann Klaus-Börge, Aalto Eija, Abel Andreas, Atanasoska Tatjana, and Lamb Terry (2011),
Promoting plurilingualism: Majority language in multilingual settings, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, p. 73, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLPublications/tabid/277/ID/22/language/en-GB/Default.aspx, accessed 23 February 2017.
Hawkins Eric W. (1999), “Foreign language study and language awareness”,
Language awareness, 8 (3 & 4), pp. 124-142.
Moore Danièle (2014), “Sproglig opmærksomhed
– en tilgang til at styrke sproglæring fra den tidlige barndom”,
Sprogforum, 58, June 2018, available at
www.unipress.dk/media/3546132/sprogforum_58_d_moore3.pdf.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
A record of personal, language-learning history, typically including background information and accounts on intercultural encounters and language use.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The Language Biography is the second section of the European Language Portfolio (ELP). It facilitates the learner’s involvement in planning, reflecting upon and assessing his or her learning process and progress. It provides scope for recording at greater length than in the Language Passport various experiences that have been influential in the user’s learning, both in the formal learning of languages and in unstructured and informal encounters with foreign languages and cultures.
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
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 .
Boulet J. (2002), “La part langagière du travail, bilan et perspectives”, Langage et société, 98, Paris, pp. 17-42.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
The following citation highlights what is meant by the language dimension in subjects:
“[…] each subject in school is responsible for achieving the goals of that particular subject in terms of knowledge building and meaning-making in the full sense of the term, but also in terms of meeting the goals of successful schooling and of quality education in general. Language requirements such as reading and understanding expository texts, listening to explanations, summarizing or answering questions orally and presenting results are present in all classrooms, in connection with content work. The language dimension in teaching and learning subject-matter is of equal importance as in language as subject itself.” (Beacco et al. 2016: 21)
Source: ECML resource website A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling (2016-2019)
The terms FOS, ESP, etc. refer to a teaching approach aimed at developing language competences/skills required in frequently recurring, standard situations in a given occupation (e.g. indicating the location of landmarks on a city plan for an employee of a tourist office). In the French context, this acronym can be written French for a Specific Purpose (singular) and constitutes a teaching and curriculum design methodology who proposed a detailed needs analysis, followed by selection of typical interactions and written texts. These items are then transformed into teaching and learning material for use in the language classroom, with consideration given to learner assessment.
In the plural form, i.e. Français sur Objectifs Spécifiques, FOS refers to the entire area of French language teaching and learning for professional and pre-professional audiences, without specification of methodology1.
Nuances in English spoken context:
‘Language(s) for Special Purposes, also Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP)’:
An area of enquiry and practice in the development of language teaching programmes for people who need a language (or variety of a language) to meet a predictable range of communicative needs. Examples include courses for scientists, doctors, lawyers, and air traffic controllers2.
1 Mangiante Jean-Marc and Parpette Chantal (2004), Le Français sur Objectif Spécifique, de l’analyse des besoins à l’élaboration d’un cours, Hachette, Paris.
2 Crystal David (1992), An encyclopaedic dictionary of language & languages, Blackwell, Oxford, p. 217.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
“In interactive activities the language user acts alternately as speaker and listener with one or more interlocutors so as to construct conjointly, through the negotiation of meaning following the co-operative principle, conversational discourse.
Reception and production strategies are employed constantly during interaction.”
(CEFR, 2001, p. 73)
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 73, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
“Foreign or second language (L2) learning strategies are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques students use -- often consciously -- to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the L2.”
Oxford R.L. (1990), Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know, Heinle & Heinle, Boston.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
In the field of language use “mediation” has come to mean how someone assists people to communicate effectively with one another when they sign or speak different languages, do not understand certain terms or concepts, or when they are dealing with situations or ideas that are new to them.
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
Language variety, often the first language, of persons or groups who have moved to live in other States. These speakers must adapt linguistically to the new environment and learn, at least partially, the language (or languages) of the host country.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
Gérard Vigner was the first to define language of instruction. This term refers to a “language used to teach subjects other than the language itself and which can, in certain countries, also be present in the students’ social environment”. Language of instruction is often the L1 but it can also be an L2: for example, when it is the official language in a multilingual society, among migrant populations, or in a CLIL classroom.
Schleppegrell M.J. (2001), “Linguistic features of the language of schooling”, in Linguistics and Education, Volume 2, Issue 4.
Vigner G. (1992), “Le français langue de scolarisation”, in Études de linguistique appliquée, “Français langue seconde”, no. 88, Didier Érudition, Paris.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
“Language of schooling” denotes the language used for teaching the various school subjects and for the functioning of schools. This language is usually the official language(s) of the State or the region, for example Polish in Poland or Italian in Italy, but may also concern officially recognised regional or minority languages, foreign or migrant languages. Depending on the national or regional context, several languages of schooling are used. (Rec(2014)5)
Beacco J.-C., Fleming M., Goullier F., Thürmann E. & Vollmer H. (2016),
A handbook for curriculum development and teacher training – The language dimension in all subjects, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at
https://rm.coe.int/a-handbook-for-curriculum-development-and-teacher-training-the-languag/16806af387.
Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the importance of competences in the language(s) of schooling for equity and quality in education and for educational success (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 2 April 2014 at the 1196th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies) Strasbourg, 2014, available at
https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectID=09000016805c610b.
Source: ECML resource website A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling (2016-2019)
Official language(s) used as a language of instruction in school.
Term in French:
langue d’enseignement
Langue(s) officielle(s) dans laquelle/lesquelles sont effectués les/des enseignements de disciplines dans le système scolaire.
Source: ECML resource website Young children’s language learning pathways (2020-2023)
“From a functional linguistic perspective, the language of schooling is a special case of the interpenetration of language and social context. It can differ significantly from the everyday language of the student (see CALP) and this gap could become particularly problematic for language minority students whose language repertoire may need to be extended (…).”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
In the context of the Language for Work Network the term “language for work” embraces three different strands of language development for adult migrants in the context of their linguistic integration into the labour market and into the society at large.
1. Pre-employment language provision
This aims to equip learners with the language skills they need for generic work tasks, common to different sectors and trades. Such as telephoning, explaining a procedure, dealing with forms. It is also likely to include job-search activities, including CV and cover letter and/or email writing, application form filling and job interviews. Lerner groups are typically mixed, e.g.
- unemployed, employees, students/trainees;
- different occupational expertise and work experience;
- different educational backgrounds, personal histories and levels of education.
2. Language provision for specific occupational areas
Targets specific work tasks identified through needs analysis. The training takes place either in the workplace or in a training centre.
Learner groups are more homogeneous regarding for example:
- from the occupational area;
- focused on the same areas of competence, including the same certification, but
- have different cultural backgrounds, personal histories and levels of education.
3. Provision in the workplace covers
- formal language learning provision tailored to the needs of specific groups of employees of a specific company taking place either in the company or in a training centre. It can take the form of classroom provision, coaching, etc.;
- non-formal language learning provision in the company, for example through mentorship or the designation of a specific member of staff to act as a “language champion” within the organisation;
- informal language learning support, e.g. ad hoc language support offered by managers and staff to migrant colleagues.
In some instances, provision in the workplace seeks to make the workplace a space for learning and language development. In these cases it adopts a systemic approach that takes into account the interests and perspectives of the relevant stakeholders/actors involved in the interaction, including the learners, co-workers, management (mainly HR and L&D), trade union representatives, etc. The learning provider acts not only as language teacher, but also as language consultant, advising the different actors on various language and communication issues that arise around the language skills at work.
Learner groups reflect the composition of the staff re age, gender, etc.
The learners are colleagues in the same organisation, although they may come from different parts of the organisation. They may also have different personal, cultural, linguistic and educational backgrounds.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
The Language Passport is the initial section of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) provides an overview of the individual’s proficiency in different languages at a given point in time. It is the key record of current proficiency and qualifications, related wherever possible to levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
“The European Language Portfolio was ‘launched as a tool to support the development of plurilingualism and multiculturalism. Follow-up projects were dedicated to training teachers to use the portfolio as an instrument for monitoring language development in individual learners in formal and non-formal settings, but also to record and document progress in language learning and cultural experiences in general.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
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
common vision, action, change, guidelines, school and community, dynamic action statement, shared document, language practices, language management, language ideologies
Camilleri Grima Antoinette (2007),
Promoting linguistic diversity and whole-school development, “Developing a whole-school policy”, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
http://archive.ecml.at/mtp2/ENSEMBLE/results/School-policy.htm.
Corson David (1999),
Language policy in schools – A resource for teachers and administrators, LEA publishers, New Jersey.
Hornberger Nancy H., McKay Sandra Lee (2010),
Sociolinguistics and language education, Multilingual Matters, Bristol.
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
4.1. Having a school language profile is seen as an initial step to developing a whole-school language policy. Having a means of developing a whole-school profile is one way of declaring “a policy about policy making” (Corson 1990: 62), allowing for transparency and giving cohesion and purpose to the school’s language development activity.
4.2. “It is therefore recommended that schools compile a comprehensive language profile of the school community that identifies the following points:
- the diversity of language needs for students following the IB programme(s). This should include:
- information on the languages of teaching and learning
- the languages of communication used in the school and outside the classroom
- the range and types of mother tongue and other languages in the community
- the other language needs of the community (including any legal requirements as a result of government legislation)
- current practices relating to language teaching and learning, for example:
- practices relating to the choice and planning of language courses for learners
- spelling and referencing protocols
- preferred bibliographic styles
- rules and expectations about language use around the school
- beliefs held about language teaching and learning
- other policies that relate directly to language teaching and learning such as admissions and assessment policies.
KEY WORDS
language needs, current practices in language teaching and learning, beliefs, policies
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
Language sensitivity involves a range of skills and competencies related to understanding, interpreting, and using language effectively in various contexts, while also being aware of the impact of this use on individuals and groups. It “refers to acknowledging and understanding the role of languages in learning, identity growth, and well-being at both individual and collective levels. Among the various perspectives of learning languages, learning through languages, and learning about languages” (Dražnik et al., 2022: 14).
Dražnik T., Llompart-Esbert J. & Bergroth M. (2022), “Student teachers expressions of ‘fear’ in handling linguistically diverse classrooms”,
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, pp. 1-16, available at
https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2086258.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
Generic, neutral term which avoids a value judgement and labelling a particular language.
Term in French:
variété linguistique
Terme générique et neutre qui évite de porter un jugement de valeur et de dénommer une langue particulière.
Source: ECML resource website Young children’s language learning pathways (2020-2023)
Generic, neutral term which describes a specific form of language and which avoids a value judgement and labelling a particular language.
Beacco Jean-Claude, Byram Michael (2007),
From linguistic diversity to plurilingual education – Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, p. 115, available at
http://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016802fc1c4, accessed 10 May 2019.
Creese Angela and Blackledge Adrian (2015), “Translanguaging and identity in educational settings”, Cambridge University Press, published online 13 March 2015, available at
www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annual-review-of-applied-linguistics/article/translanguaging-and-identity-in-educational-settings/E52D4C1844328A0E1534B16145B5EF4D, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
The concept of language visibility refers to the prominence and perceptibility of languages in public spaces, particularly through signs and displays. This is related to the idea of linguistic landscapes, or the visibility and salience of languages in public in a given territory or region. This can serve as a rich source of data for understanding language dynamics, power relations, and identity negotiation within a given locale. It offers glimpses into the complex interplay between languages, social hierarchies, and urban environments.
López Vera M. & Dooly M. (2023), “Languages around us: (In)visibility matters”, in
Linguistic landscapes in language and teacher education: Multilingual teaching and learning inside and beyond the classroom, Multilingual Education, Springer Science and Business Media B.V., Vol. 43, pp. 21-37,
available at
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22867-4_2.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
"There are (…) many programmes in which the official language is used as the language of instruction: in situations in which learners who are speakers of a minority language are, as it were, immersed in the official school language, their first language will, if it is not in use in the community, tend to die out (…) or, conversely, acquisition of the linguistic variety used in the host country (...) will not lead to the loss of the first language“ (Language Policy Division (2003), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version, Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 56. Download here. (Access date: March 30, 2009). "This supposes that in private communication citizens may use any linguistic varieties“ (…)
<br>
"National language does not (…) coincide with citizenship (...), even if some knowledge of the official variety is expected or required of those applying for citizenship“ (Beacco & Byram 2003, 52). "
„Receiving newly arrived migrants involves setting up language education structures for them and their children, in the absence of which the acquisition of the national or official language will take place spontaneously only with respect to oral forms. This would lead to later handicaps as a result of an inability to write the language. (…) The need to maintain the stability of official languages leads dominant social groups and the state apparatus to set norms which are disseminated by education systems, in particular by the teaching of the so-called mother tongue and the teaching of other subjects in that language“ (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 21. Download here. (Access date: March 30, 2009).
Term in German:
Unterrichtssprache(n)
„Um andere Gegenstände als die Sprache selbst zu unterrichten, benützen Schulen eine linguistische Varietät, die in der Regel die (oder eine der) Amtssprachen(n) ist. Für Migrantenkinder (deren Erstsprache nicht die Sprache ist, die in der Schule verwendet wird, wurden Angebote entwickelt, in denen die Muttersprache diese Rolle übernimmt, um ihnen die Dinge zu erleichtern, obwohl einige Familien dies als Hindernis für ihre Integration im Aufnahmeland ansehen können“ (Beacco & Byram 2003, 56, Übersetzung: K.-B. Boeckmann).
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
“Language of origin: language variety, often the first language, of persons or groups who have moved to live in other States. These speakers must adapt linguistically to the new environment and learn, at least partially, the language (or languages) of the host country.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 115. Download here. Access date: June 18, 2009). "The language of origin is the individual => first language [or mother-tongue] of people who reside in a host country with a different language from the language or language variety of their home country. The term is mainly used in connection with processes of migration due to the fact that it expresses the spatial, cultural and linguistic distance between the place of origin and the receiving country. The acquisition of the language of origin for migrants takes place directly in their country of origin. The Language of origin basically contributes to the signalling of group identity (Extra/Verhoeven, 1999, 9). For the next generations the Language of origin will be transmitted in the country of immigration within the family (so called “intergenerational transmission” after Brizić, 2007, 197).
<br>
Therefore language of origin mostly occupies the domain of family or group language in contrast to the language of the host country as the language of education or the language of environment. Especially as far as the second generation we can use the term family- or parental language, or heritage language, precisely because the language of origin is the language used by immigrant family members of the speakers; however, it does not reveal anything about the real birthplace of the following generation.
Other terms used in a similar or partly synonymous sense for language of origin are: family- or parental language, immigrant language, immigrant-family-language, source language, native language, mother-tongue, first language. Like the words heritage language (in terms of language of familiar and cultural heritage) or home language (in terms of language of homeland and used language at home) these terms are not the same as the term language of origin, but bring with them a range of diverse connotations or underline different aspects of meaning.
<br>
Sources: Brizić, Katharina (2007): Das geheime Leben der Sprachen. Gesprochene und verschwiegene Sprachen und ihr Einfluss auf den Spracherwerb in der Migration. Münster [u.a.]: Waxmann; Extra, Guus & Verhoeven, Ludo (1999): Bilingualism and migration. Berlin [u.a]: Mouton de Gruyter.
[Comment by Franziska Plathner]"
"But this also raises the question of recognising the mother tongues of the migrants’ children in a manner comparable to those of established national minorities. These languages are likely to be lost and, by the third or fourth generation, to be merely a heritage language. ‘Ethnic mobilisation’ around cultural identities does not necessarily focus on the transmission of original languages.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 23. Download here. Access date: June 18, 2009)
“[…] language varieties of the countries of origin are often learnt as a first language (L1) in the process of primary socialization, and they are used for in-group communication.” (Extra, Guus & Verhoeven, Ludo. (1999), Bilingualism and migration. Mouton de Gruyter. Berlin [u.a.], 14).
"More typical are those families in which the language of origin takes the bulk of communication while alongside the usage of German language is also applied in some scale, whereas generally the migrants’ children tend to a more comprehensive use of German language [note: Ex. for Germany]. […] It means for small children growing up in family in many cases the language of origin is taken as basis of their language development"" (Ehlich, Konrad. (2005), Anforderungen an Verfahren der regelmäßigen Sprachstandsfeststellung als Grundlage für die frühe und individuelle Förderung von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Bonn [u.a.], 131). [Translation by Franziska Plathner]"
Term in German:
Herkunftssprache(n)
"Herkunftssprache: Sprachvarietät, vielfach die Erstsprache, von Personen oder Gruppen, die migrieren, um in einem anderen Staat zu leben. Sie müssen sich sprachlich an ihre neue Umgebung anpassen und sie müssen, zumindest teilweise, die Sprache oder die Sprachen des Aufnahmelandes erlernen". (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 115. Hier herunterladen. Zugriff: 18. Juni 2009). [Übersetzung ins Deutsche von Franziska Plathner].
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
All languages/ language varieties present in school: mother tongue(s)/native/ home languages, regional/migrant/minority languages, second/ majority languages and foreign languages. This term does not only refer to "taught" varieties or "Bildungssprachen", but also to all of the languages that pupils bring to school, even if they are not part of the curriculum. The <a href="https://www.ecml.at/Portals/1/3MTP/MARILLE/LE.jpg?ver=2020-09-03-111438-577" target="_blank"> image </a> illustrates the contents of the concept. FR: Langue(s) de l‘éducation - (LE)
Michael Fleming: Languages of schooling within a European framework for languages of education: Learning, teaching, assessment. Intergovernmental Conference. Prague, 8-10 November 2007. Report. Strasbourg 2008.
Term in German:
Sprachen (in) der Bildung
Alle Sprachen bzw. Sprachvarietäten, die in der Schule vorkommen: Mutter-/Herkunftssprachen, Regional-/MigrantInnen-/ Minderheitssprachen, Zweit-/ Mehrheitssprachen und Fremdsprachen. Dieser Terminus bezieht sich also nicht nur auf "Bildungssprachen", sondern eben auch auf "mitgebrachte Sprachen" der SchülerInnen, auch wenn sie im Schulcurriculum keinen Platz finden.
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
“‘Languaging’ occurs when plurilingual individuals make flexible use all the linguistic resources they have in different ‘languages’ to communicate with one another, without strict adherence to the conventions of any particular language in their repertoire.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
The capacity of learners to take charge of their own learning, including a choice of aims, content, approaches, etc. based around individual needs and interests.
Condat Sophie (March 2010), Bibliographie Bilinguisme et enseignement bilingue, CIEP, Sèvres, available at
www.france-education-international.fr/ressources/bilinguisme-enseignement-bilingue-pdf-318-ko-mars-2010, accessed 10 May 2019.
Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages (2013), Glossary – ECML programme 2008-2011 “Empowering language professionals” / Glossaire – Programme 2008-2011 du CELV “Valoriser les professionnels en langues” / Glossar – Programm des EFSZ 2008-2011 “Sprachlehrende in ihrer Rolle stärken”, available at
www.ecml.at/Portals/1/20140130_Glossary_ECML%20MTP3_EmpoweringLanguageProfessionals_with%20index_FINAL.pdf, p. 46, accessed 10 May 2019.
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Newby David, Allan Rebecca, Fenner Anne-Brit, Jones Barry, Komorowska Hanna and Soghikyan Kristine (2007),
European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) – A reflection tool for language teacher education, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), p. 76, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLresources/tabid/277/ID/51/Default.aspx, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
The ability to take charge of one’s own learning (Holec, 1981). Expanding on this definition, David Little (1991) states that learner autonomy includes a ‘capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision-making and independent action’.
(María Jesús Frigols Martín et al., 2011)
Is the capacity learners have to take charge of their own learning. This implies choice of aims, content, approaches and/or forms of evaluation based on reflection related to individual needs and interests.
Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Glossary – ECML programme 2008-2011 “Empowering language professionals”, Graz,
www.ecml.at/Portals/1/20140130_Glossary_ECML%20MTP3_EmpoweringLanguageProfessionals_with%20index_FINAL.pdf, accessed on 24 March 2015.
María Jesús Frigols Martín, Marsh David, Mehisto Peeter, Wolff Dieter (2011), European Framework for CLIL teacher education, “EFCT terminology”, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2008-2011/EuropeanFrameworkforCLILTeacherEducation/Resources/tabid/4445/language/en-GB/Default.aspx, accessed on 26 March 2015).
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
Ability to “take charge of one’s own learning is to have, and to hold, the responsibility for all the decisions concerning all aspects of this learning, i.e.:
- determining the objectives;
- defining the content and progressions;
- selecting methods and techniques to be used;
- monitoring the procedure of acquisition properly speaking (rhythm, time, place, etc.);
- evaluating what has been acquired.
The autonomous learner is himself capable of making all these decisions concerning the learning with which he is or wishes to be involved.” (Holec 1981: 3)
The autonomous learner (Holec 1981, Little 1995):
- makes effective use of the learning opportunities;
- cooperates effectively in pair and group work;
- uses available materials for independent learning;
- organises and uses materials for self-directed learning;
- uses effective learning strategies;
- identifies his/her own needs and goals;
- plans and carries out tasks that help to accomplish the goals;
- is aware of his/her own strengths and weaknesses as a learner.
Holec H. (1981), Autonomy in foreign language learning, Pergamon, Oxford.
Little D. (1995), Learning as dialogue: the dependence of learner autonomy on teacher autonomy, System 23(2), pp. 175-181.
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
Learner autonomy is the capacity learners have to take charge of their own learning. This implies choice of aims, content, approaches and/or forms of evaluation based on reflection related to individual needs and interests.
Newby David, Allan Rebecca, Fenner Anne-Brit, Jones Barry, Komorowska Hanna and Soghikyan Kristine,
European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) – A reflection tool for language teacher education, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, 2007, p. 76, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLresources/tabid/277/ID/51/Default.aspx.
Term in German:
Selbstständigkeit der Schüler / autonomes Lernen
Vermögen der Schüler, ihr eigenes Lernen zu verantworten. Dies umfasst die Auswahl von Zielen, Inhalten, Ansätzen und Formen der Evaluierung auf der Basis von Reflexion in Bezug auf die individuellen Bedürfnisse und Interessen.
Source: ECML resource website From Profile to Portfolio: A Framework for Reflection in Language Teacher Education (2004-2007)
The capacity of learners to take charge of their own learning, including a choice of aims, content, approaches based around individual needs and interests.
Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages (2013), Glossary – ECML programme 2008-2011 “Empowering language professionals” / Glossaire – Programme 2008-2011 du CELV “Valoriser les professionnels en langues” / Glossar – Programm des EFSZ 2008-2011 “Sprachlehrende in ihrer Rolle stärken”, available at
www.ecml.at/Portals/1/20140130_Glossary_ECML%20MTP3_EmpoweringLanguageProfessionals_with%20index_FINAL.pdf, p. 46.
Newby David, Allan Rebecca, Fenner Anne-Brit, Jones Barry, Komorowska Hanna and Soghikyan Kristine (2007),
European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) – A reflection tool for language teacher education, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), p. 76, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLresources/tabid/277/ID/51/Default.aspx.
Term in French:
autonomie de l’apprenant
Aptitude des apprenants à prendre en charge leurs propres apprentissages, y compris un choix d’objectifs, de contenus et d’approches basé sur les besoins et les intérêts individuels.
Source: ECML resource website Young children’s language learning pathways (2020-2023)
Learners draw upon all of "their linguistic and cultural resources and experiences in order to fully participate in social and educational contexts, achieving mutual understanding, gaining access to knowledge and in turn further developing their linguistic and cultural repertoire" (Council of Europe 2020: 123).
Term in French:
apprenant·es en tant qu’acteur·rices sociaux·ales (les)
Les apprenant·es puisent dans toutes leurs ressources linguistiques et culturelles ainsi que dans leurs expériences afin de participer pleinement aux contextes sociaux et éducatifs, en parvenant à une compréhension mutuelle, en obtenant les moyens d'accès à la connaissance et en développant à leur tour leur répertoire linguistique et culturel (Conseil de l’Europe, 2020: p. 129).
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
The different conscious processes (e.g. through course attendance or self-tuition) adopted by the learner to acquire and develop competence in a language. (see
Acquisition)
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
There are two ways we can approach the notion of “learning environments”, i.e learning culture(s) including methods, contents, goals, etc. and the learning structures with spaces, contexts, locations, etc.
2.1. “Developing a total learning environment for students in a particular course or program is probably the most creative part of teaching. While there is a tendency to focus on either physical institutional learning environments (such as classrooms, lecture theatres and labs), or on the technologies used to create online personal learning environments (PLEs), learning environments are broader than just these physical components. They will also include:
- the characteristics of the learners;
- the goals for teaching and learning;
- the activities that will best support learning;
- the assessment strategies that will best measure and drive learning;
- the culture that infuses the learning environment.”
2.2. “Learning environment refers to the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. [...] The term also encompasses the culture of a school or class – its presiding ethos and characteristics, including how individuals interact with and treat one another – as well as the ways in which teachers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning...”.
Key words
learners, teaching and learning, goals, activities, assessment, strategies, locations, contexts, cultures, educational setting
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
Can be defined as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations.” (Oxford 1990: 8)
Further information concerning types of learning strategies and techniques of developing them in language learners can be found, for instance, in:
Oxford R. L. (1990), Language learning strategies. What every teacher should know, Heinle & Heinle, Boston.
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
These are the different strategies used by learners to facilitate learning. They may be techniques or behaviours to which children have recourse – consciously or sometimes unconsciously – to improve their performance in the use of a language other than their first language.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
“Learning strategies are mental steps or operations that learners use to learn a new language and to regulate their efforts to do so.” (Wenden 1991: 18)
Wenden A. (1991), Learner strategies for learner autonomy: Planning and implementing learner training for learner autonomy, Prentice Hall, New York.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
In language education the term “level” usually refers to language proficiency level (e.g. B1). However it can also refer to different stages of the educational system (e.g. secondary level, tertiary level).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The level of competence in a foreign language is usually measured with reference to the common scale of levels of proficiency proposed in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages adopted by the Council of Europe in 2001. This scale, which includes six different levels and is valid for all foreign languages, can be used to evaluate skills in a language separately for each language activity (see Language activities). It is based on a positive evaluation of competences, i.e. it takes account of what an individual is actually capable of doing with the language.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The set of languages and language varieties, including first language(s), regional language(s), language(s) learned in the education system and in other contexts, acquired by an individual.
The levels of competence as well as the function of in these languages and language varieties can vary and change over the course of an individual’s life.
Bernaus Mercè, Furlong Áine, Jonckheere Sofie, Kervran Martine (2012),
Plurilingualism and pluriculturalism in content-based teaching: A training kit, Glossary, “Linguistic repertoire / Répertoire linguistique”, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
http://conbat.ecml.at/Resources/Glossary/Languagerepertoire/tabid/1509/language/en-GB/Default.aspx, accessed 10 May 2019.
Council of Europe, Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LIAM), Key terms, “Language repertoire”, available at
www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/repertoire-language-, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
Includes lexical, grammatical (morphological, syntactic), semantic, orthographic/orthoepic and phonological knowledge and skills.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Linguistic insecurity corresponds to a feeling of uncertainty and depreciation that some speakers experience in relation to their own ways of expressing themselves, which are compared unfavourably to other forms of expression deemed more legitimate. Closely linked to representations, the notion is built on the parallel between the norm (correct usage according to the speaker) and self-evaluation (personal usage according to the speaker). It also plays an essential role in exchanges between languages, as Aude Bretegnier explains:
“Feelings of linguistic security and insecurity both appear to be linked precisely to the representations that speakers construct of boundaries, boundaries between languages, norms and groups, boundaries between what is within the norm and what is excluded from it, between the legitimate and the illegitimate, between the Same and the Other, between the inside and the outside” (2002: p. 12, our translation). Indeed, linguistic insecurity results from cross-linguistic relations arising from the comparison of one’s own way of speaking with legitimate language, or the status accorded to it, internalised by the speaker through comparison with the status of another language, or another way of speaking (Calvet, 1999, our translation).
Further information
More recently (Klinkenberg, 2020) explains that linguistic insecurity should be treated less as a state and more as a process to be considered from an experiential perspective. This author suggests expanding the concept of insecurity to all semiotic behaviours, not just language. Acknowledging that understanding languages requires considering their social backgrounds, the author also proposes re-evaluating the importance of existential and social variables that condition the notion of insecurity and play a role in the adjustment processes between the individual and the world.
Bretegnier A., Ledegen G. (eds.) (2022), Sécurité / insécurité linguistique – Terrains et approches diversifiés, propositions théoriques et méthodologiques, Actes de la 5e Table Ronde du Moufia, (22-24 avril 1998), LCF-UMR 6058 du CNRS, Paris, L’Harmattan, Université de la Réunion.
Calvet L.-J. (1999), Pour une écologie des langues du monde, Paris, Plon.
Klinkenberg J.-M. (2020), “De l’insécurité linguistique à l’insécurité sémiotique. Le retour du social”, in Feussi V., Lorilleux J. (dir.), (In)sécurité linguistique en francophonies. Perspectives in(ter)disciplinaires, L’Harmattan, Paris, pp. 212-223.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
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
1 Dagenais, Moore, Sabatier, Lamarre & Armand (2009), Linguistic landscape and language awareness, in E. Sohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic landscape – Expanding the scenery, Routledge, NY & London, pp. 253-269.
2 Gorter D. (2013), “Linguistic landscapes in a multilingual world”, in Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Cambridge University Press.
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
Linguistic prestige is the degree of esteem and social value attached by members of a speech community to certain languages, dialects, or features of a language variety.
Pearce M. (2007), The Routledge dictionary of English language studies, Routledge.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
The set of languages and language varieties, including first language(s), regional language(s), language(s) learned in the education system and in other contexts, acquired by an individual. The levels of competence as well as the function of in these languages and language varieties can vary and change over the course of an individual’s life.
Bernaus Mercè, Furlong Áine, Jonckheere Sofie, Kervran Martine (2011), Plurilingualism and pluriculturalism in content-based teaching: A training kit, “Glossary”, “Language repertoire”, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at https://conbat.ecml.at/Resources/Glossary/Languagerepertoire/tabid/1509/Default.aspx.
Council of Europe, Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LIAM), “Key terms”, “Language repertoire”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/repertoire-language-
Source: ECML resource website Young children’s language learning pathways (2020-2023)
The abilities and knowledge that an individual possesses in the languages that he/she knows.
“Plurality of linguistic resources, representations, contexts, strategies and abilities, which are distributed and which evolve over space and time” (Castellotti & Moore 2005: 109).
“The concepts of linguistic repertoire and communicative competence are intimately linked: The first refers to the linguistic and cognitive resources that a social actor disposes of, as well as their organization, and the second refers to the way that an individual uses their linguistic knowledge and abilities to interact appropriately in society” (Dufour 2014: 19).
Castellotti V. & Moore D. (2005), Répertoires pluriels, culture métalinguistique et usage d’appropriation, dans J.-C. Beacco, J.-L. Chiss, F. Cicurel & D. Veronique (dir.), Les cultures éducatives et linguistiques dans l’enseignement des langues, PUF, Paris, pp. 107-132.
Dufour M. (2014), “Du concept de répertoire langagier et de sa transposition didactique”, Lidil, 49, pp. 179-194.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
Capacity to employ a graphic system and to use this to produce and interpret written texts in different contexts.
Beacco Jean-Claude, Byram Michael (2007),
From linguistic diversity to plurilingual education – Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, p. 116, available at
http://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016802fc1c4, accessed 10 May 2019.
European Commission (September 2012), EU high level group of experts on literacy – Final report, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, available at
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/96d782cc-7cad-4389-869a-bbc8e15e5aeb, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
“Literacy is control of secondary discourses and uses of language” (Goldoni Francis 2008: p. 70; quoting Gee 1989), and “being literate in a wide range of private and public discourses and contexts is closely related to the notion of advancedness in a foreign language” (Goldoni 2008: p. 70).
Goldoni F. (2008), “Designing a foreign language curriculum in postsecondary education drawing from the multiliteracy, functionalist and genre-based approaches”, Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 5, pp. 63-85.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
“Literacy is control of secondary discourses and uses of language” (Goldoni Francis 2008: p. 70; quoting Gee 1989), and “being literate in a wide range of private and public discourses and contexts is closely related to the notion of advancedness in a foreign language” (Goldoni 2008: p. 70).
Goldoni F. (2008), “Designing a foreign language curriculum in postsecondary education drawing from the multiliteracy, functionalist and genre-based approaches”, Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 5, pp. 63-85.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
“Communication skill. The term 'literacy' originally, and most often, applied to written communication. However it can also be applied to other forms, as in media literacy, computer literacy.”
Department for Children, Schools and Families, The Key Stage 3 Framework for Languages: Glossary: 7 (downloaded 2 November 2009) "It is clear from the extract from Street (2001) that literacy does not simply mean being able to read and write text. The following extracts unpick the various meanings of literacy, providing a clear picture of why it is necessary to refer to ‘literacies’ in the plural.
<br>
“Literacy is primarily something people do; it is an activity, located in the space between thought and text. Literacy does not just reside in people’s heads as a set of skills to be learned, and it does not just reside on paper, captured as texts to be analysed. Like all human activity, literacy is essentially social, and it is located in the interaction between people" (Barton and Hamilton 1998: 3).
<br>
Their six-point outline of how literacy functions as a set of social practices expands on this definition:
"Literacy is best understood as a set of social practices; these can be inferred from events which are mediated by written texts.
There are different literacies associated with different domains of life.
Literacy practices are patterned by social institutions and power relationships, and some literacies become more dominant, visible and influential than others.
Literacy practices are purposeful and embedded in broader social goals and cultural practices.
Literacy is historically situated.
Literacy practices change, and new ones are frequently acquired through processes of informal learning and sense making" (Barton and Hamilton 1998: 7).
<br>
Barton, D. and Hamilton, M. (1998) Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community. London: Routledge.
<br>
In addition to the socially and culturally situated nature of literacy, the picture becomes even more complex when we consider the impact of new technologies. Here we can refer to "new" or "digital" literacies.
<br>
“As we move from an industrial to a post-industrial information economy, one in which print literacy is not obsolete but certainly substantially transformed, then surely we need broader definitions of knowledge, literacy and pedagogy which will include study of the intertextuality of imageries, texts, icons and artefacts of new information economies, of media and of popular culture” (Luke 1998: 27).
<br>
Luke, C. (1998) ‘Pedagogy and Authority: Lessons from Feminist and Cultural Studies, Postmodernism and Feminist Pedagogy’, in D. Buckingham (ed.), Teaching Popular Culture: Beyond Radical Pedagogy. London: UCL Press.
<br>
The above are extracts from Mackey, M. (2002) Literacies across media. London: RoutledgeFalmer: 5-6."
"In developing contexts the issue of literacy is often represented as simply a technical one: that people need to be taught how to decode letters and they can do what they like with their newly acquired literacy after that, an approach I have referred to as an 'autonomous' model of literacy (...). The 'autonomous' model of literacy works from the assumption that literacy in itself — autonomously— will have effects on other social and cognitive practices. The model, however, disguises the cultural and ideological assumptions that underpin it and that can then be presented as though they are neutral and universal: the research described in this volume challenges this view and suggests that in practice the approach is simply imposing Western conceptions of literacy on to other cultures. The alternative, ideological model of literacy, to which many of the chapters in this book refer, offers a more culturally sensitive view of literacy practices as they vary from one context to another.
This model starts from different premises than the autonomous model—it posits instead that literacy is a social practice, not simply a technical and neutral skill; that it is always embedded in socially constructed epistemological principles. It is about knowledge: the ways in which people address reading and writing are themselves rooted in conceptions of knowledge, identity, being. Literacy, in this sense, is always contested, both its meanings and its practices, hence particular versions of it are always ‘ideological’, they are always rooted in a particular world-view and a desire for that view of literacy to dominate and to marginalise others (...).
The argument about social literacies (...) suggests that engaging with literacy is always a social act even from the outset. The ways in which teachers or facilitators and their students interact is already a social practice that affects the nature of the literacy being learned and the ideas about literacy held by the participants, especially the new learners and their position in relations of power. It is not valid to suggest that ‘literacy’ can be ‘given’ neutrally and then its ‘social’ effects only experienced afterwards.
Street, B. (ed.) (2001) Literacy and development: ethnographic perspectives. London: Routledge, 7-8."
Term in German:
Literalitäten
"Kommunikationsfertigkeit. Der Begriff 'Literalität' bezeichnete ursprünglich, und meistens, schriftliche Kommunikation. Er kann jedoch auch auf andere Formen angewendet werden, wie in medialer oder informatischer Literalität (im deutschsprachigen Raum oft auch als 'Medienkompetenz' bezeichnet, Anm. d. Übers.)."
Department for Children, Schools and Families, The Key Stage 3 Framework for Languages: Glossary: 7 (downloaded 2 November 2009) [Übersetzung ins Deutsche: K.-B. Boeckmann]"
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
“This level typically begins around the age of 11 or 12 and usually ends at age 15 or 16, often coinciding with the end of compulsory education.”
Term in French:
enseignement secondaire inférieur
« Les élèves accèdent généralement à ce niveau vers l’âge de 11 ou 12 ans et y restent jusqu’à 15 ou 16 ans, ce qui coïncide souvent avec la fin de l’enseignement obligatoire. »
Term in German:
Sekundarbereich I
„Der Sekundarbereich I beginnt im Alter von etwa 11 oder 12 Jahren und endet in der Regel im Alter von 15 oder 16 Jahren, und dieses Ende fällt häufig mit dem Ende der allgemeinen Schulpflicht zusammen.“
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
Some researchers adopt the term “M1/L2 signers” for individuals who are learning a second sign language versus “M2/L2 (second modality second language) signers” for those who are learning their first sign language. In addition to standard L2 effects, this second group might be subject to additional effects of learning language in a new modality. (Chen Pichler 2012: p. 676)
Source: ECML resource website Sign languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2016-2019)
The first language(s) of the majority of the population in (a defined region of) a country – in many cases this/these will also be the national/official language(s) of the State and the language(s) of instruction in schools.
Aalto Eija, Abel Andrea, Atanasoska Tatjana, Boeckmann Klaus-Börge, Lamb Terry (2011),
Promoting plurilingualism – Majority language in multilingual settings, Glossary, “Majority language(s) – Mehrheitssprache(n)”, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
http://marille.ecml.at.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
The first language(s) of the majority of the population in (a defined region of) a country - in many cases this/ these will also be the => national/ official language(s) of the state and the =>language(s) of instruction in schools. "The special role of the majority language is due to the combination of several features that increase the societal importance of the language in such a way that nobody living in this society can manage without it, even if it is not his/her first language.
<br>
It should be noted that minorities form local majorities in many cases: these can either be formed by several minorities in combination or by one single very concentrated minority."
" The severity of the recognition problems (…) minorities give rise to depends on such characteristics as:
• their demographic weight in relation to the national entity in which they are present and their degree of geographic concentration (dispersion among the majority group or concentration in certain places where its members form the majority)
• (…)
• the status of their linguistic variety and its “degree” of acceptance by speakers of the majority language: if it is regarded as very “exotic” (...) or very “minor”, the feeling of foreignness will be more acute“
(Language Policy Division (2003), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 18. Download here. Access date: March 30, 2009)."
“[…] language varieties of the countries of origin are often learnt as a first language (L1) in the process of primary socialization, and they are used for in-group communication.” (Extra, Guus & Verhoeven, Ludo. (1999), Bilingualism and migration. Mouton de Gruyter. Berlin [u.a.], 14).
"More typical are those families in which the language of origin takes the bulk of communication while alongside the usage of German language is also applied in some scale, whereas generally the migrants’ children tend to a more comprehensive use of German language [note: Ex. for Germany]. […] It means for small children growing up in family in many cases the language of origin is taken as basis of their language development"" (Ehlich, Konrad. (2005), Anforderungen an Verfahren der regelmäßigen Sprachstandsfeststellung als Grundlage für die frühe und individuelle Förderung von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Bonn [u.a.], 131). [Translation by Franziska Plathner]"
Term in German:
Mehrheitssprache(n)
Die Erstsprache(n) der Mehrheit der Bevölkerung (einer definierten Region) in einem Land - vielfach wird/ werden diese auch die =>National-/Amtssprache(n) des Staats und die =>Unterrichtssprache(n) in den Schulen sein
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
Language both constructs and interprets the meaning of content in the curriculum. The act of teaching a particular part of the curriculum content can be understood as a communication process, in which meaning realised by the use of language is the most salient.
Likewise, for students to learn any part of curriculum content means, first and foremost, to make sense of the language used by the teacher and other students in classroom activities, and in the teaching materials involving both spoken and written language. Thus learning curriculum content on the one hand cannot be accomplished effectively without learning and using the language that communicates the meaning of the content, while at the same time curriculum content learning can be used as a powerful means for language development (cf. EUCIM-TE project and IALT).
Note:
European Core Curriculum for Mainstreamed Second Language Teacher Education (EUCIM-TE), www.eucim-te.eu.
European Core Curriculum for Inclusive Academic Language Teaching (IALT)
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
To get a survey on a situation.
To get information on how a wide range of language associations are organised, how they support their own networks of members and what impact do they have on policy reform supporting multilingualism.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
Structured arrangement of an ensemble of elements, in form of a double entry table usually comprising lines and columns. A policy implementation matrix, also called an action plan matrix, shows how each item in a policy will be implemented in practice.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The process of developing knowledge and understanding by drawing on all linguistic resources.
Meyer Oliver, Coyle Do, Halbach Ana, Schuck Kevin (2015),
A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning, Glossary, “Making meaning”, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
www.ecml.at/F7/Glossary/tabid/1496/Default.aspx, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
Knowledge of how information is produced and disseminated, ability to create new forms of messages on various media (e-mails for example) and to understand how these messages are generated and perceived on the chosen platforms.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
Media literacy includes the ability to create new forms of messages on various media (emails for example) and to understand how these messages are generated and perceived on the chosen platforms.
Term in French:
littératie des médias
Littératie liée à la connaissance et l’usage des genres liés aux médias de communication (le mail par exemple) et à la façon dont les messages sont construits et interprétés sur les médias technologiques.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Mediation is one of the four modes of communication alongside reception, production and interaction. Mediation can happen within one language – for instance summarising and paraphrasing texts – or involve different languages or dialects (cross-linguistic mediation).
We mediate, in formal and informal contexts, when there is need to make information accessible to a friend, a colleague, a family member, a tourist, a boss, an audience in a conference, and generally to parties who do not grasp this information or have difficulties to understand due to linguistic or/and cultural differences. The CEFR-CV operationalizes mediation into: mediating communication, mediating concepts and mediating a text. Mediation is a broad concept that involves different dimensions (e.g. relational, cognitive, emotional, cultural, pedagogic) and aims to build bridges and connections.
Council of Europe (2020),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, available at
www.coe.int/lang-cefr.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
In the field of language education, mediation has been described as a language activity in its own right by the CEFR (2001): “In both the receptive and productive modes, the written and/or oral activities of mediation make communication possible between persons who are unable, for whatever reason, to communicate with each other directly. Translation or interpretation, a paraphrase, summary or record, provides for a third party a (re)formulation of a source text to which this third party does not have direct access.” (p.&nbps;14)
For the Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education (2016) “In modern language teaching, presented as an emblematic example, mediation may be defined as an interface between comprehension and production. The strong emphasis on both the plurilingual and the cultural dimension in foreign language mediation activities means that mediation is an important part of any curriculum for plurilingual and intercultural education.” (pp. 11-12)
Further information
The Companion Volume to the CEFR (2020) stresses that cross-linguistic mediation “involve[s] social and cultural competence as well as plurilingual competence” (p. 91). Given the variety of situations in which mediation is mobilised and the complexity of the ways in which it is carried out, the descriptor scales are presented here in three groups, which implies a broader definition:
“'Mediating a text' involves passing on to another person the content of a text to which they do not have access, often because of linguistic, cultural, semantic or technical barriers. […]
'Mediating concepts' refers to the process of facilitating access to knowledge and concepts for others, particularly if they may be unable to access this directly on their own. […]
'Mediating communication' aims to facilitate understanding and shape successful communication between users/learners who may have individual, sociocultural, sociolinguistic or intellectual differences in standpoint.” (p. 91)
Beacco J.-C. et al. (2016), Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at www.coe.int/en/web/language-policy/guide-for-the-development-and-implementation-of-curricula-for-plurilingual-and-intercultural-education.
Coste D. & Cavalli M. (2015), Education, mobility, otherness – The mediation functions of schools, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/education-mobility-otherness-the-mediation-functions-of-schools/16807367ee, accessed March 2017.
Council of Europe (2001), Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Council of Europe (2020), Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume with new descriptors, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-learning-teaching/16809ea0d4.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
Mediation is one of the four modes of communication alongside reception, production and interaction. Mediation can happen within one language ‐ for instance summarising and paraphrasing texts – or involve different languages or dialects (cross-linguistic mediation). The Companion Volume of the Common European framework of reference for languages operationalizes mediation into: mediating communication, mediating concepts and mediating a text. Mediation is a broad concept that involves different dimensions (e.g. relational, cognitive, emotional, cultural, pedagogic) and aims to build bridges and connections.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Mediation combines receptive, productive and interactive activities; mediation activities involve mediating texts, concepts and/or communication itself.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“Mediation strategies are the techniques employed to clarify meaning and facilitate understanding. As a mediator, the user/learner may need to shuttle between people, between texts, between types of discourse and between languages, […] depending on the mediation context” (Council of Europe 2020: 117). An effective cross-linguistic mediator is one who is able and trained to activate a number of strategies in order to deal with source language information and make himself/herself understood in another language. S/he may need to summarize texts, to paraphrase, to condense, to reorganize source information.
Term in French:
stratégies de médiation
« Les stratégies de médiation sont des techniques utilisées pour clarifier le sens de ce qui est dit ou écrit et faciliter la compréhension. Dans son rôle de médiateur, l’utilisateur/apprenant peut devoir faire la navette entre les personnes, les textes, les types de discours et les langues, [...], en fonction du contexte de la médiation. » (Conseil de l’Europe, 2020: p. 123). Un·e médiateur·rice interlinguistique efficace est celui ou celle qui est apte et entraîné·e à activer un certain nombre de stratégies afin de traiter les informations en langue source et à se faire comprendre dans une autre langue. Il ou elle peut avoir besoin de résumer des textes, de paraphraser, de condenser, de réorganiser les informations sources.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
In either cross-linguistic or intra-linguistic mediation, the mediator acts as an intermediary between texts, languages, discourses, cultures. S/he transfers/relays information from one text to the other in order to achieve a communicative purpose (e.g. to advise, to suggest, to inform etc.). S/he operates as a facilitator, a meaning negotiator, a meaning-making agent especially when s/he intervenes in situations which require linguistic and intercultural reconciliation, settlement or compromise of meanings. The mediator’s task is to bridge or minimize communication gaps between texts, languages and users of different languages. Specifically for cross-linguistic mediation, with which the METLA project is concerned, “the mediator is viewed as a plurilingual social actor actively participating in the intercultural communicative event, drawing on source language content and shaping new meanings in the target language” (Stathopoulou, 2015: 3).
Stathopoulou M. (2015), Cross-language mediation in foreign language teaching and testing, Multilingual Matters, Bristol.
Term in French:
médiateur, médiatrice
Dans la médiation inter- ou intralangues, le médiateur ou la médiatrice agit comme un·e intermédiaire entre des textes, des langues, des discours, des cultures. Il ou elle transfère/relaie des informations d’un texte à l’autre afin d’atteindre un objectif de communication (par exemple, conseiller, suggérer, informer, etc.). Il ou elle opère comme un·e facilitateur·rice, un·e négociateur·rice de sens, un·e agent·e de création de sens, en particulier lorsqu'il ou elle intervient dans des situations qui nécessitent une réconciliation, un règlement ou un compromis linguistique et interculturel. Sa tâche est de combler ou de minimiser les écarts de communication entre les textes, les langues et les utilisateur·rices de langues différentes. Spécifiquement pour la médiation interlangues, à laquelle le projet METLA s’intéresse, « le ou la médiateur·rice est considéré·e comme un·e acteur·rice social·e plurilingue participant activement à l’événement communicatif interculturel, s’appuyant sur le contenu de la langue source et façonnant de nouvelles significations dans la langue cible » (Stathopoulou, 2015: p. 3 – notre traduction).
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
A cognitive and communicative activity which involves, on the one hand, seeking to reduce any possible tension between several individuals or groups of individuals possessing different cultural references and, on the other, promoting mutual knowledge and understanding of these references to foster cohesion and co-operation between these individuals or groups.
See Cultural mediation
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Social actor who shares, distributes or even evaluates or comments on some digital information or creations amongst the members of his/her networks.
Term in French:
médiateur
Acteur social qui partage, voire évalue ou commente, dans ses réseaux, certaines informations ou créations diffusées sur les médias numériques.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
“Awareness and management of one’s own thought.” (Kuhn & Dean 2004: 270)
Kuhn D. & Dean D. (2004), “A bridge between cognitive psychology and educational practice”, Theory into Practice, 43(4), pp. 268-273.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Metalinguistics is concerned with the analysis of facts and data of the language with the aim to investigate the structure of the language, its history as well as its implications (social, literary, cultural, philosophical, etc.)
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
This term denotes the activity of describing the functioning of language and the terminology used for that purpose. Terms such as syntax, morphology, phonology, lexical field etc. belong to the field of metalinguistics.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
A person who has moved to a place (usually a country) different than the one s/he used to live before and has been settled in the new place for a certain period usually (more than 12 months).
This change of residence is based on choice, rather than the constraints and threats that explain certain population movements (refugees, exiles).
“Migrant” is the most encompassing term, while immigrant refers to the entry in the host country, and emigrant marks the movement outward from a country.
Depending on the country, there are different terms for migrants. In France, the word “immigrant” (see this entry) competes with the word “migrant”.
Official definition at the European Level/Examples
In the global context, a person who is outside the territory of the State of which they are nationals or citizens and who has resided in a foreign country for more than one year irrespective of the causes, voluntary or involuntary, and the means, regular or irregular, used to migrate. In the EU context, a person who either:
(i) establishes their usual residence in the territory of a Member State for a period that is, or is expected to be, of at least 12 months, having previously been usually resident in another Member State or a third country; or
(ii) having previously been usually resident in the territory of a Member State, ceases to have their usual residence in that Member State for a period that is, or is expected to be, of at least 12 months.1
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
Language which may be spoken by a majority in a section of a national territory, which may have official status there, but may not necessarily have official language of legal status.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
Occurs in performance when a user/learner (as might be the case with a native
speaker) does not bring his or her competences properly into action. Compare this with ‘error’ in which although the language produced is incorrect, it is based on a logical process.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Refers to educational experiences in new contexts that are explicitly aimed at enhancing the development of the plurilingual and intercultural (and professional) skills of students. The length of learning mobility activities typically ranges from a few days or weeks for primary and secondary school learners to a longer period, such as one or two university semesters in the case of young adults attending teacher training colleges or universities. Mobility can refer not only to cross-border contacts, but also to cooperation within one country, especially in the case of multilingual countries.
Bleichenbacher Lukas, Brogan Kristin, Cole Josephine, Cuenat Mirjam Egli, Höchle Meier Katharina, Muller Chantal, Szczepanska Anna (2015),
Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility – Practical resources for teachers and teacher trainers, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, available at
www.ecml.at/Portals/1/documents/ECML-resources/plurimobil-handbook-EN.pdf. (For more details, see section 1.3).
European Union (2009), Green Paper: Promoting the learning mobility of young people, available at
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0329:FIN:EN:PDF.
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
In education, the term “module” refers to an instructional segment of a certain length with a durable learning impact. It usually comprises a series of (teaching) units. It has a final summative assessment.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The checking of a process, action or product. In the context of the ELP it can span the entire life history of a project, from initial implementation to the various evaluative measures taken to check its effectiveness in practice.
The European Ministers of Education recommend that the governments of member states, in harmony with their education policies, monitor the dissemination and impact of the ELP and report their findings to the Council of Europe regularly, and at
least once every three years.
Various tools can prove useful during the monitoring process
a) conference notes
b) portfolio notes
c) teacher journals
d) checklists
e) rating scales
f) student journals
g) student anecdotal records
h) student profiles
i) classroom log books
j) questionnaires
Questionnaires should also be used for both qualitative and quantitative research for the purpose of future dissemination.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
This term refers to all the regular patterns which may be observed in the phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatic and sociolinguistic uses of a particular language.
See Functioning of language
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The desire or incentive a learner has to learn a foreign language, resulting in a
greater or lesser effort to do so.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
"This leads to the distinction 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 mnolingual or multilingual) to one that focuses on speakers.” (Beacco Jean-Claude and Byram Michael 2003: Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe: from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Draft 1, 8)
“In recent years, the concept of plurilingualism has grown in importance in the Council of Europe's approach to language learning. Plurilingualism differs from multilingualism, which is the knowledge of a number of languages, or the co-existence of different languages in a given society. Multilingualism may be attained by simply diversifying the languages on offer in a particular school or educational system, or by encouraging pupils to learn more than one foreign language, or reducing the dominant position of English in international communication.” (Council of Europe 2001: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Learning, Teaching, Assessment, 4)
"This leads to the distinction 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 mnolingual or multilingual) to one that focuses on speakers.” (Beacco Jean-Claude and Byram Michael 2003: Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe: from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Draft 1, 8)
“In recent years, the concept of plurilingualism has grown in importance in the Council of Europe's approach to language learning. Plurilingualism differs from multilingualism, which is the knowledge of a number of languages, or the co-existence of different languages in a given society. Multilingualism may be attained by simply diversifying the languages on offer in a particular school or educational system, or by encouraging pupils to learn more than one foreign language, or reducing the dominant position of English in international communication.” (Council of Europe 2001: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Learning, Teaching, Assessment, 4)
“The resolution supported the view that the requirements of global and national participation, and the specific needs of particular, culturally and linguistically distinct communities can only be addressed by multilingual education. In regions where the language of the learner is not the official or national language of the country, bilingual and multilingual education can make mother tongue instruction possible while providing at the same time the acquisition of languages used in larger areas of the country and the world. This additive approach to bilingualism is different from the so called subtractive bilingualism which aims to move children on to a second language as a language of instruction.”
(Education in a multilingual world. UNESCO Education Position Paper 2003, p 17-18)" "As seen in the quotes above, the Council of Europe and the ECML distinguish between the terms “plurilingualism“ and “multilingualism“ from a sociological point of view. While plurilingualism is the competence of an individual being able to use different languages, multilingualism stresses the aspect of societies with members speaking different languages. As definitions are not clear-cut, discussions about plurilingualism and multilingualism are still going on. Therefore readers may find very different ideas about the term multilingualism.
<br>
Multilingualism can be seen as a normal state of any given society, even if the “modern” Europe through national states and languages tries to give the impression of monolingualism. Often people think of multilingual societies on other continents and forget that also Europe has a long history of multilingualism (cf. Braunmüller & Ferraresi (eds.) 2003).
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Multilingual education aims at including pupils with many language backgrounds in one education system. Students shall have the possibility to develop their multilingualism, and not be forced in abandoning their mother tongue in favour for a majority language. As the Unesco points out, multilingual education can be necessary in very different situations: on the one hand there are many regions with the existence of many language groups that share education facilities, on the other hand many (especially urban) areas experience the effects of globalisation and where schools have to face the reality of sometimes up to 30 different languages in a classroom (Education in a multilingual world. UNESCO Education Position Paper 2003, 13)."
"In a true multilingual system, all languages can have their legitimate place: mother tongues, languages of regional, national and wider communication. English an all other world languages can play their role; they can be healer languages and not ‘killer languages’.” (Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Robert Phillipson, Ajit K. Mohanty, Minati Panda (eds.) 2009: Social Justice Through Multilingual Education. Multilingual Matters (Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights), 5-6)
“The political history of the 19th and 20th centuries and the ideology of 'one state - one nation - one language' have given rise to the idea that monolingualism has always been the default or normal case in Europe and more or less a precondition for political loyality. Facing this situation, it has been overlooked that the vast majority of the world's population - in whatever form or conditions - is multilingual.” (Kurt Braunmüller and Gisella Ferraresi (eds.) 2003: Aspects of Multilingualism in European Language History. John Benjamins (Hamburg Studies on Multilingualism 2), 1)
“Acceptance of multilingual reality and the formulation of language allocation decisions on the basis of this implies a perspective which seeks interlinkages between various languages rather than oppositions between them. This perspective can be realised on the basis of enrichment-oriented models of multilingual education which are essential for the development of both linguistic resources and cultural understanding.” (Pattanayak, Debi Prasanna 1990: Multilingualism in India, 90)"
Term in German:
Multilingual (multilinguale Bildung)
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
Multilingual education aims at including pupils with many language backgrounds in one education system. Students shall have the possibility to develop their multilingualism, and not be forced in abandoning their mother tongue in favour for a majority language. As the Unesco points out, multilingual education can be necessary in very different situations: on the one hand there are many regions with the existence of many language groups that share education facilities, on the other hand many (especially urban) areas experience the effects of globalisation and where schools have to face the reality of sometimes up to 30 different languages in a classroom (Education in a multilingual world. UNESCO education position paper, 2003, p. 13).
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
“Cummins has proposed the model of "Transformative Multiliteracies Pedagogy (TMP)" (Cummins, 2006) as an educational approach to help students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CLD) to use their knowledge in their language spoken at home in order to improve their production in the target language (of schooling). Cummins describes the TMP in five basic principles. This is to promote:
- The image of the learner as being intelligent, imaginative and with language resources.
- The use of knowledge and linguistic and cultural resources of students and their communities.
- The cognitive engagement and personal investment of each student.
- Opportunities to allow students to build their knowledge, create literary and artistic works, and act on social realities through dialogue and critically.
- The use of information technology and communication (ICT) as support for the construction of knowledge and literary and artistic works and the presentation of their work to various audiences through the creation of texts promote the development of multicultural identities ("identity texts").
The production of "identity texts" (identity documents) is central to the implementation of TMP. The projects that allow students to invest all their cultural and linguistic resources, function as a mirror reflecting the image of the pupil positively.”
Cummins J. (2006), “Identity texts: The imaginative construction of self through multiliteracies pedagogy”, in García O., Skutnabb-Kangas T. and Torres-Guzman M. E. (dir.), Imagining multilingual schools: Language in education and glocalization, Multilingual Matters Ltd, Toronto, pp. 51-68.
Prasad G. & Auger N., “Mais est-ce que ça existe une personne monolingue ?Plurilinguisme des élèves au Canada et en France, pratiques artistiques et langagières et apprentissage du français”, in Prescod P. & Robert J.-M., La langue seconde de l'école à l'université : état des lieux, CAS (cahiers de l’Atelier de sociolinguistique) no. 10, L'Harmattan, Paris, pp. 65-86.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
The presence of several languages in a given area or domain; it refers to plurilingual people as well as to monolingual persons with different languages living in a same area.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
Multilingualism is the use of two or more languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world’s population.
A multilingual person, in a broad definition, is one who can communicate in more than one language, be it actively (through speaking, writing, or signing) or passively (through listening, reading, or perceiving).
Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1).
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
“Multiliteracy is a meaningful social and collaborative experience where students can work together with and learn from their peers and more experienced mentors. Multiliteracy is determined by social and cultural conventions that can be used and adapted based on specific purposes, modes and audiences. Therefore, a multiliteracy-based curriculum […] prepar[es] students to analyse multiple forms of text, discourses […] in multiple contexts and modes for multiple pursposes and multiple audiences” (Goldini 2008: 67, after Kern 1995, 2000, 2004, 2005).
Goldoni F. (2008), “Designing a foreign language curriculum in postsecondary education drawing from the multiliteracy, functionalist and genre-based approaches”, Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 5, pp. 63-85.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Knowing how to construct meaning from a variety of elements, whatever the mode of communication: linguistic, sound, visual, gestural or spatial.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
This term refers to the transmission of knowledge using various modes of representation – written texts, visual representations, sound etc. With multimodal representation, text, image, sound, etc. combine to create meaning that is not just an addition of separate modes, but the result of the interplay between them. Multimodal analysis thus means to analyse how text, image, sound etc. combine, rather than analysing them separately.
Kress G. (2010), Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication, Routledge, London.
Term in French:
multimodalité
Ce terme désigne la transmission de connaissances à l'aide de divers modes de représentation – textes écrits, représentations visuelles, sons, etc. Dans la représentation multimodale, le texte, l'image, le son, etc. se combinent pour créer un sens qui n'est pas seulement une addition de modes séparés, mais également le résultat de leur interaction. L'analyse multimodale consiste donc à analyser comment le texte, l'image, le son, etc. se combinent, plutôt que de les analyser séparément.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
Meaning-making and meaning-taking in social communication (including communication in school) make use of symbolic resources which include verbal as well as non-verbal (including gestures and bodily expressions) communication, visual/audio material, graphic representations and actions. In other words, communication is multi-modal.
Knowledge representation nowadays is in no way limited to written texts, it is multimodal, e.g. visual representations on paper and on the screen increasingly play an important role (Kress 2010). All content subjects have their ways of using multimodality and it is important that teachers are aware of the multimodal nature of classroom communication, and that students learn how to use the various modalities effectively. This should be an important part of teacher education and continuous professional development.
Kress G. (2010), Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication, Routledge, London.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
"A linguistic variety which has the role, sanctioned by the Constitution or other legal instruments, of language of communication between state and citizens (government departments, the judicial system, schools, etc). (…) In national states (...), the official language may become a factor of identity, i.e. of belonging to a national community. (…) The term national language is, therefore, far more emotionally charged than official language“ (Beacco & Byram 2003, 52). "This supposes that in private communication citizens may use any linguistic varieties“ (…)
<br>
"National language does not (…) coincide with citizenship (...), even if some knowledge of the official variety is expected or required of those applying for citizenship“ (Beacco & Byram 2003, 52). "
Receiving newly arrived migrants involves setting up language education structures for them and their children, in the absence of which the acquisition of the national or official language will take place spontaneously only with respect to oral forms. This would lead to later handicaps as a result of an inability to write the language. (…) The need to maintain the stability of official languages leads dominant social groups and the state apparatus to set norms which are disseminated by education systems, in particular by the teaching of the so-called mother tongue and the teaching of other subjects in that language“ ( Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 21. Download here. (Access date: March 30, 2009).
Term in German:
Nationalsprachen/amtssprachen
„Eine linguistische Varietät die, durch die Verfassung oder andere gesetzliche Instrumentarien legitimiert, die Rolle spielt, als Kommunikationssprache zwischen Staat und Bürgern (in Regierungsstellen, im Rechtssystem, in Schulen etc.) zu dienen. In Nationalstaaten (…) kann die Amtssprache ein Faktor der Identität, d.h. des Zugehörigkeitsgefühls zu einer nationalen Gemeinschaft, werden. (…) Der Terminus Nationalsprache ist daher wesentlich stärker emotional geladen als Amtssprache“ (Beacco & Byram 2003, 52, Übersetzung: K.-B. Boeckmann).
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
Young children do not acquire languages in a linear way. The ability to understand a language usually develops faster than the ability to speak it. Oral expression develops in stages which need to be respected. Children detect regular patterns in the morphology or syntax of the language which they then use, sometimes applying them in an overly general way. It is only at a later stage that they learn to restrict the scope of these patterns. These characteristic stages in a child’s acquisition of the first language can also be seen in situations of second language acquisition, but there may be longer latency periods between the different stages or between the development of the ability to understand and the emergence of a capacity for self-expression.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Procedures preceding the planning and/or revision of curricula and courses, used to collect information about learners' needs.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
This involves the development or maintenance of informal relationships, especially among people for whom such connections and collaboration could bring advantages such as improved work performance or enhanced results. It provides opportunities with a focus on enabling participants to exchange information or to share access to a central store of information or common knowledge bank.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
“A language used by nationals of the state which differs from the language or languages used by the rest of the state’s population, but which, although traditionally used within the territory of the state, cannot be identified with a particular area thereof. (Definition based on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, (Council of Europe, 1992)). For example, Romany is a non-territorial language.”
European Education and Culture Executive Agency, Eurydice (2017),
Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe – 2017 Edition, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, p. 143,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/04255.
Term in French:
langue dépourvue de territoire
« langue pratiquée par les ressortissants de l’État qui est différente de la langue (des) langue(s) pratiquée(s) par le reste de la population de l’État, mais qui, bien que traditionnellement pratiquée sur le territoire de l’État, ne peut être rattachée à une aire géographique particulière de celui-ci. (Cette définition s’appuie sur la Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires, Conseil de l'Europe, 1992). Le romani constitue un exemple de langue dépourvue de territoire. »
Term in German:
Nicht territorial gebundene Sprache
„Nicht territorial gebundene Sprachen sind von Angehörigen des Staates gebrauchte Sprachen, die sich von der (den) der übrigen Bevölkerung des Staates gebrauchten Sprache(n) unterscheiden, jedoch keinem bestimmten Gebiet innerhalb des betreffenden Staates zugeordnet werden können, obwohl sie herkömmlicherweise im Hoheitsgebiet dieses Staates gebraucht werden. Definition auf der Grundlage der Europäischen Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen (Europarat, 1992). Beispielsweise handelt es sich bei Romanes um eine nicht territorial gebundene Sprache.“
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
In education, learning objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by the end of school year, course, unit, lesson, project, or class period. In many cases, learning objectives are the interim academic goals that teachers establish for students who are working toward meeting more comprehensive learning standards.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Usually describe desired measurable outcomes (e.g. all learners kept an ELP, all learners know how to use it effectively, teachers support their learners in using the ELP productively, etc.).
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Components linked to online participation and engagement: ability to take part in (online) communities, this literacy includes both creativity and agency.
Term in French:
littératie de la participation
Composants relatifs à la participation et à l’engagement en ligne : capacité à prendre part à des communautés (en ligne), cette littératie comprend à la fois la créativité et l’agentivité.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Tasks, which are “only indirectly related to real-life tasks and learner needs”. They “aim to develop communicative
competence”. The Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR) also specifies that “learners engage in a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ and accept the use of the target language rather than the easier and more natural mother tongue to carry out meaning-focused tasks". (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001: 157)
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 157, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
A collaborative learning technique, in which students assess their peers’ work and have their own work assessed by peers; giving other students feedback on the quality of their work, often with ideas and strategies for improvement. At the same time, evaluating peers’ work can enhance the evaluators’ own.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
This term denotes learners of a similar age or persons following the same training or doing the same job (e.g. educators or teachers).
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
See Functioning of language
This term refers to all the regular patterns which may be observed in the phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatic and sociolinguistic uses of a particular language.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Over the past years versions of the ELP have been piloted in many member states of the Council of Europe. Pilot projects have been undertaken at all educational levels.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
To test a scheme, project, assessment activity etc. before introducing it more widely. (A pilot usually refers to something less extensive than pre-testing).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“The term ‘pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures’ refers to didactic approaches that use teaching/learning activities involving several (i.e. more than one) varieties of languages, e.g. by integrating both the target language and the language of schooling, or the target language and other foreign languages, minority or regional languages, instead of dealing with the target language in isolation.”
Candelier Michel (coordinator), Camilleri-Grima Antoinette, Castellotti Véronique, de Pietro Jean-François, Lőrincz Ildikó, Meißner Franz-Joseph,
Noguerol Artur, Schröder-Sura Anna, with the participation of Muriel Molinié (2012),
A framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures, “Pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures”, available at
https://carap.ecml.at/Keyconcepts/tabid/2681/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.
Term in French:
approches plurielles
« Nous appelons ‘Approches plurielles des langues et des cultures’ des approches didactiques qui mettent en œuvre des activités d’enseignement-apprentissage qui impliquent à la fois plusieurs (= plus d’une) variétés linguistiques et culturelles, par exemple en intégrant à la fois la langue cible et la langue de scolarisation, ou la langue cible et d’autres langues étrangères, minoritaires ou régionales, au lieu de traiter la langue cible de manière isolée. »
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
According to the authors of the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA), pluralistic approaches are “didactic approaches which use teaching-learning activities involving several (i.e. more than one) varieties of languages or cultures” (FREPA website, Pluralistic approaches section>).
These approaches follow on from the concept of plurilingual and intercultural competence adopted by the Council of Europe and constitute a tool for the implementation of plurilingual and intercultural education (see these entries in this glossary).
In the history of language teaching, the four pluralistic approaches usually described (Awakening to languages, Integrated didactic approach, Intercomprehension between related languages, Intercultural education – ibid.) pre-existed the concept under which the authors of FREPA brought them together at the beginning of this century. Their grouping under a common umbrella has facilitated their dissemination and highlighted the synergies that can be established between them within a curriculum.
Further information
Pluralistic approaches can be seen as a proposal for structuring and giving concrete form to what is also known as the Didactics of plurilingualism. In principle, they encompass the same teaching-learning approaches (Candelier & De Pietro, forthcoming).
Each of the pluralistic approaches aims at specific goals that correspond to diverse and complementary educational needs (e.g. introducing linguistic and cultural diversity, assisting in the teaching of a given language, cf. FREPA website, Pluralistic approaches section). However, due to their common characteristic expressed by the very definition of pluralistic approaches, they often develop competences, knowledge, attitudes and skills (see the entry Competences and resources in this same glossary) of a similar nature among learners. This led to the groupings of these competences, knowledge, attitudes and skills into a single framework, FREPA.
FREPA aims to contribute to the dissemination of pluralistic approaches, whether in terms of curricula, teaching tools, teacher education or classroom implementation. Its website also offers teaching materials and information on its use.
References
FREPA website “A framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures”, Council of Europe, https://carap.ecml.at.
Candelier M., Camilleri-Grima A., Castellotti V., de Pietro J.-F., Lörincz I., Meißner F.-J., Schröder-Sura A., Noguerol A. & Molinié M. (2012), FREPA – A framework of reference for pluralistic approaches – Competences and resources, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at http://carap.ecml.at
Candelier M. & Manno G., La didactique intégrée des langues – Apprendre une langue avec d’autres langues ?, Association ADEB, 2023, www.adeb-asso.org.
Candelier M., de Pietro J.-F., “Didactics of plurilingualism – A European view”, in Fäcke C., Gao X., Garrett-Rucks P., Meissner F.-J. (eds.), The handbook of plurilingual and intercultural language learning, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, 2024.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
The ability of an individual to interact in different cultural milieux. This ability may imply both knowledge of likely differences in customs and values in a range of communities and the empathy required to respect and place value on beliefs and practices other than one’s own.
The ELP is a tool to promote plurilingualism and pluriculturalism and it is designed to take account of all of the learner’s language and intercultural learning, whether it takes place inside or outside formal educational contexts.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
1.1. “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); pluriculturality denotes the ability to participate in different cultures, inter alia by acquiring several languages.
Intercultural competence, for its part, is the ability to experience otherness and cultural diversity, to analyse that experience and to derive benefit from it. Once acquired, intercultural competence makes it easier to understand otherness, establish cognitive and affective links between past and new experiences of otherness, mediate between members of two (or more) social groups and their cultures, and question the assumptions of one’s own cultural group and environment.”
1.2 Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social actor has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures.
KEY WORDS
Competence, Repertoire, Communication, Languages, Languages of schooling, Regional and minority languages, Migration languages, Modern and classical languages, Intercultural interaction, Otherness, Mediation
Beacco Jean-Claude, Byram Michael, Cavalli Marisa, Coste Daniel, Egli Cuenat Mirjam, Goullier Francis, Panthier Johanna (2016),
Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, available at
www.coe.int/en/web/language-policy/guide-for-the-development-and-implementation-of-curricula-for-plurilingual-and-intercultural-education.
Coste Daniel, Moore Danièle and Zarate Geneviève (2009), Plurilingual and pluricultural competence – Studies towards a Common European Framework of Reference for language learning and teaching, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at
https://rm.coe.int/168069d29b.
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
“A global language education that bridges all of the school’s languages of instruction and all of the academic subjects, which forms the basis of an identity that is open to plurality and to linguistic and cultural diversity, in which languages are seen as the expression of different cultures and of differences that lie at the heart of a culture. All of the academic subjects contribute to this language education, through their content and the manner in which they are taught. This global language education aims to develop a plurilingual and intercultural competence.”
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
Example
One major challenge for education systems is to give learners, during their school education, language and intercultural competences which will enable them to operate effectively as citizens, acquire knowledge and develop open attitudes to otherness: this vision of the teaching of languages and cultures is referred to as plurilingual and intercultural education.
Definition
Plurilingual and intercultural education is defined in the Council of Europe’s papers as “a global language education, across all languages of the school and in all disciplinary domains, which provides a basis for an identity open to linguistic and cultural plurality and diversity, insofar as languages are the expression of different cultures and of differences within the same culture. All disciplines contribute to this language education through the contents which they carry and the ways in which they are taught. This global language education aims to develop plurilingual and intercultural competence.”
Comment
“Plurilingual and intercultural education has two aims. First, it facilitates the acquisition of linguistic and intercultural abilities: this involves adding to the linguistic and cultural resources which make up individual repertoires, using the available means efficiently. Aims differ with learners’ needs, languages and contexts.
Secondly, it promotes personal development, so that individuals can realise their full potential: this involves encouraging them to respect and accept diversity of languages and cultures in a multilingual and multicultural society, and helping to make them aware of the extent of their own competences and development potential.
[...] Effective learning of one or more languages, awareness of the value of diversity and otherness, and recognition of the utility of any (even partial) competence are necessary for anyone who, as an active member of the community, has to exercise his/her democratic citizenship in a multilingual and multicultural society.” (Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education, p. 15-16)
Beacco Jean-Claude, Byram Michael, Cavalli Marisa, Coste Daniel, Egli Cuenat Mirjam, Goullier Francis, Panthier Johanna (2016),
Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, p. 15-16, available at
www.coe.int/en/web/language-policy/guide-for-the-development-and-implementation-of-curricula-for-plurilingual-and-intercultural-education.
Cavalli Marisa, Coste Daniel, Crişan Alexandru and van de Ven Piet-Hein (2009), Plurilingual and intercultural education as a project, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, p. 8, available at
https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016805a219f
Council of Europe, Platform of resources and references for plurilingual and intercultural education, available at
www.coe.int/en/web/platform-plurilingual-intercultural-language-education/home
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
For this concept, we will use the definition given in Recommendation CM/Rec (2022)1 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states:
“'Plurilingual and intercultural education' is a holistic concept that has an impact on all areas of education policy and practice. Setting out to foster the development of integrated linguistic repertoires in which languages interrelate and interact, it takes explicit account of and seeks to bring into interaction with one another:
i. the languages and cultures that learners bring with them, including sign, minority and migrant languages and cultures;
ii. the language/s of schooling, which vary in genre and terminology according to the different subjects taught and differ in significant ways from the language of informal everyday communication;
iii. regional, minority and other languages and cultures that are part of the curriculum;
iv. foreign languages (modern and classical);
v. other languages and cultures that are not present in school and not part of the official curriculum. “(Council of Europe 2022, p. 13)
Further information
Among the many functions of plurilingual and intercultural education, the same text stresses that it is “essential to education for democratic culture”, “respects and values linguistic and cultural diversity” and “supports the inclusion of disadvantaged and marginalised learners on an equal footing with other learners”.
Pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures constitute a global tool for the implementation of plurilingual and intercultural education (Candelier, 2019).
References
Beacco J. C., Byram M., Cavalli M., Coste D., Cuenat M. E., Goullier F. & Panthier J. (2016), Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education, Strasbourg, Council of Europe, available at www.coe.int/web/language-policy/guide-for-the-development-and-implementation-of-curricula-for-plurilingual-and-intercultural-education.
Candelier M. (2019), “Plurilingual and intercultural education”, in Newby D., Heyworth F. et Cavalli M. (eds.), Changing contexts, evolving competences: 25 years of inspiring innovation in language education, pp. 48-55, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at www.ecml.at/Portals/1/documents/ECML-resources/ECML-changing-contexts-evolving-competences-EN_03082020_081830.pdf?ver=2020-08-03-081830-400.
Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture (2022), Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2022, available at https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=0900001680a563c9.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
“Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social agent has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures. This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex or even composite competence on which the user may draw.” (CEFR, p. 168).
Plurilingual competence involves “the ability to call flexibly upon an interrelated, uneven, plurilinguistic repertoire” (Council of Europe 2020: 30). According to the CEFR (Council of Europe 2001), plurilingual competence may involve (among others) the ability to:
- switch from one language to another;
- express oneself in one language and understand the other;
- call upon the knowledge of a number of languages to understand a text;
- bring the whole of their linguistic equipment into play;
- play with alternative forms of expression in different languages;
- mediate across languages.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Council of Europe (2020),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, available at
https://rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-learning-teaching/16809ea0d4.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
“Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social agent has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures. This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex or even composite competence on which the user may draw.” (CEFR, p. 168)
Council of Europe (2001), Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
https://rm.coe.int/16802fc1bf, accessed 27 February 2017.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
“Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social agent has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures. This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex or even composite competence on which the user may draw.
The customary approach is to present learning a foreign language as an addition, in a compartmentalised way, of a competence to communicate in a foreign language to the competence to communicate in the mother tongue. The concept of plurilingual and pluricultural competence tends to:
- move away from the supposed balanced dichotomy established by the customary L1/L2 pairing by stressing plurilingualism where bilingualism is just one particular case;
- consider that a given individual does not have a collection of distinct and separate competences to communicate depending on the languages he/she knows, but rather a plurilingual and pluricultural competence encompassing the full range of the languages available to him/her;
- stress the pluricultural dimensions of this multiple competence but without necessarily suggesting links between the development of abilities concerned with relating to other cultures and the development of linguistic communicative proficiency.”
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 168, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
The plurilingual approach values and draws upon learners’ linguistic trajectories and funds of knowledge to boost their capacity to learn the target language and to develop their attitude of linguistic sensitivity and curiosity. The plurilingual approach allows and encourages a conscious and targeted use of multiple languages in the class.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The plurilingual approach is a way of teaching and learning that values and draws upon learners’ linguistic trajectories and funds of knowledge to boost their capacity to learn the target language and to develop their attitude of linguistic sensitivity and curiosity. The plurilingual approach allows and encourages a conscious and targeted use of multiple languages in the class.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
Example
“Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social actor has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures. This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex or even composite competence on which the social actor may draw”.
Definition
The notion of plurilingual competence stands for the full range of an individual’s ability to express themselves in and across the different languages which form part of their linguistic repertoire. This includes phenomena of plurilingual discourse such as code-switching, and the notion of partial competences in different languages or varieties.
Comment
The term plurilingualism is in general use to refer to the entire linguistic repertoire of individuals, while multilingualism, traditionally a more widely used term in English, is used for the (mere) coexistence of more than one language in any given context (e.g. a society, a country). A similar distinction can be made between pluriculturalism, the extent to which individuals may identify with different cultural backgrounds (e.g. heritages), and multiculturalism, the coexistence of different cultures within a society. The notion of intercultural competence (see below) goes one step further than pluriculturalism, though, in that it involves the ability “to experience and analyse cultural otherness” (Language Policy Division 2009: 6).
Source: ECML resource website Plurilingual and intercultural learning through mobility (2012-2015)
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.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
“Plurilingual education: manner of teaching, not necessarily restricted to language teaching, which aims to raise awareness of each individual’s language repertoire, to emphasize its worth and to extend this repertoire by teaching lesser used or unfamiliar languages. Plurilingual education also aims to increase understanding of the social and cultural value of linguistic diversity in order to ensure linguistic goodwill and to develop intercultural competence [...].” (Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education – Main version, p. 116).
Beacco Jean-Claude, Byram Michael (2007), From linguistic diversity to plurilingual education – Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe – Main version, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, p. 116, available at www.coe.int/en/web/language-policy/from-linguistic-diversity-to-plurilingual-education-guide-for-the-development-of-language-education-policies-in-europe.
Aalto Eija, Abel Andrea, Atanasoska Tatjana, Boeckmann Klaus-Börge, Lamb Terry (2011), Promoting plurilingualism – Majority language in multilingual settings, Resources – Glossary, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2008-2011/Majoritylanguageinmultilingualsettings/Resources/tabid/5453/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
Plurilingual education incorporates tasks and learning activities involve several varieties of languages which emphasise the relationships between languages and cultures, thus creating linguistic bridges.
Candelier M., Camilleri-Grima A., Castellotti V., de Pietro J.-F., Lörincz I., Meißner F.-J., Schröder-Sura A., Noguerol A. & Molinié M. (2012),
A framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures (FREPA) – Competences and resources, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Strasbourg/Graz, available at
carap.ecml.at/Keyconcepts/tabid/2681/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.
Term in French:
éducation plurilingue
L’éducation plurilingue intègre des tâches et des activités d’apprentissage impliquant plusieurs variétés de langues qui mettent l’accent sur les relations entre les langues et les cultures, créant ainsi des ponts linguistiques.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
“Plurilingual education: manner of teaching, not necessarily restricted to language teaching, which aims to raise awareness of each individual’s language repertoire, to emphasise its worth and to extend this repertoire by teaching lesser used or unfamiliar languages. Plurilingual education also aims to increase understanding of the social and cultural value of linguistic diversity in order to ensure linguistic goodwill and to develop intercultural competence [...].” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe ‐ from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, p. 116) <p>"Plurilingual education literally means the use of two or more languages in curricular contexts (Freeman, 1998, 2).</p>
<p>According to Hornberger (1991), one model of plurilingual education is the ‘enrichment model’. Such programmes aspire to a general encouragement of minority languages, language awareness and additive plurilingualism not only for immigrant but also for indigenous schoolchildren. In enrichment model programmes all languages that are different from the national language(s) will be seen as resources which make a contribution to pluralism in education and society. This model of plurilingual education follows the pedagogical approach of inclusion. Inclusive pedagogy matches the instructional conditions to the needs and special features of the pupils and has the aim of valuing diversity and welcoming heterogeneity in education – and therefore the full acceptance of language diversity in school as well (Couillaud/Kahn, 1989).</p>
<p>Sources:</p>
<p>Couillaud Xavier & Kahn Verity Saifullah (1989), “Das ‘Children’s Language Project‘’”, in Reich Hans H. (ed.), <i> Migration – Bildungspolitik – Pädagogik</i>, alfa, Essen/Landau.</p>
<p>Freeman Rebecca (1998), <i>Bilingual education and social change</i>, Multilingual Matter, Clevedon [u.a.].</p>
<p>Hornberger Nancy (1991), “Extending enrichment bilingual education: Revisiting typologies and redirecting policy”, in García Ofelia (ed.), <i>Bilingual education: Focusschrift in honor of Joshua A. Fishman on the occasion of his 65th birthday</i>, John Benjamins Publishers, [Comment by Franziska Plathner], pp. 215-234, </p>
"The plurilingual perspective may provide some answers to such problems: it recognises and accepts the diversity of all speakers; a principle of plurilingual education is that the management of plurilingual repertoires and their development should be differentiated: [...]Techniques are available for establishing ways of teaching linguistic varieties which are not a matter of exclusive choices, but can be modulated (over time, for example) and are therefore negotiable. From this point of view, plurilingual education can enable both majorities and minorities to have a better understanding of the nature of their relationships and of their own aspirations.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 71).
“It is posited that the purpose of plurilingual education is to develop speakers’ language skills and linguistic repertoires.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 12).
“Plurilingual education will refer to all activities, curricular or extra-curricular of whatever nature, which seek to enhance and develop language competence and speakers’ individual linguistic repertoires, from the earliest schooldays and throughout life. Education for plurilingualism will refer to plurilingual education (for example, teaching national, foreign, regional languages), in which the purpose is to develop plurilingualism as a competence. It will be noted that plurilingual education may also be achieved through activities designed principally to raise awareness of linguistic diversity, but which do not aim to teach such languages, and therefore do not constitute language teaching in the strict sense.” (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 18)."
Term in German:
Plurilinguale Bildung
Plurilinguale Bildung: Art des Unterrichts, nicht unbedingt auf Sprachunterricht beschränkt, dessen Ziel es ist, das Bewusstsein für das jeweils individuelle Sprachrepertoire zu steigern, dessen Wert zu unterstreichen und dieses Repertoire zu erweitern durch das Unterrichten in weniger verbreiteten oder nicht vertrauten Sprachen. Plurilinguale Bildung zielt außerdem auf das wachsende Verständnis für den sozialen und kulturellen Wert von Sprachenvielfalt ab um sprachliches ‚goodwill’ zu garantieren und interkulturelle Kompetenzen aufzubauen. (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 116). [Übersetzung ins Deutsche von Franziska Plathner]
Plurilinguale Bildung: Art des Unterrichts, nicht unbedingt auf Sprachunterricht beschränkt, dessen Ziel es ist, das Bewusstsein für das jeweils individuelle Sprachrepertoire zu steigern, dessen Wert zu unterstreichen und dieses Repertoire zu erweitern durch das Unterrichten in weniger verbreiteten oder nicht vertrauten Sprachen. Plurilinguale Bildung zielt außerdem auf das wachsende Verständnis für den sozialen und kulturellen Wert von Sprachenvielfalt ab um sprachliches ‚goodwill’ zu garantieren und interkulturelle Kompetenzen aufzubauen. (Language Policy Division (2007), Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe - from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Main Version. Council of Europe. Strasbourg, 116). [Übersetzung ins Deutsche von Franziska Plathner]
Source: ECML resource website Majority language in multilingual settings (2008-2011)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A person’s plurilingual repertoire is made up of all the interrelated language skills he or she is able to call upon and activate to communicate effectively in multilingual contexts. This notion of the repertoire takes for granted that an individual’s language knowledge and abilities are interconnected, not compartmentalised. In other words, while a person may have varying degrees of proficiency in different languages, all of the languages at his or her disposal are part of this repertoire, and they are in constant communication with each other. All these languages can serve as resources, whether the individual is attempting to communicate in a plurilingual context or working to acquire competences in a new language.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
The term plurilingual wellbeing refers to the state of becoming aware, understanding and feeling at ease with the languages one uses and with how these languages allow one to relate to one’s own environment. The concept encompasses valuing the potential of the speaker’s plurilingual repertoire and how he or she uses it to interact positively and comfortably within personal and professional contexts.
Sugranyes C. et al. (2024), “Understanding the plurilingual user in context”, APAC ELT News, Issue 94, pp. 8-13.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
Plurilingualism is an individual’s ability to use “a communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact”. Taking into account the type of communication required in different situations, the language user can “call flexibly upon different parts of this competence to achieve effective communication with a particular interlocutor” (Council of Europe, 2001: 4). The CEFR promotes a plurilingual approach, that is, the learning of languages on the part of the language learner which languages can be related to each other so as to build up a plurilingual repertoire.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Term in French:
plurilinguisme
Le plurilinguisme est l’aptitude d’un individu à utiliser une compétence communicative « à laquelle contribuent toute connaissance et toute expérience des langues et dans laquelle les langues sont en corrélation et interagissent entre elles ». En tenant compte du type de communication requis dans différentes situations, l’utilisateur·rice de la langue « peut faire appel avec souplesse aux différentes parties de cette compétence pour entrer efficacement en communication avec un interlocuteur donné » (Conseil de l’Europe, 2001: p. 11). Le CECRL promeut une approche plurilingue, c’est-à-dire l’apprentissage par l’apprenant·e de langues qui peuvent être mises en relation les unes avec les autres afin de constituer un répertoire plurilingue.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
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.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 4, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Plurilingualism is a term used by Council of Europe / EU meaning individuals with the capacity to use more than one language for communication; it is different from multilingualism in that the latter refers to a situation where several languages and registers are concurrently used by different groups in a society. Plurilingualism involves a paradigm shift away from segregated languages development towards encouraging students to “develop a linguistic repertoire in which all linguistic abilities have a place”.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
An individual’s capacity to communicate in two or more languages, a whatever level of proficiency.
Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages) (2013), Glossary “ECML programme 2008-2011 “Empowering language professionals”, p. 153, available at
www.ecml.at/Portals/1/20140130_Glossary_ECML%20MTP3_EmpoweringLanguageProfessionals_with%20index_FINAL.pdf, accessed 10 May 2019.
Council of Europe, Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LIAM), Key terms, “Language repertoire”, available at
www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/repertoire-language-, accessed 10 May 2019.
Little David (2011), The European Language Portfolio – A guide to the planning, implementation and evaluation of whole-school projects, Glossary, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2008-2011/Planning,implementationandevaluationofwholeschoolprojects/Resources/tabid/5449/language/en-GB/Default.aspx, accessed 10 May 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Inspiring language learning in the early years (2016-2019)
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
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The ability of an individual to interact in different languages (see Pluriculturalism).
The Council of Europe published the main version of the ‘Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe’ at the beginning of 2007.
A central principle of the document is that policies should be based on plurilingualism as a value and a competence.
The concept of plurilingualism is defined simply as the potential and/or the ability to use several languages to varying levels of proficiency and for different purposes; and more precisely (CEFR, p. 168):
“Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person viewed as a social agent has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultural cultures. This is not seen as the superimposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex or even composite experience the user may draw on.”
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
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).
Beacco J.-C. & Byram M. (2007), From linguistic diversity to plurilingual education: guide for the development of language education policies in Europe, Council of EuropeStrasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016802fc1c4.
Beacco J.-C. et al. (2016), Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at
https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016806ae621.
Council of Europe (2001), Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/16802fc1bf.
Coste D, Moore D. & Zarate G. (2009), Plurilingual and pluricultural competence, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, https://rm.coe.int/168069d29c.
Wandruszka M. (1971), Interlinguistik – Umrisse einer neuen Sprachwissenschaft, Piper, München.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
“For us, a pluriliteracies approach captures not only literacy continua with different interrelated axes, but also an emphasis on Literacy practices in sociocultural contexts, the hybridity of literacy practices afforded by new technologies, and the increasing interrelationship of semiotic systems.” (García et al. 2007: 215)
García Ofelia, Bartlett Lesley, Kleifgen JoAnne (2007), “From biliteracy to pluriliteracies”, in Auer P. & Wei Li (eds.), Handbook of multilingualism and multilingual communication, De Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 207-228.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Policies specify the intent of the implementers and are intended to guide decisions that need to be made in daily practice.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
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).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A language Portfolio is a document or an organised collection of documents, in which individual learners can assemble over a period of time, and display in a systematic way, a record of their qualifications, achievements and experiences in language learning, together with samples of work they have themselves produced.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Concerns the functional use of linguistic resources; the ability to use language effectively in a contextually appropriate way.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“This level begins between 5 and 7 years of age, is compulsory in all countries and generally lasts from four to six years.”
Term in French:
enseignement primaire
« L’âge habituel de début se situe entre 5 et 7 ans. Ce niveau est obligatoire dans tous les pays et dure généralement entre quatre et six ans. »
Term in German:
Primarbereich / Primarstufe
„Der Primarbereich beginnt im Alter von 5 bis 7 Jahren, fällt immer in den Rahmen der allgemeinen Schulpflicht und dauert in der Regel 4 bis 6 Jahre.“
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
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
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Refer to the skills which the learner uses when expressing him- or herself externally, e.g. in writing or speaking.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Professional development is here understood as the process and outcome of a willingness and ability to transform oneself as a teacher or teacher educator, through reflection, action and collaboration with other actors in the educational community, throughout one’s career. Professional development is reflected in the ability to take charge of one’s professional path by engaging in the transformation of practices, capable, for example, of contributing to plurilingual and intercultural education.
Further information
As Lefeuvre, Garcia and Namolovan write, “Professional development takes on various meanings in the scientific literature. Definitions vary depending on the theoretical perspective to which the author adheres: developmental perspective or professionalising perspective (Uwamariya & Mukamuera, 2005)”. Here we adopt a developmental perspective which considers the dynamic processes of practices and ways of thinking (in this case, practices and ways of thinking related to languages and cultures) to be determining factors in teacher education.
Darling-Hammond L., Hyler M. E., Gardner M. (2017), Effective teacher professional development, Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
Lefeuvre G., Garcia A. & Namolovan L. (2009), “Les indicateurs de développement professionnel”, Questions vives, Recherches en éducation, nº 5, 11, p. 277-314.
Uwamariya A. & Mukamurera J. (2005), “Le concept de ‘développement professionnel’ en enseignement : approches théoriques”, Revue des sciences de l’éducation, Vol. 31, no. 1, p. 133-155, available at https://journals.openedition.org/questionsvives/627.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
The understanding of one’s own role as a teacher and a researcher of one’s own practice. Teachers develop their competencies “By formulating their own questions and by collecting and analyzing data to answer these questions, teachers grow professionally.” (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love & Stiles 1998: 7, cited in Feldman, Altrichter, Posch & Somekh 2018: 302)
Loucks-Horsley S., Hewson P., Love N. & Stiles K. (1998), , Thousand Oaks, Corwin Press, CA.
Feldman A., Alrichter A., Posch P. & Somekh B. (2018), Teachers investigate their work: An introduction to action research across the professions, 3rd edition, Routledge, London.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
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.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
What someone can do / knows in relation to the application of the subject. It
represents an external perspective.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
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.
Source: ECML resource website Language associations and collaborative support (2008-2011)
Research results which are more descriptive or anecdotal than statistical. These
often characterise research using limited samples
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A regulatory mechanism which establishes, monitors, assesses, maintains and improves quality processes within an institution on an ongoing basis. Quality assurance is performed during a project to help make sure the results meet the quality standards.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Formalised system of management of the quality of goods or services so that good standards are maintained (for instance in language education EAQUALS)
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“As a consequence, a review of quality in language education must look at quality both at a micro level – how can we define, implement and assess good practice in language teaching and learning at classroom level where there are practical operational aims? – and at a macro political level – is this practice contributing to achieving the social and developmental aims of its educational environment, as well as those of individual educational development? And is it contributing effectively to the cognitive development of learners?” (Heyworth 2013: 286)
“The process of establishing quality depends on a coherent implementation of regular long-term use of such tools as reflective practice, different forms of observation, action research as an instrument for change and innovation, to establish the involvement of all staff in an evaluative and innovative process. To implement this coherent approach requires leadership in the creation of a quality culture and a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches. In the context of language education, especially in schools, issues related to cultural and linguistic identity are crucial.” (Heyworth 2013: 295)
Key words
Good practice, Micro and macro levels, Quality, Reflective practice, Observation, Action research, Evaluative and innovative process, Quality culture
Source: ECML resource website Learning environments where modern languages flourish (2016-2019)
Quality of language refers to the ensemble of the characteristics of the language competences (linguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic) that learners/users develop through the different communicative activities they engage in. The quality of language is often used to describe and inform assessment of performance in communicative tasks (e.g. CEFR, Chapter 5, Table 3).
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
They refer to results from research involving large groups of informants in an
interpretation of data using statistics.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Tasks resembling as closely as possible to authentic activities accomplished in real-life contexts and situations, requiring active language use (real-life tasks are the key feature of the action-oriented approach of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
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
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Reception is one of the four modes of communication alongside production, interaction and mediation. Reception refers to receiving and processing a spoken or written input; understanding what is heard or read.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Refer to the skills which the learner uses when not expressing him- or herself
actively, e.g. when reading or listening.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Video or audio recordings; an action-research method that allows researchers to observe details after the lesson and/or compare sections of different lessons.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Task leading to dual reflection, on the benefits and limitations of digital technology in general on the one hand and on the personal use of it on the other hand. It encourages reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action.
Term in French:
tâche réflexive
Tâche qui mène à une double réflexion, à la fois sur les avantages et les limites du numérique de façon générale, mais aussi sur les usages personnels de celui-ci. Elle encourage une réflexion-dans-l’action et une réflexion-sur-l’action.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Lafortune and Deaudelin define the reflective practitioner as “the person who is capable, on the one hand, of describing and analysing their practice as well as examining its effectiveness and, on the other hand, of creating or adapting their own models of practice by drawing on existing models (intervention or support models) in order to make their practice more effective” (Lafortune and Deaudelin, 2001: p. 205, our translation).
Further information
In education research, the concept of reflexivity gained a central position from the 1980s onwards. The work of the American philosopher Schön (1983, 1993), among others, contributed to the ‘reflexive turn’ (Tardif, Borges and Malo, 2012) that has become prominent in teaching and education practices. In most definitions of the concept, reflection is regarded as a necessary phase of professional development aimed at transformation, through critical scrutiny and awareness of the underlying beliefs in one's own practices.
Regarding its implementation, researchers have distinguished different moments and modalities concerning the relationship between reflection and action: reflection for action, action resulting from reflection, reflection during action and after action.
In its various interpretations, the concept presents challenges in terms of definition and implementation (Beauchamp, 2012).
Some authors emphasise the impossibility of objectivity and exhaustiveness in a rational analysis, incapable of fully grasping the complexity of the meanings to be interpreted. They argue for “an experiential understanding of the meaning of the world (embodied, and present in sensitivity, imagination, affectivity)” (de Robillard, 2021: 294).
References
Beauchamp C. (2012), “Un cadre conceptuel pour mieux comprendre la littérature sur la réflexion en enseignement”, in Tardif M. (éd.), Le virage réflexif en éducation : Où en sommes-nous 30 ans après Schön ?, De Boeck Supérieur, Louvain-la-Neuve, pp. 21-45, https://doi.org/10.3917/dbu.tardi.2012.01.0021
Lafortune L. et Deaudelin C (2001), Accompagnement socioconstructiviste – Pour s’approprier une réforme en éducation, Presses de l’Université du Québec, Québec.
de Robillard D., “Réflexivité”, Langage et société / HS1 (Hors série), 2021, pp. 293-296.
Schön D. (1983), The reflective practitioner – How professionals think in action, Temple Smith, London.
Schön D. (1993), Educating the reflective practitioners, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Tardif M., Borges C. and Malo A. (2012), Le virage réflexif en éducation : où en sommes-nous 30 ans après Schön ?, De Boeck, Bruxelles.
Source: ECML resource website Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches (2020-2022)
“A language that is ‘traditionally used within a given territory of a state by nationals of that state who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the state’s population; it is different from the state language(s) of that state’ (Council of Europe, 1992). As a general rule, these are languages of populations that have their ethnic roots in the areas concerned or have been settled in the regions concerned for generations. Minority/regional languages can have the status of an official language, but by definition this status will be limited to the area in which they are spoken.”
European Education and Culture Executive Agency, Eurydice (2017),
Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe – 2017 edition, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, p. 142ff, available at
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/04255.
Term in French:
langue régionale et/ou minoritaire
« langue “pratiquée traditionnellement sur un territoire d’un État par des ressortissants de cet État qui constituent un groupe numériquement inférieur au reste de la population de l’État; elle est différente des langue(s) d’État de cet État” (Conseil de l’Europe, 1992). En règle générale, il s’agit de langues parlées par des populations qui ont leurs racines dans les territoires concernés ou qui y sont installées depuis des générations. Les langues régionales/minoritaires peuvent avoir le statut de langue officielle, mais, par définition, leur rayonnement officiel se limite à leur zone de locution. »
Term in German:
Regional- und/oder Minderheitensprache
„Eine Sprache, die ‘herkömmlicherweise in einem bestimmten Gebiet eines Staates von Angehörigen dieses Staates gebraucht wird, die eine Gruppe bilden, deren Zahl kleiner ist als die der übrigen Bevölkerung des Staates, und die sich von der bzw. den Staatssprache(n) dieses Staates unterscheidet’ (Europarat, 1992). In der Regel handelt es sich um Sprachen, die von Bevölkerungsgruppen gesprochen werden, die ihre ethnischen Wurzeln in den betreffenden Gebieten haben oder dort seit mehreren Generationen ansässig sind. Regional- und/oder Minderheitensprachen können den Status einer Amtssprache haben, dieser ist aber per Definition auf das Gebiet beschränkt, in dem sie gesprochen werden.“
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
This term denotes a language traditionally spoken in a region and contributing to its cultural identity, even if, in some cases, the number of people speaking it may have decreased gradually under the influence of a national language. The importance of taking care to preserve and promote the use of any regional language is emphasised in the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The term societal language(s) refers to the majority or dominant language(s) of a given country or region.
Van Dijk et al. (2021), "Cross-linguistic influence in simultaneous and early sequential bilingual children: A meta-analysis", Journal of Child Language 49, 1-33, doi: 10.1017/S0305000921000337.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
“A register is [...] a configuration of meanings that are typically associated with a particular situational configuration of field, mode, and tenor. But since it is a configuration of meanings, a register must also, of course, include the expressions, the lexico-grammatical and phonological features, that typically accompany or REALISE these meanings.” (Halliday and Hasan 1989: 38-39)
Halliday M.A.K. & Hasan R. (1989), Language, context, and text, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 38-39.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
The process of analysing the communicative objectives (often expressed through “can do” descriptors) to identify and list the main language competences (linguistic, pragmatic, socio-linguistic) involved. Language competences need to be linked to communicative objectives at all levels (curriculum, module, unit, …).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Establishing and verifying the relationship between the coverage and performance standard of a text with the CEFR descriptive scheme and levels, following a principled methodology, e.g., as recommended in the Council of Europe Manual.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Reliability is one of the principles of quality. It refers to the degree to which the result of an assessment is accurate and can be trusted. Sometimes also referred to as an aspect of validity.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The range of languages or varieties of a language available for use by a speaker, each of which enables him/her to perform a particular social role; repertoires are dynamic and contextual phenomena.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
An individual’s knowledge and competences in the different languages with which he/she is familiar to varying degrees do not form separate, watertight compartments. That knowledge and those competences should all be regarded as resources available to the individual which he/she can use to perform communicative tasks or further develop his/her competences. All these resources constitute an individual repertoire which can be drawn on as required. The notion of repertoire also applies to an individual’s varied range of cultural practices and knowledge.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
In the case of action research, the research question arises from one’s own practice, on the basis of one’s own experience and depending on the significance it has for one’s own teaching. An individual research question can be formulated or a joint one in the case of a joint action research project at a school.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
The capacity to call upon one’s personal resources, consisting of knowledge, attitudes and skills, to perform a task. In the use of languages, communicative competence draws on linguistic (lexicon and functioning of the language), sociolinguistic (social rules in use of the language) and pragmatic components to perform a communicative task. Communicative competence is therefore based on knowledge about the functioning and use of languages, skills in implementing that knowledge and the capacity to adopt a favourable attitude to communication (e.g. ability to listen, desire to exchange with others, etc.).
See competence
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
This includes the rights and responsibilities defined by the various communities he/she participates in, but also more broadly citizen rights and responsabilities such as political rights or copyrights laws. It also covers a series of rights and responsabilities specifically connected to the digital environment such as the right to self-determination of information or the right to be forgotten online.
Citizens act within the right and responsability framework of the communities they belong to and adhere to the values they promote.
Term in French:
droits et responsabilités
Cela comprend les droits et responsabilités définis par les différentes communautés auxquelles l’acteur social participe, mais aussi de façon plus générale les droits et responsabilités des citoyens (par exemple droits politiques, droits d’auteur...) ainsi que des droits et responsabilités liés directement à l’environnement numérique (par exemple le droit à l’autodétermination informationnelle, le droit à l’oubli...).
Les citoyens agissent dans le cadre de droits et responsabilités dépendant des communautés dans lesquelles ils s’impliquent et des valeurs de celles-ci.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
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.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
The instructions to candidates / learners before each test or task.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Way to (inter)act which protects online safety and wellbeing. It can be linked to individual/personal safety (his/her own or others) but also environmental protection, moral and physical health, etc.
Term in French:
agir sûr
Façon d’(inter)agir qui protège la sécurité et le bien-être en ligne. Il peut s’agir de la sécurité des personnes (de soi et des autres), mais aussi de la sécurité de l’environnement, de la santé morale et physique, etc.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
Scaffolding is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals. Instructional scaffolding is a learning process designed to promote a deeper level of learning.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The concept of scaffolding refers to methods used by an adult to support a student’s learning process; this concept was developed in relation to the concept of the “zone of proximal development” by the American psychologist Jerome Bruner who defined it as methods of interacting with a child to support him in his learning until he is able to address the problem on his own.
“Subject-specific language requirements call for scaffolding techniques on a macro level, also called “systemic” scaffolding or “hard” scaffolding. As opposed to scaffolding on a micro level (“soft” or “point-of-need” scaffolding), these techniques are directly associated with the specific curricular goals of a discipline. Thus, language sensitive teachers are able to predict students’ need for support. In contrast, point-of-need techniques of scaffolding require spontaneous supportive action whenever language students are confronted with language obstacles that cannot be anticipated by the teacher when (s)he plans the lesson.” (Beacco et al., 2015)
Beacco J.-C., Goullier F., Fleming M., Thürman E., Vollmer H. (2015),
A handbook for curriculum development and teacher training – The language dimension in all subjects, Council of Europe, Strasbourg,
www.coe.int/en/web/language-policy/a-handbook-for-curriculum-development-and-teacher-training.-the-language-dimension-in-all-subjects.
Bruner J. (1983),
Le développement de l’enfant : savoir faire, savoir dire, PUF, Paris, coll. « Psychologie d’aujourd’hui ».
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
“The term ‘scaffolding’, as the metaphor implies, refers to structural components in teaching that support learning by offering transitional dependence (Wood, Bruner and Ross, 1976). It has conceptual links to Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’, a site where it has a particular usefulness. When the teaching of language is integrated with the teaching of content two opportunities for scaffolding coexist (Gibbons, 2002). Bilingual scaffolding refers to the use of two or more languages in any teaching activities in bilingual classrooms that support learning.”
European core curriculum for inclusive academic language Teaching, 2008, p. 53.
Gibbons P. (2002), Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning – Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.
Wood D. J., Bruner J. S. & Ross G. (1976), The role of tutoring in problem solving, Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology , 17(2), pp. 89-100.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
Scales of descriptor can be:
- user-oriented = describe performances at any given level. They are popularly expressed as ‘I can…’ statements;
- assessor-oriented = provide criteria by which to assess performance. May be third person descriptors, and perhaps using terminology more in keeping with professional understanding of the learning process;
- constructor-oriented = may start from very broad premises, enabling others to build more specific frameworks.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A group of people with expertise in relevant areas, here regarding (language) curriculum structuring, implementation and evaluation.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Scope is the extent or limitations of the project described; the sum of all its features expectations and responsibilities.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Language other than a child’s first language which he/she must acquire in order to integrate with an environment other than his/her family environment. This second language is usually the main language of socialisation in the context in which the child lives and the one used as the usual language of communication in the institution. Children’s progression in the second language at pre-primary level is illustrated, for example, in the document produced by Nederlandse Taalunie, Framework of reference for early second language acquisition.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Language of the host country, learned by migrants coming to live in that county.
strong>Nuances
If the host country has a colonial past, the second language may be still used in the country’s former colonies in education and/or administration.
In France, since the 2000s, the following terms are used:
- language of schooling for newly arrived children and
- learning a second language when referring to adult migrants or immigrants who have been in the country for a long time.
Cf. this definition of “second language” offered by David Crystal:
“A language which is not a person’s mother tongue, but which is learned in order to meet a communicative need. Immigrants commonly learn the language of their host nation as second language. Often a country chooses to give a language official status as a second language, using it as a medium of government, law, education, or the media – a role played, for example, by English or French in many countries of Africa.”
Crystal David (1992), An encyclopaedic dictionary of language & languages, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, p. 345.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
If we take the example of English as a second or additional language, “In the language education literature this terms tends to be used to refer to the use and teaching and learning of the English language in three contexts: (a) English for immigrant groups and linguistic minority communities in English-speaking countries who may speak their mother tongue at home in their local communities, but use English at school and at work; (b) English when it is widely used within the country but not the first language of the bulk of the population, e.g. in India: and (c) English used by speakers whose first language is not English.”
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
The concept refers to the acquisition of a second/additional language or the academic study of such processes (…). The study of second language acquisition encompasses basic and applied work on how second language proficiency is gained or lost by children and adults, whether learning naturalistically or with the aid of formal instruction, as individuals or in groups, in foreign, second language, or lingua franca settings (e.g. Doughty & Long, 2005).
Doughty C & Long M. H (2010), The handbook of second language acquisition, Wiley-Blackwell.
Source: ECML resource website Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity (2012-2015)
Self-assessment is a judgement made by the learner on his or her own performance, knowledge, strategies etc.
Newby David, Allan Rebecca, Fenner Anne-Brit, Jones Barry, Komorowska Hanna and Soghikyan Kristine (2007),
European portfolio for student teachers of languages – A reflection tool for language teacher education, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLPublications/tabid/277/ID/51/language/en-GB/Default.aspx, p. 77, accessed 11 June 2019.
Source: ECML resource website Developing language awareness in subject classes (2016-2019)
A process during which students reflect on and assess the quality of their own work and learning, judge the degree to which they reflect explicitly stated goals or criteria, and identify strengths and weaknesses in their work.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The process by which learners evaluate their own performances, e.g. imagining how well they would cope in a range of real life settings.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A semi-structured interview is a qualitative method of inquiry that combines a pre-determined set of open questions (questions that prompt discussion) with the opportunity for the interviewer to explore particular themes or responses further.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The systematic process of analysing the situation before the curriculum is developed effectively. A thorough analysis of individual as well as collective characteristics in order to optimize the planning of learning and teaching. Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats – so called SWOT analysis – is an example of situation analysis.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The capacity to call upon one’s personal resources, consisting of knowledge, attitudes and skills, to perform a task. In the use of languages, communicative competence draws on linguistic (lexicon and functioning of the language), sociolinguistic (social rules in use of the language) and pragmatic components to perform a communicative task. Communicative competence is therefore based on knowledge about the functioning and use of languages, skills in implementing that knowledge and the capacity to adopt a favourable attitude to communication (e.g. ability to listen, desire to exchange with others, etc.).
See Competence
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Whereas a learner may understand in principle what to say, he or she may require considerable practice, including correction of error, before having ‘skill’ or ‘competence’.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) presents the language user/learner as a “social agent”, acting in the social world, co-constructing meaning in interaction and exerting agency in the learning process. This implies a real paradigm shift in both course planning and teaching, promoting learner engagement and autonomy. Seeing learners as social agents implies involving them in the learning process.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Combining social and cultural factors; in language learning, for example awareness of level of formality and politeness, register, expressions for particular situations.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The socio-interactional approach places social interactions at the heart of its definition of tasks undertaken by learners.
The overall aim is to train learners to take into account these social interactions when they act and interact in the target language. They can then realise how important these interactions are and thus improve their
communicative competence. We believe that learners need to undertake tasks where they are exposed to a variety of social interactions (especially real-world tasks) in order to develop a real ability to communicate.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
Refers to the conditions for language use in social situations; the ability to use language appropriately in the given social context (level of formality, register, politeness conventions, etc.).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“Specialized language” includes both the specialized vocabulary of a given domain and its most common grammatical structures. Typically, the domains in question (law, medicine, biology, chemistry) correspond to major academic specializations. Consequently, teaching/learning of specialized language tends to be oriented towards students in academic settings, though it may also be of interest to experienced professionals with a specific need to interact in the target language or a more international focus.
Source: ECML resource website Language for work – Tools for professional development (2016-2018)
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
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
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
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Stakeholder (who has an interest + who has an effect on others)
A person or organisation with an interest in, or influence over, a programme or
project. Pupils, parents, employers, politicians etc, may all have such an interest, in addition to teachers.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
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.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
The process of making something conform to a standard; making things of the same type have the same basic features. “The process of ensuring that assessors adhere to an agreed procedure and interpret and apply criteria in a consistent and reliable way, for example when teachers are assessing students’ language ability, or when inspectors are visiting an institution” (EAQUALS).
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Training for individuals and groups of individuals to improve, and elaborate on, a consistent and shared interpretation and application of the CEFR levels.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A standard is a recognized shared definition used as the basis of comparison. Educational standards are concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education (e.g. by the end of a course, grade level, or grade span) but they do not describe any particular teaching practice, curriculum, or assessment method.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“Any language with official status throughout an entire country. Any state language is an official language.”
European Education and Culture Executive Agency, Eurydice (2017),
Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe – 2017 edition, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, p. 142ff, available at
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/04255.
Term in French:
langue d’État
« langue qui bénéficie du statut officiel dans l’ensemble d’un pays. Toute langue d’État est une langue officielle. »
Term in German:
Staatssprache
„Sprachen, derer offizieller Status für das gesamte Gebiet eines Staates gilt. Jede Staatssprache ist zugleich auch Amtssprache.“
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
Methods more or less consciously utilized by language learners to help them learn a language more effectively. Also, the ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organise one’s own learning, both individually and in groups; includes awareness of one’s own learning process and needs, identifying available opportunities, and the ability to overcome obstacles in order to learn successfully.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A strategy is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve particular goals.
(Learner) Any organised, purposeful and regulated line of action chosen by an individual to carry out a task which he or she sets for himself or herself or with which he or she is confronted. For example paraphrase intended meaning to get round lack of specific vocabulary: ‘Make the situation better’ instead of ‘Improve the situation’.
(Implementer) Any organised, purposeful and regulated line of action chosen by implementers to secure the adoption and effective use of an ELP whether at national, regional, local or institutional level.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
“A [communication] strategy is any organised, purposeful and regulated line of action chosen by an individual to carry out a task which he or she sets for himself or herself or with which he or she is confronted.” (CEFR 2001: 10).
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 10, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Include the ability to make effective use of the learning opportunities created by teaching situations, e.g. to grasp the intention of the task set, to make rapid and frequent active use of the language learnt, or to be able to use available materials for independent learning.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
It sums up attainment at the end of the course with a grade or, where there is
sufficient evidence, a CEFR level to which the grade corresponds.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Sustainability is one of the principles of quality. If something is sustainable it can be maintained or confirmed over time. The idea that learning or innovation needs to be transferable, transformative, and long-lasting.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
A descriptive, educational planning document that defines the content of a course. It usually includes a clear indication of the objectives and expected outcomes, as well as the time to be allocated to main elements.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
This term refers to all the regular patterns which may be observed in the phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatic and sociolinguistic uses of a particular language.
See Functioning of language
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
Real-life tasks. These tasks are “chosen on the basis of learners’ needs outside the classroom, whether in the personal and public domains, or related to more specific occupational or educational needs”
(Council of Europe 2001: 157).
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 157, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
The task consists of three main elements:
- The main background frame is based on:
- social interactions (this is the most crucial element within this framework);
- the aim or intention of people involved (this is strongly linked to social interactions);
- the context (this includes all the elements outside of the interaction such as material constraints for example).
- A range of activities (which are language-based or not) are required to complete a task. They draw on the strategic use of internal (individual prior knowledge and skills) or external resources. The external resources can be human-based (such as the help of a person as a resource) or technology-based (digital or not). It is worth noting that the execution of the task should result in the development of both skills (internal resources) and external resources that people can add to their personal learning environment.
- This activity leads to an output (concrete result such as a travel guide for example) or an outcome (abstract results such as a decision for example).
Ollivier Christian (2018), Towards a socio-interactional approach to foster autonomy in language learners and users, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, p. 28, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLPublications/tabid/277/ID/100/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.
Source: ECML resource website Digital literacy for the teaching and learning of languages (2016-2018)
Any purposeful action considered by an individual as necessary in order to achieve a given result in the context of a problem to be solved, an obligation to fulfil or an objective to be achieved.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
“Any purposeful action considered by an individual as necessary in order to achieve a given result in the context of a problem to be solved, an obligation to fulfil or an objective to be achieved” (CEFR 2001: 10). “Tasks are a feature of everyday life in the personal, public, educational or occupational domains. Task accomplishment by an individual involves the strategic activation of specific competences in order to carry out a set of purposeful actions in a particular domain with a clearly defined goal and a specific outcome” (CEFR 2001: 157). A task in language education involves a meaningful, (semi-)authentic assignment, in which learners fulfil a mission. A distinction is usually made between such “real-life tasks” and “pedagogic tasks”.
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 10 and 157, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
“[A]ny purposeful action considered by an individual as necessary in order to achieve a given result in the context of a problem to be solved, an obligation to fulfil or an objective to be achieved” (CEFR, 2001, p. 10). In language education, a task refers to a language activity which requires leaners to use language in meaningful, semi-authentic ways to achieve a specific purpose and which leads to an actual outcome.
(See Piccardo E., Czura A., Erickson G., North B. (2019), A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use, Glossary, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2016-2019/QualityassuranceandimplementationoftheCEFR/Glossary/tabid/3025/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.)
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European Framework of Reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website Mediation in teaching, learning and assessment (2020-2021)
An approach which uses a communicative task as the central focus for language teaching and learning.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Every teacher can become a researcher. Of course this does not just mean academic studies and related publications; it is more the investigation of one’s own practice and reflection on this.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
“Learning in the situation” (Posch Peter, Jahr: 4, translation by ARC team); teachers have to be in a position to reflect critically on their own teaching, their surroundings, the participation of their learners and on themselves. Teaching events can only be improved through repeated reflection and constant analysis.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
Facilitation of the processes of (language) acquisition and learning.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
Awareness of the specificities of digitally mediated communication and of the genre and style of communication adapted to this medium: ability to interact and act with others effectively and appropriately using the available technologies.
Term in French:
littératie de la communication médiatisée par les technologies
Conscience des spécificités de la communication médiatisée par le numérique et du genre et style de communication adaptés à ce moyen : capacité à interagir et agir avec d’autres de façon efficace et appropriée en utilisant les technologies disponibles.
Source: ECML resource website Digital citizenship through language education (2020-2022)
A structured, guided form allowing an implementer to input the key components of a project or report.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
A template is a predesigned document that can be used to create documents quickly and without having to think about formatting. May also refer to a wider range of purposes, e.g. pedagogical plans, courses etc.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Short-cycle tertiary education:
Programmes at this level “are often designed to provide participants with professional knowledge, skills and competencies. Typically, they are practice-based and occupation-specific, preparing students to enter the labour market. However, these programmes may also provide a pathway to other tertiary education programmes.”
Bachelors’ or equivalent level:
Programmes at this level “are often designed to provide participants with intermediate academic and/or professional knowledge, skills and competencies, leading to a first degree or equivalent qualification.”
Master's or equivalent level:
Programmes at this level, “are often designed to provide participants with advanced academic and/or professional knowledge, skills and competencies, leading to a second degree or equivalent qualification.”
European Education and Culture Executive Agency, Eurydice (2017),
Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe – 2017 edition, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, p. 145f, available at
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/04255.
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
Testing is an aspect of the broader concept of assessment, meaning methods to find out what students know and can do with their language within certain areas, usually on a fixed point in time. Achievement testing focuses on aspects or areas that have been defined and taught beforehand, whereas proficiency testing offers more of an external perspective and is intended to focus on language use “in the real world”.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Any sequence or discourse (spoken or written) related to a specific domain and which in the course of carrying out a task becomes the occasion of a language activity, whether as a support or as a goal, as product or process.
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
“Text” refers to any piece of language, whether a spoken utterance or a piece of writing, which users/learners receive, produce or exchange. There are several types of texts with different purposes, for example descriptive, narrative, or expository texts. (Examples of different text types are listed in the Common European framework of reference for languages, Section 4.4.2.).
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
In the case of action research, there are particular tools and methods which can be utilised to conduct effective investigations into one’s own teaching.
Source: ECML resource website Action research communities for language teachers (2016-2019)
A familiar term referring to both learning and management styles. In learning, it denotes a teacher-led approach in which all knowledge is passed down to pupils who have a somewhat passive role in the process. In a management context it can describe the imposition of, e.g., innovation, by advisers and inspectors rather than its evolution in the classroom. (see also
Bottom-up)
Source: ECML resource website ELP implementation support (2004-2007)
To meet their needs for comprehension or expression, children draw on the linguistic resources available to them. In so doing, they sometimes resort to lexical knowledge or syntactic skills associated with another language. These transfers can be of great assistance: the closeness between two linguistic systems makes it possible to overcome difficulties, save valuable time and progress in the acquisition of a language. The ability to make such transfers needs to be developed. It plays a part in learning strategies. In some specific cases it may of course happen that a transfer made by a child does not work or results in the use of an incorrect expression.
Source: ECML resource website European portfolio for pre-primary educators (2012-2015)
“All learners experience different transitions on their educational path. [...] In all forms of transitions, the question of continuity or discontinuity arises at the interfaces.” Our project is concerned with the transition from primary to secondary, from secondary to tertiary (see levels of education), and finally to the labour market.
Kolb Elisabeth (2016), “Schulische Übergänge”, in Burwitz-Melzer Eva, Mehlhorn Grit, Riemer Claudia, Bausch Karl-Richard, Krumm Hans-Jürgen (eds), Handbuch Fremdsprachenunterricht, 6., völlig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, Francke, Tübingen, p. 192. (Translation:
Petra Daryai-Hansen, Satu Koistinen, Beate Lindemann, Evangélia Moussouri.)
Term in French:
transitions
« Tous les apprenants vivent des transitions différentes sur leur parcours éducatif. [...] Dans toutes les formes de transitions, la question de la continuité ou de la discontinuité se pose aux interfaces. » Notre projet porte sur la transition du primaire au secondaire, du secondaire au tertiaire (voir niveaux d'enseignement), et enfin au marché du travail.
Term in German:
Übergänge
„Auf ihrem Bildungsweg erleben alle Lernenden verschiedene Übergänge. [...] Bei allen Übergangsformen stellt sich die Frage nach der Kontinuität bzw. dem Bruch an den Schnittstellen.“ Unser Projekt beschäftigt sich mit den Übergängen von der Primarstufe zur Sekundarstufe, von der Sekundarstufe zum Tertiären Ausbildungsbereich (siehe Ausbildungsstufen) und schließlich zum Arbeitsmarkt.
Source: ECML resource website CLIL in languages other than English – Successful transitions across educational stages (2020-2022)
The term translanguaging refers to an act that is part of the language practices of plurilingual individuals and communities. It is defined by Canagarajah (2011) as the “ability of multilingual speakers to shuttle between languages, treating the diverse languages that form their repertoires as an integrated system” (p. 401).
Canagarajah S. (2011), “Codemeshing in academic writing: Identifying teachable strategies of translanguaging”,
The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), pp. 401-417, available at
doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01207.x.
Source: ECML resource website Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers (2024-2026)
“The term translanguaging, as originally proposed by Cen Williams (1994), refers to Welsh-English bilingual pedagogical practices where students hear or read a lesson, a passage in a book or a section of work in one language and develop their work in another […] input and output are deliberately in a different language and are systematically varied (Baker 2001, 281; 2003, 82)” (Hornberger & Link 2012: 268). Nowadays translanguaging is often used to “describe the usual and normal practice of ‘bilingualism without diglossic functional separation’” (Creese & Blackledge 2010).
Creese A. & Blackledge A. (2010), “Translanguaging in the Bilingual Classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching”, The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 94/1, pp. 103-115.
Hornberger N. H. & Link H. (2012), “Translanguaging and transnational literacies in multilingual classrooms: A biliteracy lens”, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Vol. 15/3, pp. 261-278.
Source: ECML resource website A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning (2012-2015)
Transparency is a principle of quality. It refers to the public availability of key information in a clear, comprehensible form. Transparency is applicable to processes, ideas or concepts as well as to products used in language education.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)
Competences of a general and transferable kind; acquired competences and skills that can be applied in new surroundings, e.g. language awareness, communicative strategies and learning to learn.
Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019)