Current Projects

PluriForm

Approches plurielles dans la formation et l'enseignement dans les EES / Plural approaches in foreign language teaching: training and teaching at universities

Plurilingual and pluricultural competence is a key concept in European language and education policy. The companion volume to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, 2020) represents the latest conceptual contribution to the development of this plurilingual and pluricultural competence. There is a broad consensus in research that multilingualism/plurilingualism is based on a specific repertoire and a specific competence. On this basis, various didactic approaches have been developed that include several languages and are labelled "plural". The implementation of these plural approaches is promoted by the EU and the Council of Europe through various recommendations, frameworks and guidelines. The large number of these official guidelines and the increased emphasis on multilingualism/plurilingualism in the volume accompanying the CEFR reflect the difficulties encountered in the cross-curricular implementation of these plural approaches. In addition, the few research studies on the implementation of pluralistic approaches are often limited to individual studies or specific aspects. At the same time, in its latest recommendation, the Council of Europe expresses its concern about two trends: on the one hand, the assumption that mastery of another language is sufficient as long as that language is English; on the other, the populist view that migrant and minority languages are detrimental to social cohesion. The recommendation calls on the member states to consider multilingualism as an educational goal and a social reality and to promote dialogue. This is where the PluriForm project comes in.

Project goals

• To document the importance of plural approaches and multilingualism/plurilingualism in the language teaching and learning process and in teacher training curricula;Survey of plural and translingual practices in language teaching (especially at language centres) and in teacher training at universities in Austria/France;
• Evaluation of these practices with regard to the didactic objectives pursued in the context of language teaching and learning and the development of plurilingual competence;
• Development of a specific taxonomy for the categorisation of these practices.

The research results will be disseminated in the form of publications and recommendations for the promotion of pluricultural education.