Language Centres at a Crossroads

This discussion hub serves two related purposes: 1) to provide a forum for serious discussion of the concepts of pluri-/multi-/flexilingualism at the level of university language centres; and 2) to launch a new network, FlexiLingua, as a service to the community of language researchers and practitioners.

The plurilingual reconfiguration of communication modalities has become status quo in both educational and professional settings. Speakers are expected to and frequently are able to switch ad hoc between different languages, in which they have obtained varying degrees of competence (cf. "M+2" policy, Council of the European Union 2002). For instructors, this situation raises questions related to learners' plurilingual (self-)concepts: Should we take students' plurilingualism into account while teaching? How can competence in another language interfere with skills development? Alternatively, how can this competence be leveraged for enhanced gains in a new language, e.g. L3 through L2?

Equally, language professionals experience similar issues. Language centres and international conferences are frequently characterized by linguacultural blocs, in which instructors of a given language predominantly converse and consult among themselves. We argue that this linguistic segmentation and inhibited professional exchange are to the detriment of both instructors' and learners' development.

We appeal for the cognitive, didactic and socio-cultural richness and benefits of plurilingualism in the language classroom and in academic discourse. To this end, we are launching a service-oriented community, FlexiLingua, as a resource dedicated to applied and theoretical concepts of multilingualism (e.g. Cook 2016), plurilingualism (Conseil de l'Europe 2018) and flexilingualism (Byrne 2014) in language teaching. Our goal is to share information, promote academic discourse and create a network of researchers and language teachers interested in the inter-/multinational use of languages.

Ce forum de discussion (discussion hub) se donne pour objectif de mettre en exergue la diversité des pratiques plurilingues au sein des centres de langues universitaires.
À cet effet, nous avons créé le projet FlexiLingua dédié à la réflexion autour des concepts de multilinguisme, de plurilinguisme et de flexilinguisme, ainsi qu'à leur application tant aux niveaux linguistique et didactique qu'aux niveaux cognitif et socioculturel. Ce projet participatif consiste à mettre à la disposition des spécialistes de l'enseignement des langues une plateforme de ressources en ligne. Celle-ci leur permettra de partager avec leurs pairs à la fois les apports de la recherche sur le pluri/flexilinguisme et les bonnes pratiques professionnelles, quelle que soit la langue enseignée.

El propósito de este grupo de debate es llamar la atención sobre las ideas y las prácticas del pluri/multi/flexilingüismo en la enseñanza universitaria de idiomas. Nos gustaría invitar a docentes e investigadores de diferentes lenguas a unirse a nuestro proyecto/iniciativa FlexiLingua, que es un recurso dedicado a los conceptos tanto aplicados como teóricos del multilingüismo, el plurilingüismo y el flexilingüismo. Nuestra idea es estudiar su riqueza en diferentes niveles: lingüístico, cognitivo, didáctico y sociocultural, para que los profesores de diversas lenguas compartan sus ideas, su investigación, sus mejores prácticas y fuentes y, sobre todo, para sobrepasar las fronteras entre los usuarios de idiomas.

Questo hub ha come obiettivo di mettere in evidenza idee e pratiche pluri/multi/ flexilingue nell'ambito dei Centri di lingue universitari, proponendo a insegnanti e ricercatori di lingue diverse di unirsi al progetto FlexiLingua, una piattaforma dedicata alle teorie e alle pratiche del multilinguismo, del plurilinguismo e del flexilinguismo. Lo scopo è quello di studiarne gli aspetti a livello linguistico, cognitivo, didattico e socioculturale, di indurre gli insegnanti a condividere idee, ricerche e buone pratiche e, soprattutto, abbattere le frontiere tra gli utilizzatori delle varie lingue.

References:

• Byrne, N. (2014 Sept. 23). "New challenges for university language centres in a 'flexilingual' world." Presentation, University of Copenhagen.
• Cook, V. and L. Wei (2016). Linguistic multi-competence. Cambridge: CUP.
• Conseil de l'Europe. (2018). Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues: apprendre, enseigner, évaluer. Strasbourg: Didier Érudition.
• Council of the European Union. (2002). Presidency conclusions. Barcelona European Council, 15-16 March 2002.

Katherine Guertler is Professor of Intercultural Communication and English and academic head of the foreign languages program at OTH Regensburg, a technical university of applied sciences in Germany. Her research deals with the scholarship of teaching and learning in the context of English for Specific Purposes, most prominently the competence-oriented education of university students of engineering regarding interpersonal and intercultural technical communication skills. Her teaching includes Technical English for a range of disciplines as well as English for Academic Purposes.

Kateřina Sedláčková, Ph.D. in Romance Literatures, is Assistant Professor in French and Deputy Director for Research at the Masaryk University Language Centre, Brno, Czech Republic. She teaches French for Lawyers, academic skills in French for Social Science and a CLIL course focused on current political events in France. Her research interests involve motivation to learn languages other than English (LOTEs), learner autonomy, CLIL and portfolio evaluation.

Beatriz Calvo Martín is Professor of Spanish Language and Didactics at the Université libre de Bruxelles and has a PhD in Languages and Literature. Her broad teaching and teacher training experience includes collaborations with several universities, Instituto Cervantes and other institutions. Her research deals with applied linguistics, L2 motivation, creativity in language learning, affect in language teaching, Spanish literature, Francophone literature and Comparative literature. She is also the author of learning materials (Spanish for Academic Purposes), a novel (La Jaula Invisible) and two short stories (Nocturno and Un sueño de sueños), published in Spain.

Sabina Gola, PhD in Romance Philology, is a lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and has been teaching the Italian language since 1998. She is Academic Coordinator of French as a Foreign Language. Her scientific interests lie in the Italian language but also in the intercomprehension between Romance languages and didactics of plurilingualism. She designed and developed MultiGram, an open-source multilingual online platform that has been honored with the Socrates 2018 Pedagogy Award from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. With Annick Englebert and Alice Toma, she designed RomaNet, the platform for Romance languages. She is also academic head of the "Linguistic Tandem" module.

Romain Racine, PhD (general and comparative literature), is a lecturer in French/German as Foreign Language (FLE/FOS/DaF) and head of the "bilingue plus-droit" department at the University of Fribourg/Freiburg (Switzerland). His research focuses on digressive and multiperspectivist methodologies integrating bi/multilingual and transdisciplinary approaches ("Créer un espace bilingue et interdisciplinaire", 2018). He is the author of French textbooks (Le Nouvel Edito B2, 2010 ; Communication progressive du français perfectionnement C1-C2, 2018 ; Pratique Vocabulaire B2, 2020) and contributes to public debates on language policy ("La Suisse, un jardin des langues à défendre", Le Temps, 18/03/2016).