Inma Álvarez

Foreign Language Education at the Crossroads: Whose Model of Competence?

In the teaching and learning of foreign languages, the native speaker has traditionally been the model to aspire to. However, more recent approaches to the discipline have been moving away from this notion. Foreign language education finds itself at present at a crossroads with multiple models of language and culture competence. So far no investigation has focused on the diversity of the paradigmatic changes in the models of competence that come about as a result, or evaluated what the old and new models imply in theory and practice. This paper exposes some of the complex assumptions behind these models as well as the pedagogical trends that have influenced their constructions. It also highlights some of the contradictions that are still present in the new cultural paradigms for the discipline.

Performing Languages: an example of integrating open practices in staff development for language teachers

In 2009 the Department of Languages at The Open University, UK, developed LORO (http://loro.open.ac.uk), a repository of Open Educational Resources for language teaching and learning aimed at language teaching professionals. Initially populated with over 300 hours of teaching resources for French, Spanish, German, Italian, Welsh, Chinese and English for Academic Purposes, LORO’s initial function was to provide an efficient and open way of accessing and sharing resources. Additionally, the integration of LORO into language teachers’ workflows is part of the department’s strategy for teachers’ professional development and a key enabler for increased transparency, collaboration, skills development, and pedagogical reflection and discussion, leading ultimately to the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning. This case study describes how the vision of openness facilitated by LORO is being implemented at a practical level through the incorporation of open practices into teachers’ professional development activities. We look at the project Performing Languages (www.performinglanguages.eu), a Grundtvig Partnership project (part of the Lifelong Learning Programme) in which language teachers in the UK work with theatre associations in Spain, France and Italy. Besides the primary objective of exploring the role of drama in the language classroom as a tool for language and culture learning and intercultural communication, this project also intends to develop and publish most project resources (workshop activities, lesson plans, texts and video recordings, for example) as Open Educational Resources. The aim is to share the project experiences as widely as possible to maximise impact and ensure others can benefit from them. This case study looks at how the project has been designed so that collaborative writing, open sharing and peer review of the resources produced by participating language teachers are fully embedded in the project activities. We look at the strategies and tools that enable us to achieve these objectives in a distance context, and the resources that have been created and published by participants as a direct result of the project. Drawing on data from feedback questionnaires and a debriefing session with participants, we examine how teachers’ increased awareness of the benefits of sharing and collaboration has resulted in changes in practice, both in relation to openness and pedagogical approach.

Supporting intercultural learning For beginners’ Chinese language learners at the Open University, UK

It is no longer necessary to argue for the integration of a cultural dimension in foreign language learning. In the past few decades, theoretical pedagogical approaches in the field of language acquisition have consolidated the intimate link between these two educational dimensions, although effective practices are still in the process of being developed. Intercultural competence has become integral to the languages curriculum. It has been defined in a number of ways but it is commonly accepted as involving knowledge, skills and attitudes, all of which are tinted with values that ‘are part of one’s social identities’ (Byram, Gribkova, and Starkey, 2002: 11). In particular the more precise concept of ‘intercultural communicative competence’, coined by Michael Byram (1997), with its emphasis on cultural mediation and intercultural speakers, has dominated much discussion about communication in foreign language teaching.

Multilingual and multicultural task-based learning scenarios: a pilot study from the MAGICC project

Abstract In this article we report on the results of a pilot study on the use of task-based multilingual and multicultural professional scenarios for higher education teachers and learners at BA and MA level. The scenarios reflect new learning outcomes and assessment criteria for the presently under-conceptualised domain of communication in multilingual and multicultural settings (as opposed to monolingual regimes). The study was conducted as part of the work of the MAGICC project (Modularising Multilingual and Multicultural Academic Communication Competence for BA and MA level), which focused on the design of a conceptual framework based on existing practices, initiatives, tools, projects and elements from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe 2001), and in relation to multilingual and multicultural academic communicative competence, an area much less developed. We start by examining the meanings of multilingualism and plurilingualism in the context of formal education and review some of the practical pedagogical approaches that have been put forward for the introduction of a more flexible approach to language use in the classroom. We discuss in particular the pertinence of task-based learning for encouraging multilingualism. The testing of the MAGICC task-based multilingual scenarios revealed positive experiences among the users and highlighted the innovative contribution of the tasks for both students’ and teachers’ awareness of the possibilities of multilingual communication and the significant impact that a appropriate plurilingual practice can have on their self-awareness.