Plurilingualism at the University

The meeting, which is supported by the offices of the Vice-Rector of Academic Policy and Quality, for Students and Language Policy, and for Teaching Policy of the UB, takes place on 19 November in the Aula Magna of the Historic Building and on 20 November in the Aula Capella at the Faculty of Philology.

M. Teresa Garcia Castanyer, commissioner for Multilingualism of the UB, affirms that “the objectives of the conference are to explain to those present what plurilingualism means and the challenges that it represents, particularly at universities, as well as its role and potential for developing learnersʼ abilities”.

Garcia Castanyer adds that “the concept of plurilingualism is usually mixed up with multilingualism or balanced bilingualism, and it is even considered a response against “all in English” programmes; but, its value and potential go unnoticed”. Nevertheless, she stresses, “it is really important to understand that there is a reason to reflect upon plurilingualism and expertsʼ new attitude as it emerges from science and it is possible thanks to a postmodern view of society and, particularly, of language teaching and learning”.

In this sense, Garcia Castanyer highlights that university must play a crucial role in plurilingualism as it has an international vocation, it is addressed towards an international audience and its knowledge crosses borders. The commissioner considers that university is able to act in two ways: “First, it can favour and protect plurilingualism, as a resource emerged from studentsʼ different languages or as an educational objective to be fulfilled; and second, it can use it as a tool to promote teaching innovation or to reflect on course syllabus”.

Enrica Piccardo pronounces two lectures: “`Nous sommes tous plurilingues´ (Wandruszka, 1979). Le plurilinguisme comme manière dʼêtre: dimensions linguistique, cognitive et émotionnelle” and “Entre défis et opportunité: plaidoyer pour une vision plurilingue de lʼenseignement supérieur”. She also conducts the workshop “Vision plurilingue, perméabilité des langues et nouvelles postures pedagògiques”.

Lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto and at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble (France), Piccardo has a large and international experience in language teaching and testing. Her publications in different languages (French, English, Italian and German) focus on four main domains of research: the role of creativity and new technologies in second/foreign language learning, assessment and its role in the curriculum, plurilingualism and language teacher education. She is expert on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and its impact on language education.

Furthermore, she coordinated the project Encouraging the culture of evaluation among professionals (ECEP), a large international programme developed by the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) and funded by the Council of Europe. She has given several talks, presentations and seminars in different countries around the world and published articles and book chapters in the fields of language education and teacher development. She has also published textbooks and worked as a consultant for school publishers, curriculum developers and educational institutions. She collaborated as consultant expert in the revision of the Canadian Language Benchmarks. She was chief editor of the journal Synergies Europe from its foundation to 2012.

Throughout the meeting, the Marc per al plurilingualism (Framework for plurilingualism) will be presented by the secretary for Education Policies of the Department of Education of the Government of Catalonia, Joan Mateo. The plan was approved in July and its objective is to guarantee a good command of Catalan, Spanish and English and some knowledge of other languages when completing compulsory education. The new framework also consolidates Catalan as the language of education. It will provide students with communication and lifelong learning opportunities and with the suitable tools to get a professional training.