Málfríður - 15.03.2005, Side 27

MÁLFRÍÐUR 27
Multicultural Europe
Clearly, one of the main objectives of language
education in Europe is to foster the development
of a multicultural society and intercultural com-
petence. This objective is drawn from the social
reality of today’s Europe which is unarguably multi-
cultural and multilingual. Cultures in Europe are
mixing at a rate not seen before in history because
of ever-increasing globalization and mobility due to
the rapid flow of information, relaxed boundaries
and cheaper travel.
This trend is being evidenced all over Europe.
Statistics from the Council of Europe show that in
France, 12 million French citizens do not have French
as a mother tongue. Ten percent of the German popu-
lation is foreign-born. Romania has 19 recognized
minorities; Russia 176 culturally and linguistically
distinct peoples.
In London 300 languages, from Albanian to Zulu,
are spoken by the city’s schoolchildren, yet most
schools only teach French as a foreign language or
perhaps German or Spanish. In many schools in
London, 30% or more of the pupils speak another
language in addition to English, yet the formal
school context does not take into consideration their
experiences. Similar statistics can be found in cities
scattered throughout Europe.
The most recent statistics for the number of
languages spoken in Reykjavik come from the city’s
preschools. At the end of the year 2004, 630 preschool
children in Reykjavik have parents who come from 89
different countries. These children speak 52 different
languages. So the challenge for language teachers is
the same throughout Europe: how to relate language
teaching to peoples’ experience of the languages
around them, and at the same time broaden their
experience of the world by introducing them to
languages spoken outside their communities.
From monolingual to multilingual
In today’s Europe one cannot assume that all learn-
ers in a classroom begin from the same monolingual
starting point. In a report carried out by the European
Commission entitled Foreign Language Teaching in
Schools in Europe (Eurydice, 2001) only two coun-
tries reported having only one official language
and no minority/regional languages - Iceland and
Liechtenstein. But in numerous schools in Iceland,
many children do not have Icelandic as their mother
tongue.
Similarly, we cannot assume that learners’ experi-
ences of other languages are only within a formal
educational setting. This is particularly true in
countries like Iceland that have extensive access
to other languages through the media and a tradi-
tion of travel and study in foreign countries. With
this in mind it is necessary to adopt a plurilingual
perspective which takes into account individuals’
varying levels of contact with and competence in
a range of different languages, and supports the
development of their plurilingual competence. One
of the available tools which supports plurilingual
competence is the European Language Portfolio. It is
designed to recognize language learning experiences
both in and outside of formal education, and provide
individuals with a record of their achievements in all
the languages they have learned.

Which languages should be taught?
The old model of language education in Europe was
based on a monolingual view of the nation state
with a single national language. One or two ‘foreign’
languages were offered in the school curriculum. But
this model is far too narrow for the needs of the 21st
century. With globalization and increasing European
integration, we need to look at language education
from a wider perspective.
Compared to the rich diversity of languages spoken
in Europe, most school systems offer a rather limited
range of language options. Most schools focus on
high status European languages rather than low
status ‘immigrant’ languages – even when these are
world languages like Arabic, Chinese, or Hindi and
are highly relevant for economic, social and cultural
purposes. Greater emphasis must be placed on the
languages which more accurately reflect the citi-
zens’ needs and cultural contacts outside the school
system. How much do most Icelanders know about
Polish or Filipino?
Within a multilingual perspective, all languages
add to the individual’s plurilingual competence, yet
traditionally more emphasis is placed on the teaching
of the national language and less support given to
the maintenance and development of other mother
tongues. Although there is an abundance of research
that shows that the development of literacy in the
mother tongue supports overall language develop-
ment, there is still the fear that speaking the home
language somehow keeps people from learning the
national language.
This is not an easy issue to tackle and often the
efforts being made to support immigrant languages
take place outside of the school curriculum. This is
the case for example in Iceland where the first steps
in providing support for immigrant languages and
mother tongue maintenance were taken by a group