Valuing All Languages in Europe

Joanna McPake, Teresa Tinsley, Peter Broeder, Sirkku Latomaa, Laura Mijares, Waldemar Martyniuk, European Centre for Modern Languages, Council of Europe (Graz, Austria), European Centre for Modern Languages, Council of Europe (Graz, Austria) (Funder)

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Abstract

The VALEUR project (2004-2007) took as its focus the 'additional' languages of Europe. These are defined as all languages in use in contexts where they are not 'national', 'official', or 'dominant' languages. They include 'migrant' languages, 'regional/minority' languages, sign languages and 'non-territorial' languages of diasporas such as Yiddish and Romani. The project team brought together a range of expertise in sociolinguistics and language pedagogy, planning and research from Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. We took as our starting point Council of Europe policies on plurilingualism and the desirability of promoting linguistic diversity both for individual citizenship and for social cohesion in Europe. Our aim was to map provision for additional languages in Europe, in a more systematic and inclusive way than ever before. We looked at provision at school level for different languages in different contexts in order to identify good practices to be shared. In order to achieve our objectives we drew on the good will and enthusiasm of workshop participants, who provided a wealth of information and insights from 21 of the Council of Europe member states. Our work is not definitive: its purpose is awareness-raising and to stimulate further activity to support the learning of all Europe's languages.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationGraz, Austria
Number of pages59
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Keywords

  • additional languages
  • community languages
  • regional/ minority languages
  • migrant languages
  • non-territorial languages
  • sign languages
  • bilingualism
  • multilingualism
  • plurilingualism
  • Council of Europe language policy

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