Plurilingualism in Europe: uniting cultural diversity and reducing the dominance of English?

Undoubtedly, the English language serves as the main medium of communication in and across Europe, among native speakers, between native and non-native speakers of English, but above all among non-native speakers of different first languages and varying cultural backgrounds.

Although English is now used widely and for many purposes the status of the language with regard to its function as a European lingua franca still remains unclear. It is a well-known fact that, from a language policy perspective, English is not recognised as an official European lingua franca. In the Common European Framework (CEF) for example, plurilingualism, characterised as aiming at “reducing the dominant position of English in international communication” (Council of Europe 2001: 4), is advocated instead.

From a communicative as well as from a political perspective, proficiency in several languages is considered to be a highly desirable aim because this ability increases a person’s communicative range in an international context, it confers prestige and it can be a most decisive criterion for a successful job application. In addition, multilingual competence is assumed to overcome the limits of the mother tongue as well as to emphasise and value diversity in language and culture. Not surprisingly, one of the main principles underlying the propagation of plurilingualism by the Council of Europe is “that the rich heritage of diverse languages and cultures in Europe is a valuable common resource to be protected and developed” (Council of Europe 2001).

For this reason the major aim of the Council of Europe is “to convert that diversity from a barrier to communication into a source of mutual enrichment and understanding” (ibid.). However, advocating diversity unreservedly can also be seen as a debilitating factor with regard to EU language policy and practice. It is sometimes just not very practical, because its advantages are not properly weighed up against its disadvantages. This has led critics to question the idea “that the great diversity of languages and cultures as such is a good thing and that, consequently, its present manifestation in the EU represents a great richness, a treasure that should be defended at all costs” (van Els 2000).

Despite this criticism, the ability to understand other cultures and to communicate across cultures is to be regarded as a key feature of European citizenship and European identity. In order to achieve such intercultural understanding, i.e. being able to communicate in a foreign language and to appreciate the culture represented by this other language, requires more than just developing linguistic knowledge in that language.

For this reason the Council of Europe’s CEFrecommends that a strong emphasis should be put on the cultural dimension of the European languages.

By its proponents, the idea of plurilingualism is viewed as a historically “natural” and politically balanced response to the question of how to come to grips with linguistic diversity in Europe. However, in reality this concept turns out to be a very idealistic one and poses questions with regard to its practical implementation in language teaching and learning. It is precisely for this reason that English in its lingua franca function has become so popular within the European Union. On the other hand, due to its ubiquitous use, English has also been very much felt as a culturally biased and ideologically loaded medium that has possibly come into being as a result of Anglo-American neo-colonial policies.

Instruction:It is vital to identify the main point of each paragraph of the text and collect circumstantial evidence in separate passages. When analyzingeach paragraph of the text you mostly rely on circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from the direct observation of a fact. If, for example, Europeanization is viewed as a reaction to the two world wars and the subsequent cold-war division of East and West, then there is circumstantial evidence that European nations are now developing new relations with each other.

Overview questionsask you to determine the author’s attitude to a specific item, the main topic of a passage, the author's main point, the primary purpose of a passage, the organization of a passage, etc. Before answering a variety of overview questions about short passages, read the passages and mark possible answer choices.

Sample Questions

How would the author feel about a statement that a common understanding of EFL has not been reached as yet?

Which of the following recommendations would the author most likely support?

A. To investigate all aspects that might be directly linkable to patterns of European colonialism.

B To reduce human activities in favor of biodiversity.

C. To guarantee individual language rights within Europe.

D. To emphasise and value diversity in language and culture.

The author would be LEAST likely to agree with which of the following statements?

A. Neo-colonialism in Europe is not justified and explained from the perspective of postcolonial theory.

B. Language is a minor element in European identity.

C. The idea of plurilingualism is viewed as a historically “alien” and politically unbalanced response to the question of how to come to grips with linguistic diversity in Europe.

The tone of the passage could best be described as (choose the right words):

· objective, optimistic, angry, humorous, critical, threatening, neutral.

Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

Too specific. Chaotic. Too general. Logically structured. Incorrect.

Irrelevant. Correct. Not clear. Well organized.

The attitude of the author could best be described as

(A) objective

(B) optimistic

(D) humorous

Point out one most characteristic line that best summarizes the author's attitude.

· What is the author's main point in the passage?

· What is the main topic of this passage?