Globalization and internationalization have created a need for dialog among people of different persuasions in our own societies and beyond. Language teachers can meet this challenge through the concepts of intercultural citizenship and intercultural service learning, renewing emphasis on educational and humanistic aims as well as instrumental.…

The "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" has been a major influence on language teaching in Europe and beyond and its "Companion Volume" will probably have the same significance. It is important therefore that education professionals understand the underlying concepts, including the conceptualisation of the…

Language teaching has long been associated with teaching in a country or countries where a target language is spoken, but this approach is inadequate. In the contemporary world, language teaching has a responsibility to prepare learners for interaction with people of other cultural backgrounds, teaching them skills and attitudes as well as…

"Teaching Intercultural Citizenship Across the Curriculum: The Role of Language Education" explores how language educators can advocate for and illustrate the importance of language education not only for their students' education but also for their ability to solve complex problems we urgently need to address. This book introduces…

Recent articles on the problems of 'locus of enunciation' have focused on research and publication as well as on theoretical development of the concept. It is an issue in teaching and learning too, and this is the focus of this article which argues that to reject teaching approaches in 'the South' because they come from 'the North' is, first,…

At the editor's invitation this article was written as an analysis of the development of the intercultural dimension of foreign language teaching over the last 25 years. It is in part a personal reflection based on an article written for this journal 25 years ago, but it also draws on comments and insights from a network of researchers with…

In the "cultural turn" which has taken place in recent decades--in theory if not yet in practice--the crucial question is "What should a language teacher's aims be?" This will be the main focus of this paper. There are however other questions which are frequently raised in the new context, questions about the relationships…

Teachers and students can have ambitious educational goals, including critical reflection on the world around them, both that which is "home" and that which is "foreign." The environmental questions which face us all can be part of the elementary school curriculum, and the Foreign Language Elementary School (FLES) contribution…

In this work we report on a collaborative project at a large Northeastern University, in which we explored how to best collaborate to develop interdisciplinary teaching units, which integrate intercultural citizenship (Byram, 2008) into world languages, mathematics and social studies sixth grade curricula. We argue for the importance of addressing…

The title of this new journal provides opportunity to review the many contexts which need to be taken into account in reflecting upon foreign language teaching. These contexts include the educational, the fact that much language teaching takes place within general educational and often compulsory educational settings and institutions. Learners…

The vexed question of the relationship between "language" and "culture" will be the starting point. I do not propose to "resolve" the question but to consider some ways in which relationships between cultural awareness and language awareness might be conceptualised and then have some impact on language education. By…

Suggests that there is more to foreign-language teaching than the pair-work comparison of pictures or passing of messages. Effective foreign-language teaching generates an understanding of the language and its culture. (CB)

A British study investigating claims that foreign language education instills positive attitudes in students about the target culture is described. Attitudes of students in the last year of elementary school, before second language instruction begins, and students of French in the third year of secondary school, the last year of obligatory…

While the concept of language awareness by language exploration and the use of performance objectives and testing seem mutually contradictory, they may not be. Where the processes of language learning are concerned, the two approaches may have important points of contact. In curriculum, the two complement rather than threaten each other. Both help…

This book investigates how geopolitical changes are influencing language teaching in general and the cultural dimension in particular and discusses the pedagogical opportunities such changes offer teachers and learners. The book views foreign language teaching as having a strong political character that responds to the social and political changes…