Volume 9, Issue 1 - Special Issue: Foreign Language Didactics and Foreign Language Education in Europe since 1945 / Guest editor: Christiane Fäcke

This editorial presents an overview of European language policy and foreign language education in Europe as well as a special focus on two European countries differing very much in multilingualism and language competences: the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. A very brief summary of research discourses and language policy, especially of AILA, leads to a short introduction into the contributions of this volume.

The following article addresses epistemological and terminological issues regarding Didactique des langues [language didactics] in France, including teaching methods, curricular developments, and research priorities. Why do the French, among other Europeans, keep on labelling “didactique des langues” what is also known as Second Language Teaching and Learning (SLTL), even though the English translation, “language didactics”, is hardly found in anglophone scientific literature? As for the very word “didacticien.ne” [didactician], so often used in France, it seems inexistent in English, often translated as “teaching expert” or “educational specialist”. Still, to what extent do these signifiers convey the same signified? How did the research area develop in France? The purpose of this paper is to research and make more visible the historical and scientific foundations of “didactique des langues “ and more precisely of “didactique de l’anglais“ in the French context. First, our analysis will borrow from educational sciences and focus on the term “Didactics” as opposed to “pedagogy”, and explain the concept of “didactology” developed by Galisson (2002), Coste and Puren (1999). We will also elaborate on the specific meaning of “didactique des langues”, “didactique des langues-cultures” in connection with other European traditions and Anglo-American terminology. Then, we will adopt an epistemological stance and briefly outline the history of the concept of “didactique de l’anglais”, with an overview of language teaching in relation to founding theories. Finally, we will present the evolution of French contemporary research.

The following paper provides a historical overview of foreign language education and foreign language teaching in Germany, including teaching methods and curricular developments. A special focus emphasizes language policy and its influence on language teaching, analysing language choice, language order and the predominance of English.

This contribution aims at offering an overview of the main foreign language policies implemented in the Italian educational system in the last decades as well as of the role that research in Italian foreign language education has played. Main changes and innovations introduced through institutional – curriculum renewals, pre- and in-service education, European recommendations and implementation, language teacher education, university reforms – and through unofficial paths offered by publishers, professional associations, international exchange programs, will be explored and discussed. Some of the changes introduced at curriculum level (e. g. Content and Language integrated Learning (CLIL)) and in teacher education have added new perspectives in language teaching and are currently informing classroom practice in the Italian growingly multilingual scenarios. The impact of national and international research on foreign language teaching, carried out in the Italian language classrooms by scholars and, in some cases, by teachers themselves, will be described and illustrated through examples and language teachers’ contributions.

The article presents the results of a diachronic analysis of language education in Poland from the 1950 s to the present day. We reflect on the evolution of theoretical thinking on language teaching methodology and its influence on everyday teaching practice. The approach taken is chronological, both in terms of the description of theory which is developed and implemented as well as the language education. This is an arbitrary choice which we feel is justified by the socio-political context. The analysis starts with a presentation of the tradition of teaching foreign languages in Poland followed by a description of use of terminology. Qualitative empirical research from structured interviews with researchers who have significantly influenced contemporary Polish glottodidactics is used to complement the analysis.

Foreign language education (FLE) has always been a pending issue in Spain. However, after the accession to the European Union, globalisation and the European Commission language policies (European Commission 1995), new and more effective approaches to language teaching have been progressively established. Bilingual education has proved to be a successful pedagogical model to increase the knowledge of languages and content (Lasagabaster and Ruiz de Zarobe 2010). This article overviews the development of FLE in Spain from the mid-20 th century to date. The main methodological changes from traditional models such as grammar-translation, direct and audio-visual methods to communicative approaches like task-based language teaching and, more recently, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), will be examined in the light of the Spanish official language policies.

This paper is concerned with a historical analysis of educational policies on Modern languages or second foreign languages (SFLs) like French, German and Spanish in Sweden. Using a typology from policy instrument theory, colloquially phrased as sermons , carrots and sticks , the paper provides an historical overview and a discussion of acess policy objectives and policy instruments since 1945 with a particular focus on lower secondary school the last 20 years. The analysis shows that while policies and policy instruments naturally have varied over the last 70 years, there are also similarities. A finding is that in the domain of SFLs, sermons have not been perceived as enough, carrots have tended to lead to inequalities and sticks have been avoided.

The Netherlands have had a long tradition of modern foreign language (MFL) education: French, German and English have been standard subjects at secondary school since the 19th century. After the introduction of the Mammoetwet in 1968, several major educational reforms have shaped the current practice of Dutch MFL teaching. On the one hand, a greater diversity of languages is on offer in secondary schools (e. g., Arabic, Spanish), and following the implementation of the CEFR (Council of Europe 2001) MFL teaching has become more communicative. Additionally, more and more schools at all levels of education have adopted English as a medium of instruction. On the other hand, with the growing dominance of English in Dutch society, the time dedicated to languages other than English has declined substantially so that secondary school sections and university departments for other MFLs are closing down. In this article, we provide an overview of Dutch MFL teaching since 1945. We will sketch how the choices made by different parties involved, including learners and their parents, teachers, teacher educators, publishers and policy makers, have been shaping the teaching of MFLs at all levels of education with a special interest in MFL teacher education.