ELT+&+Why+L&L+Policy

EU Language Policy

As part of its on-going commitment to language diversity the Council of Europe has set out a number of guidelines in order to promote the reciprocal learning of other member states' languages, both within a country's own soil and abroad. The initiative set out in the Council of Europe's Language Education Policy aims to actively promote Pluralingualism, a situation where individuals not only reside in communities where many languages are spoken, but also engage with other cultures by learning languages, and exploring the histories and civilizations of these cultures. The document makes possible the partnering of member states, where each will agree not only to promote the learning of the other's language and culture by its own citizens, but also to enable the other country to do this by providing facilities where reciprocal learning can take place. The Council of Europe has set five points that it hopes the above policies will succeed in promoting: Pluralingualism, Linguistic Diversity, Mutual Understanding, Democratic Citizenship and Social Cohesion, these are all thought to be qualities that are vital to the efficient and harmonious running of such a large and heterogeneous entity such as the European Union.

Cyprus's Language Profile

Cyprus counts the teaching and learning of foreign languages as one of the five pillars of its educational system. It has taken several steps in recent years to update the way languages are taught in schools, and these new methods have been greatly influenced by recent thought in the fields of linguistics, neurobiology, the cognitive sciences and even philosophy. Part of what you could say are the tenets of Cyprus's language learning policies are the following questions: "What should we know?". "How should we know it?". "Why should we know it?" Each touches on a different aspect of the language learning process, from syllabus development, to linguistic skills and cultural sensitivity. Both English and French are compulsory lessons that are taken all the way through Cypriot Gymnasium schools, in addition Cypriot Lyceums have also been overhauled with the development of the the Eniaio Lykeio. Since 2000 Lyceum students still have to take English and French in their first year, however in the third and fourth years they are given the opportunity to choose two languages from a choice of seven (English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian and Turkish), and can even specify whether these two languages are to be taken for either four, or six periods a week. As things currently stand English is by far the most popular second language taught in Cypriot schools, both in terms of sheer number of teachers, and in almost every category of two, four or six periods a week for third and forth year Lyceum students.