Transcript Multilingualism in Belgium: a Clash Between Politics and Cognition

UtMOST
Understanding through Multilingual Optimalisation
of Structures and Thinking
Multilingualism in Belgium: a
Clash Between Politics and
Cognition
Piet Van de Craen, Katja Lochtman, Katrien
Mondt, Evy Ceuleers, Laure Allain & Barbara
De Groot
25/05/2016 | pag. 1
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Multilingualism in Belgium
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• The Context
– The political context
– A bit of history and … a bit of law
– Education as a regional matter
• The Research Project
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Linguistic aspects
Language pedagogical aspects
Social psychological aspects
Neurolinguistic and neurocognitive aspects
Economic aspects
Multilingualism in Belgium
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The Context
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• Politically: Belgium is a near federal state
with
• three communities (one German-speaking, one
French-speaking and one Dutch-speaking);
• three regions (Wallonia, Flanders, Brussels);
• four language areas (one German, one French,
one Dutch, one officially bilingual);
• seven governments...
Multilingualism in Belgium
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A Bit of History...
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• In 19th century Belgium, according to the
Constitution, language use was free; in practice
this meant that French was the sole language
that mattered.
• Between 1840-1950 the Flemish Movement
undertook actions to ‘dutchify’ higher education,
the army and administration in Dutch-speaking
Belgium.
• In 1963 a number of language laws were
voted...
Multilingualism in Belgium
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…and a bit of law
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• Belgian language laws relating to language
learning and teaching:
– in Wallonia and Flanders: second language learning
starts in grade 5, age 11;
– in Brussels: it starts in grade 3, age 9.
• Since 1963 no changes have taken place. But:
– 1998: in Wallonia le Décret Onkelinx, allowing primary
schools to organize enseignement du type immersif;
– 2004: in Flanders: a decree on language initiation that
makes the law of 1963 compulsory.
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Education as a regional matter
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Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• Wallonia: enseignement du type immersif (50 80% of the curriculum), 51 primary schools in
2004-2005, popular success, high social
demand, yet schools keep low profile… results
are good, problems with teachers and teaching
material. Languages: Dutch, English, German.
• Brussels: 3 CLIL oriented primary Dutchspeaking schools with mixed population started
in 2001; results are good, different subjectmatter is taught in French for +/- 20% of the
curriculum. Languages: Dutch and French.
Multilingualism in Belgium
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The Research Project: Introduction 1
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• General hypotheses: CLIL will positively affect
– language proficiency in both Dutch and French but other
languages will also be affected...
– language pedagogical thinking and, hopefully, this approach will
entail new ways of teaching foreign languages…
– social psychological aspects of both teachers and pupils such as
attitudes and motivation…
– neurocognitive aspects of the brain in the sense that multilingual
brains are considered ‘better brains’…
– economic aspects such as well-being and job market success
since multilingualism is a core value in Belgian society albeit not
officially supported by educational authorities.
Multilingualism in Belgium
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The Research Project: Introduction 2
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• Studies in Wallona and Brussels
– Wallonia: homogeneous group of French-speaking pupils
– Brussels: three groups can be distinguished:
• Dutch-speakers: usually the minority;
• French-speakers: usually the majority;
• other language speakers : ‘traditional’ migrant
languages, Moroccan, Berber, Turkish but also African
languages, Kurdish, Spanish, …
• remark: some are false French speakers, some are
bilingual (Dutch-French) or have other combinations of
languages… some are trilingual, in other words:
heterogeneous groups...
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The Research Project: Introduction 3
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• The sociolinguistic context of Wallonia:
– French-speaking;
– in the past less attention was paid to foreign
language learning;
– relatively small cities and municipalities
• The sociolinguistic context of Brussels:
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officially a French-Dutch bilingual city;
dominantly French-speaking;
in fact, largest French-speaking city of Belgium;
capital of Europe: enormous amount of languages
around
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Conclusion...
Understanding through Multilingual
Optimisation of Structures and Thought
• Politically there is a lot apprehensiveness towards
CLIL or CLIL like initiatives.
• Yet, there is a lot of social demand.
• There are some signs that the situation will improve:
– the existence of a parent’s organization (TIBEM);
– the debate has finally started;
– as research results are coming in… time is on our
side….
Multilingualism in Belgium
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