From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship

Michael Byram is Professor of Education at Durham University, England. He studied French, German and Danish at King’s College Cambridge, and wrote a PhD on Danish literature. He then taught French and German at secondary school level and in adult education in an English comprehensive school. Since being appointed to a post in teacher education at Durham in 1980, he has carried out research into the education of linguistic minorities, foreign language education and student residence abroad. His books include Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence (1997) and he is the editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning.  He is also an Adviser to the Council of Europe Language Policy Division.

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionI FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATIONPurposes1 Foreign Language Education in Context2 Purposes for Foreign Language EducationPossibilities3 Is Language Learning Possible at School?4 The Intercultural Speaker – Acting Interculturally or Being Bicultural5 Intercultural Competence and Foreign Language Learning in the Primary School6 Analysis and Advocacy: Researching the Cultural Dimensions of Foreign Language EducationPerspectives7 Nationalism and Internationalism in Language Education8 Language Learning in Europe9 Foreign Language Teaching as Political ActionII INTERCULTURAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION10 Language Education, Political Education and Intercultural Citizenship11 Education for Intercultural Citizenship12 Policies for Intercultural Citizenship Education13 Curricula for Intercultural Citizenship Education14 Assessment and/or Evaluation of Intercultural Competence and Intercultural CitizenshipConclusionReferencesAppendix

I enjoyed reading this book. It promises to be a typically clear and compelling discussion of the institutional implications for adopting an intercultural approach to language teaching in European schools. It deserves to be read and debated widely.