Handbook of Plurilingual and Intercultural Language Learning

"In recent years, new advancements in the science of language learning and acquisition have led to significant changes in language teaching, pedagogy, and curriculum design all around the world. Some of the most prominent and important advances have dealt with our evolving understanding of the role of English as a lingua franca (specifically in the international language classroom) and our increasing sensitivity to the unique needs of students and teachers who are able to communicate across languages and cultures. The concepts of plurilingual and intercultural language learning have provided specific procedural and theoretical answers to these shifting demands. The concept of plurilingualism describes an individual who is able to speak several languages and switch between them based on social context (the more-often studied concept of multilingualism, by contrast, describes a community-wide use of multiple languages). In concert with the study of intercultural communication, which considers individuals' abilities to adjust communication styles and decisions to accommodate different cultural circumstances, researchers are able to achieve a deeper understanding of the ways in which a much greater variety of students function and behave in classrooms. Simultaneously, institutional ideas are changing about the ways in which national identity should be described in order to accommodate more linguistically and culturally diverse populations, which has also seen new educational requirements for learners of all backgrounds to leave school speaking multiple languages, particularly in school systems across the EU"--