Plurilingual (and pluricultural) competences are defined by the Education Policy Division of the Council of Europe (2018) as the ability to critically reflect and strategically use linguistic and cultural resources and knowledge across languages in order to successfully manage intercultural communication as well as life-long (language) learning. Foreign language teaching and thus foreign language teachers play a pivotal role in fostering plurilingual and pluricultural education. In this seminar we are going to operationalize plurilingual and pluricultural competence for foreign language learning contexts in relation to relevant European and German education policy documents such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and Cultures (2001) and its companion volume (2018/2020), the KMK standards and the English curricula for Lower Saxony as well as other orientational frameworks such as the Framework for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (2009); we will discuss relevant theoretical concepts such as translanguaging (see García, 2009, 2013), (functional) mono-/multi- and plurilingualism, linguistic repertoire and English as a multilingua franca; and discuss ways of implementation of pluralistic/plurilingual approaches in foreign language classrooms such as mediation, intercomprehension and language portraits.

This course’s assessment requirement and formats will be discussed in the first session.

Key Words: plurilingualism, multilingualism, translanguaging, plurilingual competence, English as a Foreign Language, English as multilingua franca, intercomprehension, mediation, language learning/teaching, learner empowerment,