Several characteristics of a European teacher of languages

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Multilingualism and plurilingualism are the functional realities in the European societies nowadays. These realities do not correspond with the old traditional “one-language-one-teacher” paradigm (Ziegler, 2013, p. 1). There is a need to identify the changing identities of teachers in these realities as they are the agents of plurilingualism.

Who is a European language teacher? According to Byram (2003), there are several defining features that distinguish a European teacher of languages from others. First, the main goal of a European teacher of languages is to help their learners to become plurilingual. In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) plurilingualism is defined as “the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social agent, has proficiency of varying degrees, in several languages, and experience of several cultures” (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 168).

The second characteristic of the European language teacher is that they specialize in not only European languages, but many others (e.g., Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Swahili). This is necessary because learners should be open to the world beyond Europe, which refers to the next defining characteristic – the ability to promote intercultural competence in their learners (Byram, 2003). Such teachers aim to develop their learners’ ability to understand other cultures and analyze their own. Furthermore, such teachers teach not only language skills, but the values they believe in including political values as well.

How to educate such European teachers of languages? I agree with Byram (2003) that, at first, the teachers need to be plurilingual themselves. They should understand the experience of having different language competences at different levels at different periods of time. Thus, in order to develop plurilingualism in their learners, they should try it themselves and be able to analyze their experience. Secondly, they should promote intercultural competence in their learners. It is pivotal to cultivate the intercultural competence and their willingness to interact with other European and non-European cultures. Again, the teachers should experience intercultural interactions with other cultures themselves, and to be taught how to analyze different perspectives so that they could educate their students later on. Thirdly, the similarities and differences of values and morals in societies should be learnt.

To conclude, the vision of the European teacher of languages is not easy to realize. In this vision the teachers play a major role in education, they should ensure that language learning is not simply acquiring language skills, but includes developing intercultural awareness and sharing their own experience with the students.

References

Byram, M. (2003). Teacher education–visions from/in Europe. Babylonia, 3(3), 7-10.

Council of Europe, (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Ziegler, G. (2013). Multilingualism and the language education landscape: challenges for teacher training in Europe. Multilingual Education, 3(1), 1-23.