MERIDIUM â€“ Multilingualism in Europe as a Resource for

143513-LLP-1-2008-1-IT-KA2-KA2NW

MERIDIUM – Multilingualism in Europe as a Resource for Immigration Dialogue Initiative among the Universities of the Mediterranean

Progress Report Public Part

Multilingualism in Europe as a Resource for Immigration Dialogue Initiative among the Universities of the Mediterranean

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Project information

Project acronym: MERIDIUM

Project title: Multilingualism in Europe as a Resource for

Immigration Dialogue Initiative among the

Universities of the Mediterranean

Project number: 143513-LLP-1-2008-1-IT-KA2-KA2NW

Sub-programme or KA: KA2

Project website: http://meridium.unistrapg.it/

Reporting period: From 01/01/2009

To 30/06/2010

Report version: 1

Date of preparation: 18/06/2010

Beneficiary organisation: University for Foreigners of Perugia

Project coordinator: Valentina Seri

Project coordinator organisation: University for Foreigners of Perugia

Project coordinator telephone number: +39.075.5746320

Project coordinator email address: [email protected]

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. © 2008 Copyright Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency. The document may be freely copied and distributed provided that no modifications are made, that the source is acknowledged and that this copyright notice is included.


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Executive Summary

The project on Multilingualism in Europe as a Resource for Immigration Dialogue Initiative among the Universities of the Mediterranean (MERIDIUM) could raise the interest of decision-makers in the field of education and teaching staff as key actors of the linguistic and social integration processes involved in large-scale migration movements. MERIDIUM will also be of interest to other European networks and institutions working at multilingualism issues as it is a three-year international project aimed at studying multilingualism in the Mediterranean Europe. The six countries involved in the project Italy, Republic of Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain display different demolinguistic situations and different migratory profiles. The concerned countries have been selected so to represent areas from and where migration fluxes go.

The main goals of the project are:

- to describe and evaluate linguistic policies adopted in each country, at a national and/or local level, in order to obtain favourable conditions for the linguistic integration of immigrants;

- to investigate the level of awareness of multilingualism and the attitudes towards the presence of other languages in the everyday life context among local population and migrants in countries where ongoing immigration/emigration fluxes are observed. To this end a survey among schools has been carried out with a focus on non-metropolitan areas;

- to create a Study and Documentation Centre on Multilingualism in the Mediterranean Europe, hosted by the University for Foreigners of Perugia.

MERIDIUM is a network of seven European Universities committed to research and teaching activities in the fields of Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Sociology and Intercultural Communication. Their expertise guarantees to contribute to language planning and teaching with a global and interdisciplinary approach supported by experience in these fields. The University for Foreigners of Perugia is called to coordinate the Project, create and support the Study and Documentation Centre.

The first year and part of the second one of the project have been devoted:

- to edit country reports for each partner country to draw useful comparisons between policies concerning the linguistic integration of immigrants;

- to draft and administrate questionnaires to pupils and their parents in specific areas chosen according to context analyses.

With almost 70 schools contacted, 2300 pupils and 1800 parents surveyed, 150 among teachers and school managers reached within the concerned countries, MERIDIUM aims to be a reference point for the scientific community, local and national institutions, NGOs and associations of immigrants. New approaches to teaching and integrating mixed classes (immigrants and citizens) can draw on the results of the questionnaire analysis, the national seminars and the final international conference that will be developed during the remaining part of the project. The Study and Documentation Centre will be a permanent tool for dissemination.

For further information please visit our website: http://meridium.unistrapg.it/


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Table of Contents

1. PROJECT OBJECTIVES.................................................................................... 5

2. PROJECT APPROACH...................................................................................... 6

3. PROJECT OUTCOMES & RESULTS................................................................. 8

4. PARTNERSHIPS .............................................................................................. 10

5. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE .............................................................................. 11

6. CONTRIBUTION TO EU POLICIES ................................................................. 12


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1. Project Objectives

The main goals of the project are:

- to carry out a sociolinguistic research to study the correlation between linguistic and educational policies and the development/diffusion of awareness towards multilingualism and linguistic diversity. The research is aimed at producing an integrated evaluation and identifying the relevant indicators. Namely, the target institutions of the survey are primary schools in selected areas according to country reports and specific context analyses. The survey intends to examine the level of awareness and attitudes of children aged 10-11 and of their families regarding the presence of multilingual repertoires in their everyday life context;

- to create a Study and Documentation Centre on Multilingualism in the Mediterranean Europe as a permanent facility to share and consolidate the results of the network cooperation, making them available to other interested subjects/authorities that can benefit from them. The Centre aims to become a reference for schools and local institutions to collect information and find training opportunities;

- to disseminate activities and best practices in multilingualism involving administrative and educational institutions and the world of work in the discussion of the results of the project.

In order to achieve not only a more sensitive attitude towards linguistic diversity, but also, and foremost, to promote a better social and economic integration of immigrants and of Euro-Mediterranean citizens in the EU-scenario, it is necessary to:

1) analyse the contextual and peculiar conditions on which the current situation is grounded;

2) evaluate the impact of current linguistic policies in this area, identifying possible weaknesses and drawbacks, but also good practices;

3) envisage measures in order to overcome the first ones and to effectively promote the second.

Measures should focus on the strategic areas represented, for instance, by the fields of primary education, on one hand, and of professional and adult training, on the other hand. In fact, it is fundamental operating through systematic actions supporting linguistic and cultural growth both in new generations, and in their families.

Finally, MERIDIUM aims: - to provide the general public with a deeper knowledge of the complex dynamics of contact, linguistic exchange and immigration, indispensable to the construction of a European citizenship; - to enable key stakeholders and decision makers to enhance integration strategies and adopt new models and approaches for multilingualism.


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2. Project Approach

Different methodologies have been adopted in relation to the different objectives of the project. Both objectives and methods to be applied have been specified and shared among research teams in a Research Handbook drafted in occasion of the partnership preliminary meeting.

As far as the sociolinguistic research is concerned, it focuses on the analysis of case studies. Namely, each research group is responsible for finding contexts and case studies which represent different panoramas influenced by the migratory phenomenon, both from a socio-economic and territorial point of view, as well as for the measures adopted in favour of linguistic integration. The aim is to gather comparative data.

From a strictly methodological point of view, triangulation has to be used, integrating data gathered through different methods (e.g. questionnaires, context analyses, interviews, etc.) so to ensure an integrated vision and elaborate on case studies.

The main methods include:

- Country report, as a technical report to summarize data with the aim of collecting elements related to the demolinguistic characteristics of each country, as well as useful elements to evaluate as a whole migration patterns and policies. The reports describe the derived internal linguistic structure and strategies for the handling of linguistic integration through the selection of relevant territorial areas (provinces) which centres will be sampled from;

- Context analysis, to collect useful elements to the overall evaluation of migration fluxes and migratory policies related to each selected area; to select relevant centres, in which single educational institutes will be sampled;

- Questionnaires have been administrated to carry out a survey focused on awareness and attitudes of children aged 10-11 and of their families in relation to:

a. the presence of multilingual repertoires in their everyday life context in countries where current immigration fluxes take place;

b. the problems connected to linguistic integration (learning L2 and maintaining L1) in the host countries and with regard to the acquisition of a multilingual repertoire, even in cases of subjects who returned to their homeland after a period of migration, in countries subject to outbound migratory fluxes.

As far as the Study and Documentation Centre on Multilingualism in the Mediterranean Europe and the dissemination are concerned, an integrated approach has been used as the Centre itself represents a tool of dissemination and best practices promotion.

The dissemination strategy includes the project website and the newsletter publication. From a pedagogical point of view the Centre represents a point of attraction for researchers and experts in the field also thanks to its library and project activities. Since the dissemination of the research will concern the final part of the project through national seminars and an international conference, project research teams have used national and international conferences to start disseminating the


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project, presenting papers or quoting it or its mid-term results in speeches or publications.

The evaluation strategy also in terms of quality of research and outcomes included the creation of a Quality Control Board composed by three international experts in multilingualism with the task of evaluating the Research Handbook and the milestones of the project. The Quality Control Board members will be invited to the final international conference to be held in the last year of the project.

Please find below the chart describing the project approach:

Legend

: methodology

objectives

main products and tools

evaluation

Sociolinguistic Research

Country Report

Methodological approach:

triangulation

Questionnaires and data analysis

Context Analysis

Study and Documentation Centre on Multilingualism in the Mediterranean

Europe

Dissemination and best practices

exchange

Research Handbook

Quality Control Board

C

C

C

C


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3. Project Outcomes & Results

In order to produce coherent results and outcomes all project partners laid down a common Research Handbook with the aim to specify an homogeneous development of the research and describe the overall project and its activities. It can be considered the very first product of the project, project members are its end users and it is very useful since researchers need to have shared guidelines during all the project life cycle. As part of the sociolinguistic research the network developed the following stages: a. country reports according to their own country. Each report contains data on: - demo-linguistic aspects as well as linguistic policies characterizing each partner country, - migratory trends in the last thirty years (absolute values, percentages, place of origin/destination, distribution in the country of arrival/departure), surveying in detail those pertaining to the current situation; - migratory policies at a national level, referred in particular to those regarding the educational field;

b. context analysis aimed at collecting useful elements to the overall evaluation of migration fluxes and migratory policies related to some selected areas with a high level of immigration according to the country report;

c. case studies focusing on the integration of immigrant pupils and their families;

d. questionnaires as tools to identify conditions and dynamics of immigrants’ linguistic integration. The questionnaires can be exploited both by schools to evaluate the level of linguistic integration and attitude of young students towards multilingualism and by experts according to the data analysed with scientific criteria;

e. matrix for a data base to insert data. It will be available in part on-line for a general public and in part at disposal of a restricted group of users.

As far as result ‘a.’ is concerned, the country reports are available on the project web-site. For more information on consulting the documents (b to e) or the Research handbook, please contact: [email protected]


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As milestone of the project, the Study and Documentation Centre has been founded at the University for Foreigners of Perugia. Through the Centre, the MERIDIUM network publishes a two-monthly newsletter and has developed a specialised library. The past editions of the newsletter are available on the project web-site.

The goal of disseminating the project and best practices has been achieved in this mid-term stage of project development by the project website that grows together with MERIDIUM. The website contains details of the project and it provides users with useful indications concerning multilingualism. Namely a detailed and updated bibliography section can be easily consulted by interested researchers together with parts dedicated to new releases and world news.


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4. Partnerships

MERIDIUM ensures a suitable geographical coverage of the Mediterranean Europe. It is supported by a network of seven European Universities: Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Transilvania University of Brasov, University of Primorska, University of Malta, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Nova University of

Lisbon, University of Salamanca and University for Foreigners of Perugia. Most of them had a previous experience in European Commission funded projects and were already connected to the coordinating organisation. In this respect, Mediterranean Europe can be seen as a sub-system of specific interest: historically characterized by continuous contacts and exchanges along a cultural and linguistic double “fault line” (Eastern/ Western Europe – Northern/Southern Mediterranean), in the last decades this region has been involved in large-scale migration movements, which amplify its inherent heterogeneity. Unfortunately, this phenomenon does not correspond to a proportional growth of individual and collective multilingualism among citizens: on the contrary, immigrants tend to abandon their languages in favour of those spoken in the host countries, while natives, on their part, are not so willing to learn foreign languages.

This is the reason why it is important that the partner countries are located in both Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, the former as target countries for immigration, the latter as main basin of emigration.

The project benefits of this wide partnership also in terms of links to groups outside the consortium, teachers from schools where questionnaires were administrated will attend the national seminars to be held during the remaining part of the project. They will benefit from this opportunity for sharing experiences and training in the field of linguistic integration.


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5. Plans for the Future

As future steps to make, MERIDIUM network is supposed to carry out the following activities most of them related to the exploitation of the research results.

Starting from the matrix for database, the database itself has to be created and the collected data have to be recorded and analyzed. The resulting research paper drafted by the project management team composed by one member for team will be the starting point of the dissemination stage.

Main results of the analysis will be disseminated both at national and international level through the organisation of local seminars for teachers, school officials and local authorities, with the aim of providing useful interpretations of the migratory phenomenon and tools to improve dynamics of linguistic integration. Each partner country will organise such seminars and produce informative material concerning the project created for specific target groups (comics for children, brochures for adults, CD-ROM – and paper format) in order to draw the attention outside the scientific circuit.

A final international conference will be held at the University for Foreigners of Perugia to disseminate the results to national and international stakeholders. The conference proceedings and research results will be collected in a publication.

Each partner has already appointed a person of reference for both activities so to develop the national seminars and materials in a coherent way and organise the international conference sharing the panel of speakers.

With the help of local and educational institutions, the Study and Documentation Centre will plan communication strategies involving the school population (e.g. theme-based contests), associations of immigrants (which can be in turn a reference point in documenting local practices) and draw on the attention of the civil society (e.g. publicity through the media).


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6. Contribution to EU policies

MERIDIUM contributes to the European policies in terms of promotion of a positive attitude towards multilingualism and plurilingual competences and abilities in line with European policies that consider multilingualism an asset for Europe and a shared commitment (COM 2008 - 566 final).

The project and the Study and Documentation Centre provide institutions interested and involved in achieving those goals with a concrete scientific contribution making a sort of permanent awareness campaign mainly addressed to pupils and their family. So the project effects and outcomes should be spread through two main directories according to a bottom-up and top-down approach.

Immigrants and citizens are both main targets and end users of this project. Immigrant linguistic integration means immigrant social integration. This is the reason why the project does not adopt a unidirectional approach focusing on immigrant communities but it deals with the current complex panorama made of a wider community of citizens of different countries and cultures living together and needing a new dimension to join in and new modalities of interaction.

As far as the specific policies are concerned, the MERIDIUM Project contributes to the objectives and the horizontal policies of the Lifelong Learning Programme and to the realization of the Lisbon Key Competences.

The project intends to raise awareness on cultural and linguistic diversity through several stages. Being a field research, MERIDIUM is constantly in touch with the social context of the concerned territories. The administration of the questionnaires (one of the key tools of the project) to elementary school students and their parents reveals the attitudes of these target groups towards different languages and cultures. The administration of the questionnaires itself starts to sensitize the target groups to issues of cultural and linguistic diversity. Awareness and knowledge are key elements in combating racism, prejudice and xenophobia because the more one knows about a culture/language/ people, the less will be afraid of it. The creation of the database and the analysis of the collected data will enable the dissemination of the results through different means (eg.: comics and brochures).

The project contributes to intercultural dialogue and social cohesion, as well. Revealing the attitudes of the inhabitants of a country towards immigrants, the project helps both the former and the latter in understanding each other. Mutual understanding and consequently acceptance serve the cohesion and the well-being of the community.

Communicating in foreign languages is at the core of the project. Understanding the languages of the host country helps immigrants to integrate into the local community and to communicate their own culture and point of view to the local inhabitants. Understanding and integration help to develop social and civic competences, make easier to immigrants to participate to social and working life and improve social well-being.

The MERIDIUM project improves social inclusion and language learning, as well. These are key elements in the employability of a person. It not only enhances the importance of language learning for immigrants but also sensitize receptor countries’ citizens to learn foreign languages. The advantages of language learning in both


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cases are evident. Knowing the language of the country one lives in is essential to obtain qualified jobs. Besides, in most of the countries of the project (Italy, Spain, Portugal and Romania) foreign language knowledge is way under the European average, so the project is a great opportunity to promote foreign language learning.

Documents

MERIDIUM â€“ Multilingualism in Europe as a Resource for