Visit FYK-exchange 28-07-2009 Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning “a service at hand” Cor van der Meer & Tjallien

Visit FYK-exchange 28-07-2009

Mercator European Research Centre on

Multilingualism and Language Learning

“a service at hand”

Cor van der Meer & Tjallien Kalsbeek

Fryske Akademy


Overview

• Fryslân

• Language(s)

• Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning

• Multilingual education


Early

Middle ages

Late

Middle ages

Today

Fryslân in history

Well-known outside Fryslân



taalkaart

870870

26.30026.300

634.000634.000

11.50011.500

3.2003.200

342.000342.000

1.5001.500


Continent Languages

Count Percent

Africa 2 092 30.3

Americas 1 002 14.5

Asia 2 269 32.8

Europe 239 3.5

Pacific 1 310 19.0

Totals 6 912 100.0


0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2000

Fries Nederlands

Frisian as First Language


Frisian Language Command

• 54 % Mother tongue

• 94 % Understanding

• 74 % Speaking

• 65 % Reading

• 26 % Writing


Home Languages Ljouwert

DutchFrisianLiwaddersEnglishArabicKurdishHinduBerberPapiamentuGermanSomaliTurkishFrenchVietnameseChineseSpanishBosnianIraqiItalianFarsi

ArmenianPersianPolishUrduAlbanianJavanesePortugueseRussianSranan TongoGreekSerbo-CroatianMoroccan ArabicMalayIndonesianRomanianTamilBantuFilipinoCatalanHebrew

PunjabiSwedishKosovo AlbanianLingalaNorwegianUkrainianKinyarwandaCzechFlemishDariGeorgianNiger-Congo languagesJamaican PatoisNepaliAustria GermanSerbianSinhala

About 60 languages


Mercator Network

Mercator Research Centre “lead partner”

4 Partner institutes

• Aberystwyth – University of Wales

• Barcelona – Ciemen

• Budapest – Hungarian Academy of Sciences

• Ekilstuna (Sweden) – Mälardalen University


Mercator?

Gerardus Mercator

1512-1594


Mercator Research Centre

1987-2006:

• Documentation and Information Centre.

• Funded by the European Union.

2007-2008: transition into:

• Information and Research Centre.

• Funded by the Province of Fryslân and the municipality of Ljouwert/Leeuwarden.


Position within Europe

• European Union

- Communication on Multilingualism

• Council of Europe

- Language Policy Development

• Cooperation and Partnerships

Mercator Network, EBLUL, NPLD, ECML (Graz), ECMI (Flensburg), regional authorities and institutes.


Difference between EU and CoE

EU: 1957

• 27 member states

• Economic Federation

Council of Europe: 1949

• 47 member states

• Human rights development

• Gateway to European Union (European Charter on RML, Framework Convention for the protection of National Minorities)


EU-based typology

Unique minority languages

• Welsh, Frisian, Galician

• Catalan (E, I, F), Basque (E, F)

Minority languages with a “kin-state”

• German (B, Dk, F, I), French (I), Slovene (Au, I)

• Ukrainian (Sl, Pol)

Special cases

• Romani, Yiddish


200 2.000 20.000 280.000 2 M 7 M

Differences in size

Catalan

Galician

Luxemburgish

Catalan (I)

Saterfrisian

Cornish


Mercator’s activities

• Publications & databases

• Research

• Network of Schools

• Network of Teacher Trainings Institutes

• Conferences & seminars

• Q&A service


• Research reports

• Newsletters

• Regional dossiers series

- 40 language descriptions

- Update every 5-7 years

- Online available

Publications


http://www.networkofschools.org/

Network of Schools

• > 90 members

• > 30 language communities

• 15 EU member states

• News bulletins

• Website:

- teaching materials

- projects


• April: “Multilingualism, Regional and Minority Languages: Paradigms for the languages of the wider world”, London, organised in cooperation with CETL, UCL and SOAS.

• June: “Pedagogy and Didactics in the Multilingual Classroom”, Ljouwert, organised in cooperation with the Basque Ministry of Education.

• September: Mercator Network conference, “Developments in the curriculum of language teaching and learning, at primary school level and in secondary education”, Ljouwert.

• October: Partnership for Diversity conference, “The challenging relationship between transmission of cultures and transmission of languages”, Ljouwert, organised in cooperation with EBLUL and combined with the European song contest Liet International.

Conferences in 2009


Fields of research

• Added value of multilingualism and multilingual education.

• New technologies; distant language (and culture) learning.

• Application of the CEFR and the ELP in Europe.

• Informal learning and promotion of reading in families & households.


Old Theory


New Theory


Definitions

• Monolingual education: dominant language only.

• Bilingual/Trilingual education: two or more languages taught as a subject and used as a medium of instruction.

• Immersion: use of minority (or: lesser used language) as only medium of instruction. The dominant language taught as a subject.


Why bilingual education?

• Right on education in mother tongue

• Pedagogical development

• Social integration

• Cultural participation

• Language maintenance


Models of bilingual education

• Immersion

• Systematic split of time

• Systematic split of subjects

• One person/one language

• [Minority language as a subject only]



Trilingual education (1)

• Model used:

- Group 1-6: 50 % Frisian, 50 % Dutch

- Group 7-8: 40 % Frisian, 40 % Dutch, 20% English

• Systematic use of Frisian, Dutch and English as a medium of instruction.

• Interactive language education


Trilingual education (2)

• Results:

- Good quality of Frisian

- Results of Dutch at the same level at the end of grade 8 as all other pupils in the Netherlands

- Results for English slightly better, but not significantly

- Self consciousness in English better, but not significantly



www.mercator-research.euwww.mercator-research.eumercator@fryske-akademy.nl

Köszönöm

Haristo

Mersi ditTak

Danke

HvalaTeşekkür ederim

Dzãczi

Thank you

Tige tank

Ful toank

Documents

Visit FYK-exchange 28-07-2009 Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning “a service at hand” Cor van der Meer & Tjallien