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You're kindly invited to our next virtual Plurilingual Lab Speaker Series event with the book launch of:

The Handbook of Plurilingual and Intercultural Language Learning

The panel presentation will have co-editors Dr. Christiane Fäcke and Dr. Paula Garrett-Rucks provide an overview of the book with contributions from different contexts. Across the globe, recent developments in the science of learning and teaching foreign languages have been mainly driven by the following occurrences:

• English becoming a global lingua franca, implying the de facto obligation for non-anglophone societies to integrate English classes in their education systems
• the appreciation of (individual) pluri- and (societal) multilingualism
• the invention of the term "intercultural competence" and the relevance of "intercultural learning"
• an improved knowledge of language processing and use due to developments in the field of Second Language Acquisition
• the use of new technologies providing powerful opportunities and tools for advancing foreign language learning.

In addition to these global trends, there are important regional factors having effects on language policy and language learning, particularly the use of a common or "official" language to promote nation building. If governments are composed of diverse nations with different languages, this support may also compromise some languages. Of course, language policy must also deal with other languages.

Present times are characterized by worldwide communication, migration and plurilingual life practices, at least in Europe by the unification of independent states into a kind of political union. All these tendencies support the need for a global lingua franca and more individual and social multilingualism.

The unique characteristic of this book is that it covers language teaching and learning trends across five continents, often revealing context-dependent influences on language issues. For example, consider language use and policies in the European Union (EU), comprised of 24 official languages with equal rights in principle and de facto three working languages (English, French, and German) to the United States, where (1) English is determined as the primary language; (2) Spanish is becoming a second language; (3) the preservation of native American idioms is given increasing attention, yet (4) superficial language requirements (two years or less, if any) remain the educational norm. By contrast, the status of the official languages in the EU is of high educational and social value. In order to govern more effectively, the member states recognize the need to enable its approximate 440 million citizens to communicate with one another beyond linguistic and cultural boundaries. Against this background, the EU defines in various documents as a sort of plurilingual minimum the mastery of at least 2 other languages, in addition to the mother tongue. This comparison alone illustrates the regional constraints of language learning situations, which extend beyond the EU and the United States.

The Handbook of Plurilingual and Intercultural Language Learning and the authors, coming from different continents, have the ambition to show the different developments and to bring them to the attention of an English reading audience.

Christiane Fäcke (PhD) is full professor at the University of Augsburg, Germany, Chair of Didactics of Romance Languages and Literatures (French, Spanish, and Italian). She published several manuals and handbooks, in addition to numerous publications about intercultural learning. Her current research interests are in plurilingual and pluricultural education, orientation towards competences and standard-based evaluation, teaching material, didactics of literature.

Related publications:

Fäcke, C. (2021). Plurikulturelle Kompetenz im schulischen Fremdsprachenunter­richt [Pluricultural competence in foreign language teaching at school]. In K. Vogt & J. Quetz (Eds.), Der neue Begleitband zum Gemeinsamen euro­päischen Referenzrahmen für Sprachen [The new companion volume of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages] (pp. 59-75). Peter Lang.

Fäcke, C., & Meißner, F.-J. (Eds.). (2019). Handbuch Mehrsprachigkeits- und Mehrkulturalitätsdidaktik [Manual of multilingual and multicultural didactics]. Narr Francke Attempto.

Fäcke, C. (Ed.). (2014). Manual of language acquisition. Walter de Gruyter.
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Paula Garrett-Rucks (PhD) is associate professor of Second Language Acquisition at Georgia State University in the College of Education and Human Development. She researches the formation of learners’ cultural perceptions and stereotypes, social justice in language learning, and computer assisted language learning. She is an ACTFL award-winning author and an international speaker on topics of intercultural competence in instructed language learning. She is Editor of a U.S. regional journal, SCOLT Dimensions, and is an invited member on national and international Editorial Boards.

Related publications:

Garrett-Rucks, P. & Kemp, J. A. (Eds.). (2024). Bridging Language Education Fields. SCOLT Dimensions.

Garrett-Rucks, P. (2019). Advancing intercultural learning in world language education: Recent developments in pre-service teacher education in the U.S. Intercultural Communication Education, 2(1), 110-122.

Garrett-Rucks, P. (2016). Intercultural competence in instructed language learning: Bridging theory and practice. Information Age Publishing.

Garrett-Rucks, P. (2014). Measuring instructed language learners’ IC development: Discrepancies between assessment models by Byram and Bennett. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 41(3), 181-191.

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When: February 27, 2025 (Thursday)

Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm (EST, Montreal)

Mode of delivery: synchronous via Zoom