An essay on internationalism in foreign language education

Abstract

This essay is an attempt to introduce into the discourse of Foreign Language Education the concept and phenomenon of internationalism. It begins with an analysis of the ways in which education systems promote nationalism and "national citizenship," and suggests that an internationalist perspective would enrich this tradition in education. It continues with a discussion of the concept and the historical phenomenon of internationalism in its various forms, and the values it incorporates. Some approaches to defining notions of "global citizenship" and their limitations are identified, and the essay then argues that internationalism offers a more comprehensive basis on which to build "global," "cosmopolitan" or other concepts of citizenship. This is then the foundation for presenting a way of thinking about Foreign Language Education as a means of promoting internationalism, which is illustrated by examples from recent practice. The essay ends with some thoughts about future directions in which the internationalist educational purposes of Foreign Language Education might be further realised.

Affordances, complexities, and challenges of intercultural citizenship for foreign language teachers

“…In this way, both Argentinean and British students discovered that they did not hold resentful views of each other and were happy to identify their common shared humanity and use it as a point of departure to contribute to the reconciliation of Argentina and Britain. This is the internationalist thinking referred to by Byram (). Through observation, discovery, analysis, and reflection, which are intercultural citizenship skills (Byram et al, ), these student teachers disclosed the ways in which “The Falklands war was a lie” in their view.…”

“…Finally, critical cultural awareness, or savoir s'engager , is paramount in this model and involves not only critical thinking but also social transformation through critical self‐reflection, intercultural dialogue, and action (Holmes, ; Houghton, ) by both learners and teachers. Byram and Wagner () in this journal and Porto, Houghton, and Byram () provided a historical development of this process.…”

“…Foreign language education is well placed to foster this internationalist thinking (see Byram, , for a thorough argument), and intercultural citizenship in particular expands the theoretical visions and pedagogic applications related to service‐learning and community engagement available in the literature in the ways previously described.…”

“…This “mission” for foreign language teaching can be accomplished adopting intercultural citizenship theory and pedagogy in an internationalist orientation. When this happens, service‐learning, ISL, and community‐based learning (or whatever name is given) become an “educational philosophy” (Byram, , p. 73) rather than “an approach to language learning” and a “pedagogy” (Bettencourt, , p. 474; also see Carney, ; Moore, ; Pellettieri, ; and Schneider, ; among many others) or “pedagogical approach” (Grim, , p. 607). In their special issue of Hispania , Hellebrandt and Jorge (2013, p. 206) also addressed the “philosophical discussion about whether SL [service‐learning] is solely a pedagogy or also a way to advance the public good and effect social change,” and the TESOL Journal special issue contains a useful bibliography from where the discussion can continue (Wurr, ).…”

Ethical Issues in Teaching for Intercultural Citizenship in World/Foreign Language Education

“…Intercultural citizenship involves more than teaching linguistic and communicative competence; it includes teaching intercultural competence and citizenship responsibilities. This approach meets what Brady (2006, p. 230) calls “students’ needs to connect the language they study to the real concerns they have in their lives about school, relationships, their identity formation, their curiosity, their uncertainty, and their worries about the future.” Williams (2017, p. 61) argues that language learning conceived in this way “can enhance our intellectual, moral and civic resources, including our sensitivity to nuances in human relationships.” Intercultural citizenship is then an “educational philosophy” (Byram, 2018, p. 73) that aims to make language teaching relevant to students’ lives, engaging them both in learning the language and in their development and application of intercultural competence. As such, it also requires a reconfiguration of the vision of education that teachers have, with new teacher roles and a new teacher professional identity beyond that of trainer of competences and transmitter of knowledge.…”