KEY-MESSAGES
• Following the Lisbon European Council of March
2000, the learning and teaching of other European
Languages is a cornerstone of EU policy for a dynamic
knowledge-based society;
• Although the Barcelona Council of March 2002
prioritised languages among the new basic skills,
insisting that children from a very young age should
learn two European languages other than their mother-tongue,
adult language learning and teaching is still neglected
in many countries;
• Too many adults are not able to communicate
in another language other than their mother tongue
which can be an obstacle to a better job and prevents
them from participating in European mobility in
the labour market;
• Universities and other higher education institutions
have a crucial role in offering proper linguistic
and intercultural preparation not only to ordinary
fulltime students, but also to students who cannot
follow lectures, or to working students who have
little time or can only attend evening classes,
or with the help of self-learning multimedia methods;
• Universities and other higher education institutions
have to open up to non-academic environments, permitting
more adults and new groups of adults to participate
in language learning activities without the need
to register in a whole degree course;
• An important task of universities is to train
language teachers appropriately for the learning
needs of adults. Adults are not less able than
young people to learn languages, they simply learn
differently.
• The promotion of the less taught and used languages
is a necessity. With globalisation and internationalisation
the position of small language communities will
become even weaker and more marginalized in the
context of central state systems.
• The existing curricula do not respond to the
demands of a multicultural and plurilingual Europe.
Language learning should be a life-long process
in multi-purpose language learning environments.
The promotion of learning neighbouring languages
especially where there is a land border is of paramount
importance.
