A Theoretical Framework for Language Education and Teaching

Product Description

Educational linguistics is transcultural, with research in the field adopting an international scope. Educational systems, on the contrary, are culture-bound. As a consequence, actual teaching differs across countries, and sometimes even among provinces, local educational authorities, and schools. However, a globalized world needs to share the various meanings of knowing a language and teaching a language, as language is the main factor of both cultural identity and national and international interaction. The framework offered here is built on eight hypotheses, logical models that provide the potential common core of a non-culture-bound theory of language education and of language teaching. The book thus suggests a common terminology, some common principles, and a basic paradigm to be shared in both theoretical and practical research in edu-linguistics, consequently going beyond the borders implied by such titles as European framework, American standards, and Chinese guidelines.

About the Author

Paolo E. Balboni is Full Professor of Educational Linguistics at Ca Foscari University in Venice. He has written over 30 monographs and 150 essays on the teaching of native, second, foreign, ethnic and classical languages, many of them dealing with the epistemological nature of edu-linguistics and edu-linguistic research. His main fields of interest are Italian as a foreign language, intercultural communication as a basic component of communicative competence, and literary education. He is the president of the Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes and the director of the Research Centre on Educational Linguistics in Venice.