Language awareness and language policy in the European context: A French point of view

Abstract

Many French teachers of foreign languages are aware of Language Awareness. Interest focuses on the multilingual approach at primary level, which manifests itself in experiments conducted at Grenoble and Paris. An equivalent French term for Language Awareness is still missing.

An increasing diversification of foreign language needs in European societies contributes to the emergence of new curricular perspectives which are based on the idea of a ‘common trunk’. This could serve as a challenge to the concept of Language Awareness.