What is plurilingual and pluricultural competence?

Описание: This is the third instalment of the series (video 3/5).
Here, we are going to define plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC).


Key points (with references):

A competence is a “dynamic chain of actions” depending on context and objectives. How we think and act on the base of our knowledge is even more important that our knowledge itself (Chen & Hélot, 2018).

Communicative competence is “a complex body of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values which, by controlling and using the resource of language, makes it possible to enquire, to create, to learn, to find entertainment, to do and to cause to be done: in brief, to act and to interact with others in a specific cultural environment” (Coste et al., 2009, p. 9).

To understand the choices made by speakers or writers, one would need to understand all their unspoken cues relying on history, context, and culture (Kramsch, 2014).

Language learning is not enough to develop communicative competence because it doesn’t help learners grasp the cultural aspects of communication (Coste et al., 2009).

Plurilingualism can be seen as a complex, unique competence instead of the sum of several monolingual competences (Cenoz & Gorter, 2013; Coste et al., 2009).

PPC can be composed of varying proficiencies and language abilities. A person doesn’t have to be perfectly proficient is all their languages for them to be part of their PPC (Coste et al., 2009).

Language and culture are stronger concepts when considered together instead of separated (Galante, 2020).

PPC allows for differing pluricultural and plurilingual profiles (Coste et al., 2009).


References (in APA 7th, or as close as YouTube allows):

Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2013). Towards a plurilingual approach in English language teaching: Softening the boundaries between languages. TESOL Quarterly, 47(3), 591-599.

Chen, Y.-Z., & Hélot, C. (2018). The notion of plurilingual and pluricultural competence in the teaching of foreign languages in France. Language Education and Multilingualism, 1, 168-187. https://doi.org/10.18452/19030

Coste, D., Moore, D., & Zarate, G. (2009). Plurilingual and pluricultural competence. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Language Policy Division, 2-44.

Galante, A. (2020). Plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC) scale: The inseparability of language and culture. International Journal of Multilingualism, 19(4), 477-498. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2020.1753747

Kramsch, C. (2014). Teaching foreign languages in an era of globalization: An introduction. The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 296–311. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2014.1...