2005-2011

University of California at Berkeley :
Second phase of the France-Berkeley program. International colloquium Teaching Languages in Multilingual, Multicultural Environments, followed by a seminar on the conception of the Précis du plurilinguisme et du pluriculturalisme 
. Created during a seminar held in March 2003 at INALCO and organized jointly with the Berkeley Language Center at the University of California at Berkeley (USA) and the Politica, educazione, formazione linguistico-culturali doctoral program at the University of Macerata (Italy), this seminar continued in March 2004, during the study days partly open to the public at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, as part of the support granted by funding from the Fonds France / Berkeley (2004-2005). In February, the overall architecture of the book was definitively adopted.

"Didactics of world languages and cultures. The historical dimension of research on plurilingualism and pluriculturalism" - Paris, Inalco 
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Organized by G. Zarate and Marie Christine Kok-Escalle, University of Utrecht, SIHFLES President 
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This meeting brought together several of the Précis coordinators (INALCO) and a dozen SIHFLES members. The aim of the meeting was twofold: firstly, to clarify for SIHFLES members the objectives of the Précis team's editorial research project, and secondly, to point out the possible contributions of the SIHFLES to this project in terms of the historical aspects of the notions of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism.
The meeting took place in the form of a round table. The meeting took the form of an exchange of information. M.-Ch. Kok Escalle (University of Utrecht), D. Lévy (University of Macerata), D. Londei (University of Bologna) and M. Berré (University of Mons-Hainaut) suggested various ways of thinking about the content of the historically-oriented "macro-entry". The aim was not to come up with a fixed plan, but to provide some food for thought on possible collaboration and its modalities. The main idea is to articulate both a synthetic reflection on how the realities of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism have been named and thought about over time, and a more methodological reflection on the "places" and "tools" with which historians of language teaching work (textbooks, teachers, educational institutions, "figures" of plurilingualism, etc.). D. Londei, for her part, emphasized the contributions of the history of school disciplines as conceived by Chervel. We must also make room for teacher memory and the life stories evoked by D. Lévy, and situate this theme between the macro-entries "History" and "Subjectivities".

"Didactics of world languages: autonomy, mediation, didactics, ICTE" - Paris, Inalco. 

Organized by G. Alao, F. Marc.

Entitled "Didactics of world languages: didactic mediation, ICTE, autonomy", PLIDAM's first Study Day, held on April 7, 2006, in the salons of INALCO, fostered the back-and-forth between didactic experimentation and reflection on new devices. It also provided an opportunity to broaden the scope of essentially transdisciplinary issues through dialogue with colleagues from other institutions and professionals, including the following: Marie Josée BARBOT, LILLE III: Les multimédias, des outils au service de l'autonomisation ?JooHee KIM, INALCO: L'échange et l'apprentissage interactif : l'état des lieux de l'usage du forum de discussion dans le cadre des formations ou des enseignements ; Fabienne MARC, INALCO: Prise d'autonomie dans l'acquisition des structures de la langue et l'entraînement à la version : première évaluation et perspective d'un site collaboratif enseignant-étudiants ; Christine DEVELOTTE, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lettres et Sciences Humaines, LYON : Aspects de l'autonomie dans un dispositif d'enseignement en ligne ; Pierre MAGISTRY, Société CAPTEL / INALCO & PARIS VII : Le projet "ChAL" (Chine-au-logis), un dictionnaire chinois/français mutualiste et pédagogique ; George ALAO, Département Afrique, INALCO : Pratique du yoruba dans AKOYE ou l'évaluation de l'enseignement / apprentissage d'une langue africaine en ligne.

Against the backdrop of the concomitant demands of the LMD reform, the influx of experience and research in the field of integrating ICTE into language and culture teaching, and the exponential development of technologies, this study day shed specific light on the impact, in the process of empowering language 2 learning, of a few mediation instruments and protocols that don't require heavy institutional structures (websites, forums, wikis / guidance, communication, animation...). The question of the mediatization of language 2, seen from the angle of cooperation/confrontation between didacticians and computer scientists, was addressed in the form of a round table entitled "Didacticians and computer scientists: cooperation, complicity or confrontation? "Pierre MAGISTRY: Developer, Captel company, Association Recherche et Enseignement du Chinois (AREC), Student at INALCO and Paris VII; Fabienne MARC: Senior Lecturer, China Department, INALCO; Evelyne PASQUIER: Centre d'Approche Vivante des Langues et des Médias (CAVILAM) - TV5 Multimedia Manager; Anthippi POTOLIA :Filière FLE INALCO - conception ELAO; René RICARD : Formateur ELAO, Centre de Ressources Pédagogiques Audiovisuel, Informatique et Multimédia (CERPAIM-INALCO); François STUCK : Ingénieur de recherche, Département Textes Informatiques Multilingues (TIM-INALCO) - Projet ALPCU.

"Big" and "small" languages. Didactics of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism / Models and experiences" - La Sorbonne
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Members of the Scientific Committee:
Joël Bellassen, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, France
Jean-Louis Chiss, Université de Paris III / DILTEC, France
Aline Gohard-Radenkovic, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
Adelheid Hu, University of Hamburg, Germany
Aline Gohard-Radenkovic, University of Freiburg, Switzerland
Rick Kern, University of California at Berkeley Rick Kern, University of California at Berkeley, USA
Marie Christine Kok-Escalle Marie Christine Kok-Escalle, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands 
Claire Kramsch, University of California at Berkeley, USA
Danielle Lévy, DORIF-Università / University of Macerata, Italy
Anthony Liddicoat, University of South Australia, Macgill, Australia
Joe Lo Bianco, University of Melbourne, Australia
Danielle Londei, DORIF-Università, University of Bologna, Italy
Samir Marzouki, University of Tunis, Tunisia
Louise Maurer, Australian National University, Australia
Danièle Moore, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Elizabeth Murphy-Lejeune, Université de Montréal Elizabeth Murphy-Lejeune, Dublin City University, Ireland
Bernard Py, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Daniel Véronique, Université de Provence / France Daniel Véronique, Université de Provence / DILTEC, France
Geneviève Zarate, Université de Paris, France Geneviève Zarate, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, France

Organizing committee:
George Alao (INALCO, PLIDAM), Evelyne Argaud (PRAG, PLIDAM) , Geneviève Baraona (Chargée de cours INALCO) , Catherine Berger Chargée de cours INALCO, PLIDAM), Martine Derivry (MC, PLIDAM) , Anthippi Potolia (Chargée de cours, INALCO) , Geneviève Zarate (INALCO, PLIDAM)

Colloquium with 59 papers, an introductory session, 3 round tables and a crossroads of associations. Program attached as a paper appendix to this electronic document.

Conference proceedings:
A total of 79 contributions were sent by January 15, 2005 to the following e-mail address colloque.didactique@fle-inalco.com. Of this total, 40 contributions were accepted, sometimes with a request for modifications.
Publication directors: George Alao, Evelyne Argaud, Martine Derivry-Plard, Hélène Leclerc
. Out of 27 texts received, 4 were rejected.

Seminar following the colloquium on the Précis du plurilinguisme et du pluriculturalisme (INALCO: July 6; July 13-14: University of Macerata, Italy)

Following the international colloquium on "Large" and "small" languages and the didactics of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism: models and experiences, held at La Sorbonne (3-5 July 2006), an enlarged group, including all the chapter coordinators, met in July 2006 at INALCO, and then under the auspices of the University of Macerata.
The final editorial framework was drawn up by a group of experts from the University of Macerata. The final editorial framework was adopted, as well as the book's railroad. The editorial constraints were adopted collectively.

Matinée " Jeunes chercheurs " - Paris, Inalco.
Organizers: Monica Salvan (doctoral student of Ms Geneviève Zarate), Arnaud Arslangul (doctoral student of Mr Joël Bellassen)

The "Young Researchers" morning organized on December 16, 2006, as part of the PLIDAM study day, was first and foremost conceived as an opportunity to present the state of progress of certain doctoral research projects.
Five young members of the team, all from the same field of research, were invited to take part in the morning session. Five young members of the team, working respectively under the direction of Ms Geneviève Zarate and Mr Joël Bellassen, gave an update on their research work, and were able to get feedback from a sizeable audience (around thirty students).
The day gave rise to a presentation of the current state of progress of some of the team's doctoral research. The day provided an opportunity to share work experiences and reflect on the pitfalls to be avoided when preparing a doctorate. It also provided an opportunity to disseminate legislative information, such as the August 7, 2006 decree on doctoral training. The day also prompted reflection on the need to organize regular meetings and exchanges of this kind.

February 16-17, 2007, Université de Fribourg, Centre d'Enseignement et de Recherches en Langues Etrangères (Switzerland) 

This final seminar provided an opportunity for a collective evaluation of the 90 proposals received for the Précis du plurilinguisme et du pluriculturalisme. It also provided an opportunity to plan the final stages of the publication.

"Media, media resources and world language didactics" - Paris, Inalco.

Organized by George Alao 
Organized around the theme Médias, ressources médiatiques et la didactique des langues du monde, i.e. on the use of media such as newspapers, magazines, films, radio, television, Internet, advertising, CD-ROM, audio/video cassette, computers, video games, among others, in the teaching of so-called "rare" or "modime" languages, the second Study Day of the Jeune Equipe PLIDAM began by examining the conditions under which certain media supports and resources are used in the learning/teaching of world languages and cultures, especially those taught at INALCO. We would like to highlight the following speakers and presentations: Patrick Maurus (Département Eurasie, INALCO): Media supports for teaching Korean and Orientalist heritage; Geneviève Zarate, INALCO, JE 2502 PLIDAM: How far does the media document lead to an authentic relationship with the culture being taught?; Alex BOULTON/Richard DUDA, Université Nancy 2, Nancy; Le DVD Ecouter pour comprendre le tchèque. 

In the second half of the day, Rozenn Milin, (Conservatoire International des Langues, Paris) Conservatoire International des Langues : projet de ressources médiatiques au secours des langues en danger) and Nicole Poteaux, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (Les Centres de Ressources de Langues : une réorganisation de l'apprentissage ?) respectively addressed the role of media resources in preserving languages that are dying out or in danger, and in organizing those we'll have to manage tomorrow. This last point, which had been timed to coincide with the debate underway at INALCO concerning the criteria to be adopted for the choice of the future Language Resource Center (LRC), on the new TOLBIAC university site, not only gave rise to rich exchanges during the day, but undoubtedly also played a part in the association of the PLIDAM team, by the INALCO authorities, in the reflections linked to the choice of this future structure at INALCO.

"Language policies, language learning and francophonie in Central and Eastern Europe" - Paris, Inalco.

Organizer: Thomas Szende.
The "Language policies, language learning and the French-speaking world in Central and Eastern Europe" symposium presented experiences and avenues for reflection on language policies in Central and Eastern European countries, in the light of actions to promote European plurilingualism. 
This theme provided an opportunity to discuss the language offer in Central and Eastern Europe, and to recall the aims and didactic practices around which language training is organized today in this region's educational systems (from schools to universities, and according to individualized learning), a sector strongly affected by recent political, economic and demographic upheavals.
. The comparison of the testimonies of French and foreign experts provided an opportunity to take stock of the influence of social, ideological and affective factors in language learning (national languages, minority languages and foreign languages). In particular, we studied the values and representations most strongly associated with mother tongues, neighboring languages and languages to be learned, emphasizing the role played by prejudice and stereotypes in language acquisition, a privileged opportunity to reflect on otherness and identity.

Journée " Jeunes chercheurs " - Paris, Inalco.
Organizer: Lin Chi Miao

"Didactics of graphic systems" - Paris, Inalco.

Project proposed by Joël Bellassen Co-organization : Héba Lecocq (Arabic), Patrick Maurus (Korean), Lin Chi Miao (Chinese).

This study day looked at pedagogical mediation from the angles of formalizing skills in a university context and designing learning and teaching tools. It took as its starting point the non-Latin and non-alphabetic alphabetic nature of certain scripts, which invites us to reconsider certain didactic issues linked to their learning, taking the measure of the state of partition between linguistic knowledge and graphic knowledge as taught knowledge. By integrating the reflection of the European Framework of Reference for Languages and questioning its relevance to the teaching and learning of non-alphabetic languages, the contributors focused on:
- cross-referencing curricula and programming (graphic knowledge, in particular: characters, graphic components), and setting up a progression that defines a reading threshold according to skill levels, for example in Chinese, Arabic and Japanese
. - learning to write, read and write from a plurilingual and pluricultural perspective, for learners simultaneously or successively studying languages with a common history of writing (e.g. Chinese, Korean, Japanese)
. The speakers emphasized that "strange" scripts first act as a disruptive element, and then act as a kind of screen, since they are usually unfamiliar (to the adult francophone beginner). While speakers of the languages thus transcribed usually learn ours (English, French) thanks to a widespread familiarity with the Latin alphabet, few of our learners are familiar with non-Latin graphic systems. Yet it would seem that these scripts (non-Latin or non-alphabetic) benefit from being presented not as difficulties to be overcome, but as a cultural depth, a linguistic reality that enables us to enter into the understanding of others from the outset. Too many examples show that writing often remains a tedious stage, a chore of the same type as phonetics, which you "have" to digest before moving on to the serious stuff (this is certainly not the case with sinograms). It's a mistake in both cases.
It was also pointed out, in line with didactic principles, that it was interesting to have recourse to the plurilingual situation of countries and learners. Moreover, the hesitation in terminology (graphic systems, scripts, alphabets, etc.) reflected the richness of the problem. A publication should bring together the papers from this day and the one that will extend it in 2009.

Matinée : Around sinograms : Joel Bel-lassen, L'approche didactique du chinois et la malédiction de Babel ; Fabienne Marc, Présentation d'une méthode programmée de chinois moderne ; Lin Chi-miao, Typologies et didactique de la sinographie ; Elli Suzuki et Hideo Hosokawa, Conception nouvelle de méthodes d'apprentissage des idéogrammes en japonais : réflexion et présentation d'un cas au Japon ; Modérateur : Geneviève Zarate.

Après-midi : En marge de la Chine : Patrick Maurus, Colinguisme, xénismes, niveaux de langue et seuils d'apprentissage ; Jacques Legrand, Le mongol et ses écritures ; Modérateur : George Alao
Around the Mediterranean: Heba Lecocq, Teaching Arabic script to a French audience; Yishai Neuman, Hebrew graphemics in the service of the acquisition of Hebrew as a second language; Moderator: Patrick Maurus
Bilan, Joel Bel-lassen, Geneviève Zarate.

"Implicites - Stereotypes - Imaginaires ; La composante culturelle en langue étrangère" - Paris, Inalco.

Program of the two days (.doc / 62.50KB)

"Quelle didactique plurilingue et pluriculturelle en contexte mondialisé?" - Paris, Ecole des Mines.

Day program (.pdf / 263.50KB)

"Ecritures et dynamiques politiques - Implications didactiques" - Paris, Inalco.

Day program (.pdf / 155.46KB)

Appropriation et transmission des langues et des cultures du monde" - Paris, Inalco.

Program (.pdf / 490.68KB)

"L'évaluation de la compétence en langue - Convergence(s) et Divergence(s)" - Paris, Inalco.

Day program (.pdf / 228.03KB)

SEMINAR EBCL - Inalco / La Belle Gabrielle (Research and Doctoral Studies)
49bis avenue de la Belle Gabrielle - 75012 Paris

What is EBCL Project?

EBCL is a European project currently carried on by a team of four Universities: London School of Oriental and African Studies, University of Rennes 2, Freie Universität of Berlin and University of Rome "Sapienza". The aim of the project is creating a benchmark framework for Chinese language based upon the Common European Framework of Reference, taking into consideration both linguistic knowledge and inter-cultural skills. Benchmarking Chinese language will provide a useful reference to standardize Chinese language teaching and assessment throughout Europe.

Paris Seminar

Since the last Seminar (Rome, may 2011) university partners have created a data bank with existing CEFR-related syllabus for Chinese language teaching in middle schools (France, Germany, Italy) or with UK CEFR-related Chinese language assessment, and each partner worked specifically on the building of a benchmark framework for one skill from A1 to A2.

The open session of the Paris Seminar is to report on the preliminery results of these researches on the benchmark framework for the five skills, to exchange with experts of the CEFR and experts of the existing CEFR-related syllabus for Chinese language in middle schools.

Program of the seminar :

October 14, 2011 Morning session (closed)
Participants: representatives of the university partners

9:30 - 11:00
Report and exchange about the proposal of a benchmark framework for listening and speaking until level A2 (or B1?)
11:00 - 11:15
Coffee break
11:15 - 13:00
Report and exchange about the proposal of benchmark framework for reading and writing until level A2 (or B1 ?) :

October 14, 2011 Afternoon session (open) 
Participants: representatives of the university partners, school partners and auditors (Invited experts of CEFR and CEFR-related syllabus for Chinese language, Chinese language teachers, representatives of cultural associations where Chinese language is taught etc.)

14:00 - 16:00
Presentation of the EBCL project (Zhang Xinsheng)
Presentation of the French/ German/ Italian CEFR related Syllabus.
Discussion
16:00 - 16:20
Coffee break
16:20 - 18:00
Each university partner reports on the benchmark framework for each skill from A1 to A2.
Discussion

October 15, 2011 Morning session (closed)
Participants: representatives of the university partners

9:30 - 11:00
Continuation of the discussion about the building of each benchmark framework
Discussion about the creation of a benchmark framework for the "Intercultural Skill"
11:00 - 11:15
Coffee break
11:15 - 13:00
Administrative issues
Conclusion

Shaping Language Policy in Higher Education. Practices and Initiatives at SOAS- UCL- INALCO / Didactique des langues et cultures du monde dans l'enseignement supérieur. Formation, Transformation.

Co-organized with

1. SOAS-UCL Centre for Excellence in Language teaching and Learning - "Languages of the Wider World", University of London. Director Itesh Sachdev;
2. SOAS-UCL Centre for Language Pedagogy. Director Noriko Iwasaki ;
3. Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Dean Anne Pauwels.

The Organising Committee / Le comitté d'organisation: George Alao, Martine Derivry, Isabelle Han, Anthippi Potolia, Changying Shu, Elli Suzuki, Geneviève Zarate (Responsible). Master's students: Mak Cédric, Chaserio Marion, Grevet Odilon, Wang Yu.


The term "Atelier / Workshop" is understood here in its fullest sense: "to show research being done", as Pierre Bourdieu defined it in the first issue of the journal Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. The aim is therefore to engage with our colleagues at SOAS and UCL in debates that may be less finished than in scientific communication "en majesté", but in which the questioning that lies at the heart of research takes priority. The event should give rise to tandems / working groups between our colleagues and our team.

This workshop is a continuation of the one held in London on January 21, 2011, at SOAS.