Abstract
Higher education plays a fundamental role in the construction of a European citizenship that demands the development of plurilingual competences. Although the Bologna Process highlights that development (relating it to mobility, employability and lifelong learning), language education does not seem to be a priority in the agenda of higher education institutions (Tudor 2006). In the context of curricular restructuring required by the Bologna Process, this article presents a case study of the University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal, which set out to describe institutional practices and discourses concerning the use and function of languages in undergraduate and postgraduate education in two academic years (2002–2003 and 2007–2008, before and after the restructuring). In order to identify practices, we analysed the programmes of all language courses. This allowed us to identify the languages and language courses offered, as well as the degree programmes into which they are integrated. In order to access institutional discourses, we interviewed seven actors responsible for training and management at the UA (Rectors, Vice-Rectors, the Head of the Department of Languages and Cultures, The Erasmus Programme Coordinator, and the President of the Students' Union). The results show that the Bologna Process has had a limiting effect on language education: fewer language courses are offered and fewer degree programmes include them. This converges with the institutional actors' discourses, since they do not recognize the institution's responsibility to develop students' plurilingual competences and tend to value only the instrumental role of English.
About the authors
Susana PINTO has recently developed a PhD thesis in Didactics and Training entitled “Languages at the University of Aveiro: discourses and practices”. She integrates the Open Laboratory for the Learning of Foreign Languages (LALE) from the Department of Education and the Research Centre “Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers” (CIDTFF), at the University of Aveiro. Her research areas center on (educational) language policies specifically within higher education institutions, language learning and the development of plurilingual competences.
Maria Helena ARAÚJO E SÁ is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education of the University of Aveiro. She integrates the Open Laboratory for the Learning of Foreign Languages (LALE) and the Research Centre “Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers” (CIDTFF). She has coordinated and participated in several national and international research projects in the areas of Language Didactics and Intercomprehension.
©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
