From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship: Essays and Reflections

This book analyses the evolution of theory of intercultural competence and its relationship to education for citizenship. It analyses the concepts of intercultural competence by discussing the ways in which language education policy develops and by comparing the theories and purposes of foreign language education and education for citizenship.

Michael Byram is Professor of Education at Durham University, England. He studied French, German and Danish at King’s College Cambridge, and wrote a PhD on Danish literature. He then taught French and German at secondary school level and in adult education in an English comprehensive school. Since being appointed to a post in teacher education at Durham in 1980, he has carried out research into the education of linguistic minorities, foreign language education and student residence abroad. His books include Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence (1997) and he is the editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning. He is also an Adviser to the Council of Europe Language Policy Division.