Ce texte propose une vision nouvelle de la formation des enseignants de langues en Europe, qui tienne certes compte des enjeux économiques, mais aussi identitaires et citoyens de l’apprentissage des langues. Afin d’exprimer clairement son opposition aux conceptions “utilitaristes”, centrées de manière trop réductrice sur les fameux “skills”, l’auteur préfère parler de “teacher education” plutôt que de “teacher training”.
Dans cette perspective nouvelle, la formation des enseignants implique notamment de rompre avec les conceptions fondées sur le mythe du “native-speaker” et de poser le plurilinguisme – autrement dit la compétence dynamique de l’individu à vivre dans un environnement plurilingue – comme finalité prioritaire de l’apprentissage des langues; elle suppose également de développer la compétence interculturelle des apprenants et de mettre l’accent sur des valeurs liées à l’apprentissage des langues, telles la citoyenneté, la démocratie et l’ouverture.
Cette “teacher education” doit ainsi préparer les enseignants à la fois d’un point de vue expérientiel et d’un point de vue analytique / théorique. Elle doit être dispensée dans des établissements de niveau universitaire et non plus dans des écoles purement professionnelles, à finalités immédiatement pratiques.
C’est ainsi qu’on pourra réaliser une véritable formation d’“enseignants européens de langues” plutôt que d’enseignants de langues européennes! (Red.) | Teacher education
As language teachers know, words are important. In the title of this article I have deliberately referred to teacher education, which in English can be distinguished from teacher training. The reason for this choice of words is related to a similar emphasis I prefer when talking about teaching-and-learning (for which in English we do not have an appropriate word but in German would be referred to as Didaktik). For in the teaching-and-learning of modern/foreign languages (langues vivantes) in schools and beyond, I wish to emphasise that language teachers should engage in language education and not simply the training of language skills.
Unfortunately, language teachers have been caught in a drift towards the emphasis on skills and training which is part of the drift towards making education the servant of the economy. For, in the late 20th century, politicians in developed, post-industrial societies realised that, to promote more economic development, it was not enough to invest in better machines. It was necessary to invest in ‘human capital’, in human beings and their skills. Schools and other education institutions were therefore seen as places where skills, including language skills, can be developed. Education/Bildung as something valuable in itself was, at best, only a second priority.
Yet in the European context, both in the Europe of the 15/25 EU countries and in the Europe of the 45 countries of the Council of Europe, language education has another significant role for individuals and for societies as a whole. This is evident in the White Paper of the EU, published in 1995 and called, in English, Towards the Learning Society. Here there are several purposes for language education. - first, economic opportunity:
Proficiency in several Community (i.e. EU) languages has become a precondition if citizens of the European Union are to benefit from the occupational and personal opportunities open to them in the border-free single market. This language proficiency must be backed up by the ability to adapt to working and living environments characterised by different cultures. - second, a sense of belonging and identity:
Languages are also the key to knowing other people. Proficiency in languages helps to build up the feeling of being European with all its cultural wealth and diversity and of understanding between the citizens of Europe. - third, educational progress for the individual:
Learning languages also has another important effect: experience shows that when undertaken from a very early age, it is an important factor in doing well at school. Contact with another language is not only compatible with becoming proficient in one’s mother tongue, it also makes it easier. [...]
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