The contribution of academia to the further development of European language policy: Some reflections based on an analysis of the European Commission's communications on multilingualism of 2005 and 2008

Abstract

Over the past years the European Commission launched two communications on multilingualism: 'A New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism' (2005) and 'Multilingualism: An Asset for Europe and a Shared Commitment' (2008). Their synthetic nature makes both communications suitable to serve as a starting point for a generalising overview of the main points of European language policy as they have been given shape over the past years. Since research has fuelled and will continue to fuel the development of European language policy the overview for the purpose of this contribution is combined with a round-up of current trends in research on multilingualism. The combination of both policy directions and research trends is meant to give way to a generalising reflection on challenges related to European language policy as expressed in the Commission's communications on multilingualism and on the role academia could (or should) play in meeting these challenges.