Abstract
Many types of human behaviour, from scientific research to political decision-making, are based on implicit assumptions, considered to be so self-evident that they do not need any further justification. Such assumptions are particularly powerful in topics related to language: one of the most universal and fundamental human abilities and a prerequisite for social life, civilisation and culture. They become a driving force in the current debates about multilingualism. We identify three central assumptions underlying key controversies related to language: (a) the “limited resources model” assuming that learning languages has a detrimental effect on learning other subjects, (b) the notion that the “normal” state of human brain, mind and society is either monolingualism, or a strong dominance of a “mother tongue”, accompanied by less relevant “additional” languages, (c) the belief that the aim of language learning is a “native-like” proficiency and anything that fails to reach it has only limited value. Combin...
Highlights
In the world characterised by globalisation, migration and multiculturalism on one side and by strong, occasionally violent reactions to these phenomena on the other, the topic of multilingualism is becoming increasingly a scientifically controversial and politically divisive issue
It is of interest and relevance to different scientific disciplines, from education through sociology and linguistics to cognitive neuroscience
We identify and discuss three central assumptions: (a) the “limited resources models” assuming that learning languages has a detrimental effect on learning other subjects, (b) the notion that the “normal”, “default” state of human brain, mind and society is either monolingualism, or a strong dominance of a “mother tongue”, accompanied by less relevant “additional” languages, (c) the belief that the aim of language learning is to reach a “native-like” proficiency and anything that fails to reach this goal has only limited value
Summary
In the world characterised by globalisation, migration and multiculturalism on one side and by strong, occasionally violent reactions to these phenomena on the other, the topic of multilingualism is becoming increasingly a scientifically controversial and politically divisive issue. The proportion of multilingual school children and adults across Europe and the number of languages they use is constantly increasing, languages offered in education do not seem to reflect this trend.
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