Perspectives on language education policy

The increasing globalisation our world is experiencing has increased the number of intercultural contact situations, underlining the need for individuals to develop the capacity to use several languages appropriately and effectively. Plurilingualism has become a major asset in our present-day society. Our world is also characterised by the linguistic diversity present in many countries due to the co-existence of different local and migration languages. The problem, however, is that many of these languages tend to remain as minority languages, spoken by a small part of the community and neglected in schools and local administrations. The present chapter underlines the key role that education and, consequently, language education policies can play in encouraging language learning as well as contributing to preserving, revitalising and recognising local and migration languages. It concludes by providing an overview of the main contents addressed in each of the chapters included in the present book