Social cohesion and INCLUsion: DEveloping the EDucational possibilities of the European Multilingual Heritage through Applied Linguistics Erasmus Project

Project Title

Social cohesion and INCLUsion: DEveloping the EDucational possibilities of the European Multilingual Heritage through Applied Linguistics

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Integration of refugees; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

INCLUDEED is a multilingual project whose main objective is the integration of immigrant and refugee groups in Europe through one of Europe’s main assets: its languages. It involves the participation of leading universities in Applied Linguistics, especially language teaching and with previous joint experience in creating materials for the use of these socially disadvantaged groups. It is now proposed to go one step further.

INCLUDEED revolves around two intellectual outputs:

In the intellectual output 1, the group of universities will analyse the teaching of languages to immigrants and refugees as a joint task, with each of the partners taking on the development of a theme or aspect in this field. As a result of this work, a joint guide will be produced for people and institutions working in the field of immigrants and refugees reception. This publication, which will be open and available through different channels of dissemination and which will address the challenges and solutions in the integration of these groups, can function as a vade mecum in the tasks of different groups: language teaching professionals or volunteers, non-governmental organisations and national and supranational public institutions.

In the intellectual output 2, a multilingual course (in six languages) will be developed for immigrant and refugee groups who already have a basic and instrumental level of the host language but who have difficulties in communicating effectively and pragmatically. In other words, these courses (in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and English) aim to achieve a good sociolinguistic and intercultural integration, beyond the linguistic rudiments they already possess. This communicative skill is vital to achieve success in the working environment, but also in the personal, as well as to avoid communicative situations that could approach the orbit of the intercultural conflict. The courses, virtual and open, will be hosted, on the one hand, in a dedicated Youtube channel and, on the other hand, in a repository located in the project’s web-platform, where it will also be possible to consult complementary materials for self-training. Providing also self-evaluation tools, the use of all materials will allow potential users to improve their skills and abilities in general and in their performance and daily interactions in particular. Course description: 6 multilingual units, including in each linguistic microfunctions and interaction schemes (MCERL), communicative contexts (language registers/pragmatic frames) and intercultural information

Around these two intellectual outputs, intensive cross-disciplinary and cross-training activities (2 workshops and 2 multiplier events) will be organised by the consortium members in their field of specialisation for the exchange of knowledge and skills in language teaching to socially disadvantaged groups, such as immigrants and refugees. In addition to the multiplication of the impact with the retraining of staff in the universities of origin, the intellectual outputs will also benefit from the results of these training, dissemination and reflection activities.

With INCLUDEED, remarkable results and impact will be achieved: first of all, innovative, high quality materials, elaborated by specialists in the field, will be offered to a group that has special characteristics and therefore has to be approached in a particular way. This is also an innovative approach, since the materials available today are limited and often non-specialised. Secondly, it responds to the very numerous cases in which members of these groups, due to their life circumstances, need to carry out training and learning autonomously. Thirdly, a detailed examination of these aspects of immigrant and refugee education will be carried out, the conclusions of which will be translated into a guide for teachers and those responsible for training these groups, which will help to understand and deal with the phenomenon of migration and the reception of refugees from a linguistic point of view. Fourthly, from the perspective of respect for diversity, multilingualism and the use of the majority European languages, the cultural heritage of the continent and one of the driving forces of the EU, are promoted. Fifthly, the links established through previous projects in institutions that are a reference in Applied Linguistics, specifically in language teaching, throughout the world are reinforced. Finally, it mitigates, from a modest position, problems of a global nature: the difficulties faced by migrants, including what is known as acculturative stress, defined as the process of simultaneous participation with the new culture and maintenance of the ethnic culture and identity.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 339340 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITE DE POITIERS
• ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
• THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
• UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA
• RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG