The global spread of English, and associated questions of linguistic imperialism and epistemic injustice, are reasonably well rehearsed in the academic literature. However, there seems to be relatively less emphasis placed on the languages that are displaced by hegemonic processes, whether that of English, or that of other locally dominant languages. The Apprentisage des langues MoDiMEs dans une Europe plurielle (ALaMODE) research project attempts to redress this imbalance, by focussing on questions regarding the diffusion and teaching of less widely spoken languages.

What are Langues MoDiMEs

The French acronym MoDiMEs stands for Moins Diffusées et Moins Enseignées (Less Widely Used and Less Widely Taught) languages. These are languages ​​that are not very visible in the European context. Some of them are relatively ‘small’ in absolute terms: this definition includes regional languages and marginalised varieties of dominant languages. Others, such as Chinese, Russian, Japanese or Arabic, can be described as “major” in a global sense, but are less visible in the European linguistic ecology.

The relational definition of Langues MoDiMEs can pose challenges, because languages ​​do not enjoy the same status in educational systems worldwide. For example, some languages, such as Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian, may be considered Langues MoDiMEs in the European context, but they would not be viewed as such in Australia, where they are widely taught as L2s in schools. In other words, deciding whether a language is “more” or “less” widely spoken or taught requires us to take into account multiple political, educational, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic considerations.

What this means is that it is necessary to develop contextualised understandings of Langues MoDiMEs. As a first step, we need a documentation of what Langues MoDiMEs are in each local context. We also need locally relevant insigths into what makes these languages less widely used and taught, and what the processes are which marginalise them. Such understandings can hopefully help inform language policy as well as teaching practice in ways that challenge linguistic inequalities.

ALaMODE: Studying Langues MoDiMEs

The project team

The Apprentissage des Langues MoDiMEs dans une Europe Plurielle (ALaMODE) international research collaboration, is a joint initiative led by the Université de Poitiers, and bringing together the Universities of Thessaly (Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας), Niš (Универзитет у Нишу), Turku (Turun Yliopisto), Iaşi (Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iași), Tirana (Universiteti I Tiranës), Serajevo (Univerzitet u Sarajevu), East Serajevo (Универзитет у Источном Сарајеву), Varsovie (Uniwersytet Warszawski), Wrocław (Uniwersytet Wrocławski), Salamanque (Universidad de Salamanca), Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra), and Thessaloniki (Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης).

You can meet the project team and read more about our roles and interests below:

Aims and deliverables

The project aims to challenge and inform language policy and teaching. We expect that it will help teachers and policy-makers reflect on the place of Langues MoDiMEs in the European linguistic ecology. We also hope that it will contribute, in practical ways, towards more effective teaching of such languages. To do this, we envisage three main sets of outputs:

• Documentation of language policies in the EU, with emphasis on the role of Langues MoDiMEs. In doing so, we hope to highlight inclusive practices, where such exist. We also expect to identify areas where more inclusive policies towards diversity would be desirable.
• Typological and contrastive analysis of Langues MoDiMEs. This analysis, which we expect to publish in a collective volume, will hopefully inform teaching and materials design by identifying areas which could cause difficulty in language learning.
• An educational proposal, e.g., in the form of a game intended to help speakers to develop literacy skills in an alphabet other than the one used in their L1. We view this as a ‘proof-of-concept’ demonstration of how purposeful materials design can help with the teaching of Langues MoDiMEs.

Resources and Updates

This section will be populated with content as the project develops.