1. Multilingualism in Belgium: a Clash Between Politics and Cognition
Piet Van de Craen, Katja Lochtman, Katrien Mondt, Evy Ceuleers, Laure Allain & Barbara De Groot
2/05/ | pag. 1

2. Multilingualism in Belgium
The Context
The political context
A bit of history and … a bit of law
Education as a regional matter
The Research Project
Linguistic aspects
Language pedagogical aspects
Social psychological aspects
Neurolinguistic and neurocognitive aspects
Economic aspects
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 2

3. Politically: Belgium is a near federal state with
The Context
Politically: Belgium is a near federal state with
three communities (one German-speaking, one French-speaking and one Dutch-speaking);
three regions (Wallonia, Flanders, Brussels);
four language areas (one German, one French, one Dutch, one officially bilingual);
seven governments...
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 3

4. In 1963 a number of language laws were voted...
A Bit of History...
In 19th century Belgium, according to the Constitution, language use was free; in practice this meant that French was the sole language that mattered.
Between the Flemish Movement undertook actions to ‘dutchify’ higher education, the army and administration in Dutch-speaking Belgium.
In 1963 a number of language laws were voted...
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 4

5. Belgian language laws relating to language learning and teaching:
…and a bit of law
Belgian language laws relating to language learning and teaching:
in Wallonia and Flanders: second language learning starts in grade 5, age 11;
in Brussels: it starts in grade 3, age 9.
Since 1963 no changes have taken place. But:
1998: in Wallonia le Décret Onkelinx, allowing primary schools to organize enseignement du type immersif;
2004: in Flanders: a decree on language initiation that makes the law of 1963 compulsory.
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 5

6. Education as a regional matter
Wallonia: enseignement du type immersif (50 -80% of the curriculum), 51 primary schools in , popular success, high social demand, yet schools keep low profile… results are good, problems with teachers and teaching material. Languages: Dutch, English, German.
Brussels: 3 CLIL oriented primary Dutch-speaking schools with mixed population started in 2001; results are good, different subject-matter is taught in French for +/- 20% of the curriculum. Languages: Dutch and French.
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 6

7. The Research Project: Introduction 1
General hypotheses: CLIL will positively affect
language proficiency in both Dutch and French but other languages will also be affected...
language pedagogical thinking and, hopefully, this approach will entail new ways of teaching foreign languages…
social psychological aspects of both teachers and pupils such as attitudes and motivation…
neurocognitive aspects of the brain in the sense that multilingual brains are considered ‘better brains’…
economic aspects such as well-being and job market success since multilingualism is a core value in Belgian society albeit not officially supported by educational authorities.
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 7

8. The Research Project: Introduction 2
Studies in Wallona and Brussels
Wallonia: homogeneous group of French-speaking pupils
Brussels: three groups can be distinguished:
Dutch-speakers: usually the minority;
French-speakers: usually the majority;
other language speakers : ‘traditional’ migrant languages, Moroccan, Berber, Turkish but also African languages, Kurdish, Spanish, …
remark: some are false French speakers, some are bilingual (Dutch-French) or have other combinations of languages… some are trilingual, in other words: heterogeneous groups...
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 8

9. The Research Project: Introduction 3
The sociolinguistic context of Wallonia:
French-speaking;
in the past less attention was paid to foreign language learning;
relatively small cities and municipalities
The sociolinguistic context of Brussels:
officially a French-Dutch bilingual city;
dominantly French-speaking;
in fact, largest French-speaking city of Belgium;
capital of Europe: enormous amount of languages around
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 9

10. Conclusion...
Politically there is a lot apprehensiveness towards CLIL or CLIL like initiatives.
Yet, there is a lot of social demand.
There are some signs that the situation will improve:
the existence of a parent’s organization (TIBEM);
the debate has finally started;
as research results are coming in… time is on our side….
Multilingualism in Belgium
2/05/ | pag. 10