ECIS ESLMT Conference 2017

There is a strong scientific and economic case for encouraging
multilingualism in Europe, in two respects. First and most obviously, there is
considerable evidence highlighting the benefits to individuals, business,
culture and the economy of being able to communicate freely with people
from other countries in their languages and to understand local
cultures. Second, and less obviously, individuals and societies benefit from
multilingualism irrespective of which languages are involved, since a
multilingual brain potentially operates more effectively in terms of focusing,
seeing both sides of an argument, and flexibly adapting to changing
circumstances. Investing in multilingualism will thus enhance the
capabilities of individuals and groups and improve a country's ability to
compete globally. However, enabling multilingualism, both at the individual
and at the societal level, is not without challenges. I will discuss some of the
work that the Bilingualism Matters centre does - in the UK and
internationally - to bridge the gap between research and educators, teachers,
and policy makers, and to implement language learning programmes based
on informed professional decisions.