Internationalization in higher education: the multilingual classroom.

This article discusses the role of multilingual education as part of the internationalization strategies in place at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). English is the language of internationalization, while other languages such as German, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Chinese are traditionally taught as foreign languages. Because of the internationalization of educational programmes, however, learner groups are becoming increasingly more heterogeneous, which calls for more appropriate multilingual pedagogical approaches, and this also applies to foreign language linguistics and literature modules. In the present article. it is suggested that the success of foreign languages other than English depends on the principles of multilingual education. The teaching of, in and through foreign languages might even prove to be an example of good practice for a successful internationalization programme.

ISBN:978-3-942949-26-2

Trefwoorden:Foreign language pedagogy