Effective Language Learning Policy in Higher Education

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Around the world, higher education is under pressure to stablish language policies, which will design procedures for main decisions and actions to be taken into effect in day-to-day activities of the universities and colleges. The universities are expected to develop effective policies for language education in order to promote plurilingualism as a way to assure social inclusion of home students and professors in the global community, as well as, to host foreign students and professors from other countries. Linguistic diversity should also be pursued because it is important to maintain the cultural diversity among countries and help develop a cultural friendly environment. In this way, this paper provides a review of the recommendations set by main State organizations, such as OCDE, UNESCO, CIEES, IIE and the British Council on how to develop language-learning policies. Our theoretical study shows that the first step into an effective language learning policy is to identify the weakness of current language education and then set actions and activities that can take the developing policies into effect. As a practical example, the procedures towards the development of language learning policy at UNESP – São Paulo State University will be presented.

Author(s):

Regiani Aparecida Zacarias    
UNESP
Brazil