Editorial

Angela Chambers
University of Limerick, IE

Table of contents
en français



The publication of the seventh bulletin is timed to coincide with the ELC conference on Multilingualism and New Learning Environments, a major event in the European Year of Languages 2001. For this reason it was decided to introduce the first issue of the bulletin devoted to a single theme, and to focus on the topic of language policy in Europe. We are fortunate that, despite their heavy workloads, representatives of the leading European organisations in the area of language policy have agreed to provide articles for this issue, providing information on their current activities. Paul Holdsworth gives an account of the aims and the activities of the European Commission's Language Policy Unit, which is part of the Directorate General for Education and Culture, while Joseph Shiels's article gives up to date information on progress in the work of the Council of Europe's Modern Languages Project. Anne-Claude Berthoud's article provides a summary of the activities of the ELC Task Force on European Language Policy, which aimed to provide a framework for the development of language policies in higher education institutions in Europe. Finally Claude Truchot tackles the issue of language in business, proposing an analytical framework. In addition to an update on progress in a European project, MALTED, the News in Brief section includes information on several projects which were accepted for funding in the first round of applications to the European Commission as part of the European Year of Languages 2001. As the ELC focuses on languages in higher education, the information concerns projects involving higher education institutions.

The Publications Committee welcomes contributions to future issues, either in the form of 1000 word articles on ELC projects or issues of importance in language learning and teaching at European level, or in the form of brief information or progress reports on activities involving European co-operation in language studies which will be of interest to readers.

Information for inclusion in future editions should be sent to:

Sietze Looijenga
European Language Council/Conseil européen pour les langues
Freie Universität Berlin
ZE Sprachlabor
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
D-14195 Berlin
tel.:+49-30-838.53718
fax: +49-30-838.53717
email: elc@zedat.fu-berlin.de
WWW:
http://www.fu-berlin/elc

Members of the ELC Publications Committee

Angela Chambers, University of Limerick, IE
Dolorès Ditner, University College London, UK
Mike Grenfell, University of Southampton, UK
Daniel Toudic, Université de Haute-Bretagne, Rennes II, FR.


ELC Information Bulletin 7 - April 2001