The community languages group looks after the particular needs of community language teacher and learners, particularly basic education in community languages. The most widely used community languages in Britain are Urdu, Bangla and Punjabi. These are also classified as Modern Foreign Languages. The defining factors for whether a language is being taught as a Modern Foreign Language or a Community Language are the learners and the focus of their learning. Where learners with basic literacy and study skills needs live in a community in which the target language is widely used, the language is termed a community language. Where learners learn a language for a social or work situations, the target language is termed a Modern Foreign Language.
The recent fast pace of developments in ESOL has perhaps kept the community languages side of NATECLA in the shade. We are keen to redress this balance with some focussed activity for community language practitioners. We would like to set up an email group to facilitate contact between practitioners around the country. Please email
co-ordinator@natecla.fsnet.co.uk
CILT - The National Centre for Languages has published the results of its 2005 study into the teaching and learning of community languages in Britain. Its report
Positively Plurilingual combines its findings with a round up of recent research into the benefits of bilingualism. The publication can be downloaded at
www.cilt.org.uk/pdf/pubs/positively_plurilingual.pdf. Further information on CILT's community language publications and activities can be found at
www.cilt.org.uk/commlangs/index.htm
