ThisbookpresentsauniquemanifestationofascholarlydiscourserelatedtotheCEFRintheEastAsianregion.
Inthe21stcentury,multiculturalismandmultilingualismformhighlycomplexissuesthatareaddressedaroundtheglobebyeducators,researchers,andpoliticiansalike.Inthiscontext,theCommonEuropeanFrameworkofReferenceforLanguages(CEFR)remainsoneofthemostambitiousexamplesoflanguagepolicy.Morethanasimplelinguisticpolicy,italsohelpsforeignlanguagelearnerstoconstructtheirlinguisticandculturalidentity.ThetermmultilingualismasusedbytheEUcoversthatofplurilingualism,whichhighlightsthecommunicativevalueofanygivenlanguage,therebyencouragingpersonslivinginEuropetodeveloptheircommunicativecompetenceinaplurilingualEurope.
AsforthesituationinEastAsia,manyeducationalinstitutionsandevengovernmentagencieshaveadoptedtheCEFRoverthelastdecadeforvariousreasons.However,doubtsexistaboutwhetherthismovetoimplementareliablelanguageproficiencyassessmentwaswellresearchedormerelyblindlyadoptedduetopoliticalmotivations.ApartoftheCEFRisbasedontheidealofaplurilingualEuropeandthefactthatmostEuropeansdocommandacertainleveloflanguagecompetenceinseverallanguagesandthattheycanoftentimesbuilduponitwhenlearninganotherEuropeanlanguage.Nodoubt,EastAsiansocietiesaremultilingualsocietiesaswell.Besidestheirmothertongue,themajorityofpeoplelivinginthisregionspeakthestandardvarietyoftheirrespectivecountry.However,doesthatmeanthatnativespeakersoftwoormoreAsianlanguageshaveanadvantagewhenlearningEuropeanlanguages?
ForeignlanguageeducatorsfromEuropeandtheEastAsianregionarejoinedinthisproject,engaginginverystimulatingdiscussionsanduncoveringthevastpotentialoftheCEFRasacatalystinpluriculturalandplurilingualeducationfacingthenewmillennium.
