A Theoretical Framework for Language Education and Teaching

Educational linguistics is transcultural, research is international. Educational systems, on the contrary, are culture-bound. As a consequence, actual teaching differs among countries, sometimes among provinces, local educational authorities, even among schools. Yet, a globalized world needs to share the meanings of “knowing a language” and “teaching a language”, as language is the main factor of both cultural identity and national and international interaction. The framework is built on eight ‘hypotheses’, i.e., logical models that provide the potential common core of a non-culture-bound theory of language education and of language teaching. The aim is to suggest a common terminology, some common principles, a basic paradigm to be shared in both theoretical and practical research in edu-linguistics, thus going beyond the borders stated in such titles European framework, American standards, Chinese guidelines.