Paper short abstract:

This presentation deals with the effects of the forum on the coexistence of East Asian countries. The students gradually changed their attitudes more actively through the forum, which shows the positive effects of the forum as intercultural citizenship education.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation deals with the effects of the forum on the coexistence of East Asia. Students from Poland introduced their history where they have deprived their homeland during the world wars, as well as were put under control of the Soviet Union after World War II. They emphasized that, even though they suffered from various hardships in the past, we should look at the future without clinging to the past. Students from New Zealand talked about the success of their multiculturalism. A student from the United States, from the standpoint of the leading country in the world, reviewed his country critically, what they should do for world peace to establish.

Students from East Asian countries provided their proposals not from nationalistic but from an international perspective. And then in the general session, based on these presentations, they discussed what people and the governments should do to overcome their conflicts and to live together harmoniously.

After the forum, participants were asked to submit a report to reflect on the effects of international exchange, of using and learning languages, and of academic learning, as well as the evaluation of the forum and proposal for the coexistence of East Asia. The reports were qualitatively analyzed.

As a result, students performed dialogue and interaction from transnational and perspectives, overcoming their nationalism using the plurilingual and pluricultural skills. According to the reports, they reaped various benefits from the forum:

All the participants not only had a chance to use learning languages but also managed to conclude East Asian coexistence from multilateral perspectives.

Students from East Asian countries, in particular, successfully gained an answer on how to live together harmoniously using three-language-policy from EU, multiculturalism from New Zealand, and leadership from the U. S. as references.

Students from outside of East Asia gradually changed their attitudes more actively through introducing their information to East Asian students as well as considering with them about issues that seemed unrelated to them in the beginning.

These outcomes show the positive effects as intercultural citizenship education.

Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, the characteristics of language competences drawn in RFCDC are compared with that of CEFR. The main reason for the difference is that CEFR puts importance on what can be done in the target language, whereas RFCDC promotes to relativize the way of language use.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this presentation is to clarify what language competences are required for citizens in the RFCDC (Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture). The RFCDC conceptual diagram, published by Council of Europe in 2017, is expressed in a flower-like form with four petals (values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and critical understanding). Each petal is presented with related fields, each accompanied by a list of competence descriptors. The competence descriptors are roughly divided into three stages, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced, and more specifically, five stages including BI (between Basic and Intermediate) and IA (between Intermediate and Advanced).

In this study, a total of 447 competence descriptors are examined if they are related to (pluri)lingual competences, and if the answer is yes, in which field on which petal they are positioned. Also, we tried to find the characteristics of these descriptors compared to CEFR.

As a result:

1) There were 45 descriptors related (pluri)lingual competences. Thirty of which were in the "Linguistic, communicative and plurilingual skills" field on the "Skills" petal and 13 of which were in the "Knowledge and critical understanding of language and communication" field on the "Knowledge and Critical Understanding" petal.

2) While there are many similarities between the competence descriptions of the CEFR basic level (A1-A2) and that of the RFCDC basic or basic-intermediate level, the emphasis differs greatly for the advanced levels (C1 and C2 of CEFR, IA and Advanced of RFCDC). This is because CEFR puts importance on what can be done in the specific target language, whereas at the advanced level of RFCDC, it is to relativize and to take scope from the way of language use that one already has in　their language repertoire and is accustomed to.

Paper short abstract:

The Chinese government is committed to fostering "World Citizens". We analyze the content of the new national standard for foreign language education in China and characterize the common points and differences between "World Citizens" and "Global Citizenship" in Western society.

Paper long abstract:

The Chinese government is committed to fostering global citizenship (called "the world citizens" in China) with the idea of "a community of shared future for mankind". The Ministry of Education released The "National Standard on the Teaching Quality of Higher Education Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the "New National Standard) in 2018. Now it is the nationwide standard for establishment, development, and evaluation of four-year university majors. We analyze the content of the new national standard for foreign language education, characterize the "world citizens", and propose it in light of the inter-cultural citizenship of Byram (2006; 2008) in Western society. Then, we summarize the differences with "Global Citizenship".

According to the analysis of the "New National Standard", the "World Citizens" have the following characteristics. 1) Take a foothold in China with a global perspective, 2) Have a correct view of the world, values, and life with high morals and social responsibility; 3) Have a spirit of cooperation and creativity; 4) Have a high linguistic skill and professional skill; 5) Contribute to China's international exchange, national and local social development, education and academic research.

There are some points in common with "world citizen" education and global citizenship education. 1) Moral and political activity; 2) Global perspective and communication skills; 3) Plurilingual and pluricultural competence. However, it is emphasized that world citizens' education is human resource development for the nation. "We need global human talents who are well versed in negotiations and exchanges, who are familiar with global rules and utilize foreign languages, especially those who meet the needs of the Belt and Road National Strategy Development (National Education Congress, 2018)." Japan is also working on developing "global human resources" that place importance on Japanese identity. In other words, human resource development for national interests in East Asia has a different core spirit than Western democratic citizenship education. When considering global citizenship education, it is necessary to take into account the East Asian context, which is very different from the Western context.