Transnational contextualization in intercultural language education

This article argues that the field of intercultural language education should continue to question the traditional national paradigm (in which the dominant focus of sociocultural knowledge is on conditions within the borders of target -language countries) and orient itself still more clearly towards the diverse and interdependent world with a view of educating for global citizenship. The article notes that languages, not least those that are taught as foreign languages, are transnational and global phenomena, which entails that language teaching must be prepared to teach the target language as first, second and foreign language in many different places in the world. It proposes a range of dimensions of transnationality comprising not only language flows but also other kinds of transnational practices, processes and structures – dimensions that may be considered in the planning and analysis of language learning materials. It describes three transnational themes in greater length in order to demonstrate how transnational contextualization can transform existing themes in the direction of making the real interdependent world with its important issues visible for the students, although perhaps only in visuals and simple texts. The three transnational themes dealt with are: Scotland: The Scandinavian Connection (for English teaching); Senegal: The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel (for French teaching); and The Thailand Cave Rescue (for English teaching).