MOLAN: Network for the exchange of information about good practices that serve to motivate language learners
The 'MOLAN - Network for the exchange of information about good practices that serve to motivate language learners' project, funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), is carried out by 40 higher education institutions and schools from 24 European countries, and four European and national organisations including European Schoolnet (click here to see the full list of partners).
The project’s principal aim is to bring about a positive attitude among young Europeans towards the learning of foreign languages, and towards other peoples and cultures. MOLAN is driven by the conviction that young people in Europe have to acquire multilingual competence for the benefit of society and of themselves.
There are clear indications that neither the principle of linguistic diversity nor the notion of lifelong language learning is widely accepted by young people and by educational authorities and institutions. MOLAN aims at changing this situation by identifying and disseminating policies, strategies and practices which enhance the motivation of young people in formal education to learn and continue learning foreign languages.
MOLAN strives to encourage:
- the learning of a second or further foreign language(s);
- the learning of less widely used and taught languages;
- cooperation between schools and universities.
The MOLAN project is designed to be carried out in three stages:
Stage 1 (2007/2008): preparation, collection, and analysis of case studies from the higher education and school sectors;
Stage 2 (2008/2009): to disseminate the insights gained in Year One, preparation of a handbook, and of a web-based system for targeted information retrieval;
Stage 3 (2009/2010): dissemination of project findings; preparation of impact studies; initiation of steps designed to ensure the sustainability and further development of the network.
