Please note: These definitions relate to this specific project. The same terms may be defined differently elsewhere.
autonomy
The ability to:
- be aware of and understand the learning objectives of a set task as well as its parameters (for example the constraints ensuing from the type of interaction learners engage in);
- define personal objectives (within the institutional framework);
- choose how to implement these learning objectives: working options, activities and resources are selected to create an action plan. This will be supported by:
- evaluating existing knowledge, skills and resources at hand;
- identifying resources to overcome any personal shortfall;
- being able to use these resources (including digital resources) to successfully complete the task at hand ;
- implement this action plan;
- critically assess the process and resources used;
- reflect on how the whole process contributed to the development of autonomy both as language learners to complete the set tasks and as language users to interact in real life.
changemakers
Social actor who participates in the construction of a societal project, promoting, for example, inclusion, health, well-being, environmental protection, or the fight against inequalities. He/She contributes to the evolution and transformation of the context, but also of communities, and therefore of the rights, responsibilities and values that they represent.
Term in French:
transformateur de la société
Acteur social qui participe à la construction d’un projet de société, promeut, par exemple, l’inclusion, la santé, le bien-être, la protection de l’environnement ou encore la lutte contre les inégalités. Il contribue à faire évoluer le contexte, mais aussi les communautés, et donc les droits, responsabilités et valeurs qui les sous-tendent.
collaboration literacy
Ability to communicate, work and co-construct meaning with others using digital technology.
Term in French:
littératie de la collaboration
Capacité à communiquer, travailler ou co-construire du contenu en utilisant le numérique.
competent way to (inter)act
Way to (inter)act which demonstrates a certain degree of expertise, know-how and skills in digital technology.
Term in French:
agir compétent
Façon d’(inter)agir qui fait preuve d’une certaine maitrise du numérique et de ses usages ainsi que de savoir-faire dans ce domaine.
consumers and viewers
Social actor who uses digital technology solely to access information and looks at what is disseminated. Activities such as surfing, researching, reading, listening, watching, browsing, and any other tasks linked with data processing (checking, evaluating…) correspond to this category.
Term in French:
consommateur et spectateur
Acteur social qui utilise le numérique uniquement pour accéder à des informations et regarder ce qui est diffusé. Les activités de type naviguer, rechercher, lire, écouter, regarder et tout ce qui concerne le traitement de l’information (vérification, évaluation…) correspondent donc à cette catégorie.
creators
Social actor who produces new content, practices, tools, as well as new ways to interact (on forums, blogs or wikis, etc.) and who actively engages in the digital society.
Term in French:
créateur
Acteur social qui crée de nouveaux contenus, pratiques, outils, mais aussi de nouvelles façons d’interagir (dans des forums, blogs, wikis, etc.) et qui participe activement à la société numérique.
critical way to (inter)act
Way to (inter)act which adopts a critical stance towards digital technology and its content and leads to reflection on its advantages and limitations.
Term in French:
agir critique
Façon d’(inter)agir qui porte un regard critique sur le numérique et ses contenus et donne lieu à une réflexion sur ses atouts et limites.
digital citizenship
“The competent and positive engagement with digital technologies (creating, working, sharing, socializing, investigating, playing, communicating and learning); participating actively and responsibly (values, skills, attitudes, knowledge) in communities (local, national, global) at all levels (political, economic, social, cultural and intercultural); being involved in a double process of lifelong learning (in formal, informal and non-formal settings) and continuously defending human dignity.”
digital literacy
Digital literacy results from the intertwining of three main sets of competences within an ethical and critical framework: technology literacy, meaning-making literacy and interaction literacy.
digital technology (tools and resources)
Digital tools, resources and practices.
Term in French:
le numérique (outils et ressources)
Outils, ressources et pratiques numériques.
dual grounding
Real-world tasks have a dual focus or grounding, combining real life and educational contexts. While carrying out such a task, a contributor is both a learner (within a teaching and learning context) and a user (inter)acting with people outside the educational context.
ethical and responsible way to (inter)act
Free, inclusive way to (inter)act in line with his/her own values and which is respectul of others, of the law (as long as it is deemed relevant) and of values such as democratic values for example.
Term in French:
agir éthique et responsable
Façon d’(inter)agir libre, inclusive, en accord avec ses propres valeurs et qui respecte les autres, les lois (dans la mesure où elles sont jugées pertinentes) et les valeurs, par exemple les valeurs démocratiques.
information literacy
“Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s information concerns and needs, and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address issues or problems at hand; it is a prerequisite for participating effectively in the Information Society, and is part of the basic human right of lifelong learning” (Prague Declaration, UNESCO, 2003, p. 1).
informed way to (inter)act
Way to (inter)act on the basis of verified and accurate information and/or which demonstrates a knowledge of digital technology, its limitations and its dangers.
Term in French:
agir informé
Façon d’(inter)agir sur la base d’informations vérifiées et exactes et/ou qui démontre une connaissance du numérique, de ses limites et de ses dangers.
interaction literacy
Ability to exchange and collaborate efficiently and appropriately while using all the available technologies at hand.
knowledge of how information is generated and disseminated
Also called “background knowledge”, this is the knowledge we may have of the information chain from sourcing, producing, to sharing and distributing.
Term in French:
connaissance de la création et de la diffusion de l’information
Aussi appelée « background knowledge », il s’agit ici de la connaissance que l’on peut avoir des modes de création, production, partage et de diffusion de l’information.
language interaction
“In interactive activities the language user acts alternately as speaker and listener with one or more interlocutors so as to construct conjointly, through the negotiation of meaning following the co-operative principle, conversational discourse.
Reception and production strategies are employed constantly during interaction.”
(CEFR, 2001, p. 73)
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 73, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
meaning-making literacy
Combines several elements such as information literacy, media literacy and visual literacy.
media literacy
Media literacy includes the ability to create new forms of messages on various media (emails for example) and to understand how these messages are generated and perceived on the chosen platforms.
Term in French:
littératie des médias
Littératie liée à la connaissance et l’usage des genres liés aux média de communication (le mail par exemple) et à la façon dont les messages sont construits et interprétés sur les médias technologiques.
mediators
Social actor who shares, distributes or even evaluates or comments on some digital information or creations amongst the members of his/her networks.
Term in French:
médiateur
Acteur social qui partage, voire évalue ou commente, dans ses réseaux, certaines informations ou créations diffusées sur les médias numériques.
multimodal literacy
Knowing how to construct meaning from a variety of elements, whatever the mode of communication: linguistic, sound, visual, gestural or spatial.
participation literacy
Components linked to online participation and engagement: ability to take part in (online) communities, this literacy includes both creativity and agency.
Term in French:
littératie de la participation
Composants relatifs à la participation et à l’engagement en ligne : capacité à prendre part à des communautés (en ligne), cette littératie comprend à la fois la créativité et l’agentivité.
pedagogical task
Tasks, which are “only indirectly related to real-life tasks and learner needs”. They “aim to develop communicative
competence”. The Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR) also specifies that “learners engage in a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ and accept the use of the target language rather than the easier and more natural mother tongue to carry out meaning-focused tasks". (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001: 157)
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 157, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
personal learning environment
A set of tools and resources that a learner develops to facilitate his or her
learning.
real-world task
Task carried out within a social interaction that occurs outside the group/classroom and educational contexts (especially on participative websites).
reflective task
Task leading to dual reflection, on the benefits and limitations of digital technology in general on the one hand and on the personal use of it on the other hand. It encourages reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action.
Term in French:
tâche réflexive
Tâche qui mène à une double réflexion, à la fois sur les avantages et les limites du numérique de façon générale, mais aussi sur les usages personnels de celui-ci. Elle encourage une réflexion-dans-l’action et une réflexion-sur-l’action.
rights and responsibilities
This includes the rights and responsibilities defined by the various communities he/she participates in, but also more broadly citizen rights and responsabilities such as political rights or copyrights laws. It also covers a series of rights and responsabilities specifically connected to the digital environment such as the right to self-determination of information or the right to be forgotten online.
Citizens act within the right and responsability framework of the communities they belong to and adhere to the values they promote.
Term in French:
droits et responsabilités
Cela comprend les droits et responsabilités définis par les différentes communautés auxquelles l’acteur social participe, mais aussi de façon plus générale les droits et responsabilités des citoyens (par exemple droits politiques, droits d’auteur...) ainsi que des droits et responsabilités liés directement à l’environnement numérique (par exemple le droit à l’autodétermination informationnelle, le droit à l’oubli...).
Les citoyens agissent dans le cadre de droits et responsabilités dépendant des communautés dans lesquelles ils s’impliquent et des valeurs de celles-ci.
safe way to (inter)act
Way to (inter)act which protects online safety and wellbeing. It can be linked to individual/personal safety (his/her own or others) but also environmental protection, moral and physical health, etc.
Term in French:
agir sûr
Façon d’(inter)agir qui protège la sécurité et le bien-être en ligne. Il peut s’agir de la sécurité des personnes (de soi et des autres), mais aussi de la sécurité de l’environnement, de la santé morale et physique, etc.
social interaction
All communication and action takes place within social interactions – relationship(s) linking several people.
social web
Websites that enable web users to contribute and participate in the co-construction of the site (crowdsourcing) or in interactions with other web users.
socio-interactional approach
The socio-interactional approach places social interactions at the heart of its definition of tasks undertaken by learners.
The overall aim is to train learners to take into account these social interactions when they act and interact in the target language. They can then realise how important these interactions are and thus improve their
communicative competence. We believe that learners need to undertake tasks where they are exposed to a variety of social interactions (especially real-world tasks) in order to develop a real ability to communicate.
target or rehearsal task
Real-life tasks. These tasks are “chosen on the basis of learners’ needs outside the classroom, whether in the personal and public domains, or related to more specific occupational or educational needs”
(Council of Europe 2001: 157).
Council of Europe (2001),
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 157, available at
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97.
task
The task consists of three main elements:
- The main background frame is based on:
- social interactions (this is the most crucial element within this framework);
- the aim or intention of people involved (this is strongly linked to social interactions);
- the context (this includes all the elements outside of the interaction such as material constraints for example).
- A range of activities (which are language-based or not) are required to complete a task. They draw on the strategic use of internal (individual prior knowledge and skills) or external resources. The external resources can be human-based (such as the help of a person as a resource) or technology-based (digital or not). It is worth noting that the execution of the task should result in the development of both skills (internal resources) and external resources that people can add to their personal learning environment.
- This activity leads to an output (concrete result such as a travel guide for example) or an outcome (abstract results such as a decision for example).
Ollivier Christian (2018), Towards a socio-interactional approach to foster autonomy in language learners and users, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, p. 28, available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLPublications/tabid/277/ID/100/language/en-GB/Default.aspx.
technology literacy
Knowledge of various technologies and of their various possible uses, i.e. affordances.
technology-mediated communication literacy
Awareness of the specificities of digitally mediated communication and of the genre and style of communication adapted to this medium: ability to interact and act with others effectively and appropriately using the available technologies.
Term in French:
littératie de la communication médiatisée par les technologies
Conscience des spécificités de la communication médiatisée par le numérique et du genre et style de communication adaptés à ce moyen : capacité à interagir et agir avec d’autres de façon efficace et appropriée en utilisant les technologies disponibles.
visual literacy
Ability to make sense of information presented in the form of images.