Language is essential for participation. No wonder that language plays an important part in adult civic education and requirements for naturalization.

Researchers distinguish roughly two methods of language learning: the cognitive and the social approach. These approaches contain fundamental differences in design, objectives and validation, as well as its relation to civic education.

On this poster (made for the European Conference on Developmental Psychology, 2017) the different perspectives are explained on the basis of courses for female non-western migrants without formal education experience in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. Their lifespan was very different from the current European lifespan. They experienced course-blocking in traditional language/civic courses and made progress in participatory courses.

Learn more about the two perspectives on language education by clicking on the miniature poster (pdf).