FREPA – A Set of Instruments for the Development of Plurilingual and Inter-/Transcultural Competences

The article presents a description and instructions for use of a set of tools that seeks to facilitate learners’ continuous development and strengthen plurilingual and inter- /transcultural competences. These tools have been developed within the research project Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA), which has been supported since 2004 by the Council of Europe’s European Centre for Modern Languages. The FREPA is a complement to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the European Language Portfolio. The tools consist of (a) a comprehensive list of descriptors operationalising plurilingual and intercultural competences in terms of knowledge, attitudes and skills, (b) a database of teaching material categorised by the FREPA descriptors and (c) a training kit for users. The article introduces the context of the FREPA project and defines the concept of pluralistic approaches. The FREPA tools will be presented by answering the question as to how the FREPA tools can been used to describe and develop transcultural competences. Finally, the recent perspectives of the FREPA project will be outlined.