The relationship between language teaching and citizenship development has been well theorised and this theorisation has been integrated into curricula, emphasised in education policy and frequently referenced in institutional discourse at the level of national government and supra-national entities. Yet, this recognition seems rarely to translate into classroom reality (Sercu et al. 2005; Hennebry 2011). Data from teachers suggests that a primary reason for this may be based on the fact that language teacher education focuses primarily if not exclusively on the teaching of language systems rather than on promoting language as a means of developing a sense of civic responsibility and participation. Thus, while language teachers support the idea that language education has an important role to play in promoting social cohesion, they lack both the pedagogical knowledge and the professional self-efficacy to address such skills and content in their teaching (Hennebry 2012).

This chapter aims to outline some of the key principles that might helpfully shape language teaching for citizenship development, and draws on a range of sources to provide ideas on how language teachers might engage in such teaching within their classrooms.

Promoting intercultural citizenship requires teachers themselves to be interculturally aware, both in terms of their own culture and identity and in terms of their intercultural competence (Sercu 2006). However, considering the heavy emphasis on student performance, language teachers seeking to go beyond teaching linguistic systems need to critically engage with language pedagogies that go beyond a heavy skills-based approach (Levine and Phipps 2012). Levine and Phipps (2012) propose that teachers adopt a critical pedagogy wherein teacher and learners deconstruct, challenge and transform the assumptions that are built into language curricula, materials and teaching practices. Holmes (2014) suggests that learners need to understand the social and communicative processes that underpin constructions of culture and identity, comprehending their own identity and culture in order to understand that of others.