Public Diplomacy and Language Teaching

Abstract

Public diplomacy is extremely important in modern world. First, there are a lot of systems that could be used in order to speed up the dissemination of information. Second, there is a growing interest in other countries. Moreover, cultural exchange and fostering of contacts between people have always played an important role in international relations. Teaching of foreign languages helps to achieve the purposes of public diplomacy. This study aims at identifying different approaches to teaching foreign languages and acquaintance with culture of a country. These approaches were allocated and analyzed by examining the activities of cultural centers of France, Italy and India in Moscow. The methodology integrated theoretical studies and details of the work carried out by cultural centers of these countries. The research was based on the corporative analyses of French, Italian and Indian approaches to implementation of public diplomacy, namely teaching of foreign languages abroad, in particular, in Russia. Common features and differences of programs for learning foreign languages in the framework of public diplomacy were identified. The findings have revealed that France, Italy and India, despite the fact that their approaches are different, strive to create all the necessary conditions to make their language, culture and history attractive to Russian citizens. France focuses on language learning, Italy encourages contacts between Italians and Russians, and helps Russians learn more about job prospects in Italy. India is trying to make an emphasis on its culture. The results contribute to further developments of integration of formal and non-formal foreign language training tracks within the national curricula in different nations, as well as the integration of language training practice into the public diplomacy advance across countries.