This book deals with the acquisition of understanding of foreign cultures and peoples. It is also a study of the philosophy and purpose of language teaching in all its facets, in the context of foreign language teaching in secondary education. It attempts to raise awareness of the full educational value of foreign language learning.

Michael Byram is Professor Emeritus at Durham University, England. Having studied languages at Cambridge University, he taught French and German in school and adult education and then did teacher education at Durham. He was adviser to the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe and then on the expert group which produced the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. His research has included the education of minorities, foreign language teaching and intercultural competence, and more recently on how the PhD is experienced and assessed in a range of different countries.