Bringing plurilingualism into teaching practice: a quixotic quest?

ABSTRACT

In this article, we focus on the ‘transformative’ aspects that can be derived from a plurilingual pedagogy and how teachers might be provided with conceptual tools to leverage the various communicative resources brought to the learning environment by their students in the design and implementation of different teaching activities. Exploring the main concepts that emerged from discussions during a workshop on plurilingual practices in language education, this article reveals some of the perceptions – both positive and negative- that in-service teachers highlight regarding plurilingual education, including reasons for acceptance as well as tensions and challenges they face when transitioning into new pedagogical practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Plurilingualism
• pedagogy
• teacher education
• translanguaging

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Melinda Dooly holds a Serra Húnter fellowship as researcher and senior lecturer in the Department of Language & Literature Education and Social Science Education at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She teaches English as a Foreign Language Methodology (TEFL) and research methods courses, focusing on telecollaboration and technology-enhanced teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She has taught on short-term stays in different countries worldwide, including an honorary lectureship at the Institute of Education University College London. Her principal research addresses technology-enhanced project-based language learning, intercultural communication and 21st century competences in teacher education. She has published widely in international journals and authored chapters and books in this area of study. She is lead researcher of GREIP: Grup de Recerca en Ensenyament i Interacció Plurilingües (Research Centre for Teaching & Plurilingual Interaction).

Claudia Vallejo Rubinstein is a PhD candidate, associate professor and member of the Research Centre for Teaching & Plurilingual Interaction (GREIP) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where she has participated in local and international projects on plurilingualism and social inequalities in education. Her PhD research analyzes plurilingual and pluricultural practices in an after-school literacy program for ‘at risk’ students, and their transformative potential towards more inclusive and equalitarian educational environments.

ORCID

Melinda Dooly http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1478-4892

Claudia Vallejo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1920-4623

Notes

1 There is debate on whether languages can be labelled separately as such, see Otheguy 2016, for more discussion on this. To simplify here, we refer to languages as they are commonly perceived by teachers in the classroom.

2 El model lingüístic del sistema educatiu de Catalunya. L’aprenentatge i l’ús de les llengües en un context educatiu multilingüe i multicultural [The linguistic model for the education system of Catalonia. Learning and the use of languages in a multilingual and multicultural education context]. Downloaded 15 November 2019 from http://ensenyament.gencat.cat/web/.content/home/departament/publicacions/monografies/model-linguistic/model-linguistic-Catalunya-CAT.pdf.

3 https://www.globalpartnership.org/.

4 CLIL: Content Language and Integrated Learning; sometimes called Content Based Instruction (CBI) or English as Medium of Instruction (EMI). However increasingly other terms with less 'English-centric' focus such as Foreign Language as a Medium of Education (FLAME) and Foreign Language Immersion Programmes (FLIP) have been suggested.

5 The term ‘foreign’ is applied loosely here and used to describe a course where the majority of the students in the class do not speak the target language as their L1 or L2.

6 This refers to a growing music industry that is based online and consists of platforms where musicians can collaboratively create music, sell music and even perform ‘e-concerts’ online.