Nurturing critical multilingual awareness with pre-service (pre)primary teachers through an interdisciplinary, project-based approach

Abstract

Teachers in France working with (emergent) bilingual pupils often not only feel ill-equipped to provide the specific support these learners require, but also find it difficult to accept that languages other than French have a right and role as learning resources in the classroom. Challenging such monolingual mindsets whilst helping teachers to understand, experience and experiment with the linguistic and cultural diversity of their classrooms requires innovative and creative approaches (Mary, Krüger & Young, 2021). In this paper, we present and analyse data collected from 14 students during 2019–2020 (pre & post-course questionnaires, student portfolios, written reflections and working group minutes) during an elective course offered to future (pre)primary teachers in France (N = 40). The course was project-based and interdisciplinary, incorporating techniques, concepts and insights from the visual arts, new technologies, language acquisition and development, psychology and sociolinguistics. A key objective of the course was to empower student teachers to become agents of change or ‘language activists’ (Shohamy, 2006) through the implementation of creative projects for and with their (emergent) bilingual pupils. Students developed projects ranging from the creation of bilingual books and story bags to multilingual music collections, in collaboration with the children and families who frequented their schools.

ABSTRACT (FRENCH)

En France, les enseignants qui travaillent avec des élèves bilingues (émergents) se sentent souvent mal équipés pour apporter le soutien spécifique dont ces apprenants ont besoin. Cependant, en même temps ces enseignants ont du mal à accepter que des langues autres que le français aient une légitimité et un rôle important en classe en tant que ressources d‘apprentissages. Remettre en question ces mentalités monolingues tout en aidant les enseignants à comprendre, à vivre et à expérimenter avec la diversité linguistique et culturelle de leurs classes nécessite des approches innovantes et créatives (Mary, Krüger & Young, 2021).

Dans cet article, nous présentons et analysons les données recueillies auprès de 14 étudiants au cours de l‘année 2019–2020 (questionnaires pré et post-cours, portfolios d‘étudiants, réflexions écrites et comptes-­rendus de groupes de travail) lors d‘un cours optionnel proposé aux futurs enseignants (pré)primaires en France (N = 40). Le cours était basé sur l’interdisciplinarité et la pédagogie de projet, intégrant des techniques, des concepts et des idées issus des arts visuels, des nouvelles technologies, de l‘acquisition et du développement du langage, de la psychologie et de la sociolinguistique. L'un des principaux objectifs du cours était de donner aux étudiants/futurs enseignants les moyens de devenir des agents du changement ou des ‘language activists’ (Shohamy, 2006) par la mise en œuvre de projets créatifs pour et avec leurs élèves bilingues (émergents). Les étudiants ont développé des projets allant de la création de livres et de sacs à histoires bilingues à des collections musicales multilingues, en collaboration avec les enfants et les familles qui fréquentaient leurs écoles.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY

In this study, we collected data from 14 students during the 2019–2020 academic year during an optional course offered to future (pre)primary teachers in France. The course was project-based and interdisciplinary, incorporating techniques, concepts and insights from the visual arts, new technologies, language acquisition and development, psychology and sociolinguistics. The key objectives of the course were to enable student teachers to support the learning of pupils who speak languages other than the language of schooling by designing and implementing creative multilingual projects in their classrooms and to raise their awareness of the importance of recognising and supporting pupils’ home languages. Students developed projects ranging from the creation of bilingual books and story bags to multilingual music collections, in collaboration with the children and families who frequented their schools. The data analysis indicates that the course raised student teachers’ awareness of the importance and benefits of valuing pupils’ home languages through using project-based, interdisciplinary work. This was particularly the case when student teachers involved the pupils’ parents in the project.

Keywords:

• Critical language awareness
• multilingualism
• plurilingualism
• teacher training
• france

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 All the original quotes were in French and have been translated into English by the authors for the purpose of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Latisha Mary

Latisha Mary is an Associate Professor of English and Language Education in the Faculty of Education and Lifelong Learning (INSPE) at the University of Strasbourg, France, where she is involved in initial primary teacher education. A member of the LiLPa Research Group (UR1339), her research focuses on teacher knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about languages, teacher education for the support of second language acquisition, teacher language awareness and the identity construction of multilingual children. Latisha is committed to fostering critical teacher language awareness, developing collaborative home–school relationships and helping teachers support bilingual learners in the classroom. She has been involved in several national and international research and teacher education projects focusing on language awareness, multilingualism and intercultural education.

Andrea Susan Young

Andrea S. Young is Professor of English and Language Education in the Faculty of Education and Lifelong Learning (INSPÉ) at the University of Strasbourg, France. Throughout her career in the French education sector and within the framework of a variety of initial and continuing professional development programmes, she has sought to raise language awareness among education professionals working in multilingual environments. As a member of the LiLPa Research Group (UR1339), Andrea’s research interests include teacher knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about languages and language, home–school educational partnerships and plurilingual and intercultural education in the school context. She has published in a variety of international journals, contributed to a number of edited books and has participated in several European projects specialising in these areas. Andrea collaborates regularly with colleagues working on similar issues at home and abroad and is a Professor II of Early Childhood Education and Multilingualism at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.