Towards new learning partnerships in bilingual educational contexts – raising learner awareness and creating conditions for reciprocity and pedagogic attention

Abstract

This article addresses the need to develop new pedagogic approaches which promote learner independence in contexts where learning takes place through the medium of more than one language. The challenges of responding to a rapidly changing educational landscape to ensure that our learners become pluriliterate global citizens are presented through three case studies each set in a different multilingual context. These classroom-based studies into effective learning focus on teachers and learners as co-researchers and involve reflexive processes which engage teachers and learners in the analysis of their own practices. The findings emphasise the need to support ‘reciprocity’ and ‘pedagogic attention’ through shared learner and teacher awareness of learning as well as to provide methods for instructing learners in metacognitive strategy use. The authors conclude that bilingual educational contexts provide potentially rich learning environments which – if they are to realise this potential – will demand new ways of developing shared reciprocity around teacher–learner pedagogic understanding.

Keywords:

• Bilingual learning
• CLIL
• pedagogic attention
• learning partnerships
• metacognitive awareness

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Erratum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

We would like to acknowledge the funding awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number FFI2012-31811] and the Basque Department of Education, Research and Universities IT311-10 (UFI 11/06); funding awarded by the Scottish Government for the ILC for the Gaelic Study and funding by the Esmée Fairnbairn Foundation for the ITALIC Study was also granted.