‘Do you know a few words?’ – developing an evidence-based model to analyse multilingual classroom interaction

ABSTRACT

In the field of applied linguistics, the use of multiple languages in educational settings has often been studied from a pedagogical perspective, focusing on teacher practices. In order for multilingual teaching pedagogies, such as translanguaging to reach their full potential, pupils should participate actively in classroom interaction and be stimulated to discuss different ideas, as in dialogic interaction (Alexander. 2008. Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk. Dialogos). The current study aims to explore multilingual pedagogical practices in primary education from an interactionist perspective and further develop a model of multilingual classroom interaction (Gajo and Berthoud. 2018. “Multilingual Interaction and Construction of Knowledge in Higher Education.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 21 (7): 853–866) based on empirical analyses. Whole class conversations taking place in three Dutch primary schools participating in an Educational Design Research programme were analysed using a mixed methods approach. The analyses demonstrate discourse practices largely in line with monologic interaction and a rather limited and only symbolic use of other languages than Dutch. We discuss the use of the model of multilingual classroom interaction in primary education on a micro-level and the possible relationship between the use of multilingualism and pupils' participation in classroom interaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingual education
• translanguaging
• dialogic interaction
• whole class interaction
• mixed methods

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by the Dutch Foundation for Science (NWO) – Regieorgaan SIA under Grant Number RAAK-PRO PRO 2016-2 SIA.

Notes on contributors

Laura S. Nap is a junior researcher at the Centre for Multilingualism and Literacy of the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. She is especially interested in the research areas of multilingual education and classroom interaction and the combination of these two dimensions so as to study and stimulate the use of multiple languages in education in a meaningful way.

Frans C. Hiddink is a senior researcher at the Centre for Multilingualism and Literacy of the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. He has a particular interest in using conversation analysis in such ways that it helps both (early childhood) educators and teacher training students to improve their own classroom practices, in particular to enhance the quality of (multilingual) classroom interaction.

Joana Duarte is a full professor at the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Centre for Multilingualism and Literacy, and an associate professor at the Minorities & Multilingualism department of the University of Groningen. Her main research areas are on multilingual education, teachers’ professional development, equity in education, global citizenship education and didactics.