Learning how to write using all our languages: a multilingual approach to literacy in primary education

ABSTRACT

This intervention study examined the writing abilities of 1st (ages 6–7) and 2nd (ages 7–8) grade students in the Basque Autonomous Community, utilising Basque, Spanish, and English. We compared two distinct teaching methodologies: the PYCTO methodology, which employs a multilingual approach for teaching writing across the three languages, and the traditional monolingual approach, focusing on one language only. 873 compositions written in these languages were analysed using quantitative methods. Lexical richness was evaluated using analytic measures, while holistic measures assessed overall writing competence in four dimensions. The results indicated that students taught using the PYCTO methodology significantly outperformed those taught with the traditional monolingual approach in both 1st and 2nd grades. This finding underscores the effectiveness of multilingual teaching methods over the conventional monolingual approach, suggesting that integrating various known languages in teaching offers substantial benefits in language learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingualism
• multilingual education
• minority languages
• literacy
• writing
• primary education
• Basque Autonomous Community

Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to the principals, assistant principals, and first-grade and second-grade teachers of the schools that supported this research. This project would have never been possible without their partnership. The authors also want to acknowledge the research work carried out by the rest of the researchers who have participated in this pilot project. Thank you so much!

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [grant number GIU 20/26]; Eusko Jaurlaritza [grant number IT1426-22]; Hezkuntza, Hizkuntza Politika Eta Kultura Saila, Eusko Jaurlaritza [grant number 2022.0047]; the University of the Basque Country (GIC 21/118); and the Eusko Jaurlaritza (grant number IT1572-22).

Notes on contributors

María Orcasitas-Vicandi

María Orcasitas-Vicandi researchers and teaches at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). She holds an International Doctorate with honourable mention in Education and postgraduate studies (European Master's Degree in Multilingual Education and Master's Degree in Teacher Training) at the same university. Her expertise is focused on inclusive education with a special interest on languages and ICTs. She has been conducting research in two consolidated research groups -Donostia Research group on Education and Multilingualism (DREAM) and Language and Speech Laboratory (LASLAB) where she is currently a member- and has giventalks, sessions and courses on innovation and teaching quality to teachers of infant, primary and secondary education. As a researcher, she has edited several books, articles and book chapters in national and international journals of high impact (JCR, see: http://www.laslab.org/m_orcasitas/). She is a reviewer in international scientific journals, and has directed two international conferences in several editions (see CIISE: https://ciise.net/ and CINTE: https://cinte.eus/) Today, she is leading three Erasmus+ projects on inclusive education (AI@school, Career Pathways, AI@Pioneers) and is participating in two other research projects funded by the Ministry of Economy andCompetitiveness (INGREFL) and the Basque Government (Piktoidazketa).

Izaskun Molás-Olalde

Izaskun Molás-Olalde is a PhD candidate at the University of the Basque Country. Her research interests are focused mostly on multilingual education, and she is currently a researcher in a project which analyses the impact of innovative methodologies in language acquisition and literacy in Primary Education. Additionally, she is a teacher in Primary Education schools herself. She holds a degree in Primary Education (2021) and a M.A in Psychodidactics (2022), both from the University of the Basque Country.

Karla Fernández-de-Gamboa-Vázquez

Karla Fernández-de-Gamboa Vázquez is a lecturer at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) from 2019. She worked as Predoctoral Fellow in GRETEL, a Research Group from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), from 2013 to 2017, where she completed an international PhD in Education with her doctoral thesis entitled “Through the new millennium and what the literary reader found there: Children's narrative for readers aged 8 to 10” (2018). She is member of the Thematic Research Network ‘Iberian and Latin American Children's and Young Adult Literature' (LIJMI), of the Editorial Board of Ikastorratza e-journal on Didactics, of the Journal of Literary Education and of Behinola, journal on Basque Children's Literature. She combines her work as researcher and teacher with children’s literature outreach on magazines and newspapers in the Basque Country and Spain.