A Multilingual Paradigm: Bridging Theory and Practice

Abstract

Language education has been driven by a monolingual paradigm, which reached a climax with the ideologies conveyed with the nation-states. Deeply rooted in perceptions about languages and cultures and the perennial dichotomy between us and them, the monolingual–monocultural paradigm was progressively built upon the standardization of languages for pedagogical purposes (Derivry-Plard, Les enseignants de langues dans la mondialisation, la guerre des representations, postface de Claire Kramsch, EAC/PLID, 2015; Towards post-native-speakerism. Dynamics and shifts, Springer, 2018). Native-speakerism has been part and parcel of the monolingual paradigm. When one fully addresses the emergence of a multilingual paradigm in language education with regard to both language teachers (L1 or L2) and other subject teachers, and their increasingly plurilingual–pluricultural learners, native-speakerism starts being undone. In order to investigate how language teachers and learners could contribute to the multilingual–multicultural paradigm, projects of intercultural telecollaborations at secondary and higher education were undertaken. These projects show the complexity of these learning environments (different students, levels of target languages, perceived objectives) while addressing the notion of intercultural citizenship in practice. These intercultural learning environments have to be apprehended in terms of linguistic, cultural and intercultural openness and curiosity—two attitudes that can be fostered through intercultural communication mediated by language education and education through languages. Experience journals appear to be essential activities in supporting students’ reflexive approach towards self and others within a multilingual–multicultural paradigm.