Attitudes of Teachers toward Multilingualism, Heritage Language Maintenance, and Second Language Learning at School

Abstract

Introduction: Providing an adapted language input in a multicultural classroom is often challenging to educators. Teachers are frequently the parents’ first contacts for language counseling and educational support, and therefore, they may influence the language exposure not only in the classroom but at home as well. This study aimed to investigate the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral attitudes of teachers toward multilingualism in Flanders. The effects of contextual teacher- and school-related properties on the attitudes of teachers were also considered. Methods: An online survey questioning the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral attitudes of teachers was developed and distributed to all schools in Flanders. 710 preschool, primary, and secondary teachers completed the questionnaire. Results: The results showed rather positive attitudes toward heritage language maintenance and multilingualism. However, there are still some misconceptions about multilingual language learning strategies. Teachers are interested in extra training, as they find it hard to use the languages of their pupils as a resource in their teaching practice. Discussion: Teachers mostly consider multilingualism an added value. Supplementary training and extra advice given by speech-language therapists could be helpful to inform teachers about the importance of their students’ proficiency in the heritage language and could give teachers insight into the principles of second language acquisition.