Creative (Multilingual) Placemaking in the Classroom: Enhancing Plurilingual Children’s Language Awareness and Belonging

Abstract

This study investigates the implications of engaging plurilingual children in creative multilingual placemaking practices on their language awareness and sense of belonging. Children participated in carefully designed class activities, engaging in tasks focused on reflecting on their own identities, the community’s, and the neighbourhood’s, alongside continuous research conversations. This process led to children creating multilingual placemaking design initiatives to propose changes in their schoolscape to make their school linguistically more inclusive. Through these activities, children reported that (1) they became more aware of the presence of different languages and cultures around them and (2) they became more aware of the power of language(s) in creating belonging; they argued that (3) this allowed them to acknowledge the fluidity of meanings between their L1 and L2; and they explained that (4) the project supported them in cultivating curiosity about languages and language learning. Overall, the findings suggest that creating a space for children to analyze the geographical, sociological, and linguistic aspects of their environment would impact their learning, social awareness, critical thinking, and transdisciplinary knowledge.