Developing plurilingual competences in primary education

Abstract

Now more than ever the English language has become a necessity in several aspects of our life. As a consequence of globalisation and the need of an international and intercultural communication tool (Jenkins, Cogo, and Dewey 2011, Cogo 2012), English has emerged as a lingua franca and English acquisition is in the spotlight. This research aims to understand how English teaching could be improved at school. While different language approaches and methodologies are used, the mother tongue of the learner is not taken into account in English teaching and the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) is still used as guideline, not only in Europe but also worldwide (Nakatani 2012). We live in a multilingual world where all languages are in constant contact and identities are blurred, mostly when English has raised as the universal language. Taking this into account, our research focuses on a plurilingual approach to English language teaching in order to improve English learning in primary school based on an understanding of languages from an ecological point of view. The study is conducted in five primary school centres, in 3 different countries.