Remaking the Ground on which they Stand: Plurilingual Approaches Across the Curriculum

Abstract

Drawing on perspectives in critical applied linguistics, this chapter highlights how teachers in a multilingual, multicultural elementary school located in Ontario, Canada, integrated plurilingual pedagogies into literacy and curriculum learning activities. The purpose of the partnership was to support English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in implementing pedagogic strategies for engaging emergent bi/multilingual students in literacy activities. Teachers incorporated students’ linguistic repertoires into teaching and learning tasks, as both a scaffold and a resource for ongoing learning and literacy engagement. Broadly, these efforts highlighted the value of multilingualism and the role that students’ linguistic repertoire can play in language learning and biliteracy development: scaffolding new learning; promoting metalinguistic awareness; developing biliteracy; and valorizing students’ cultural and linguistic identities. The chapter articulates key strategies that might comprise a plurilingual approach to pedagogy, offering an expansive view of students’ linguistic capabilities and inviting students’ translanguaging practices into the learning context.