Multilingual Literacy Research Articles

Success Stories of Multilingual Literacy: A Case Study of Ife 1970 Nigeria’s Project and the 2002 Western Cape’s LOITASA’s Project in South Africa

In a progressively interrelated world, the advancement of strong multilingual literacy skills among learners is of great importance. This article showcases successful multilingual literacy initiatives, analyzing their implementation and impact. The study revealed a great positive influence on communities and individuals after the initiatives. The predominant aim is to give extra weight to the indispensable importance of appreciating and paying attention to linguistic diversity through effective multilingual/translanguaging literacy opening moves. Using a survey design, this study paid attention to documenting instances of multilingualism implementation in educational settings, purposefully selecting South Africa and Nigeria as central points. Using a qualitative approach, the research examined success stories by analyzing reports, publications, archival materials, and scholarly articles associated with the projects. Special attention was paid to the Ife 1970 Nigeria’s Project and the 2002 Western Cape LOITASA’s project and the findings were presented in a descriptive narrative format. The study elaborated on the objectives, strategies, and results of these projects, presenting findings in a descriptive narrative format. Moreover, the study contributes valuable insights to the debates surrounding effective literacy practices in multilingual contexts. By presenting success stories from these African nations, the study provided practical guideposts for policymakers, educators, and practitioners who want to develop or improve multilingual literacy programs. Lastly, the findings stressed the significance of culturally responsive and context-specific approaches to literacy, proposing the adoption of multilingual/translanguaging pedagogies within school systems. Through these, the study will promote inclusive and efficient educational practices that honor and celebrate linguistic diversity. Keywords: Educational Outcomes, Language Diversity, Multilingual Education, Multilingual Literacy, Repertoire Knowledge

Multiliteracy as human capital in first-generation adult immigrants in Germany

ABSTRACT In the present study, we combined the Focus on Multilingualism approach with the human capital theory to investigate multilingual profiles among first-generation adult immigrants in Germany and the relationship between immigrants’ multiliteracy and their employment status. We used data representative for Germany on the self-reported literacy skills in the majority, heritage, and foreign languages of first-generation immigrants (n = 451, age 18–64) gathered in the LEO 2018 study. To analyze multilingual literacy skills, we estimated adults’ multilingual profiles using LCA. In a second step, we conducted logistic regression models with multiliteracy and employment status. We found two multilingual profiles of first-generation immigrants: a profile with higher and a profile with lower literacy skills in all investigated languages. The profiles differed by the level of adults’ literacy skills in all investigated languages and showed a unique non-overlapping language ordering pattern. The results gained from the logistic regressions revealed that multiliteracy in first-generation immigrants may represent human capital in Germany. After controlling for additional variables (age, gender, education), the analysis showed that higher multiliteracy increases the probability of adult immigrants’ employment. Furthermore, our findings indicated independent positive effects of literacy in each language in multilingual repertoires on employment probability.

Exploring views on praxis possibilities of multilingualism in university literacy pedagogies

Background: South African literacy-as-social-practice theoreticians, language-in-education experts, educational linguists, and language policies advocate multilingual pedagogies to acknowledge and cater to diverse multilingual learners’ literacy development. Universities purport multilingualism to provide for the multilingual norm, students’ literacy, and educational development, as scholarship shows that multilingualism benefits academia and literacy education. Yet, these universities remain locations for monolingual and epistemological biases. Concerns about such praxis pretensions in pluralistic literacy education and the failures in literacy-as-social-practice strategies have been raised. However, the perceptions of lecturers and students on their role in implementing desirable praxis in multilingual literacy education are under-researched.Objectives: This qualitative study explores lecturers’ and students’ perceptions and their impact on practising linguistic plurality in literacy for educational development schemes.Method: The research uses in-depth individual and focus-group interviews with four lecturers and four first-year undergraduate students at a selected linguistically diverse university. An interpretivist paradigm was applied consisting of participants’ subjective experiences as members of a higher education institution (HEI).Results: Findings reveal that lecturers have difficulty coping with multiple languages due to inadequate training and misconceptions about multilingualism, and monolingual pedagogy perceptions carried over from their institutions whose culture denies students’ linguistic plurality.Conclusion: The study demonstrates the importance of shifts in epistemological orientation and adequate training, focused on multilingualism, to develop versatile and agile lecturers equipped for multilingual universities.Contribution: This research contributes to understanding the complex implementation problems regarding multilingual literacy education and possible solutions. It postulates new ways of forging multilingual literacy practices to erase praxis morbidity.

Rethinking and redrawing teaching and learning: Latinx preservice teachers documenting their pedagogies of the home through comic strips

The purpose of this study is to understand how Latinx preservice teachers (LPSTs) engage their multimodal and multilingual literacies to create comic strips about the knowledge and pedagogies found within their homes located within with U.S.‐Mexico borderlands. Drawing on pedagogies of the home and Chicanx/Latinx multimodality, the findings illustrate how the LPSTs used comic creation to document teaching and learning practices of biculturalism, cultural preservation, spirituality, remedios, and the importance of education. This study has implications for developing teacher education pedagogies that are reflective of the linguistic and cultural diversity of LPSTs.

Multiple lenses to understand and shape multilingual literacy practices in Early Childhood Education

ABSTRACT Programs of multilingual education in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) are promising because they contribute to the development of young children’s language and literacy as well as their multilingual identities. In practice, many educators are unsure of how to engage children in multilingual literacy activities and policy often falls short of providing adequate guidance. The present paper investigates the case of Luxembourg where a multilingual program has been implemented over the last years. We draw on the continua of biliteracy to examine the range of language and literacy practices of 12 educators who worked with two to four-year-olds in three private, commercial centers differing in regional location, urban or suburban setting, and dominant language spoken. Using the lenses of the biliteracy continua of context, media, content, and development, we analyze examples, explain differing practices, and explore the educators’ varied understandings of languaging, literacy, and learning. We thereby demonstrate that the continua are a heuristic for research, teaching, and policymaking in multilingual environments. We conclude with implications for professional development, policymakers, and researchers.

The convergence of higher education and digital technologies for the sexual and reproductive health of women refugees: A narrative review

This narrative review delineates the barriers that women refugees and asylum seekers face regarding their sexual and reproductive health (SRH), exploring how digital tools and higher education play transformative roles in facilitating information and communication pertaining to SRH. Further, this review explores the unique role that colleges and universities in the United States can play in leveraging digital technologies to support the healthcare needs of women migrants. The authors also lean into their own experiences as higher education teachers and practitioners to contextualize these findings and advocate for the health, rights and dignity of women and migrants. The article concludes that institutions of higher education (HEIs) are strategically positioned to provide services for and shape discourse surrounding women migrant SRH. By investing in and expanding online resources, counselling and telehealth services, multilingual literacy programmes and other support platforms, as well as by centring migrant and transnational epistemologies, HEIs in the United States can be key support systems for forced migrants, empowering these students to make informed choices about their bodies and sexualities, access vital care and thrive in their new communities. This narrative review recommends future research and practice at the intersections of refugee studies, digital technologies and higher education.

Multilingual literacies: Romanian Roma children learning to read and write in an English primary school

The study sought to understand how three multilingual Romanian Roma learners approached and made sense of literacy-related activities in an English primary school so that this can illuminate classroom practice to ensure more inclusive forms of literacy education. The following research questions were addressed: (1) What are learners’ linguistic and cultural contexts? (2) What linguistic and communicative resources and attitudes to literacy do they display in the classroom? (3) What are the educational implications of learners’ contexts, resources and attitudes for literacy instruction? Following the tenets of literacy as social practice and multilingual literacies, this ethnographic study shows that Roma children display a variety of linguistic and communicative resources and attitudes that can be effectively exploited in the classroom, enabling their home languages and cultures to be appreciated and legitimised as valuable tools for literacy learning. This can help counteract the effects of the structural power imbalances between dominant and minoritised languages, cultures and speakers in the classroom and beyond. The study’s main contribution is its engagement with the multilingual literacies of Roma learners from migration backgrounds, an aspect that has important consequences for the implications for literacy education presented in this article.

Essential Changes in Bilingual Education: Redefining Multilingual Literacy

Bilingual education has long been a topic of research, often centered around the best methods to teach students who are learning in more than one language. In an increasingly interconnected world, the need for a paradigm shift in how we approach bilingual education is evident. Rethinking multilingual literacy not only enhances educational outcomes but also respects and celebrates the rich linguistic diversity that students bring into the classroom. This research article explores several necessary shifts in perspective and practice that can transform bilingual education into a more effective and inclusive model.

Learning to plan for CLIL with the Reading to Learn approach. An experience in initial teacher training.

This article describes an innovational educational experience in initial teacher training for multilingual literacy, specifically within a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach. The experience was developed in response to the training needs of teachers in Madrid, Spain, a region where more than half of the primary schools are bilingual, with CLIL programmes, and where initial teacher education curricula devote few credits to language education and to CLIL. It is proposed that by working with the Reading to Learn (R2L) model, the preparation of student teachers to plan for bilingual literacy can be enhanced as they learn to provide scaffolding for developing reading comprehension and writing in academic school genres. A preliminary analysis of student teachers’ work suggests that results of the innovation led to the successful application of R2L in the development of teaching plans that fulfil the CLIL core principles and experts’ recommendations. Finally, some reflections are outlined concerning the relevance of these results for the current and future needs of primary school teachers in bi- and multilingual contexts

To what extent are sacred language practices ultralingual? The experience of British Muslim children learning Qur’anic Arabic

This article draws on qualitative data from a study of young Muslims learning Qur’anic Arabic in the UK to reveal how they engage in sacred language practices that I choose to call ‘ultralingual’. Such practices inevitably foreground linguistic form and performance over meaning, at least in the referential sense. Observable in many faith contexts, the ability to acquire a certain proficiency in an invariably ancient sacred language and then participate, actively and passively, in a range of ritual acts is demonstrated by millions of children globally. Usually attending supplementary forms of education, such children learn to access the code of their respective faiths (e.g., Qur’anic Arabic for Muslims and Biblical Hebrew for Jews) through, usually, a traditional learning approach based initially on systematic instruction in sound-letter correspondences which eventually develops into secure decoding proficiency. An important characteristic of this language practice is the ambivalent role of referential meaning. Often, performers, whether in recitation or in the words uttered in prayers, have partial or no access to the meaning of the words they utter. This article calls this ‘ultralingualism’, a language phenomenon that occurs also in non-religious contexts such as vocal music and multilingual literacy mediation, but which is particularly apparent in faith practices which centre on an ancient text and its language. The young Muslims in this article, however, do not take part in meaningless activities. Much sacred language practice (and some co-sanctified language practice) happens ultralingually, that is, form is emphasised over referential meaning. Evidence in this article argues that such ultralingual practices are accompanied nevertheless by layers of meaning often unrelated to referential or lexical meaning.

Digitally transformed lifelong multilingual language learning: affective processes underlying the development of multilingual competence

This paper reflects on the issues of informal and non-institutional practices of language learning in digital environments. In this qualitative and longitudinal case study, authentic language materials were used by two adult learners for their development of Italian language skills and multilingual competencies through Personal Multilingual Dictionary Design (Italian/English/Greek/Serbian). The authentic materials included three editions (500 episodes) of the most famous show “É sempre mezzogiorno” (“It is Always Noon”) by the Italian public television service “Rai” (2020/2023). The choice of the video materials, as learning materials, was based on the interests and personal preferences of the learners, highly interested, involved and committed to language learning and the development of multilingual literacy. Affective processes underlying the development of multilingual competence through collaborative learning tasks are examined and discussed. In conclusion, several areas of multimodal literacies are highlighted, with potential guidance in envisioning future research processes. / Keywords: authentic video content, informal foreign language learning, Italian language, multilingual competence

Evaluasi Program Pembelajaran Literasi Multibahasa di Sekolah Dasar

This research aims to evaluate the multilingual literacy learning program at SDN Ciborelang I. The research method used is a qualitative approach with phenomenological research design. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. The results of data analysis showed a significant improvement in students' multilingual literacy skills after participating in the program. These findings support previous research findings on the effectiveness of multilingual learning programs in improving students' language skills. Practical implications include the importance of developing inclusive curricula, providing ongoing teacher training, and involving parents and communities in supporting multilingual learning programs. Recommendations for future research include the development of new learning methods and deeper program evaluations. By implementing these steps, it is hoped that multilingual literacy learning programs can become more effective in preparing students to meet the demands of globalization and become competent citizens in various languages. This abstract provides a brief overview of the research and its findings, as well as presenting implications and recommendations for the development of multilingual learning programs in the future.

Grassroots policymaking in practice: including heritage languages in the critical connections project through agency, activism, and alternative voices

ABSTRACT This article examines the Critical Connections Multilingual Digital Storytelling Project through the lens of Language Policy and Planning (LPP) and considers the situation of heritage language learning within the policy on language education. We present our project as grassroots policymaking in practice and demonstrate how, through deep and meaningful collaboration, researchers, teachers, parents/carers, and students can exercise bottom-up agency to address key issues in learning languages and developing multilingual literacy. Our interdisciplinary approach embeds interculturality within all stages of the language learning process creating spaces that foster empathy, activist citizenship, and possibilities for a more sustainable future. We interrogate our Critical Connections Project and argue that this approach to LPP provides an alternative model of interculturally oriented critical cosmopolitan education which validates multilingual identities. We show how digital technology, virtual communities, and a growing concern for social justice have shaped the project and discuss how we adopted a critical ethnographic approach. In looking at purposes, principles and means in our project, the digital stories themselves are analysed and presented as vibrant data. To conclude, we engage specifically with the implications of our research for heritage languages and LPP. Finally, we make a series of recommendations for heritage language planning and policy.

Becoming an independent Swedish citizen: Critical literacy as a tool for multilingual literacies in Swedish for Immigrants

The aim of this article is to study the space for multilingualism and multiliteracy in the development of literacy skills through critical literacy in Swedish for Immigrants. The focus is on adult second language learners (L2 learners) with low education and Hornberger’s continua of biliteracy is used for the analysis of material from classroom observations. The observed teaching included space for multiliteracies and students were explicitly stimulated to bring their own experiences and express their own views. Thus, this linguistic ethnographic study supports earlier claims that all points on the continua are important in literacy education for adults. However, it also shows that conflicting perceptions may exist in class regarding what is happening and what should happen. Topics that are commonly used in critical literacy may further add to such risks. Developing literacy skills in an L2 means hard work, especially developing such skills from basic levels in adulthood. Thus, creating engagement is an important task for teachers, while teachers may hesitate in raising sensitive topics if they fear it may lead to conflict.

朝鲜语语音意识和语素意识在多语读写能力发展中的作用

朝鲜语语音意识和语素意识在多语读写能力发展中的作用

Evaluasi Program Pembelajaran Literasi Multibahasa di Sekolah Dasar

This research evaluates the effectiveness of the Multilingual Literacy Learning Program at Bagjasari 1 Elementary School (SD). Through an analysis of student responses, teacher experiences, and environmental factors, the study highlights the positive impact of the program on students' reading and writing abilities. Student responses indicate a significant improvement in academic participation and achievement, affirming the program's success in achieving learning objectives. Teachers emphasize the importance of collaboration among peers and support from school administration in program implementation, as well as the crucial role of environmental factors, such as support from the school community and the integration of local culture, in enhancing program effectiveness. Recommendations for future research include involving more schools in similar programs and refining multilingual learning strategies to meet the diverse learning needs of students. The research findings make a significant contribution to the development of education policies and teaching practices that are more responsive, with the aim of improving educational quality and ensuring equal access to education for all students.

Proposing My Reading Experience Questionnaire (MREQ) as An Instrument to Measure Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension

The reading experience in the Malaysian context is often perceived and understood as being about reading in specific languages. Particularly, research in the field of English as a Second Language is replete with work on reading motivation. However, in this paper, it is argued that reading needs to be seen as going beyond language, setting reading as an experience rather than an ability. This paper therefore sets out to validate the My Reading Experience Questionnaire (MREQ) through a discussion of the questionnaire design as well as the statistical data validation based on the questionnaire items. From there, reading motivation levels of primary school children in Malaysia is analysed. 544 primary school children aged 8 and 11-yearsold completed the MREQ . Findings from the questionnaire were matched with the Malay language reading comprehension levels of these children. Both the validation and comparisons showed that the MREQ not only gauges reading motivation levels but also reveals the complexities that come with Malaysia’s multilingual literacy context in schools. This paper concludes by proposing for the MREQ to continue to be used especially with how its design is underpinned by sociocultural theories of language and literacy. Keywords: reading experience; survey; motivation; multimodality; primary school

Strategic collaboration for technology-supported development and use of multilingual children’s storybooks in Kenya

Literacy is critical to achieving the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals butmany countries have not achieved globally desirable literacy levels. In this paper I describe acollaborative strategy that the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) adoptedto implement the African Storybook (ASb) in sub-Saharan Africa in response to the shortageof multilingual literacy resources. The paper focuses on Kenya, drawing on my experience asthe ASb Partner Development Coordinator and from ASb partner reports. One of the findingsis that nationwide literacy programmes may not meet specific literacy needs of children fromhard-to-reach communities. Other innovative and unique initiatives need to intervene througha collaborative bottom-up approach. I conclude with some lessons learned, achievements andchallenges.

Back to the Initial Condition: Experiences that Trigger the Need to Develop Language Skills Among University Spanish Students

The present study investigates how the L2 learning experience shapes multilinguals' motivation to improve their writing skills in Spanish, a language they study at university level. Within the Second Language Motivational Self System Theory (L2MSS), the L2 learning experience is often neglected when it comes to interpreting and discussing findings on motivation. We propose that the analysis of the L2 learning experience should acknowledge both formal and informal settings, such as the family context, in order to research why and how a person chooses to develop certain linguistic abilities like writing.
 Given that the L2 learner experience is spatially and temporally bound, the concept of sensitivity to initial conditions, i.e., the conditions or changes that may trigger the learner to move towards enhanced language learning, will be adopted to research the L2 learning experience.
 The aim of the study is twofold. First, to investigate the Spanish learning experience as a function of the initial conditions referred to by the participants. Second, to research how the Spanish ideal and ought-to selves are related to the students’ motivation to use and learn or maintain Spanish skills.
 The data consist of a questionnaire answered by multilingual university students of Spanish (n=21) and written autobiographical narratives. The participants belong to two groups: one group of Spanish heritage language learners (n=10) and one group of native-Swedish speaking L3 Spanish learners (n=11). Overall, family reasons, previous school experiences, high proficiency in Spanish, previously acquired languages, contact with the linguistic communities, language use and context are all aspects tightly connected to the students’ motivation to learn, maintain and develop Spanish language proficiency. The L2 learning experience, as a wider construct dependent on the sensitivity to initial conditions, must be considered to understand the complex nature of multilingual literacy development.

Jeg Gotta Like Spille Fortnite, Men I Never Win the Game: Implementing Multilingual Pedagogies in a Norwegian Primary School

Teachers in Norway have been increasingly faced with the challenge of adapting their instruction methods to address the needs of minority-language students. The current body of research on the issue seems to indicate that multilingual practices are being introduced in Norwegian classrooms. However, they often rely on majority languages, such as English and Norwegian. Some teachers have been found to employ minority languages to support learners’ English writing in drafts. As a result, minority languages in Norwegian schools tend to be regarded as less valuable than Norwegian and English. However, more recent projects are being implemented in Norwegian schools to help teachers alter their ideologies of minority languages. This article adds to this body of research by presenting two teachers’ work with multilingual pedagogies, involving the active use of minority languages alongside Norwegian and English in student texts. The data were collected from: teacher reports, student materials, and mentorship meetings. The findings indicate that the teachers successfully implemented multilingual pedagogies by using language portraits, parallel translanguaging in multilingual posters and multimodal dictionaries, and complementary translanguaging in multilingual poetry. These multilingual practices enabled the students to showcase their linguistic identities and multilingual literacy practices. The implementation of multilingual pedagogies benefited from the long-term availability of scholarly input and guidance for teachers and the opportunity to share experiences in a professional network.