Multilingual Turn Research Articles

Developing intercultural competence through literature in a multicultural framework

This article looks at how multilingualism is changing in today's world due to globalization, new technology, and more people moving across borders. It covers both the theory and practical aspects of multilingualism in communication, education, and society. Theoretically, it discusses the "multilingual turn" in education, which moves away from seeing monolingualism as the norm. It supports using flexible language practices like translanguaging, where different languages are mixed based on the situation. The practical side focuses on English as a global language and how multilingualism can be included in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes. It shows how using students’ different language backgrounds can improve learning. The article also highlights the importance of developing intercultural skills through literature, which helps students understand other cultures and reflect on their own. The methodology framework presented in the article is based on using literature in language learning to build cultural awareness and critical thinking.

Plurilingual and Pluricultural Practices in Turkish Study Abroad: The Intersection of Identity and Lx Community

Whereas second language acquisition has embraced the multilingual turn, study abroad (SA) research often assumes that learners are situated in monolingual host societies. As the profile and preferences of the sojourner diversifies, destination sites become more cosmopolitan, and global migration patterns change the demographic makeup of communities, traditional models are no longer representative of SA. This article presents the plurilingual experiences of learners of Turkish abroad. Through analysis of weekly journals, plurilingual practice is examined as a potential resource and constraint. Findings confirm how plurilingual practice supports mutual understanding and translanguaging between participants’ L1 English and Turkish. Results also reveal how shared minority identity can support TL interaction more than seeking out “native speakers.” This study offers a unique contribution to the link between identity and language learning in SA, providing further support for the need to dismantle the preeminence of the “native speaker” as target interlocutor in study abroad.

Fostering a translingual framework in teacher education focused on pragmatics: Identity and the multilingual turn in pragmatics pedagogy

As part of the multilingual turn in applied linguistics, practices in teacher education for L2 pragmatics should be reconsidered to highlight the interconnection between identity and pragmatics and explore ways to support learners' and teachers' multilingualism through pragmatics instruction. This paper aims to provide an overview of second language (L2) pragmatics research informed by a multilingual or translingual framework and to illustrate how teacher education can integrate its basic tenets into teachers’ professional development so that multicompetence can become a prominent goal in the teaching and assessment of pragmatic competence rather than monolingual native-speakerism.Although language teachers are often multilingual themselves, they may not readily see the potential of their own hybrid identities under the influence of a dominant monolingual ideology and thus may not spontaneously foster learners' multicompetence. Through an example of collaborative interactions in a teacher development course centered on pragmatics instruction, this paper will explore how teachers can jointly mediate their metapragmatic awareness while engaging in translingual pedagogy and strategically leverage their own translingual identity as pedagogy in teaching pragmatics. The paper will conclude by identifying three approaches to translingual pedagogy in pragmatics-focused instruction that acknowledges learners' and teachers’ multilingual repertoire and legitimatizes their voices, languages, and knowledge construction. (200 words).

Assessing EFL (English as Foreign Language) Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring the Cultural Teaching Literature.

Cultural teaching is the underlying core component of English as Foreign Language (EFL) education. Although the previous literature has intensely studied this theme, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research characteristics and trends in this field is still lacking regarding cultural teaching in EFL education. This study aims to explore the research distribution, research hot topics, and research the trends of EFL cultural teaching by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 358 articles on Web of Science using CiteSpace. The analysis leads to the following three findings: (a) The countries that teach EFL prevail in terms of number of publications but lag behind in terms of research influence, and a global academic community has not taken shape. (b) Interculturality is the central theme, encompassing a range of related topics such as intercultural competence, intercultural communication, and cultural awareness, with key teachers, learners, and textbooks as research perspectives. (c) Multilingual turn has emerged as a prominent new trend, which emphasizes the importance of cultural diversity and pays more attention to source/native languages and cultures. Furthermore, possible measures of promoting interculturality were discussed on the basis of relevant literature studies. In addition, scholars are suggested to pay more academic attention to the research and practices of EFL countries.

Multilingualism in digital spaces: utilising telecollaboration to raise multilingual awareness in language teacher education

ABSTRACT Multilingualism is becoming increasingly visible in digital spaces; however, current studies usually evaluate this potential from a qualitative perspective. However, quantitative studies could also contribute to broadening our perspective on multilingualism in digital spaces through telecollaborative projects. Based on Douglas Fir Group’s (2016) theoretical framework on the multifaceted nature of language learning and teaching, 103 teacher candidates participated in an eight-week controlled intervention. Teacher candidates’ progress was measured by multivariate (MANOVA) and several regressions and thematic analyses. Findings revealed that telecollaboration contributed significantly to participants’ plurilingual and pluricultural competence as well as crosslinguistic awareness. Students with higher crosslinguistic awareness and motivation also had higher plurilingual and pluricultural competence and their development during this process was also manifested through their reflections as 1) emerging multilingual awareness, 2) identity investment, and 3) technology and the multilingual turn. Considering the significant gains during the project, we provided several implications for including telecollaboration in the language teacher education curriculum.

Developing translingual competence and awareness in a study abroad Spanish language classroom

ABSTRACT Recent research highlights how agentive capacities for complex meaning-making can be developed among language learners during study abroad (SA) (e.g. Diao and Trentman 2021. Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Multilingual Turn. Multilingual Matters). In this regard, we focus on students’ translingual development, or their emerging capacity to communicate across sociopolitically-constructed linguistic and cultural borders (Canagarajah 2013b), during a 12-week program for U.S.-university students in Guatemala. Drawing on ethnographic data, particularly audio-recordings from a small, intermediate-level, second language (L2) Spanish class, we compare classroom interactions from the beginning and the end of students’ sojourn. Our qualitative findings demonstrate participants’ increasing utilisation of diverse semiotic strategies – along with linguistic resources associated with multiple languages and varieties – to make meaning and further their Spanish learning. In so doing, students and their instructor transformed their classroom into a translanguaging space where their full linguistic repertoires and identities were activated and encouraged (Wei 2018. “Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language.” Applied Linguistics 39: 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039). We further note students’ translingual development in their emerging ability to engage in transcultural reflection and communication as time progressed. As such, this paper argues for the promotion of translingual development in SA and L2 pedagogies.

Codification in the shadow of standards: ideologies in early nineteenth-century metalinguistic texts on Luxembourgish

ABSTRACT Inspired by the ideological and multilingual turn in ‘third wave’ language standardisation studies (McLelland 2020, Walsh 2021), this paper demonstrates the value of these perspectives for historical analysis by exploring the implications of language ideologies for the early codification of Luxembourgish. As a ‘late’ standardised language (Vogl 2012), Luxembourgish provides a valuable case study for evaluating how existing powerful standard language regimes (Gal 2006) ideologically influence the discursive construction of a ‘late’ standard language, especially in multilingual borderlands. Ideologies of linguistic differentiation (Irvine & Gal 2000; Gal & Irvine 2019) are inherent in the standardisation process of Luxembourgish which sits between the Romance and Germanic language spheres of influence. The analysis focuses on metadiscourses of three early texts on Luxembourgish (Meyer 1829, Meyer & Gloden 1845, De la Fontaine 1855) in their discussions and proposals for codification. The diverse labelling of Luxembourgish in the texts forms part of a metadiscourse of differentiation and hierarchical contrast. Other core emergent discourses foreground affinities with Standard French and Standard German respectively but in differing ways that evoke the ideological notion of erasure. The final part of the analysis identifies further discourses that, in contrast, frame Luxembourgish as unique and different from other languages.

Adapting to Change: Evaluating the Multilingual Turn in Xiamen's Secondary English Education System

Adapting to Change: Evaluating the Multilingual Turn in Xiamen's Secondary English Education System

Translanguaging: a paradigm shift for ELT theory and practice

Abstract Translanguaging theory and pedagogy have emerged as central to the recent multilingual turn in educational linguistics and language teaching, including ELT. This article will explore translanguaging from theoretical and practical perspectives, aiming to clarify what it is and is not claiming, and what types of pedagogic practice it advocates, both in its stronger and weaker forms. I argue that a paradigm shift is occurring in the field, parallel with the shift in understanding of the nature of language itself that underpins both translanguaging theory and integrationism in linguistics. Implications for practice in ELT are also explored, including a reorientation concerning the goals of language teaching, a recognition of English as a social construct with traditions of use rather than immutable rules, and a repositioning of the many translingual teachers around the world as the experts at the centre of the multilingual turn that is defining early twenty-first century language pedagogy.

Translanguaging in content-based EMI classes through the lens of Turkish students: Self-reported practices, functions and orientations

This qualitative study explored the perspectives of 15 EMI students on translanguaging in EMI classes, as well as the functions of translanguaging in content teaching and learning. It also examined how EMI stakeholders orient to such practices against the continuum of perspectives on bi/multilingual language use. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis, the data revealed that most lecturers tend to operate through English only, barring the use of L1 resources in classes, in line with the virtual position, which prefers English use only. On the other hand, most students adopt the optimal position, which values L1 resources in teaching, recognizing the vital role and pedagogical value of such resources in accessing content knowledge and socio-emotional resources. However, the study found that many lecturers, who demonstrated pejorative orientations towards bi/multilingual practices, did not hold the optimal position. Overall, the study underscores the need for a shift towards a multilingual turn in EMI classes with an understanding of English within multilingualism.

English and other languages in a plurilingual pedagogical approach: A case study from northern Italy

Language teaching constantly needs to be adapted to changing societal realities, such as the spread of English as an international language or the growing linguistic complexity in Europe. A key question is whether and how languages could be treated together in school programmes to cater to a multilingual milieu. This article analyses a plurilingual pedagogical approach that is adopted in a few primary schools in the Italian province of South Tyrol. The research is a qualitative case study and draws on various theoretical perspectives, including the method model developed by Richards and Rodgers (1982, 2001, 2014). The dataset comprises analogue and digital data gathered through participant observation, field notes, personal communications, audio recordings, and school documents. Results show how a multilingual turn has taken root in the context examined, while reinforcing English acquisition.

The spread of multilingualism in higher education and its repercussions for language for specific purposes

At a time when multilingualism is spreading across university contexts all over the world, this article focuses on the major repercussions that the coexistence of different languages has on Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP). After analysing the interface between LSP and multilingualism, the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU is put forward as a very good case in point of how multilingual universities are endeavouring to face the many challenges that the multilingual turn entails. The article underscores the need to foster collaboration not only between content and LSP specialists, but also between LSP practitioners in different languages.

From a Monolingual Mind to a Multilingual Heart: An Autoethnography through Dominant Language Constellation

This article narrates and analyzes the author’s life experiences as a learner, teacher, and researcher of diverse languages across three contexts: mainland China, Hong Kong, and Norway. Deconstructing the influential episodes in the writer’s life trajectory, this autoethnography explores the author’s transformation from a monolingually-minded individual to a border-crossing, multilingually hearted scholar. The analysis is undertaken through the theoretical lens of language ideology and dominant language constellation (DLC) and epitomizes the profound influence of sociocultural structures on an individual’s identity search and development. Confronting the multilingual turn in education and echoing the call to centralize identity in language teaching, this self-study exemplifies autoethnography as an empowering method for an ideological shift from perceiving “language(s)-as-problem” to advocating “language(s)-as-resource.” The study also illustrates how the construct of DLC can be deployed as a tangible model of multilinguals’ ever-evolving linguistic identities.

Visualising the language practices of lower secondary students: outlines for practice-based models of multilingualism

Abstract The multilingual turn in applied linguistics has produced a number of models that approach multilingualism from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. However, fully developed models of multilingualism that focus on the language practices of individuals and groups are still lacking. This paper contributes to address this gap by introducing visual models that represent the contexts of practice and attitudes to the languages in the repertoire of lower secondary pupils in Norway. The paper starts by introducing the rich linguistic scenario in Norway and the role of language learning in developing students’ multilingual abilities. After a brief discussion on the role of practice in language learning, we provide an outline of current models of multilingualism, situating our visual models, the Ungspråk Practice-Based Models of Multilingualism (UPMM), in the field. The paper then focuses on the properties of the UPMM, which represent data collected from an online questionnaire answered by 593 students in lower secondary school and allow for the exploration of data both from the perspective of the whole group of participants and from an individual perspective. Particular attention is paid to the interactive features of the models, which can be used by teachers and educators as pedagogical tools for exploring multilingualism and language learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the contexts of practice for the languages in the participants’ repertoires based on the visual models.

Examining a Northern Sámi-Norwegian dual language picturebook in English language education through a critical translingual-transcultural lens

The present article explores the affordances of a dual language Northern Sámi – Norwegian picturebook in addressing multilingualism and interculturality in the primary English language classroom. Both notions of interculturality and multilingualism have received increased attention as fundamental components in English language teaching (ELT), yet they have been mostly addressed as separate concepts. Furthermore, because interculturality has traditionally been theorised as communicating across geographical/national borders, local diversities, such as indigenous cultures and languages, have often been overlooked or misrepresented in the language classroom. Similarly, linguistic diversity has mostly been viewed through the monolingual lens. As classrooms around the world have become increasingly diverse, both culturally and linguistically, it is important for teachers to engage with these multiple languages and identities, not as separate entities in faraway lands, but also through an exploration of local indigenous diversities. The dual language picturebook provides a textual-visual space to engage teachers and learners with the multilingual turn in tandem with the transcultural perspective. The chosen picturebook, Ábiid plástihkat – Plasten i havet (2020), by Rita Sørly (author) and Malgorzata Piotrowska (illustrator) opens up the interpretative possibilities of multimodal texts as socially-just, diversity-focused, visually-complex and language-conscious semiotic objects. Embedded in a specific cultural context, the English classroom in northern Norway, this paper positions the dual language picturebook as a potential resource for exploring indigenous languages and cultures in Grades 1-7 and for attending to global-local diversities through a critical translingual-transcultural lens.

‘Inert benevolence’ towards languages beyond English in the discourses of English primary school teachers

The UK, and perhaps particularly England, is often seen as a nation subscribing wholeheartedly to a monolingual mindset. The national curriculum remains resolutely monolingual, despite linguistic diversity in primary classrooms having increased rapidly. Current research and anecdotal evidence suggest that translanguaging in English schools is rare, despite the documented ‘multilingual turn’ in applied linguistics, and transnational practices are seen as being facilitated only within families. This study explores attitudes and practices towards supporting multilingualism and encouraging children's sense of transnationalism, rather than solely English language acquisition and assimilation into British culture. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers across England, and the resultant transcriptions were analysed thematically to explore the experiences and attitudes of participants. The data presented in this paper focuses on instances of what we have termed ‘inert benevolence’ and we identify a number of conscious and subconscious barriers to truly incorporating languages beyond English in classroom practices.

Introduction: Towards a multilingual turn in teacher professionalization

With this Special Issue, we take up two key topics of research on education and multilingualism: First, considering the persisting lack of guidance for teachers towards a multilingual turn, we focus on teacher professionalization, a term comprising both pre-service and in-service teachers with their biographical experiences and reflections. Second, in light of a multilingual turn implying a turn in social justice, we focus on four northwestern European contexts with a particular degree of social injustice: England, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. Our Introduction will, first, provide a brief overview of the prerequisites and difficulties of a multilingual turn in teacher professionalization, and, second, delineate the individual contributions of the Special Issue with their specific approaches to the topic.

Building Educational Technologies for Code-Switching: Current Practices, Difficulties and Future Directions

Code-switching (CSW) is the phenomenon where speakers use two or more languages in a single discourse or utterance—an increasingly recognised natural product of multilingualism in many settings. In language teaching and learning in particular, code-switching has been shown to bring in many pedagogical benefits, including accelerating students’ confidence, increasing their access to content, as well as improving their participation and engagement. Unfortunately, however, current educational technologies are not yet able to keep up with this ‘multilingual turn’ in education, and are partly responsible for the constraint of this practice to only classroom contexts. In an effort to make progress in this area, we offer a data-driven position paper discussing the current state of affairs, difficulties of the existing educational natural language processing (NLP) tools for CSW and possible directions for future work. We specifically focus on two cases of feedback and assessment technologies, demonstrating how the current state-of-the-art in these domains fails with code-switching data due to a lack of appropriate training data, lack of robust evaluation benchmarks and lack of end-to-end user-facing educational applications. We present some empirical user cases of how CSW manifests and suggest possible technological solutions for each of these scenarios.

Finding spaces for all languages. Teacher educators’ perspectives on multilingualism

In 2009, the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany enacted a law that prescribed a binding module on dealing with linguistic diversity for all future teachers in every university offering teacher training in the state. In this paper, we present an interview study with teacher educators in this so-called DaZ module and their views on multilingualism. The conceptual framework of this article is based on Niedrig’s (2002) typology of perspectives on multilingualism. The findings reveal that the educators’ perspectives on multilingualism seem to be reproductions of their own multilingual biographies and that the framing of the DaZ module tends to reinforce a monolingual mindset. At the same time, the results show multiple ways in which the interviewees still find spaces for multilingual practices within the framework of this module. This underlines the educators’ role in promoting a multilingual turn in education.

Towards multilingual turn in language classes: plurilingual awareness as an indicator of intercultural communicative competence

ABSTRACT Multilingualism research has predominantly focused on describing the various factors behind multilingual individuals’ beliefs and practices in language learning and teaching. However, language and culture are intrinsically related and how intercultural communicative competence can contribute to this alliance remains relatively unknown. To address this research gap, the current study examined the relationship between plurilingual awareness and intercultural communicative competence together with their experiences in language classrooms. The study was based on Douglas Fir Group’s (2016. A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. Modern Language Journal, 100(Supplement 2016), 19–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12301) framework and Deardorff’s (2006. Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266) process orientation model, with 265 EFL teacher (pre-service and in-service) participants. In this mixed-method study, data were analysed using several multiple regressions and thematic analyses. Findings indicate that plurilingual awareness is a significant predictor of the relationship between language and culture, and individuals with higher plurilingual awareness have higher intercultural communicative competence. Classroom practices yielded complementary results manifested through a) translanguaging as a motivational practice, b) coping with intercultural tensions, and c) technology in multilingual classrooms. This study has several implications for the multilingual turn in language learning and teaching.