Plurilingual Competence Research Articles

The Engineering of Plurilingualism Following a Blueprint for Multilingualism: The Case of Vanuatu's Education Language Policy

This article examines recent proposals in Vanuatu for a new, plurilingual education system. The article discusses these proposals with reference to three principles of plurilingualism upon which the proposals are ostensibly based: the need to value the linguistic repertoires with which children start school, the development of further linguistic resources to enhance individual potential, and the holistic integration of these resources within linguistic repertoires. The author argues that the proposals are driven not by concerns for the fostering of individual plurilingualism, but rather by an agenda of an imagined societal multilingualism within which certain languages are prioritised over all others. The result is an attempt to engineer plurilingual competence by following a blueprint for multilingualism, thus working against the needs of individuals. The article proposes a more flexible model of plurilingualism, within which teachers and learners have the freedom to negotiate meaning through whichever linguistic resources are available to them, rather than stipulating which languages should be used at any given time.

Blogs and the development of plurilingual and intercultural competence: report of a co-actional approach in Portuguese foreign language classroom

Focusing on the topic of the development of the plurilingual and intercultural competence through the integration of electronic communicative practices both in foreign language classrooms and non-formal contexts, this work aims at defining and characterizing, in view of a co-actional perspective, a “pedagogical blog”, by considering it from three different axes: a personal and social dimension, a collaborative and co-actional dimension and the management of linguistic and cultural repertoires dimension. In order to do so, this contribution presents and describes a case study which will highlight how blogs can be used in order to develop plurilingual and intercultural competences: we will present the classroom dynamics developed by the blog “Falar pelos cotovelos”, a year-long project created within the scope of the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a foreign language, in a non-formal setting (non-scholar public). Throughout the discussion of this purposeful sampling, our analysis will allow us to consider pedagogical blogs as means of socialization, as instruments at the service of exolingual interaction and as time-spaces for languages and cultures.

Developing children's language awareness: switching codes in the language classroom

This article examines how learning an additional language can positively affect children's opinions and feelings about languages and how this process can be enriched when different languages – namely, the additional language and the children's L1s – are present and used in the classroom in an informed way. It is hypothesised that this will benefit children as language learners and, ultimately, as learners. A qualitative and quantitative study was carried out with 25 young learners for a school term. Their L1s (Catalan and Spanish) were brought into the English classroom and activities incorporating translation and codeswitching (CS), namely the pedagogically based CS, were developed. This switching of codes was promoted by the teacher but used by the students. Based on the research results, the article concludes by describing and discussing the positive development observed in the children's language awareness and plurilingual competence.

Language education at the University of Aveiro before and after Bologna: Practices and discourses

Higher education plays a fundamental role in the construction of a European citizenship that demands the development of plurilingual competences. Although the Bologna Process highlights that development (relating it to mobility, employability and lifelong learning), language education does not seem to be a priority in the agenda of higher education institutions (Tudor 2006). In the context of curricular restructuring required by the Bologna Process, this article presents a case study of the University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal, which set out to describe institutional practices and discourses concerning the use and function of languages in undergraduate and postgraduate education in two academic years (2002–2003 and 2007–2008, before and after the restructuring). In order to identify practices, we analysed the programmes of all language courses. This allowed us to identify the languages and language courses offered, as well as the degree programmes into which they are integrated. In order to access institutional discourses, we interviewed seven actors responsible for training and management at the UA (Rectors, Vice-Rectors, the Head of the Department of Languages and Cultures, The Erasmus Programme Coordinator, and the President of the Students' Union). The results show that the Bologna Process has had a limiting effect on language education: fewer language courses are offered and fewer degree programmes include them. This converges with the institutional actors' discourses, since they do not recognize the institution's responsibility to develop students' plurilingual competences and tend to value only the instrumental role of English.

,,… als ich Kind war, hatten wir das everywhere.” Sprachwechsel als Lern- und Kommunikationsstrategie in einem Tandemgespräch

This article presents findings of a pilot study on how language switch is used in a discussionbetween Finnish and German speaking students. Language switch in L2-interaction has been mostly considered as interference and a communicative deficit. After the Common European Framework of References for Languages highlighted the importance of plurilingual competences, language switch and other plurilingual strategies have been seen more positively as a productive way of reaching a communicative goal. The data analyzed in this article have been derived from a recorded group discussion in a Tandem course. As Tandem includes aspects of both didactic and non-didactic communication, the analysis also intends to find out whether language switch is used primarily as a communication strategy or as a learning strategy. The results illustrate that language switch is widely used in the data, mostly by the participants interacting in the L2 (German) and it mostly occurs when searching for lexical items. Language switches both to L1 (Finnish) and to L3 (English) appear almost to the same extent and they clearly serve communicative and learning purposes.

Linguistic and plurilingual & intercultural competence in mathematics teaching and learning

This article argues that mathematical competence in the sense of "mathematical literacy" (OECD 2003) includes linguistic and communicative (partial) competences. It is therefore necessary when developing competence expectations of pupils in mathematics to take into consideration previous knowledge and development in this area also. It is possible to develop checklists of cognitive-linguistic capacities on the basis of an analysis of concrete descriptions of mathematical competence underpinning mathematical educational standards (example HarmoS project in Switzerland). At the same time it also becomes clear that these capacities at least to some extent are not simply preconditions but also integral components of mathematical competence. The ability to understand and articulate in language various modes of mathematical thinking is the aim of mathematical teaching and at the same time a possible contribution of the subject to the development of language awareness and plurilingual competence.

Linking “Heritage Language” Education and Plurilingual Repertoires development: evidences from drawings of Portuguese pupils in Germany.

This article discusses the outcomes of an investigation of social representations of Portuguese primary school pupils in Germany towards “their languages” (mainly Portuguese and German) within a theoretical framework based on the concept of “Heritage Language” and its role in the development of plurilingual competences The results of the collected data (956 drawings from pupils in 7 German Federal States) point at the existence of: i) bounds between Heritage Language and the development of Plurilingual Competence; ii) stereotyped representations towards languages and cultures; and iii) the building up of a “linguistic culture”, since the pupils have already developed attitudes, knowledge and aptitude to deal with linguistic and cultural diversity. The study emphasizes the need to develop a more consistent multilingual awareness in order to optimize attitudes, knowledge and aptitudes evinced, namely in Heritage Language classroom.

Plurilingualism, linguistic representations and multiple identities: crossing the frontiers

This article is concerned with the conditions and stakes of building competence in multiple languages in learners who, due to their language biographies or the educational system, are studying in prestigious institutional school environments, such as the French–German schools of Buc (Versailles), Freiburg (Breisgau) and Saarbrücken (Saarland). In particular, the research examines the reciprocal interactions between social representations of bi/plurilingualism and contexts of acquisition as the students integrate themselves within these institutional settings. We reviewed the conditions in which the data collected lead us to conclude or to infer changes in learners’ representations related to the languages and their language-learning experiences as well as their accumulation of knowledge. First, based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of data elicited in the form of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, we aimed to define the concept of plurilingual competence, which is heterogeneous in nature. This competence exists on two levels: first, on the macrolinguistic level, from the perspective of the organisation of curriculum and of individual trajectories of learning and, second, on the microlinguistic level, in its discursive and interactional reality in the learners’ plurilingual language practices. With this aim, the study began by investigating the content and the discursive processes of the development of representations by considering the dynamics of their structural and argumentative components. During the next stage, we analysed (using speech analysis tools) discursive practices such as language activities, which are situated in the interaction and contribute to the development and mutual construction of representations of plurilingualism. The study used tools of content and discourse analysis for didactic purposes. We have tried to reveal how the complex plurilingual language repertoire of French–German learners takes shape, through typological profiles and examining the constituent components of representations of identity and plurilingualism. Finally, in an active research mode, we suggest possibilities for future research on the didactics of plurilingualism and ways to rethink ‘multilingualism’.

Plurilinguismes, territoires, trajectoires : des compétences aux identités plurilingues

Cette introduction vise à présenter diverses orientations et contributions de chercheurs canadiens et européens sur les questions de contacts et de développements plurilingues, dans des situations diverses de mobilités (géographiques, professionnelles, virtuelles, symboliques). La mise enregard des contributions cherche à éclairer comment l’étude des trajectoires de mobilité peut permettre de réfléchir ce qu’est une compétence plurilingue et pluriculturelle.

Plurilingual competence, styles and variation

The paper explores plurilingual competence in respect to language proficiency, language education and pluri- and multilingualism. The notion of communicative competence was introduced by Hymes (1972) as a reaction to chomskyan view of language as an autonomous system. Hymes’ notion of communicative competence originally included plurilingualism. The concept of communicative competence was quickly adopted to applied linguistics but the idea of a linguistic repertoire consist-ing of the competencies of linguistic varieties was not imported to SLA or language testing. The Hymesian perspective to plurilingualism as an essential dimension of communicative competence was revived in the Common European Framework (CEFR). However, the practice of applying the CEFR has mostly neglected the dimension on plurilingualism and plurilingual competence. The focus in the use of the CEFR has been on the different areas of language skills within one single language at a time, while the application of plurilingual practices has gained very little attention. The Hymesian notion of communicative competence has lived on in the sociolinguistic research tradition, especially within interactional sociolinguistics. The present paper relates the notion of plurilingual competence to its hymesian origin, to recent trends in plurilingual and pluricultural education, and to the sociolinguistic study of style and linguistic variation in multilingual communities. The article uses Finnish L2 data to show how plurilingual competence is used as an interactional resource. From the perspective of language learning, plurilingual compe-tence enables speakers with different linguistic backgrounds to use their shared linguistic repertoire in order to ensure smooth interaction and achieve mutual understanding

Les rapports aux normes et à la traduction dans les entreprises

This contribution, which is part of a research on management of multilingualism in companies (European project DYLAN -Language dynamics and management of diversity) seeks to analyze different types and forms of norms through epi-and metalinguistic discourse. On the one hand, it focuses on "translation of norms" in discourse in order to define the various levels of comprehensibility of norms (subjective or imagined norms, usage norms, prescriptive norms) in relation to practices, plurilingual competencies and language treatment. On the other hand, this contribution approaches the norms of translation, in order to bring to light the various manners to envisage translation. As far as the latter is considered as a tool that contributes to a commercial and/or communicational strategy or a way to adapt oneself to contingencies of the moment and to dread change, the ways of considering translation deserve observation and analysis. This double approach of norms aims, in fine, to determine how complex interrelations between different types and forms of norms appear in discourse about practices, competencies and language treatment.

La classe de langue vivante étrangère : Nouvelles apparences, anciens fonds

Many of the contemporary approaches to foreign language teaching actually stem from ancient pedagogic principles and concepts, which are now revisited and re-worded. The new perspective on foreign languages teaching-learning process, advocated by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, offers valuable insights and practical suggestions regarding a new approach both on the significance of the foreign language class and on its progress. The outlook upheld by the CEF also brings forward a new status of the teacher, who should be regarded as a foreign languages teacher (in French: professeur de langues vivantes etrangeres) – i.e. he who teaches foreign languages. The educational objective is therefore the acquisition and development of students’ plurilingual and pluricultural competences (in French: competence plurilingue et pluriculturelle).

Estimation of non-uniform membrane properties over the dendrite: A statistical approach using data assimilation method

In this paper we examine the use of advertising in order to develop Spanish studentś plurilingual competence and linguistic attitudes associated to the use of languages in advertising. The point of departure is the analysis of two teaching-learning experiences with Spanish university students forwarded to practice plurilingual exposure through the intercomprehension approach to language learning (Hidalgo Downing & Vela Delfa, 2011). Through the analysis of the two experiences, we examine the degrees of lexical comprehension, the importance of paratext in textual schemata processings and the learners’ expression of values and attitudes associated to languages.

Rethinking early ESL Teaching in France: A cross-cultural approach

In France, the extension of the teaching of a foreign language from the second year of primary school onwards (cycle 2) seems to consist of a mere quantitative transposition of the contents defined for the last three years (cycle 3). The syllabuses seem to rely mostly on a cumulative and behaviourist process, where the emphasis is mainly placed on the children's ability to memorise. Moreover, this approach is based on the development of a plurilingual competence, which puts forward the idea that languages interrelate and interact (CEFR; see Council of Europe 2001: 4 §1.3). This raises the question of the nature of what children 'know' at this early stage of cognitive development and language acquisition at school and how the young pupil can draw upon his knowledge and experience of language in order to achieve effective communication.This paper will analyse the introductory ESL cross-cultural sessions conducted in classes of CE1 and CE2 (second and third year of primary school). It will attempt to...

The Effects of Content and Language Integrated Learning in European Education: Key Findings from the Andalusian Bilingual Sections Evaluation Project

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) represents an increasingly popular pedagogic approach that has evolved in response to the recognised need for plurilingual competence in Europe. In this article, we present key findings from one of the first large-scale, multidimensional CLIL evaluation projects. We begin by outlining the emergence of European CLIL and by comparing it with other, non-European bilingual education initiatives and then we narrow the scope to Southern Spain, where the research was conducted. We outline the Andalusian Bilingual Sections programme, one of the cornerstones of the government's Plurilingualism Promotion Plan (2005), within which the research was conducted. In presenting results, we focus on specific areas that we believe make significant contributions to some of the key concerns in contemporary CLIL research including the linguistic competence of CLIL learners, the question of starting age, the distribution and functionalities of L2 use in CLIL classrooms, and the ways in which CLIL appears to be impacting on the educational system in general.

The plurilingual tradition and the English language in South Asia

There has been a plurilingual tradition of communication in South Asia since precolonial times. Local scholars consider pluringualism as ‘natural’ to the ecology of this region. In plurilingualism, proficiency in languages is not conceptualized individually, with separate competencies developed for each language. The different languages constitute an integrated system to constitute a repertoire. After distinguishing plurilingualism from other forms of multilingual communication, the article shows how English has been accommodated in this tradition. What I label Plurilingual English is not an identifiable code or a systematized variety of English. It is a highly fluid and variable form of language practice. Speakers negotiate their different Englishes for intelligibility and effective communication. The article goes on to define plurilingual competence. For communication to work across such radical differences, it is important that acquisition and use go hand and hand. Such a competence is always in a state of becoming and, therefore, acquisition is emergent. Plurilingual communication works because competence does not rely solely on a form of knowledge, but rather, encompasses interaction strategies. In the final section, the article discusses how learner strategy training and language awareness go some way toward facilitating such interactional strategies and repertoire development.

‘I speak five languages’: fostering plurilingual competence through language awareness

When considering the extent to which plurilingualism nowadays shapes ‘every facet of human life’ (Aronin & Singleton, 2008, p. 8), especially within European member states, one understands the reason why individual plurilingualism has become a benchmark in education, raising concerns in improving the quality of communication among people from different contexts, in fostering mobility, and in conserving linguistic and cultural heterogeneity. Focusing on the discourses (life narratives) of two Ukrainian students attending the third cycle of the Portuguese education system in the light of their learning process of the shelter language, in this paper we aim at (1) reflecting upon the importance of all individuals becoming aware of the asset that their lifelong plurilingual identities represent, i.e. being aware of plurilingualism; (2) discussing the role of language awareness in fostering plurilingual identity, namely by promoting the development of an effective plurilingual competence. This is done by (1) describing students' perception of their plurilingual identities and competences; (2) reconstructing the processes which intervene in the development of subjects' plurilingual identities and competences; (3) analysing how students perceive the contribution of their plurilingual repertoires in the process of learning the Portuguese language; and (4) presenting evidence of life narratives as a privileged space for raising language awareness.

Multilingual education in Europe: policy developments

In order to gain ground in the Europe of knowledge, we must make sure that pupils in all EU countries receive the appropriate education and develop the right knowledge and skills, including intercultural and plurilingual competences. But how successful a cohesive process for a multilingual Europe is it likely to be? In which way do new policy developments in language education affect curriculum decision-making, professionalism and our own sense of identity and intercultural options? Up to which point do 'linguistic unity' and 'linguistic diversity' have to be taken into account as political and educational factors gearing towards European communicative integration? How can we avoid policy developments which treat multilingualism as an 'either - or' decision and run the risk of creating social exclusion either through cultural or linguistic exclusion? Is it possible in a multilingual Europe to develop a holistic language education policy inclusive of 'Global English' and linguistic diversity? This article addresses these questions by examining the effectiveness as policy development mechanisms of the introduction of changes to policy and/or school practices that require modification or renovation of language education. This examination incorporates analysis of the concept and substance of multilingualism as part of European integration and offers new perspectives on how it may be interpreted and utilised for the development of education policies in EU countries.

Intercultural Cybercommunication: Negotiation of Representations of Languages and Cultures in Multilingual Chatrooms

The creation of a global citizen, who is able to participate in the public discourse, depends on the development of plurilingual and intercultural communicative competences, supported by a physical and online mobility. The purpose of this paper is to show how the integration of chats within the teaching/learning process of English and Portuguese as foreign languages offers possibilities of developing these competences in university students from Portugal and the USA. The study will focus on the processes of negotiation of representations of languages and cultures in order to analyse the intercultural communicative and plurilingual competences in action. The data are composed of sequences of two multilingual chat sessions which occurred during a school year. In the analysis of the Internet discourse, it will be possible to observe how chatters became competent intercultural cybercommunicators through negotiating representations of languages as learning, affective and cultural objects.

Multilingual switch in peer classroom interaction

Focusing on code-switching from conversation analysis and sociolinguistic perspectives, this paper examines interactions between 10–12-year-old language learners of immigrant origin and locally born students as they are engaging in verbal pair work. All are students attending language classes in state primary schools in Barcelona in which Catalan is the official language of the institution, Spanish is the common language of communication among students, and English is taught as a foreign language. By examining transcripts of recorded interactions between student pairs, we analyze the role played by Catalan and Spanish code-switching in the context of classes where students are studying Catalan and English. Our results show that language alternation serves to address practical issues related to the management and completion of the assigned pair activities. We will argue that, although code-switching is a resource available to students in multilingual contexts, rather than a distorting element, the implicit and non-implicit language policies in the classroom cannot be separated from the analysis of multilingual switches and the concept of plurilingual competence.