Plurilingual Repertoires Research Articles

The Role of Universities in the Development of Plurilingual Repertoires: The Voices of Non-traditional Adult Students

The purpose of this paper is to present a study on the non-traditional adult students’ (NTAS) perceptions concerning the role of university in the development of their plurilingual repertoires. Data were collected through biographical interviews with NTAS with fewer and more plurilingual experiences. The results show that NTAS with more plurilingual experiences are more aware of their plurilingual repertoire and acknowledge higher education as an opportunity to further develop it. It also appears that if university promotes a favourable environment for the development of plurilingual repertoires, there may be a change in NTAS’ perception regarding lifelong language learning.

Working with super-diversity in Strasbourg pre-schools: Strengthening the role of teaching support staff

AbstractIn 2009 Strasbourg Council issued a call for tenders for an in-service training course aimed at nursery school assistants working in the city to enable them to better “communicate with non-French speaking children”. A small team of teachers and researchers from the University of Strasbourg responded to this call, firmly believing in the pivotal role played by nursery assistants in children’s language development given their close daily contact with children and their families. In this article we firstly situate Strasbourg pre-schools within the local and national context, referring to French ministerial policy documents and statistics which reflect the extent and nature of super-diversity in the region. Secondly, we describe, analyse and evaluate the content, approach and impact of this innovative course referring to qualitative data collected from course participants. Findings suggest that nursery school assistants, when empowered with knowledge about language and guided in their exploration of approaches which support language development, can help early learners to bridge the gap between home and school. A deeper appreciation of the complexities of plurilingual repertoire and multiple identity construction appear to reinforce confidence to meet the challenges of super-diversity at pre-school and strengthen nursery assistants in their role as caring professionals.

Lifelong Learning in Higher Education: The Development of Non-traditional Adult Students’ Plurilingual Repertoires

The purpose of this paper is to present a study on the non-traditional adult students’ representations concerning the contributions of Lifelong Learning in different domains in life, namely the contribute of Higher Education attendance in the development of their plurilingual repertoires. Our starting point is an online questionnaire filled in by non-traditional adult students. The results not only show a positive contribution of Lifelong Learning, but also suggest language learning as an important part of it. Non- traditional adult students seem committed to their Lifelong Learning process and recognize in the Higher Education attendance an opportunity to further develop plurilingual repertoires.

Constructing content and language knowledge in plurilingual student teamwork: situated and longitudinal perspectives

This paper explores how students in an Educational Psychology subject in a university L2 immersion context accomplish learning, mobilise their plurilingual repertoires and restructure their participation in carrying out a teamwork task over the course of approximately one week. The study is novel in several ways. First, it aims to fill a gap in the literature by exploring dynamics of knowledge construction in a multilingual, ‘internationalised’ university classroom, a context that is currently underrepresented in research, although increasingly common in practice. Second, the theoretical-analytical framework, inspired by socio-constructivism and conversation analysis, lends support to both situated and longitudinal arguments for learning; perspectives that are often examined separately in interactionist literature. Finally, the framework is used to seek evidence of knowledge construction not only in terms of the second language but also in terms of disciplinary content and by paying particular attention to how students participate and use their available languages in managing the different task stages. The results not only demonstrate the utility of the proposed framework but also highlight how the mobilisation of plurilingual repertoires may be advantageous for learning and participation in similar higher education classroom settings and, ultimately, for doing internationalisation.

Plurilingual Repertoires in the ESL Classroom: The Case of the European School

Plurilingual Repertoires in the <scp>ESL</scp> Classroom: The Case of the European School

Plurilingualism inTESOL: Promising Controversies

he idea for this special issue grew out of the editors’ involvementin TESOL’s ESL in Bilingual Education Interest Section (BEIS).As we respectively took leadership roles within BEIS, we took part inBEIS’s record of “pushing the boundaries to make way for a more mul-tilingual TESOL” (Taylor, 2009, p. 310). While Shelley co-conducted asurvey of TESOL members regarding the need for a multilingual lan-guage policy within TESOL (Taylor, Smith, Daniel, & Schwarzer,2009), Kristin spearheaded a resolution regarding Deaf learners’language rights that subsequently became a TESOL (2009) positionstatement. These activities were rooted in the belief that learners’linguistic repertoires have a crucial role to play in learning English.This special issue’s focus on plurilingualism, or multilingualism at thelevel of the individual (Council of Europe, 2001), is intended tofurther illuminate the role and value of learners’ and teachers’ firstlanguages (L1s) and additional languages, and policies that supporttheir plurilingual repertoires in relation to TESOL’s mission ofadvancing excellence in English language teaching in a highly diverse,multilingual world.As we undertook the work of this special issue, we were aware thatwe were promising controversies on several fronts. Since the 1950s,TESOL has faced controversies regarding the status of languages otherthan English within the organization (Fishman, 2009). From a practi-tioner’s perspective, the idea of including a learner’s L1 in the class-room is still viewed cautiously, as a recent online discussion on “Whatis the Role of L1 in L2 Teaching?” on TESOL’s LinkedIn platformshows (Aftat, 2013). Bilingual education remains so marginalized inconcept and practice that plurilingualism is a radical notion in manyrespects (Garc!ia, personal communication). As with other radical

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’.

Vers de nouvelles approches théoriques du langage et du plurilinguisme

Atemporal and context-free views of langue have been replaced by models focusing on context-bounded processes of sense-making and a strong determination of linguistic forms by the socio-cognitive functions of language. However, the view of separate, closed rule systems for each single language still prevails. Based on Hopper’s emergent grammar and socio-constructivist models of language acquisition, we argue, firstly, that language is a praxis rather than a structure, i.e. an open, dynamic and complex system that undergoes change each time it is used. We also strongly question the endoxa that different languages are bound to geographically and politically separate spaces. Highly polyglossic societies are the rule, where plurilingual repertoires represent resources upon which interlocutors can draw to solve their communicative tasks either by sticking to one language at a time or by blended combinations or multilanguaging. It is well known that such mixing follows norms which represent a multilingual emergent grammar. Finally, we call for language theories to explain multilanguaging as one of several forms of normal language behaviour.

“How Do the Apples Reproduce (Themselves)?” How Teacher Trainees Negotiate Language, Content, and Membership in a CLIL Science Education Classroom at a Multilingual University

This article discusses findings from ongoing research into plurilingual group work interaction in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teacher training classroom at a university in Catalonia, Spain. We explore how participants make use of available verbal and non-verbal resources—for example, their multilingual verbal repertoires, posture, gesture, gaze—to collaboratively accomplish various activities and, specifically, to problematize linguistic and subject knowledge, to construct science teacher discourse, and to dynamically and simultaneously negotiate membership in immediate and “imagined” communities. Although the shift in European higher education toward teaching nonlanguage subjects through the medium of a foreign language would appear to favor monolingual practices and be detrimental to local languages, our data reveal that participants' plurilingual repertoires can act as a resource in classroom interaction, creating a favorable framework for performing a range of activities that would seem to enrich the collective learning process.

‘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.

The M-factor, a bilingual asset for plurilinguals? Learners’ representations, discourse strategies and third language acquisition in institutional contexts

Within the framework of our research on learners’ language practices and representations, this contribution explores how their representations about language uses and language learning shape the processes of learning and communication in school settings. More precisely, we will study learners’ representations regarding the existence of a plurilingual asset, defined as plurilinguals’ strategic advantage for further language learning and use. Following a discussion of the arguments that support the hypothesis of plurilingualism as a potential facilitator for both learning and verbal interaction, we will address the question of the sociolinguistic conditions that must be met for learners to perceive their plurilingualism as an asset in formal education. Special attention will be paid to the impact of a third language learnt at school on the construction of plurilingual repertoires and on the evolution of learners’ representations about languages, language uses and learning as their repertoires widen and diversify. The population under study includes young plurilingual learners in two secondary schools and one university in France and Germany. The analysis of their discourse and underlying representations about the role of prior language knowledge in language behaviour and learning experience will allow us to discuss the role played by the institution in encouraging learners to view their plurilingualism as a strategic resource.