This article reports the results of a school-based curriculum development project that aimed to support language teachers working with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in Norway to develop teaching strategies that foster intercultural citizenship and multilingual competence. Three university researchers collaborated with two schools to increase mutual respect and tolerance for cultural and linguistic diversity in language classrooms, to increase awareness of the positive impact of home language maintenance on academic performance, and to improve the engagement of multilingual literacy and student identity in the classroom. Data were collected during teacher workshops and while following the delivery of the project, and consist of lesson planning materials, texts produced by students, and a follow-up teacher survey. The article presents examples of activities and materials the teachers at the cooperating schools designed and implemented, samples of student work, as well as teacher reflections on the extent to which the project promoted multiliteracy and intercultural citizenship. The findings suggest that while the project helped strengthen awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity at the schools, understanding of the relevance of the home language to literacy development and academic success and multiliteracy were not adequately supported. Implications for future work to promote language classrooms that foster linguistic and cultural diversity and multiliteracy are discussed.

For a considerable number of years, mother tongue (MT) use has been ostracized in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms as a form of poor teaching that negatively affects target language (TL) acquisition (McMillan and Rivers, 2011). However, research on the potential disadvantages of teaching approaches that integrate MT use is inconclusive, as is research on the positive effects of an all-TL learning environment (Hall and Cook, 2012). Thus, EFL teachers who share the same language with their students are often left wondering to what extent and in what contexts they should employ TL and MT. Unlike the curricula of other countries, where policy makers often suggest the maximal use of TL, the Norwegian curriculum for the subject of English does not contain any direct statements prescribing English as the sole language of instruction. The present study investigated the perceptions of Norwegian primary school teachers in different grades regarding their TL use when teaching EFL using an online survey. Specifically, the project addressed the following research questions: (1) How often do teachers use English in the EFL classroom? (2) In what situations and for what purposes do teachers use the TL? (3) Is there a correlation between years of teaching experience and the amount of TL use in the classroom? (4) Do teachers who have college credits in English employ the TL to a larger extent than the teachers who do not? The participants’ self-reports suggest that while the TL is used up to 50% of the time, its use varied from giving instructions and stating objectives to giving praise and criticism. This implies that Norwegian teachers may employ the TL to a lesser extent than the existing literature suggests (Macaro, 2005). However, no correlation was found between the amount of TL used and teachers’ expertise in and experience teaching the TL. To caution against an overdependence on MT, the article concludes by reiterating the need to develop and define systematic practices of MT use that facilitate foreign language acquisition and by calling for future research to shed light on bilingual or multilingual approaches in foreign language teaching.

Denne artikkelen handler om norske engelsklæreres kompetanse i å arbeide med barn som har et annet morsmål enn norsk, og som lærer engelsk som fremmedspråk. Problemstillingene er "Hva slags utdanning og kunnskap innen flerspråklighet har engelsklærere i Norge?," "I hvilken grad føler engelsklærere i Norge seg forberedt på å undervise i flerkulturelle og flerspråklige klasserom?" og "Hvilken type kunnskap, ferdigheter og ressurser føler de behov for?". Vi presenterer resultater fra en nasjonal spørreundersøkelse hvor i alt 176 engelsklærere deltok. I tillegg presenterer vi resultater fra fokusintervjuer med i alt fire lærere fra to skoler. Resultatene viser at selv om engelsklærerne til en viss grad føler seg forberedt på arbeid med elever som ikke har norsk som morsmål, har svært få av dem utdanning som fokuserer på flerspråklighet. Svarene fra spørreundersøkelsen og fra intervjuene viser at engelsklærerne gjerne vil ha mer kompetanse på dette området. Vi vil derfor understreke betydningen av utdanning i teori og praksis om flerspråklig utvikling og flerkulturell utdanningsteori, og ikke minst betydningen av tilgang til faglig utvikling som fokuserer på flerspråklighet i skolen og i samfunnet for engelsklærere i Norge.Nøkkelord: engelsklærere, kompetanse, språkpedagogisk kunnskap,flerspråklighet, lærerutdanningAbstractThis paper examines the extent to which English teachers in Norway are prepared to work with children whose mother tongue is not Norwegian, and who are acquiring English as a foreign language. The research questions are “What type of education and knowledge in the area of multilingualism do English teachers in Norway have?,” To what extent do English teachers in Norway feel they are prepared to teach in a multicultural and multilingual classroom?,” and “What kinds of knowledge, skills and resources do they feel a need for?” We present the results of a national survey completed by 176 teachers. In addition, we present results from focused interviews with four English teachers from two schools. The results show that although English teachers feel somewhat prepared for work with students who are not native speakers of Norwegian, very few of them have an education with focus on multilingualism. Responses from the survey and the interviews show that English teachers would like to have more expertise in this area. Therefore, we want to emphasize the importance of providing English teachers in Norway with education in theory and practice of multilingual development and multicultural education as well as access to professional development that focuses on multilingualism in schools and in society.Key words: English teachers, preparedness, knowledge of language teaching methods, multilingualism, teacher education

and Technology. Her research focuses on multilingualism with English, pragmatic development in adult language learners, and language teacher education. Jonas Iversen is a Ph.D. candidate in education at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on multilingual education, language ideologies, and teacher education.

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