Challenges of multilingual education: Streamlining affordances through Dominant Language Constellations

Abstract

This contribution to the special volume is written in tune with Prof Marianna Visser's seeing linguistic diversity in Africa as an asset rather than a complicating factor (2012, 2013). Multilingualism is without a doubt an advantage. With that said, multilingual education is a truly challenging enterprise. In particular, the realisation of appropriate educational affordances is a daunting task. In view of this, the aim of this chapter is to highlight the necessity of systematic managing of affordances in multilingual education and introduce the idea of affordances streamlining as an additional way for bettering the practice of multilingual teaching and learning.

Change and Development in the Cultural Dimension of Language Teaching, and Beyond

“…Respondents in Greece highlighted the potential of personal development, such as strengthening self-esteem. Respondents in Norway, Italy and to a lesser extent Slovenia, emphasized pedagogical aims, such as students' integration, concurring with the research focus of Cummins et al (2015) and Kalaja and Pitkänen-Huhta (2020). Interestingly, language acquisition aims received relatively low scores in Norway (under 50% of respondents rated this area highly important), which perhaps indicates a lack of awareness about the potential of using art-based approaches, literature and other cultural expressions as a basis for language development.…”

“…Several recent studies have examined the benefits of this approach in highly diverse multilingual classes (e.g., Kalaja & Pitkänen, 2020;Krulatz & Iversen, 2019). Kalaja and Pitkänen-Huhta (2020) provide a review of research on "arts-based methodologies" which highlights the usefulness of visual narratives for exploring learners' subjective and lived experiences with multilingualism in the context of the EFL classroom. Art-based approaches such as these exploit the pedagogical benefits of multimodal texts, where relationships between image and text are central, both as objects of study and as tools for language learning (Rimmereide, 2020).…”

“…With a focus on the development of ELF awareness in language education locally, a review of Rindal (2014Rindal ( , 2020 sheds some light on the way English is currently conceptualised as a language and school subject in Norway. According to Rindal (2020), English is "in transition", both as a result of the global status of the language today and its use by many learner-users in interest-driven, out-of-class activities mediated by English.…”

Multilingualism in Curriculum Reform (LK20) and Teachers’ Perceptions: Mind the Gap?

“…More research is therefore needed on how to operationalize multilingualism in language classrooms, both involving student and teacher perspectives. The students' different and evolving multilingual identities, their experiences with, and sometimes reluctance towards multilingualism are important factors to consider, both when teaching and doing research on multilingualism (Aronin, 2019;Cenoz, 2013). To focus more specifically on the students' perspectives and experiences with multilingualism in the classroom could therefore benefit future research in the field.…”

Teaching English in multilingual Israel: Who teaches whom and how. A review of recent research 2014–2020

“…The subject of English teachers in the multilingual settings of Israel is raised by Judith Yoel (forthcoming), who investigated the trainees at the Oranim Academic College of Education. Yoel adopts the DLC theory (Aronin, 2019b;Lo Bianco & Aronin, 2020;Aronin & Vetter, forthcoming) and organises her research of multilingual student-teachers around their DLCs, Russian/Hebrew/English in her case. Her study demonstrates complex interactions of languages and cultures that influence an immigrant teacher's identity and functioning in an English classroom.…”