Multilingual interaction and minority languages: Proficiency and language practices in education and society

Abstract

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0261444812000481How to cite this article: Durk Gorter (2015). Multilingual interaction and minority languages: Prociency and language practices in education and society. Language Teaching, 48, In this plenary speech I examine multilingual interaction in a number of European regions in which minority languages are being revitalized. Education is a crucial variable, but the wider society is equally significant. The context of revitalization is no longer bilingual but increasingly multilingual. I draw on the results of a long-running project on the 'Added value of multilingualism and diversity in educational contexts' among secondary school students, and show that there are interesting differences and similarities between the minority language (Basque or Frisian), the majority language (Spanish or Dutch) and English. The focus on multilingualism is applied inside and outside the school. The discussion demonstrates the complexity of everyday multilingual practices and the outcomes have implications for the gap between education and society and for further research into the linkages between language proficiency and actual language practices.

Teaching English through pedagogical translanguaging

“…Cenoz and Gorter (2014) consider that the multilingual speaker's whole linguistic repertoire has to be taken into account when learning and using languages (Gorter, 2015). Multilingual speakers can be more effective learners and users of a target language if they are allowed to use resources from their whole linguistic repertoire.…”

Towards a Plurilingual Approach in English Language Teaching: Softening the Boundaries Between Languages

“…Learning English in Europe cannot be separated from the use of other languages in education. English is most often a language directly addressed in the curriculum and accompanies other state languages or minority languages that are also given priority within the curriculum (De Houwer & Wilton, ; Gorter, ). This article discusses hard and soft boundaries between the teaching of English and other languages in the European context.…”

A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World

“…The competence of multilingual speakers is the holistic sum of their multiple‐language capacities (Blackledge & Creese, ; Cook & Li Wei, ; Grosjean, ; He, ). Their multilingualism “is fluid, not fixed: difficult to measure, but real” (Gorter, , p. 86).…”