Plurilingualism and Curriculum Design: Toward a Synergic Vision

Abstract

SYMPOSIUMThis symposium begins with a lead paper that outlines key tenets of plurilingualism and plurilingual pedagogy, and how/why embracing student plurilingualism in pedagogy (re-)presents a paradigm shift. The six papers that follow enable TESOL practitioners and researchers to see and hear school-aged children engaging in plurilingual pedagogy in content-based instruction focusing on science, physical education, and developing English literacy in formal classroom settings, homework clubs and community schools. The symposium contributions provide windows onto the range of forays into plurilingual pedagogies in which educators who are committed to bridging plurilingual students' linguistic capital and teaching English, the language prioritized at school and socially valued in today's global village, are engaging.Contemporary globalized society is characterized by mobility and change, two phenomena that have a direct impact on the broad linguistic landscape. Language proficiency is no longer seen as a monolithic phenomenon that occurs independently of the linguistic repertoires and trajectories of learners and teachers, but rather shaped by uneven and ever-changing competences, both linguistic and cultural. In the European context, research conducted over the past 20 years in multilingual realities of local communities and societies has brought to the forefront the notion of plurilingualism, which is opening up new perspectives in language education. In North American academia, the paradigm shift from linguistic homogeneity and purism to heteroglossic and plurilingual competence in applied linguistics has been observed in the emergence of such concepts as disinventing languages, translanguaging, and code-meshing. Starting from a historical perspective, this article

Legitimizing Linguistic Diversity: The Promise of Plurilingualism in Canadian Schools

“…Our view is perhaps best supported by harrowing accounts of residential school survivors who provide us with first hand accounts of Canada's efforts to forcibly assimilate 150,000 Aboriginal/First Nations children over the course of more than a century by removing them from their families and communities and depriving them of their ancestral languages. (Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 2009) (Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 2009) (Piccardo, 2013;Canagarajah & Liynage, 2012) have distinguished between multilingualism and plurilingualism, to advance a further understanding of the pedagogical implications for adopting a plurilingual orientation to language education. Canagarajah and Liynage (2012) (Piccardo, 2013).…”

“…(Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 2009) (Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 2009) (Piccardo, 2013;Canagarajah & Liynage, 2012) have distinguished between multilingualism and plurilingualism, to advance a further understanding of the pedagogical implications for adopting a plurilingual orientation to language education. Canagarajah and Liynage (2012) (Piccardo, 2013). A plurilingual approach to language education aims at fostering an awareness of how languages are at work in relation to our society and of the importance between language and culture(s) (Piccardo, Berthoud, Cignatta, Mentz, & Pamula, 2011 (Blommaert & Rampton, 2011, p. 1) to preclude the notion of ideal speaker-listeners.…”

“…A plurilingual approach to language education aims at fostering an awareness of how languages are at work in relation to our society and of the importance between language and culture(s) (Piccardo, Berthoud, Cignatta, Mentz, & Pamula, 2011 (Blommaert & Rampton, 2011, p. 1) to preclude the notion of ideal speaker-listeners. Piccardo (2013) further argues, "We are now increasingly aware that such a perfect individual does not exist, no more than a stable and perfectly known language exists" (p. 604). (Statistics Canada, 2012, p. 11).…”

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AbstractPolicies and practice related to the production and treatment of human difference and diversity figure prominently in educational discourse related to language and identity (Piccardo, 2013;Schecter & Cummins, 2003;Wenger, 1999

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Community Literacies: Research and Practice

“…In their paper, Legitimizing linguistic diversity: The promise of plurilingualism in Canadian schools, the authors explore the term pluralingualism (Canagarajah & Liynage, 2012;Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 2009;Piccardo, 2013). They argue for educators adopting a plurilingual orientation to language education in the classroom, one in which students are understood as being social actors who use multiple languages during intercultural interactions.…”