Silvia Melo-Pfeifer- Professor
- Full Professor at Hamburg University
Silvia Melo-Pfeifer
- Professor
- Full Professor at Hamburg University
About
282
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Introduction
Silvia Melo-Pfeifer (silvia.melo-pfeifer@uni-hamburg.de) holds a PhD in Foreign Language Education. She is currently a Full Professor at the University of Hamburg (Germany). She is a member of CIDTFF (Research Centre “Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers”) at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She coordinated the educational department at the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin (Germany), between 2010 and 2013.
Current institution
Publications
Publications (282)
The multilingual turn in language education has been frequently referred to in recent research. However, the meaning of “multilingualism” is far from being unequivocally understood, which points to a multiplicity of perceptions about what multilingual individuals, multilingual education, multilingual competence and policies to promote multilinguali...
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?K=9781788922623
This book brings together empirical studies from around the world to help readers gain a better understanding of multilinguals, ranging from small children to elderly people, and their lives. The chapters focus on the multilingual subjects’ identities and the ways in which they are di...
The notion of the native speaker and its undertones of ultimate language competence, language ownership and social status has been problematized by various researchers, arguing that the ensuing monolingual norms and assumptions are flawed or inequitable in a global super-diverse world. However, such norms are still ubiquitous in educational, instit...
We present the support mechanisms for exiled students at HE institutions in all partner countries of the AGILE consortium, according to responses collected through an online survey. The analysis compares some of the challenges in the different countries’ HEIs and the ways they cope with them, in order to build sustainable institutional resilience w...
Cross-linguistic mediation, a competence introduced by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in 2001, knows a new momentum after the recent publication of the CEFR Companion Volume (CEFR-CV), in 2020, which introduces new cando statements for the teaching and assessment of mediation. Situated within the framework of pluril...
A glocal perspective recognizes the importance of understanding global trends, cultures, and languages while also incorporating local contexts and identities in language education. Numerous competencies within language education have been linked to the employment of glocal approaches, including enhanced cultural sensitivity, global communication, a...
In this document, we present the support mechanisms for exiled students at HE institutions in Germany, according to responses collected through an online survey of these institutions. The analysis also mentions the most common difficulties experienced by institutions in their work with this specific audience, as well as their suggestions for more s...
This report, part of the PEP (Promoting Plurilingual Education) project, presents the
results of an exploratory study on a non-statistical sample gathered on a voluntary
basis drawing on a survey about beliefs and practices of language teachers in second
ary and higher education concerning plurilingualism. Conducted across Europe, the
study aime...
In response to the dynamic challenges of our world, the field of Applied Linguistics is experiencing significant shifts towards research that prioritizes praxis-oriented scholarly engagement, focusing on reflexive action to bring about transformative change. In line with these shifts, this chapter advocates for integrating Linguistic Landscapes (LL...
In this document, we shed light on the factors impeding refugee students to enrol in Higher Education (HE) programmes and pursue their learning and professional journey once they have settled in the host country. We summarise the main results obtained during the development of the AGILE project around the theme of ‘transitions’, including the (mult...
This Franco-German exploratory and comparative study is rooted in the tradition of interdisciplinary qualitative empirical research, at the crossroads of sociology, language sciences, and education sciences. It aims at analysing and questioning the representations of the different stakeholders concerning the reception of newly arrived emergent bili...
In this article, we juxtapose two international contexts of higher education to critically examine both the situated complexity of (restrictive) ideologies of multilingualism and the ways such ideologies inform multilingual students’ choices of
language use that contribute to their own epistemic exclusion in Canada and Germany. A content analysis o...
I present my reading of the texts about linguistic landscapes and activism in the volume, including them in discourses of intervention and activism and exploring issues of service learning (Aramburuzabala & Cerrillo, 2023; Felten & Clayton, 2011; Martínez, 2008) that can give educationscapes (Krompák et al., 2022) a new dimension in both school tea...
(free download: https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?k=9781800412101)
(Free dowload: https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?k=9781800412101)
This book fosters an awareness of multilingualism as lived or as subjectively experienced from the perspective of those involved in language education and teacher education. Responding to multilingual and visual turns, it widens the repertoire of methodologies dominating the field of language teacher education, from linguistic or verbal to visual....
(Free download: https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?k=9781800412101)
Stathopoulou, Μ., Liontou, Μ., Gauci, P., & Melo-Pfeifer S. (2024) “On the role of assessment in cross-linguistic mediation: Insights from the METLA project”. In Vogt, K., & Antia, B.E. (Eds.), Multilingual assessment - finding the nexus? Peter Lang. p.235-258.
Despite growing interest and renewed calls to embrace a multilingual turn in education,...
In unserem didaktischen Vorschlag und der ficha de trabajo werden mehrsprachige Linguistic Landscapes (LL) im Spanischunterricht genutzt, um die Reflexion über inklusive Gesellschaften als Teil der Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung anzustoßen.
Introduction: This article analyses parents' and children's attitudes toward the different literacy practices across three different contexts (at home, in a community project, and, indirectly, at school) and how they perceive the interaction between these practices and the development of competences in the Heritage Language (HL). We investigate the...
This Guide on mediation in teaching, learning and assessment is targeted at foreign language teachers in primary and secondary education wishing to include
(cross)linguistic mediation into their teaching practices. It will assist teachers in incorporating the diverse languages that students bring into the classroom, and
in creating materials geared...
Cet article croise l'examen des paysages linguistiques dans le contexte des manuels de Français langue étrangère (FLE) et l'exploration des idéologies linguistiques. L'analyse empirique se penche sur la manière dont les paysages linguistiques, qui font référence à la présence et/ou à l'absence de langues dans les espaces publics, sont représentés e...
El paradigma del translanguaging o translenguar se ha afianzado como elemento importante en la lingüística aplicada del siglo XXI, contribuyendo a la transformación de nuestro entendimiento de la naturaleza del lenguaje, de los hablantes y de los procesos que rodean el multilingüismo.
Este capítulo provee una panorámica general sobre el translengua...
Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit dem Lernpotenzial von linguistic landscapes für das Lehren und Lernen von vor allem Minderheitensprachen, zu denen auch die Herkunftssprachen gehören. Die empirische Studie, die sich auf Unterrichtserfahrungen in Portugiesisch als Herkunftssprache im Klassenzimmer konzentriert, analysiert die Didaktisierung...
Service learning, an educational methodology that intertwines community service with academic instruction, is garnering growing recognition within higher education due to its potential to enrich both research and outreach efforts. By integrating service learning into the curriculum, higher education institutions (HEIs) can bridge the gap between re...
This chapter reports on the results of a multiple case study that aimed to investigate how second language (L2) learners (re)build their own identity and agency through the exploration of linguistic landscapes (LLs) in the classroom. Two separate school settings in Germany were analyzed – an urban primary bilingual school and a peri-urban lower sec...
In this chapter we delve into L. Aronin’s conception of the materiality of multilingualism (Aronin & Ó Laoire, 2012) and expand it to describe student teachers’ representations of the materiality of Fachkultur (“professional culture”), meaning “a specific orientation of a certain group of school subjects” (Multrus, F. (2004). Fachkulturen. Begriffs...
We explore the relationship between newcomer refugee families' linguistic com-petencies in the language of the host country and their collaboration in and with the school. Following a case study design and through the qualitative analysis of interviews with refugee family members and school staff from a German primary school, we analyse these actor...
(document available at https://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/34/13941545/1394154534.pdf)
Language Teacher Identity presents a groundbreaking critical examination of how ideologies of race, ethnicity, accent, and immigration status impact perceptions of plurilingual teachers. Bringing together contributions by an international panel of established and emerging scholars, this important work of scholarship addresses issues related to nati...
As the education system is organised around horizontal and vertical transitions and because bilingual education (BE) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in languages other than English (LOTE) are quite rare, it is difficult to guarantee the continuity of CLIL in LOTE (Harbon & Fielding, 2022). Additionally, little is known about the...
"The invited colloquium, “Researching Multilingually to Rethink EMI Policy and Practices”, organized by Xuesong Andy Gao (University of New South Wales) and Yongyan Zheng (Fudan University) took place on 18 March 2023, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) in Portland, Oregon, USA. This colloquium consiste...
Free eprint: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2ASWTRS5XZQNVQFSYXKY/full?target=10.1080/09500782.2023.2244928
This volume offers a unique insight into multilingualism and sociolinguistic diversity employing the dominant language constellation (DLC) approach. How can novel research inform teaching practices? How do current theories account for multilingual reality in settings as diverse as countries of Western and Eastern Europe and Tunisia and Maghreb? The...
(This Introduction can be found in the website of the publisher under file:///C:/Users/WissMit/Downloads/9781003177197_previewpdf.pdf).
Individual language biographies have been associated to students’ and preservice teachers’ language awareness and willingness to engage in multilingual pedagogies. In this contribution, I analyse student teachers’ language biographies to understand how these social actors perceive their own development throughout the life span. Building on my previ...
This chapter summarizes the theoretical novelty and practical implications offered in the volume. Theoretical findings refer to expanding the concepts of language awareness and identity, and their scrutiny from multiple perspectives in their tight connections with each other within the framework of DLC. In particular, the chapter categorizes the te...
Dominant Language Constellation approach, as a new research field, calls for new conceptual tools, for reviewing established theoretical stances, and for methodological innovations. In this introductory chapter, we relate Dominant Language Constellations to the concepts of Language(s) Awareness and (multilingual) Identity, and we explain how it con...
Eprint: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VIFTKYA9BS6HCA2WKSSB/full?target=10.1080/09658416.2023.2234288
Free print: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PXJNJIA5JKDHCHATYADK/full?target=10.1080/07908318.2023.2232389
We analyse the perceptions of secondary school students in Germany regarding “fake news” (FN). First, we describe students’ awareness of the nature, frequency, and thematic scope of FN. Then, we look at students’ willingness to learn about FN, the mechanisms underlying it, and how they envision the integration of FN in the curriculum. We claim that...
O presente estudo situa o recurso pedagógico à paisagem linguística num quadro de educação para o plurilinguismo e para a cidadania global. Partindo de uma revisão da literatura acerca do potencial educativo da paisagem linguística na educação em línguas, esta contribuição explicita como esta se pode enquadrar numa “pedagogy of engagement”. De um p...
Despite the global trend of growing diversity in student enrolment, most teacher education programmes remain inward-looking, oriented to national core standards and resist academic calls for internationalisation. While we agree that internationalisation at home is possible under certain circumstances, we put forward the argument that dialogic conta...
In postcolonial South Asia, and specifically in Bangladesh, students use their mother tongue while learning English as a second or foreign language (ES/FL), even if not overtly, while daily communicative translanguaging is seen as unproblematic. This apparent contradiction shows a gap between learning and communicative practices or, said otherwise,...
In this introduction, I recall the main trends and evolutions in the conceptualisation and study of linguistic landscapes (LLs) and in language education studies that focus on the exploitation of LLs both as a pedagogical resource (especially in the language classroom) and approach in teacher training. The constituent chapters of the present book a...
CoMMiTTEd - Covid, Migrants and Minorities in Teacher Education: A Fake News Observatory to Promote Critical Thinking and Digital Literacy in Times of Crisis. E-handbook for teachers and teacher educators.
Authors: Araújo e Sá, M. H.; Gerwers, F.; Gintsburg, S. & Spotti, M. (Coord.); Ambrósio, S.; Breeze, R.; Brinkmann, L.; Dedecek Gertz, H.; De Ru...
In this commentary to the special issue, we will present our personal understanding of how its five papers contribute to advance the research field of beliefs about multilingualism and a critical stance on how multilingualism has been approached in the literature. We will point some ways forward on the research on beliefs about multilingualism clai...
This paper reflects on the problems faced by refugee students during the COVID-19 pandemic (summer semester 2020) as calouros, i.e. freshmen during their first year, in a public university in Brazil. Through a content analysis of their personal accounts, collected electronically by their teacher of Portuguese for academic purposes (the first author...
In this chapter, we present research based on the empirical analysis of “fake news” (“FN”), which is aimed at discussing its pedagogical strengths when used as classroom resources. We focus on “FN” related to COVID-19 and migrants. Our project aims at combating, first, the spread of disinformation and misinformation on COVID-19, which causes harm t...
The UNESCO UNITWIN Cooperation Programme on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) is based on an initiative from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). This Network was created in line with UNESCO’s mission and objectives, as well as the...
In this paper, we present the results of our study, where we focus on teachers’ beliefs about METLA cross-linguistic mediation tasks. Teachers of foreign languages from around Europe were called to pilot a specific number of such tasks in their classroom context and to evaluate their effectiveness. An online questionnaire was produced in order for...
Nesta apresentação, discutiremos como o tratamento pedagógico-didático do português como língua pluricêntrica (e na formação de professores) potencia mudanças de perspetiva de ensino-aprendizagem da língua em torno de três vertentes: i) o diálogo entre diferentes contextos de produção e circulação de saberes linguísticos, dando centralidade epistem...
Resumo: O português é ensinado como Língua de Herança na diáspora a aprendizes com diferentes variedades no seu repertório familiar. Argumentamos que precisa ser visto como uma língua pluricêntrica e recorremos a discussões sobre lusofonia e suas políticas linguísticas. Baseamo-nos no entendimento de Bakhtin (1993) sobre a interação entre forças ce...
In this paper, we focus on linguistic landscapes (LL) as multi-semiotic elements mediating formal and non-formal language learning and multilingual contact environments. After discussing different possibilities of working with LL in the classroom, we argue that the multimodal transposition of LL from their authentic environments of production and r...
Intercultural competence and diversity awareness are relevant to handling “fake news” related to minorities and migrants, thus preventing “othering” and stereotyping of vulnerable populations. Teachers and schools can play a central role in preventing the spread of far-right ideologies and the dissemination of false information and hate discourse....
This chapter discusses the notion of “homescape” and the role of material homescapes showcasing visible linguistic resources in general, and games and toys more specifically, in the development of the multilingual child. This contribution offers a state of the art regarding the constitution and perception of the linguistic landscapes of infancy and...
This chapter discusses the notion of “homescape” and the role of material homescapes showcasing visible linguistic resources in general, and games and toys more specifically, in the development of the multilingual child. This contribution offers a state of the art regarding the constitution and perception of the linguistic landscapes of infancy and...
Nous analysons comment l’arrivée de migrants avec des visas humanitaires et de réfugiés au Brésil a poussé une université à développer des pratiques de base d’accueil des étudiants et de leurs communautés. Après une première reconnaissance des besoins linguistiques de ce public nouvellement arrivé, l’université, à l’initiative du département de dro...
In this contribution, we analyse how students perceive and comment on potential instances of intercultural clashes in the writing component of the International English Language Testing System. Following student accounts, we argue that intercultural bias is indeed perceived, preventing test takers from fully positioning themselves regarding cultura...
In this chapter, we analyse the practices and attitudes of German teachers regarding assessment of refugee students learning Spanish or English as foreign languages. The data were collected through interviews with ten Spanish or English teachers dealing with refugee students in their classrooms in secondary schools in Hamburg in 2017 (Thölkes, “Sch...
This article investigates how linguistic landscapes (LLs) can foster critical thinking about linguistic power relations and tensions in multilingual areas by acting as stimuli to reflect on the ethnolinguistic vitality of languages in a given region. We examine the pedagogical use of LLs as resources for the implementation of plurilingual pedagogie...
We report on the perspectives of student teachers of French at the University of Hamburg on a telecollaboration project with students at an Australian university in 2021. The virtual collaboration was part of the IVAC project “In others’ shoes: but how?”, supported by the DAAD, and was integrated in the Practicum phase of students’ third master sem...
In this presentation we describe the project goals and principles; share the outputs developed so far, namely the open (and multimodal) educational resources produced by the teachers and students in the project’s partner cities, and the LoCALL App; and report on some preliminary results, based on teachers’ and students’ testimonials, and discuss ho...
In dieser Präsentation stellen wir die Integration von LL als Methode zur Förderung der Language Awareness (LA) in den Fremdsprachenunterricht und Wirkungen auf die Lernenden dar. Dabei verstehen wir LL als didaktisches Mittel aus einer Mehrsprachigkeitsperspektive, insb. zur Förderung der LA; geben eine Übersicht über die bisherige Forschung zum E...
Louise Dabène was one of a pioneer in the research on intercomprehension (IC), influencing the development of plurilingual education. Following her steps, an international research group was developed and further developed Dabène’s research on IC, starting with the written IC between pairs of languages (with Galatea), until teacher education to dea...
Trotz des Wunschdenkens und der positiven Diskurse rund um Mehrsprachigkeit, sind die monolingualen Praktiken im Klassenzimmer die widerständigen "Gaulois" in der Arena der widersprüchlichen didaktischen und pädagogischen Theorien, der Lehrerpraktiken, der Fremdsprachenunterrichtspolitik und der gesellschaftlichen Diskurse. Die Frage, die bleibt, i...
In this contribution I claim that, in light of current language education policies that encourage language learning and, paradoxically, have led to the reinforcement of English as a foreign curricular language, the time has come to conceptualize teaching other languages to speakers of English (TOLSE; Melo-Pfeifer in Multilingual turn in foreign lan...
