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Migration and Plurilingualism in Southern European Homes and Schools
Abstract
In this paper, we focus on some critical points pertaining to the conditions which characterize educational systems in some Southern European countries which have only recently become a destination for immigration. How can these systems respond to new multilingual and multicultural realities? Are they creating equal opportunities for all pupils? These questions will be addressed by presenting a selection of the results of a project which was carried out in primary schools in six Southern European countries. The multi-/plurilingualism which characterizes the language use of pupils with an immigrant background within the family domain will be discussed and compared to the language use promoted within school environments. Finally, the situation we observed will be compared to the perceptions and attitudes of parents/guardians towards intercultural and plurilingual education.
... Despite Malta's multilingual and multicultural history, this sudden and rapid demographic shift is nonetheless giving rise to unprecedented challenges as the island's inhabitants are striving to welcome and provide for the ever--increasing number of foreigners within their society and educational settings. As a result, classrooms that were previously bilingual are increasingly multilingual (Farrugia, 2017;Scaglione & Caruana, 2018). This transformation is proving to be positive and enriching on many levels, though educators are also struggling with issues pertaining to language use, for which they do not feel sufficiently trained. ...
... Language education needs to respect linguistic heritage whilst preparing children for a globalised world, and there seems to be a gap in research and professional training in the field at a local level. As a result of this, initial teacher education programmes, together with continuous professional development sessions for experienced educators, are still not adequately addressing these issues, and hence teachers are striving to meet the needs of the linguistically and culturally diverse pupils in their classrooms through personal empathy, rather than professional skill (Scaglione & Caruana, 2018). This, again, is representative across Europe, with teacher training for the integration of migrant students being comprehensively monitored in Spain, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg and Serbia only (European Commission, 2019). ...
... Teachers may thus encourage students to draw from their entire linguistic repertoire during brainstorming sessions, discussions, debates or oral presentations, whilst the use of the target language would be promoted for the publishing, presentation or a final written product, or for assessment purposes. Merging and extending naturally occurring language practices such as translanguaging into pedagogical strategies may thus be one way forward within our ever increasing linguistically and culturally diverse societies, in order to ensure a truly inclusive and equitable education for all (Cenoz, 2017;García, 2005;Scaglione & Caruana, 2018). ...
Recent global migration trends and an increase in worldwide human mobility are currently contributing to unparalleled challenges in the area of literacy and education within multicultural and multilingual societies (Leikin, Schwartz, & Tobin, 2012). Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean, is one country currently seeking ways in which to adapt to the realities of today’s diverse classrooms. This paper details original research into Maltese teachers’ perceptions and practices in multilingual classrooms. Following a brief overview of Malta's language history and educational system, we draw on the experiences of eight bilingual primary school teachers through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Recent demographic changes in Malta necessitate a paradigm shift in education. With Malta’s challenges mirrored at global level, this study makes an important contribution to understanding the issues faced by educators and children, exploring pathways towards an equitable and socially just education for all.
... She states that new pedagogies need to be explored in order to "benefit from the linguistic hybridity of the 21st century and its attendant technology" (García, 2005, p. 605), where hybridising languages within bilingual and multilingual societies is also a way of conserving indigenous and minority languages (García, Skutnabb-Kangas, & Torres-Guzman, 2006). Scaglione and Caruana (2018) describe an "ideal educational context" as one in which "pupils feel free to use any element of their repertoire, eventually through translanguaging practices" (p. 148), thus presenting an exciting shift in multilingual education. ...
... The number of foreign children in Maltese classrooms who do not speak either English or Maltese is constantly rising at unprecedented levels. Scaglione and Caruana (2018) state that until the 1970s, Malta and other Southern European countries experienced mass migration to other continents and European states in search of better employment and quality of life. Now that the tables have turned, this rapid, unparalleled shift in migration patterns requires pressing changes, particularly in the field of educational policies. ...
... These practices foster inclusion, whilst strengthening the children's sense of global citizenship; however, many teachers still feel the need for more formal guidelines on how to deal with the challenges linked to multilingual and multiethnic classrooms. Educators are not effectively equipped with the necessary skills required to handle linguistic and cultural diversity and usually support their students through personal compassion rather than professional expertise (Scaglione & Caruana, 2018). ...
... While the notion of plurilingualism has a distinctive European association (e.g., Busse, 2017), it reflects a much more global phenomenon driven by massive cross-border movements of people who speak various languages and maintain multiple cultural affiliations (e.g., Scaglione & Caruana, 2018 Guilherme, 2021). All these significant extensions of Byram's ICC model should be Guilherme, 2021). ...
... The sociolinguistic situation in Malta is thus one of a widespread societal bilingualism without diglossia since neither of the two languages is assigned a High or Low function and both are used in most domains (Camilleri Grima, 2013b). Additionally, Malta is currently experiencing a sudden shift in migration patterns which is leading to a rapid and unavoidable linguistic shift from bilingualism to multilingualism (Farrugia, 2017;Scaglione & Caruana, 2018;Ariza et al., 2019;Caruana et ...
Bilingualism is a quintessential feature of being Maltese, as speaking multiple languages is an integral part of the island's culture and history of foreign occupation and colonisation. Bilingual identities are shaped by language acquisition and socialisation, and educators construct their own linguistic identities and pedagogies through personal, educational and professional experiences. Maltese teachers believe that they organically use fluid language practices such as code-switching and translanguaging in their classrooms; however, they are uncertain about the benefits of these practices, and how they can utilise them in a structured manner, especially in view of the increase in linguistically diverse classrooms as a result of recent demographic shifts. This paper focuses on the way that Malta's socio-cultural context shapes teachers' linguistic identities, and how this may in turn impact their pedagogy. This study also supports previous research advocating the use of hybridised language practices as the way forward within linguistically diverse classrooms.
... The sociolinguistic situation in Malta is thus one of a widespread societal bilingualism without diglossia since neither of the two languages is assigned a High or Low function and both are used in most domains (Camilleri Grima, 2013b). Additionally, Malta is currently experiencing a sudden shift in migration patterns which is leading to a rapid and unavoidable linguistic shift from bilingualism to multilingualism (Farrugia, 2017;Scaglione & Caruana, 2018;Ariza et al., 2019;Caruana et ...
Bilingualism is a quintessential feature of being Maltese, as speaking multiple languages is an integral part of the island's culture and history of foreign occupation and colonisation. Bilingual identities are shaped by language acquisition and socialisation, and educators construct their own linguistic identities and pedagogies through personal, educational and professional experiences. Maltese teachers believe that they organically use fluid language practices such as code-switching and translanguaging in their classrooms; however, they are uncertain about the benefits of these practices, and how they can utilise them in a structured manner, especially in view of the increase in linguistically diverse classrooms as a result of recent demographic shifts. This paper focuses on the way that Malta's socio-cultural context shapes teachers' linguistic identities, and how this may in turn impact their pedagogy. This study also supports previous research advocating the use of hybridised language practices as the way forward within linguistically diverse classrooms.
... According to the Eurostat, 96 % of all European students learn English in secondary and three fifths in upper secondary education learn a second and even a third foreign language (Eurostat, 2017). This growingly complex language ecology (García, Seltzer & Witt, 2018) poses several challenges for language education in European schools (Scaglione & Caruana, 2018). The region described in the current article is an example of such a linguistically and culturally diverse area. ...
... According to the Eurostat, 96 % of all European students learn English in secondary and three fifths in upper secondary education learn a second and even a third foreign language (Eurostat, 2017). This growingly complex language ecology (García, Seltzer & Witt, 2018) poses several challenges for language education in European schools (Scaglione & Caruana, 2018). The region described in the current article is an example of such a linguistically and culturally diverse area. ...
This article presents recent developments around multilingual secondary education in the officially bilingual province of Friesland, the Netherlands. As in other European contexts, schools in this region face the challenge of a growing language diversity due to migration. Despite this larger variety of languages in society, schooling is still mainly through the national language (Kroon & Spotti, 2011), based on the idea that immersion in each of the target languages triggers the best outcomes, thus leading to language separation pedagogies. Also, in teacher training programmes, pre-service teachers are educated with a pedagogy of language separation. This is in contrast with research that has repeatedly shown the importance of using all language resources of multilingual pupils in optimizing learning (Cenoz & Gorter, 2011; Cummins, 2008).
Against this backdrop, recent developments for multilingual secondary education within the province of Friesland focus on
a. less separation between the three instruction languages (Frisian, Dutch and English);
b. creating bridges between foreign languages in secondary education (German and French);
c. valorising and including migrant languages in mainstream education.
The Holi-Frysk project (holistic approach for Frisian and language education) was set up as an answer to these issues (Authors, forthcoming). In this pilot-project three secondary schools of different types developed, implemented and evaluated multilingual teaching approaches to include all languages present in the school in teaching. Teachers were trained through workshops and school visits and the
activities were video recorded, transcribed and analysed on their translanguaging practices.
The article will first of all present and discuss a few examples of the pedagogical activities and secondly zoom in on its effects at the interactional level by focusing on moments in which different functions of pedagogical translanguaging (García & Wei, 2015) appear. Finally, suggestions are given how these findings could be integrated in the teacher training programmes to prepare our pre-service teachers for today’s multilingual and multicultural classrooms.
Despite decades of research supporting the pedagogic value of learners’ plurilingual resources to their linguistic and academic development, pre-service teachers frequently arrive at university inculcated in ‘target language only’ practices underpinned by monoglossic ideologies. The challenge for teacher education is to productively disrupt quotidian beliefs about language beliefs and prompt reconsideration of future classroom practices. Drawing on the work of the Douglas Fir Group (2016) , this paper explores the identities, beliefs and values of two student-teachers as they emerged over the length of an innovative English-German pedagogic project on plurilingualism. The project involved German student-teachers developing a language portrait project for Grade 6 students; student-teachers using project data for undergraduate assignments; and English MA students interviewing young learners about their language portraits via videoconference. The videoconference provided young learners further opportunities to use their plurilingual resources and MA students with data for assignments on identity and investment. Working with DFG’s framework (2016), we examine the interplay of the meso- and macro-dimensions of the larger project’s design and the sometimes contradictory indexing of values and identities within and across activities. Analysis reveals that design choices sometimes unintentionally reinforced linguistic ideologies inconsistent with the project’s objectives, though these conflicts also led student-teachers to unexpected insights. We close with personal reflections on the implications of the first iteration of this design-based research project for the advancement of plurilingual pedagogies in teacher education.
Open access article: https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/aila.22007.pot
This paper investigates the statistical relationship between integration policies and public opinion toward immigrants. Overall, the eighteen reviewed studies indicate that integration policies are strongly associated with the general public’s level of perceived threat from immigrants and, perhaps, to their level of anti-immigrant attitudes. Inclusive policies can be said to reduce the level of perceived threat while exclusionary policies tend to reinforce perceptions of threat. Since most studies could not establish a causal link, further research is needed to corroborate the impact of integration policies on public opinion.
This book addresses how the new linguistic concept of ‘Translanguaging’ has contributed to our understandings of language, bilingualism and education, with potential to transform not only semiotic systems and speaker subjectivities, but also social structures.
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