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Current Perspectives in the Multilingual EFL Classroom: A Portuguese Case Study
Abstract
Following the trend that has emerged in most European educational contexts, Portugal is no exception and has witnessed an increasing number of multilingual/multicultural classrooms. According to the Ministry of Education, students from over 180 nationalities were enrolled in Portuguese schools in 2017. Consequently, English language teachers have had to adapt to this by acknowledging a gradual shift from the notion of correctness to appropriateness and intelligibility, reassessing the traditional learning target that focuses on native speaker norms. Thus, the scope of this chapter stems from Kirkpatrick (2007, p. 194), which advocates that “in aiming to teach and learn English in ways that would allow for effective communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries the focus of the classroom moves from the acquisition of the norms associated with a standard model to a focus on learning linguistic features, cultural information, and communication strategies that will facilitate communication.” This study reports the findings of two questionnaires distributed to Basic and Secondary teachers (N = 133) and students (N = 100), as well as interviews with Basic Education students (N = 15), to ascertain their awareness of and attitudes towards English language teaching, learning and use in multilingual classrooms. Findings indicate the need for promoting teacher and learner competences that are crucial for responding to and building upon the diversity found in today’s multilingual English language classrooms.
... Moreover, to measure the results analysis of the questionnaires, interpretation scale was used to measure the result of the analyzed items. The interpretation scale adapted from Cavalheiro et al. (2022), there are five class intervals to measure the level of students perspectives of English teachers' used of first language, they are: a) 4.50 -5.00 = Always = Very highly used of L1 use by teacher b) 3.50 -4.49 = Usually = Highly used of L1 use by teacher c) 2.50 -3.49 ...
... In Indonesia, as a country that has many cultures and languages, it is influences students in Indonesia, because most Indonesian students are students who can communicate in more than one language (Multilingual), both the national language and regional languages. According to Cavalheiro et al. (2022) a multilingual speaker is a person who lives in a country that has a diversity of languages or people who grow up with a variety of different languages. The definition of bilingualism is also almost the same as multilingualism, which means the ability to use two or more languages that are used for everyday conversations. ...
Multilingualism is a common phenomenon among Indonesian students who are proficient in both national and local languages. However, the use of the first language (L1) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms has been a subject of ongoing debate. This study explores the use of the first language (L1) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms by investigating the perspectives of Indonesian students and teachers’ reasons. The study used a qualitative approach with a in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers, and questionnaire for the students, convenience sampling was used to select 105 participants from grade 12 of IPA, IPS, and Bahasa. Results showed that the majority of students had a positive perspective on the use of L1 by their English teachers during lessons. However, there was no significant difference in the students' perspectives based on gender and major classes. Teachers' reasons for using L1 included bridging students' knowledge, motivating students, and creating an active learning atmosphere. However, the overuse of L1 was found to be a potential problem, as it could lead to a lack of mastery of the target language. The findings suggest that the use of L1 in EFL classrooms can be beneficial but should be used in moderation to avoid students becoming too reliant on it. Teachers should use L1 as a means to facilitate learning, not as a substitute for the target language. This study provides important insights into the use of L1 in EFL classrooms from the perspectives of both students and teachers. These findings have important implications for language teaching practices and policies, not only in Indonesia but also in other multilingual contexts worldwide. Further research is needed to explore the long-term effects of L1 use on language acquisition and to develop effective strategies to minimize its negative impact.
The existing literature indicates the crucial role of multilingual awareness and motivation in enhancing the teaching quality of EFL pre-service teachers in multilingual classrooms. In this chapter, we report a study on the potential influence of teachers' multilingual awareness on their teaching motivation in Indonesian multilingual settings. Surveying 395 EFL school pre-service teachers across Indonesian provinces, we conducted a Rasch-based multiple regression analysis of 235 valid responses. The findings reveal a high level (47.6%) of multilingual awareness. The findings also indicate a significant correlation between multilingual awareness, demographic background, and teaching motivation, unveiling nuanced variations based on age, gender, and teaching practicum experiences. Younger and experienced teachers exhibit higher motivation in specific dimensions. The results underscore the imperative need for teacher education programs addressing multilingual awareness and comprehending diverse factors influencing teaching motivation.
The international role of English has made it the most taught foreign language in the world. As a result, standard native varieties have thrived as models within the field of English language teaching, particularly Standard British English and Standard American English, and alongside, the cultures associated with them. Although the majority of English language learners are part of Kachru’s Expanding Circle, teaching materials have continued to focus on native speaker models, neglecting many of the times other examples of successful communication among non-native speakers. Bearing this in mind, it is critical that teaching materials take on a more ELF-aware perspective, where intercultural communicative competence and intercultural awareness are fomented. In view of this, a comparative analysis was conducted between coursebooks in Portugal and Turkey. A locally published (LP) and an internationally published (IP) coursebook of the first year of secondary education from each country was analyzed. The aim of this analysis was twofold: to identify the similarities and differences between (1) Portuguese and Turkish EFL coursebooks and (2) LP and IP coursebooks in Portugal and Turkey, as far as an ELF-aware approach is concerned. After comparing the coursebooks and verifying that much can still be done for a more ELF-aware pedagogy, various implications are put forth for the sake of a more critical approach towards materials development.
The aim of the study was to investigate how well language teacher education (LTE) programmes prepare future teachers for ICT integration with the comparison of three different contexts (Turkey, Portugal and Poland) from the perspectives of the teacher trainees and teacher educators (TEs). Using a scale and multiple interviews, the data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results revealed that although there were three different contexts in three countries, LTE programmes seemed to implement teacher education strategies so as to prepare future teachers for educational technology use similarly at a moderate level. Modelling TEs and reflection on technology use were found to be significant strategies followed while feedback and instructional design strategies were challenging for the programmes. Furthermore, the results also indicated limited access to resources, lack of institutional support and qualified TEs who could successfully use and integrate technology into their teaching. Based on the findings, implications on how to integrate technology training into LTE programmes are discussed.
The importance of intercultural competence is being increasingly recognized by educators and employers alike. Both in the professional and educational domain, ways are being sought to assess whether or not people have actually acquired intercultural competence. In this paper, a framework is presented for the systematic development of assessment tools. The paper first addresses the question of why the assessment of intercultural competence is important. Secondly, basic definitions and foundations regarding intercultural competence are outlined, and the implications for the assessment of intercultural competence are discussed. Thirdly, a framework for the assessment of test quality is presented, and a number of criteria that affect the quality of tools for assessing intercultural competence are discussed. Finally, the framework is applied to two existing approaches to the assessment of intercultural competence commonly used in foreign language education.
Studies on translanguaging of multilingual students have turned their attention to teachable strategies in classrooms. This study is based on the assumption that it is possible to learn from students’ translanguaging strategies while developing their proficiency through a dialogical pedagogy. Based on a classroom ethnography, this article describes the translanguaging strategies of a Saudi Arabian undergraduate student in her essay writing. Her strategies are classified through thematic coding of multiple forms of data: drafts of essay, journals, classroom assignments, peer review, stimulated recall, and member check. The strategies are of 4 types: recontextualization strategies, voice strategies, interactional strategies, and textualization strategies. The study describes how the feedback of the instructor and peers can help students question their choices, think critically about diverse options, assess the effectiveness of their choices, and develop metacognitive awareness.
This article aims to explore whether well-attested findings in the fields of World Englishes (WE) and of English as a lingua franca (ELF) have determined a shift in perspective in the overall approach to English language teaching (ELT), and how far this shift has permeated teaching materials and coursebooks. The research study was carried out in Italy, a country where ELT coursebooks have often played a relevant role in introducing innovations in language teaching methodology. The research design included a corpus of ten coursebooks that have been published and adopted in Italian secondary schools in the last 6 years. The coursebooks were evaluated in terms of the presence or absence of references to WE and/or ELF, of awareness-raising activities, of the promotion of using English outside the school environment and of the use of effective English communication and intercultural strategies among nonnative speakers. Findings show that there have been no significant changes in the inclusion of WE- and ELForiented materials and related tasks, apart from the area of promotion of cultural and intercultural awareness.
As a main dimension of intercultural communication competence, intercultural sensitivity has increasingly gained attention in research in different disciplines. In the United States, Chen and Starosta have developed an instrument, comprising 5 factors with 24 items, for measuring intercultural sensitivity. In this study, we tested Chen and Starosta's instrument in a German sample by using confirmatory factor analysis. Overall, the results showed that the instrument holds satisfactorily. Although the results also suggested that the operationalization of the concepts in Chen and Starosta's study can be further improved, the instrument as a whole is a valid one through which a culture-free scale for measuring intercultural sensitivity can be developed. --
Translanguaging is both going between different linguistic structures and systems and going beyond them. It includes the full range of linguistic performances of multilingual language users for purposes that transcend the combination of structures, the alternation between systems, the transmission of information and the representation of values, identities and relationships. Translanguaing space is a space for the act of translanguaging as well as a space created through translanguaging. It is a space where the process of what Bhabha calls “cultural translation” between traditions takes place. The notion of translanguaging space embraces the concepts of creativity and criticality, which are fundamental but hitherto under-explored dimensions of multilingual practices. Using a combination of observation of multilingual practices and metalanguage commentaries by three Chinese youths in Britain, the article retells their experiences of growing up in a society which is dominated by a variety of monolingual ideologies, their multilingual practices and the creativity and criticality shown through such practices, the identity positions they construct and present for themselves, and the social spaces they create and occupy within the wider space they find themselves in. It examines the following themes: fun with words, from weekend bilingualism to flexible multilingualism, creating space and cultivating relationships, and transnational space. In examining these themes, a method, called Moment Analysis, is proposed, which aims to capture what appears to be spur-of-the-moment actions that are semiotically highly significant to the actors and their subsequent actions, what prompted such actions and the consequences of such moments including the reactions by other people.
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