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15 - Being Plurilingual in the Language Classroom

from Part Four - Language(s) and Literacy of Multilingual Children through Schooling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2022

By
Andrea S. Young
Edited by
Anat Stavans  and
Ulrike Jessner
Anat Stavans
Affiliation:
Beit Berl College, Israel
Ulrike Jessner
Affiliation:
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria
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Summary

This chapter presents some of the complex issues relating to the teaching/ learning of (emergent) pluringual children within the context of formal education. In addition to defining key concepts, the chapter exemplifies research findings by giving voice to the learner through the inclusion of short extracts from a personal testimony in which early education experiences in relation to plurilingualism are discussed. When the language(s), cultural codes and expectations at school differ from those at home, both teachers and learners can feel destabilized. Inadequate teacher education about plurilingualism leaves a void all too easily filled with misguided and unhelpful practiced language policies, fuelled by ideologies rather than research. This chapter discusses the consequences of language (de)legitimization, focusing on the complex dynamics and interplay of language, power and relationships. It examines how schools and their staff acknowledge and build on or ignore and impede plurilingual children’s knowledge and skills development.

Keywords

plurilingualismemergent bilingualteacher cognition/attitudes and beliefslanguage policyhome–school relations
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism , pp. 355 - 375
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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