Majority language in multilingual settings

Resources for teaching

Additional information in German available on German version of page.

• Ja-Ling (Janua Linguarum) - The gateway to languages (ECML project)

http://jaling.ecml.at/
How can education prepare individuals to face the cultural and linguistic diversity of the society they are living in? A certain number of innovations have been started up in several countries, mainly in primary schools, under different titles (éveil/ouverture aux langues, language awareness, Sprachaufmerksamkeit). The Ja-Ling project offers didactic materials and evaluation tools in English and a number of other languages.

• Planning for Bilingual Learners: An Inclusive Curriculum. Edited by Maggie Gravelle 2000

http://www.multiverse.ac.uk/attachments/f3949e92-3975-4142-ad44-68355fe44bbf.pdf [visited 26.4.2009]

The introduction to this book is available online and provides a useful introduction for mainstream subject teachers to ways of supporting bilingual learners.

• The NATEPACK: Multicultural Perspectives in the English Classroom

http://www.nate.org.uk/index.php?page=11&pub=170 [visited 26.4.2009]

Though this is only available for purchase, it is a practical resource pack for English (as ML) teachers containing photocopiable worksheets. NATE is the National Association for Teachers of English, the subject association for all teachers of English.

• English for Pupils With Diverse Backgrounds. Richard Quarshie.

http://ite2.zygoconsulting.com/ite_topics/diverse_backgrounds/001.html [visited 26.4.2009]

This provides a framework for diversity for teachers of English as ML. 

• "Ouverture aux langues à l’école" [pdf] from Luxembourg (in French)
    (visited 14.07.2010)

Including ideas for teaching after the l'éveil aux langues approach to face the plurilingual reality of schools today.

Summary (in French)

• March Multilingual Month [pdf] by Lynk Reach

Resources page: http://www.lynkreach.co.uk/Resources.html

The booklet provides information and teaching ideas for including a plurilingual approach in schools. There are exercises for specific languages included (which can easily be adapted for other languages).

• EMA Portal - Online Support for Ethnic Minority Attainment
  

Information and resources for pupils for whom English is an additional language. You can search the resources by key stage, subject and language (direct link to resource page: http://www.emaonline.org.uk/ema/index.cfm?p=resources,res_search&item=eal)

• Jonckheere, S., De Doncker, H., De Smedt, H. (2009). Talen op een Kier:
  Talensensibilisering voor het basisonderwijs. Mechelen: Plantyn
  
  A book about Awakening to Languages from Belgium, in Flemish. You can order it  here.
   
• FREPA - Framework of reference für pluralistic approaches (CARAP): Teaching materials
  http://carap.ecml.at/Teachingmaterials/DB/tabid/2700/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
  
  The database CARAP-FREPA – Online teaching materials offers teaching activities which fall within the scope of pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. The purpose of this collection of materials, which include input in different languages, is to facilitate access to classroom activities which will help learners master the knowledge, skills and attitudes which the framework lists as « resources » and which can be developed by pluralistic approaches. All the materials proposed refer explicitly to descriptors of resources as they can be found in the framework.

Academic references

Block, D. 2007. Bilingualism: Four assumptions and four responses. In Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1,1: 66-82.
Embedded in ongoing debates about multiculturalism in nation-states such as the UK are frequent references to bilingualism. These references range from negative assessments of the phenomenon to more positive views. In this paper, I present and critique four assumptions that are often made about bilinguals and bilingualism, not only by the lay public but also by academics. I conclude with some thoughts on how my discussion of bilingualism might be relevant to the readers of Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching.

Cummins, J. 1996. Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society.
Ontario: California Association for Bilingual Education.
The book focuses on power relations operating in the broader society and how they influence the interactions that occur between teachers and students in the classroom. These interactions can be empowering or disempowering for both teachers and students. It is argued that culturally diverse students are disempowered educationally. This implies that the students will succeed academically to the extent that the patterns of interaction in school reverse those that prevail in the society at large. A commitment to helping all students succeed academically requires the educators to challenge aspects of the power structure in the wider society.

Cummins, Jim (2004): Language, power and pedagogy - bilingual children in the crossfire.
Clevedon [u.a.]: Multilingual Matters.
 
Cummins, J. 2006. Identity texts: The imaginative construction of self through multiliteracies pedagogy.
In O. Garcia, T. Skutnabb-Kangas & E. Torres-Guzmán, María (eds.) Imagining multilingual schools. Language in education and globalization. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 51–68.
The article highlights the centrality of the interpersonal space created in the interactions among teachers and learners. Optimal academic development within this interpersonal space occurs only when there is both maximum cognitive engagement and maximum identity investment on the part of learners.

Gravelle, Maggie (ed.) 2000. Planning for bilingual learners:
an inclusive curriculum. Stoke on Trent. Trentham Books
This book seeks to give teachers advice on developing the language ability of multilingual children, especially with regard to English as the majority language of the society. The ideas presented here do not only want to provide insight into the theories of second and foreign language learning, but also to give interested teaching staff teaching ideas that can be used in real life situations directly.

Lehtinen, K. 2006. Maahanmuuttajataustainen oppilas äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden tunneilla. In S. Grünthal & J. Pentikäinen (eds.) Kulmakivi. Luokanopettajan äidinkieli ja kirjallisuus. Otava. 84–103.[An immigrant pupil in the class of mothertongue and literature]
The article deals with the pedagogical issues concerning e.g. how to evaluate language skills, how to teach language via literature and how to support the learner in raising vocabulary.

Leung, C., Harris, R. and Rampton, B. 1997. The idealised native speaker, reified ethnicities and classroom realities.
In TESOL Quarterly, 31, 3 Language and Identity, 543-560.
This offers an account of the complexities of the multilingual classroom, in which traditional assumptions about the notion of the native speaker (of English) and of the homogeneous nature of learners of English as a Second Language are challenged.

Luukka, M-R., Pöyhönen, S., Huhta, A., Taalas, P., Tarnanen, M. & Keränen, A. 2008. Maailma muuttuu - mitä tekee koulu? Äidinkielen ja vieraiden kielten tekstikäytänteet koulussa ja vapaa-ajalla.
[The world changes – how does the school respond? Mother tongue and foreign language literacy practices in school and in free-time.] University of Jyväskylä: Centre for Applied Language Studies.
The project dealt with literacy practices of Finnish and immigrant students and teachers of mother tongue and foreign languages. The aim of the project was to explore and interpret literacy practices both in school and out-of-school contexts. The project aimed also to evaluate to what extent Finnish school is able to meet the challenges of the knowledge society, to explore pedagogies and teaching practices that prepare young people for the literacy challenges of globalized, networked and culturally diverse world and, finally, to develop proposals for interventions in teaching, curriculum planning, assessment and teacher education.
Project website: http://www.jyu.fi/hum/laitokset/solki/en/research/projects/tolp [visited 26.4.2009]

Safford, K. and Costley T. 2008. 'I didn't speak for the first year': Silence, Self-Study and Student Stories of English Language Learning in Mainstream Education
In Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 2,2: 136-151.
The paper draws on interviews with 17- and 18-year-old students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in mainstream secondary schools in the UK, where the students describe their experiences as new arrivals and their resources and strategies for accessing and learning English in multiple social and academic contexts. Silence and self-study emerge as key survival strategies for these students, whilst multilingual family and friendship networks play key roles in supporting their day-to-day schoolwork and future ambitions. In these student narratives, school policies and practices do not appear to take account of the multilayered nature of learning English for a wide range of purposes which demand the integration of discrete linguistic skills with culturally situated registers and practices. Although the UK daily grows more, not less, multilingual, interviews over several years with different cohorts of students learning EAL seem to suggest that their experiences and strategies have not changed. The paper reflects on how the mainstream classroom looks and sounds to such students, and how their voices might effectively influence pedagogy and practice in these contexts.

Websites

Languages in education, languages for education: A platform of resources and references for plurilingual and intercultural education
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/langeduc/LE_PlatformIntro_en.asp
After producing reference documents such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages taught as “foreign” languages, the Council of Europe’s Language Policy Division proposes a new instrument, in the form of this Platform, enabling member states to benefit from the experience and expertise of other member states in formulating their programmes relating to languages of schooling and all language teaching.

Website of the languages of school education project of the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Schoollang_EN.asp
The project „is concerned with the development of effective skills in the language(s) of instruction which are essential for successful learning across the whole curriculum. This project deals with the language(s) of instruction in school which is most often the national or official language(s) and also the mother tongue of the majority of students; in a number of contexts this language is of course their second language where they have a different mother tongue“. MARILLE would like to complement the work done in this project by concentrating on the classroom perspective and the work of teachers in majority language classrooms. 

List of Thematic Studies for the Prague Conference „“Languages of schooling within a European framework for languages of education: learning, teaching, assessment”
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Prague_studies07_EN.asp
Offers access to a number of individual studies dealing with different aspects of the languages of education project under the headings: Languages as a subject within languages of education, Language across the curriculum within languages of education, Evaluation and assessment within language(s) of education,  A European reference document for languages of education.

Website of the ECML project VALEUR (Valuing All Languages in Europe)
http://www.ecml.at/mtp2/Valeur/html/Valeur_E_Results.htm
The VALEUR project (2004-2007) took as its focus the ‘additional’ languages of Europe. These are defined as all languages in use in contexts where they are not ‘national’, ‘official’, or ‘dominant’ languages. They include ‘migrant’ languages, ‘regional/minority’ languages, sign languages and ‘non-territorial’ languages of diasporas such as Yiddish and Romani. In MARILLE we can use some of VALEURs results but will focus on integrating ‚additional‘ languages in the majority language classroom. 

Website of the ECML project LEA (Language Educator Awareness. Developing plurilingual and pluricultural awareness in language teacher education)
http://www.ecml.at/mtp2/Lea/html/LEA_E_Results.htm
The LEA training kit comprises a set of practical instruments designed to help teacher educators introduce the essential aspects of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism to language teachers and learners. Some of LEAs results will be very valuable to MARILLE although we are not concerned with developing teacher training materials (yet!).

Website of the ECML project Ja-Ling (Janua Linguarum) -The introduction of language awareness into the curriculum
http://jaling.ecml.at/
How can education prepare individuals to face the cultural and linguistic diversity of the society they are living in? Learners experience this diversity since school, through language multiplicity which they face and learn, but also, more frequently through the diversity of their origins.It is in this context that a certain number of innovations have been started up in several countries, mainly in primary schools, under different titles (éveil/ouverture aux langues, language awareness, Sprachaufmerksamkeit). The Ja-Ling project offers a wealth of didactic materials and evaluation tools that MARILLE has to look into to determine the applicability in secondary school majority language classrooms.

SOPPI – suomeksi oppimassa – SOPPI – learning in Finnish
http://virtuaaliyliopisto.jyu.fi/soppi
The SOPPI-website has been designed for the purposes of teacher education on all educational levels. It is used on both the initial and the in-service teacher training of all school-subjects. Soppi offers viewpoints on what it is like to learn in Finnish, when it is not a learner’s mother tongue, and what teachers should take into account when teaching linguistically and culturally heterogeneous groups.The website consists of three parts: 1) videoclips and tasks on the language skills of immigrant pupils and on supervising sessions in clubs organizing support for homework; 2) a section in which textbooks on various schoolsubjects are explores from 3 points of view: support for strategic reading, language and comprehension and cultural understanding; 3) information on how to adapt instruction for diverse learners.

Kielikoulutuspolitiikan verkosto – Network for language education policies
http://www.jyu.fi/hum/laitokset/solki/tutkimus/projektit/kieliverkosto/en (in Finish, English and Swedish)
The Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä (Finland), coordinates a new, interdisciplinary network for language education policies starting 2009. The Network provides a new infrastructure, which acknowledges the existing knowledge and expertise in language education; brings together researchers, policy makers, practitioners and participants in language education; strengthens the link between research and political decision making; and takes an active role in public discussion on language education policies.

Multiverse
http://www.multiverse.ac.uk/
This is a support site for teacher educators and student teachers which offers a wide range of resources and links relating to the theme of diversity in the classroom. There are pages on EAL and on bilingualism, and these can be cross referenced to specific subjects, such as to English.

A Level English Language website
http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/alevel/index.htm
This website is designed to support teachers and learners with the Advanced level English Language (as ML) examination, and has a useful question and answer section. This examination includes work on linguistic diversity and bilingualism, not only English. It has links to a wide range of resources.

Our Languages
http://www.ourlanguages.org.uk/
The 'Our Languages' project supports community languages teaching and learning and aims to encourage community cohesion, celebrate pupil achievement and promote plurilingualism. Regional partnerships across England involve schools in the project in a variety of activities. The website provides case studies as well as information on accreditation, community language provision and current research, events and links related to community languages education.

ITE English
http://www.ite.org.uk/
This site has been created to assist those involved in training teachers of English. Although specifically aimed at teachers in England, it may well prove useful for tutors in other countries. The website is organised as follows:
- Topics which offers an overview and an approach to each subject a tutor may encounter. These will be updated as material is submitted by our contributors.
- Research featuring results, analysis and a breakdown of recent research projects in the field.
- Discussion Papers
- Professional Support - a selection of resources and advice for tutors.
A searchable index includes English for pupils with diverse backgrounds.

Teachers TV 
http://www.teachers.tv/
This offers a wealth of TV programmes from Teachers TV, a television channel devoted entirely to teachers. It is searchable and includes many 15 minute programmes relating to English (as ML) and issues of diversity.

„EduFLE.net, le site coopératif du FLE"
http://www.edufle.net/
A website in French about the didactics of French including intercultural education. With teaching resources.

Le projet SAEL
http://www.eurosael.eu/, in French, English, Italian and Dutch
"The aim of the SAEL project is to facilitate the implementation of language policy recommendations aimed at improving the quality of language teaching in Europe." The site offers some good practice examples, too.

La clé des langues
http://cle.ens-lyon.fr/jsp/accueil_cdl.jsp?CODE=70201836&LANGUE=0, in French
This site offers resources and information for different language which are taught in school. Plurilingual approaches have their own section with links to further projects (go directly to Plurilangues)

Websites working with l'éveil aux langues (awakening to languages)
Education et Diversité Linguistique et Culturelle EDiLiC
http://www.edilic.org/fr/fr_index.php?xtref=http://plurilangues.e-monsite.com/
Plurilangues
http://plurilangues.e-monsite.com/
Awakening to languages is not the teaching of a particular language. It aims to enable schoolchildren to come in contact different languages and to actively discovery the great diversity of languages in the world. The children acquire knowledge and competences regarding languages in general that are useful in every type of learning, included that of the language of the school. As for the classes that are linguistically heterogeneous, awakening to languages is a pedagogical tool that enables the integration of the languages spoken by the schoolchildren (adapted from the EDiLiC-website).

Language and Identity in the National Curriculum: Class Files
The School Of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at the University of Sheffield
http://school-of-english.dept.shef.ac.uk/langworkscheme/classfiles.html
These 12 class files contain powerpoints on how to teach the different aspects of language and identity in majority language classrooms. Language in these ideas means different dialects, too. The powerpoints show how the idea was carried out practically, but they don't contain worksheets etc.

Britkid: Getting to know different British school kids online
www.britkid.org/
On this website you meet a group of 9 British school children who come from different language and culture backgrounds. You can find information about their families, their languages, their religion, their food etc. They live in the fictious city called "Britchester".

IAIMTE: International Association for the Improvement of Mother Tongue Education
www.ilo.uva.nl/projecten/gert/iaimte
This association aims at encouraging good practice in mother tongue teaching and the networking of mother tongue teachers in different languages and from different cultures. The conference 2010 takes place in Hildesheim and and covers the topic of "Learning and Teaching: Language and Literature".

FREPA - Framework of reference für pluralistic approaches (CARAP): Teaching materials
http://carap.ecml.at/Teachingmaterials/DB/tabid/2700/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
The database CARAP-FREPA – Online teaching materials offers teaching activities which fall within the scope of pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. The purpose of this collection of materials, which include input in different languages, is to facilitate access to classroom activities which will help learners master the knowledge, skills and attitudes which the framework lists as « resources » and which can be developed by pluralistic approaches. All the materials proposed refer explicitly to descriptors of resources as they can be found in the framework.