From a Participant perspective

Advantages

of multilingual teaching

These are some of the advantages with multilingualism that the participants have expressed.

strengthening one's own multilingual identity, of acknowledgement of prior work experience
deeper understanding of course content when using multilingual research to reconstruct the content
having another mother tongue is helpful during internship at schools when communicating with pupils and parents with migrant backgrounds
fastens the second language acquisition, meta-reflection, comparison between the language structures and vocabulary
facilitates the learning of the target language

Challenges

for multilingual teaching

Some of the cons that were experienced were:

multilingualism can be time consuming
multilingualism can separate/segregate people, the use of different languages can separate people
challenges with translations, misunderstandings
negative impact of the learning of the target language, difficulties when it comes to comparison between language structures
may slow down the learning of the new language

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The participants’ perspective was collected via group interviews, individual interviews and written feedback of the questions on the interview questionnaire. The topics mentioned can be divided into three main areas:

attitudes towards multilingual teaching and learning strategies in the programmes
language resources of teachers
language learning strategies and helpful tools

1. Attitudes toward multilingual teaching and learning strategies in the programmes

There was a variation between the wish to use the language of the new country of residence as much as possible and the understanding that multilingual teaching and learning strategies can help to grasp the content provided in the programmes. A wish to speed up the learning process using the host countries’ language during the programme was expressed. “I avoided to use other languages than German because I want to push my German” (alumni a, University of Vienna). Using the language was seen as positively impacting the knowledge about the new culture. Additionally, some words have special meanings and are not possible to translate to the mother tongue. The participant needed to learn these words in the new language. However, efforts to refer to the other languages empower the use of these languages to understand contexts. The participants considered it helpful for presentations, to be able to use all languages during the preparation and to translate the outcome afterwards.

2. Language resources of teachers

Several of the participants point out that they see themselves as role models and that they are motivated to teach their students in school to see multilingualism as valuable as teaching staff in a new country. In addition, they state that multilingualism leads to a deeper understanding. One of the participants says: “If you read or speak in your mother tongue it stays in your head and can be transferred to German even better” (participant). Speaking different languages was expressed as something that strengthened their identity as a teacher, especially with parents that cannot speak the new language in school. It is also useful in heterogeneous classrooms, helping students from other countries to understand the meaning of the content better. Participants can be role models for other internationally trained teachers as well. Due to the increasing heterogeneity of society, some participants see themselves also as intercultural mediators.

3. Language learning strategies and helpful tools

Different strategies were used in studying contexts. Some participants/alumni started writing assignments in their mother tongue or bridging languages and then translated while others did the opposite. While reading, unfamiliar technical terms were identified and a dictionary in their mobile phones was used to find synonyms. When analysing a text, the participants used several languages simultaneously. Translation apps or online dictionaries were often used as technical tools, both to translate entire passages and to try out translations in different languages to get to know the content in various ways. Other strategies used were bilingual books and films with subtitles. Group work and school internships were helpful while learning the language. The strategy of using English or French as a bridging language is useful when it comes to comparisons of grammar and interrelations of vocabulary.

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