Tjaša Dražnik

ABSTRACT

In light of the growing diversity in European schools, equity-centred plurilingual pedagogies have gained prominence across the political, educational and scientific spectrum. This gives particular weight to this study, which aims to contribute to the understanding of the complexity of factors that promote the mainstreaming of plurilingual pedagogies. The concept of Linguistically Sensitive Teaching (LST) was used as a lens to study pre-service teachers’ perceptions of plurilingual pedagogies in their educational context in Slovenia. More specifically, the study aims to examine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the relevance of plurilingual pedagogies for their future profession and to identify the factors that pre-service teachers consider relevant for the implementation of plurilingual pedagogies in education. Written qualitative data from 27 pre-service primary education teachers from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana were analysed. Reflection prompts were used to stimulate and guide critical engagement of the participants within the context of LST: a video, a document and a SWOT analysis template. The findings illustrate pre-service teachers’ awareness of the relevance and the benefits of plurilingual pedagogies for their profession and their understanding of the complexity of factors, specifically in relation to teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills, that promote the mainstreaming of plurilingual pedagogies. The study highlights how guided reflection can support pre-service teachers’ training in plurilingual pedagogies within initial teacher education. As such, the study has positive implications for preparing future teachers to better respond to the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse classes.

Keywords

Plurilingual pedagogies; initial teacher education; pre-service teachers

References

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