Sandra Descourtis & Sandrine Pell

ABSTRACT

This presentation draws on a classroom-based research between a Midwestern University in the United States and an elementary school that seeks to examine collaborative learning through multilingual inquiry. We present the design and implementation of a multilingual teaching unit aimed at increasing critical multilingual language awareness (CMLA) and understanding of diversity amongst students in third and fourth grade. Introducing CMLA explicitly from early grades makes students aware of the various languages and cultures that exist and helps them develop open mindedness, community among peers and plurilingual competence. Our research questions investigate how transforming multilingualism and linguistic diversity from a problem into a resource, impacts both English dominant and language minoritized students. Drawing on the 5 domains of Language Awareness (James & Garrett,1991) and on the Linguistic and Cultural Collaboration in the Classroom framework (Prasad & Lory, 2019), multilingual activities were designed related to different translations of the French story, Le Petit Prince d’Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1943). The data collected over one semester with 130 students include classroom observations and activity booklets. Data were analyzed thematically through the prism of CMLA domains. These activities led to critical reflection about how languages work, their similarities and their differences. Findings highlight how CMLA activities created a context for power shifts between English dominant and language minoritized students. This research gives teachers practical tools to raise children’s CMLA and develop their plurilingual competence (Coste, Moore & Zarate, 2009),, as a way to support more equitable classrooms and ultimately a more equitable society.

Keywords

Multilingualism, Language Awareness, Plurilingual Competence, Classroom-Based Research, Linguistic Diversity, Collaborative Learning

References

1. Prasad, G., & Lory, M. P. (2020). Linguistic and Cultural Collaboration in Schools: Reconciling Majority and Minoritized Language Users. TESOL Quarterly, 54(4), 797-822.

2. James, C., Garrett, P., & Candlin, C. N. (2014). Language awareness in the classroom. Routledge.

3. Coste, D., Moore, D., & Zarate, G. (2009). Plurilingual and pluricultural competence. Language Policy Division. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.