English language classrooms outside of English-speaking countries are becoming increasingly multilingual. Sadly, many language teachers may be unsure of how to best cater to these more mixed groups of learners. In this article, Veera Illman and Paivi Pietila report on a study they conducted in Finland. Their findings highlight experiences of multilingualism in ELT classrooms, and strategies for utilizing linguistic and cultural diversity to benefit language learning.
Background
Students learning English in a country where neither their L1 nor English is the dominant language are ‘multilingual’ as they have a certain degree of proficiency in at least two languages. However, they are often faced with the challenge of learning English through the medium of the country’s dominant language. This study aimed to investigate whether it might be more beneficial to use students’ L1s to enhance their English language learning (often as an L3).
The literature review highlights that viewing monolingual learners as the norm can lead to the implementation of teaching strategies that are less helpful to bilingual/multilingual learners. Holistic approaches, such as the ‘Dynamic Model of Multilingualism’ (Herdina and Jessner 2002), believe that the different languages an individual speaks interact and support each other, thus enhancing further language learning. This idea is supported by Cook (2008), who states that multilinguals are more aware of language and may use different cognitive processes from monolinguals for language learning. The ‘Focus on Multilingualism’ (FM) as a practical approach for the classroom (Cenoz and Gorter 2011) proposes activities which ‘soften the boundaries’ between the languages in an individual’s mind to enhance this linguistic awareness and language learning.
‘Translanguaging’ is a key concept here: the deliberate and strategic use of multiple languages to complete a task. According to advocates of holistic approaches to teaching languages to multilinguals, translanguaging provides scope for using learners’ current language competences as a resource in the English-language classroom. Examples tasks might be: reading a text in the L1 (i.e. rather than the dominant language of that country if that is a learner’s L2) and summarising it to the class in English; replacing words in an English song with L1 equivalents; translating false friends (see Corcoll López and Gonzáles-Davies 2016).
Research
The study reported here aimed to answer the following questions:
- How much and in what ways do children of immigrant background take advantage of their multilingualism when learning English?
- How are immigrant children’s native languages taken into account in teaching?
- What are the teacher perceptions of how the learning process of immigrant children could be supported?
The participants were 55 students (aged 11-16) who spoke 13 different L1s, and 38 teachers from different schools. Online questionnaires were used to collect data. The questionnaire for students asked about experiences concerning their multilingualism. The questionnaire for teachers asked about potential advantages and disadvantages of multilingualism for language learning.
Findings
Student Questionnaire
Just over a third of the surveyed students claimed not to use their L1 as an aid for learning English, but 46% said that they had used their L1 to help them learn English vocabulary. Fewer students reported finding their L1 useful for improving other aspects of their English, such as pronunciation (24%), grammar (22%), and writing (18 per cent).
The majority of students (around 70%) reported never having been given tasks in class that made use of their L1, whilst around two thirds reported having to use Finnish (their L2) for in-class activities. Worryingly, 27% of surveyed students reported ‘never’ or only ‘sometimes’ understanding the Finnish expressions in their textbooks. As the researchers point out, this raises questions about the fairness of assessment if tests of English competence require a good knowledge of Finnish.
Teacher Questionnaire
Around two thirds of the surveyed teachers reported having no training in teaching multilingual learners. Just under 80% reported discussing the topic with colleagues.
Teachers responses showed strong beliefs that students’ pronunciation, vocabulary, and speaking in English benefitted from their multilingualism. Almost all of the surveyed teachers believed these learners struggled most with writing in English. Several reported difficulties stemming from learners’ low-level competence in Finnish.
According to teachers, learners’ L1s were often used in vocabulary teaching, and over half reported having used learners’ L1s to compare linguistics structures and explore different cultures. Just over a third reported comparing elements of pronunciation to learners’ L1s. There is a clear contradiction between these teachers’ perspectives and the responses to the student survey. The researchers explain: “This discrepancy can at least partly be explained by the fact that the students and teachers were not from the same school.” (p. 243).
In response to a final question, teachers shared ideas on how the linguistic backgrounds of multilingual English learners could be better utilised to learners’ advantage. Most ideas mentioned the comparison of English with the learners’ L1s or student presentations of their L1 cultures.
Conclusion
The results provide information on the current situation of ELT in Finnish secondary schools. They indicate a slow shift towards using less Finnish in the ELT classroom, and an openness among teachers to incorporating multilingual learners’ L1s. Translanguaging seems to be a concept becoming more familiar to language teachers in Finland, allowing English learners to draw on any language they know to enhance their learning.
Discussion & Reflection
Most of the English teaching is happening in countries where the dominant community language is something other than English. Given that many countries, especially in Europe, have experienced significant increases in the numbers of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees over the last decade or so, multilingualism is a topic that should interest huge numbers of these English teachers. From my own context (in Germany), though, I’m aware that this topic is often not at the top of the agenda for teacher training programmes, and maybe not even on some over-worked teachers’ radars. I agree with Veera Illman and Paivi Pietila in believing it should be given more prominence on both pre- and in-sessional training courses, and more consideration in teachers’ lesson planning and materials.
The research questions of the study reported here led me to expect more concrete information on HOW teachers can use multilingualism as a resource. A few beginnings of ideas are mentioned at various points in the article, but I think teachers would benefit from a more expansive bank of ideas which incorporate learners’ diverse L1s into the ELT classroom. Still, I can’t claim that this is a big criticism of the article!: Indeed, reading this has made me start thinking of my own ideas, and there are other resources available which are more suitable to this kind of practical guideline.
Maybe readers of this ‘bite’ know of some, and would like to add them in the comments below?
References
