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FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren

Acquisition of English in the multilingual classroom

Alternative title: Tilegnelse av engelsk i det flerspråklige klasserommet

Awarded: NOK 10.8 mill.

During the final year of the project, we have continued the analysis of student group interviews and questionnaires, and further analysis of teacher professional workshops. A major milestone was publication of the monograph Multilingual Approach to Diversity in Education (MADE). A Methodology for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms. The book outlines a classroom observation protocol and teaching planning tool developed specifically as part of the project. Our classroom observation data show that teachers rarely provided opportunities for multilingual learners to draw on their full linguistic repertories. Overall, the teachers rarely employed or activated languages other than Norwegian and English in the EAL classroom. There was also no noticeable development in teachers’ practices concerning language use in their classrooms across the two years the observations took place. However, there was a rather distinct variation between the teachers in how they worked with languages: while there was English, Norwegian or free language use for oral activities in some classrooms there was not in others. According to the teachers, they need to change their mindset towards teaching practices to include checking the languages present in the class. They also voiced their insecurities when dealing with students’ language errors, and language use in spoken versus written modes of discourse: what type of language use and what language standards should be the goal in different contexts? The teachers were aware of curriculum goals which set out drawing on multiple languages in students’ English language learning, but they were at the same time afraid of losing control in the classroom. We also find it is the same teachers who promoted use of languages beyond English and Norwegian who most actively discussed aspects of multilingual teaching practices in the workshops. However, the teachers were generally unsure of how to implement these goals in their own teaching and how to evaluate their students’ ability to use the languages already they know when learning additional languages. A detailed study of students’ language awareness was carried out among twelve grade six students (six with Norwegian as their only home language, and six speakers who were also speakers of Norwegian but used either one or more additional languages at home). We examined what kinds of metalinguistic awareness these young learners displayed, and whether there were any differences depending on the students’ language backgrounds. We carried out two tasks: one targeting phonemic segmentation, and the other grammatical awareness. Whereas there were no systematic differences between the two groups of students, i.e., the first language Norwegian and the multilingual students, in the task assessing phonemic segmentation and both groups showed confidence and skill with this task, there were clearer differences between the two for the task measuring grammatical awareness. The results of the grammatical awareness task also reveal a great deal of individual variation in the level of metalinguistic awareness, but overall, most of the participants lacked metalanguage or specific terminology. Crucially, the three multilingual pairs obtained the overall highest scores, whereas the first language Norwegian students scored comparably lower. Most students fell somewhere in between these extremes, but the students who used more Norwegian than English were among those who talked the least. The results indicate that a multilingual background provides the higher overall level of grammatical language awareness among young language learners. These results have implications for language teaching. Three guest lectures entitled Communication and interaction in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms, Language teaching and ideology: From mono- to multilingualism, and Teacher education and the multilingual turn: Using DLC to awaken teachers’ multilingual identities have been given at the University of Innsbruck. We have also given several international conference presentations. Four journal articles have been so far published in 2023, as well as a book chapter and one monograph. Our work has consistently received good feedback from peers and teachers in schools. Project website: https://www.ntnu.no/ilu/acengmulcla

Et prosjekt om flerspråklighet i engelskfaget har vært viktig på grunn av endringene i grunnskolens læreplaner for engelsk og språkfagene generelt. Flerspråklighet er vektlagt som en ressurs og elevene skal bli i stand til å sammenligne målspråket, som engelsk, med språk de allerede kan, og bruke dette i sin egen språklæring. Lærerne skal være i stand til å veilede elevenes videre læring og språklige utvikling. I prosjektet beskriver vi elevenes utvikling, hvordan de bruker språk og hvordan lærerne kan støtte dette i sin undervisning. Vårt arbeid med lærere i prosjektet viser at det er nødvendig med faglig etterutdanning, og at det tar lang tid å endre undervisningspraksiser. En stor milepæl i 2023 var derfor utgivelsen av den vitenskapelige monografien Multilingual Approach to Diversity in Education (MADE). A Methodology for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms. Boken beskriver en observasjonsprotokoll og et planleggingsverktøy for undervisning i flerspråklige klasserom som ble utviklet spesifikt som del av prosjektet. Boken vil kunne bli brukt av forskere, studenter og lærere som arbeider med flerspråklige elever internasjonalt. Flerspråklighet er vektlagt i engelsk grunnskolelærerutdanning ved NTNU, og funnene våre brukes spesielt i emnene på masternivå. Mens et av emnene er spesifikt bygd rundt planleggingsverktøyet for undervisning i flerspråklige klasserom som ble utviklet i prosjektet, tar hele masterprogrammet opp elementer av flerspråklighet og flerkulturalitet i skolen. Vi har undersøkt hvordan våre egne masterstudenter kan være del av et forskningsprosjekt og arbeide med prosjekter om flerspråklighet. Dette har inkludert prosjekter om effekten av kunnskaper i språk en allerede kan når en lærer engelsk som skolefag samt fordeler og ulemper unge flerspråklige elever har når de lærer engelsk. Vi håper at dette også vil ha en positiv påvirkning på rekruttering av studenter med minoritetsbakgrunn til våre program innenfor lærerutdanning og i tillegg vise at vårt institutt har et flerspråklig og flerkulturelt arbeidsmiljø som de kan identifisere seg med. En rekke internasjonale gjesteforelesninger har blitt gitt innenfor tema som er relevante for læreres faglige utviklingsarbeid og undervisning i flerspråklighet for studenter. Disse er blitt godt mottatt i fagmiljøene og vi har fortsatt vårt samarbeid med forskere ved disse institusjonene. Vi har også holdt workshoper og seminarer for fremmedspråklærere i regionen og vi samarbeider videre med Trondheim kommune om å arbeide med flerspråklighet i skolen. I tillegg har vi vært organisert et symposium, et panel og gitt flere innlegg på internasjonale konferanser. Prosjektet har pr. i dag resultert i 1 monografi, 4 antologier, 6 bokkapitler og 5 tidsskriftsartikler. Vi er overbevist om at arbeidet vårt har hatt påvirkning på forskning og politiske føringer angående viktigheten av flerspråklighet i fremmedspråkslæring og engelskundervisning.

Norway is becoming a more multicultural and multilingual society. At the same time knowledge of foreign languages is central in a world with increased mobility. There is a focus on foreign language skills, notably the world's major language for intercultural communication, English, is needed for international collaboration and communication. However, there is a lack of focus on English in teaching people with multilingual background in Norway. This project seeks to investigate how multilingualism affects acquisition of English as a foreign language in Norwegian schools. We will examine what multilingual language learners are able to do in English (their language 'patterns') at different levels of proficiency. We will also examine whether these 'patterns' correspond to the learning aims in the national curriculum for the different years of schooling. English teachers also need to know more about acquisition about English and language development among multilingual learners. Likewise, professional development for teachers in schools and collaboration between teacher educators and practicing English teachers is needed. We will work in close collaboration with a local Trondheim school, Ila school, with a sheltered programme with recently arrived students with multilingual background. We want to identify the skills and practical abilities teachers need to make English language teaching in multilingual settings more efficient and to be able to draw on students' resources in the classroom. Multilingualism is also a focus in the new MA programme in English Education at NTNU and the findings will directly inform our teaching on the MA programme which as a focus on multilingualism and multiculturalism. We would like to examine how Master students best can be involved in research projects on multilingualism in the English classroom. The strength of the proposed project is the close links between research, teaching and professional practice and development.

Publications from Cristin

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FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren