Home Validating young learners’ plurilingual repertoires as legitimate linguistic and cultural resources in the EFL classroom
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Validating young learners’ plurilingual repertoires as legitimate linguistic and cultural resources in the EFL classroom

  • Euline Cutrim Schmid

    Euline Cutrim Schmid is a full professor of Applied Linguistics and TEFL at the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd. She has a PhD in Linguistics and an M.A. in Language Teaching from Lancaster University, U.K, and she also holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has published and conducted research projects in the areas of computer assisted language learning, language teacher education and plurilingual approaches to foreign teaching and learning. Her recent books include Teacher Education in Computer Assisted Language Learning (Bloomsbury, 2019) and Teaching Languages with Technology (Bloomsbury, 2014, with Shona Whyte).

     ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 26, 2021
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Submit Manuscript Author Information
Applied Linguistics Review
From the journal Applied Linguistics Review Volume 14 Issue 4

Abstract

In the last decades, the applied linguistics literature has increasingly called for more classroom-based research focusing on language teaching approaches that embrace students’ plurilingual repertoires as valuable linguistic and cultural resources for learning and affirm learners’ plurilingual identities as legitimate and appropriate in the classroom context. This paper discusses research findings of an empirical investigation that responded to this call. The study examined the impact of the use of plurilingual tasks in the English as foreign language (EFL) classroom on language learning processes and learners’ identity construction. Five case studies were conducted in four primary schools and one secondary school in Germany. Research data were collected from multiple sources such as field notes, video recording of school lessons, in-depth interviews with teachers, teachers’ reflective journals, anonymous questionnaires, and focus group interviews with learners. The research findings have shown that the use of plurilingual tasks in the EFL classroom created enhanced opportunities for the learners (a) to share aspects of their identities that were previously ignored in the school context (b) to use their diverse language abilities as resources in the language learning process and (c) to be actively involved in explicit reflective thinking about language and culture.

Keywords: EFL; language and identity; language teacher education; multilingual turn; plurilingual education
Corresponding author: Euline Cutrim Schmid, English, University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd, Oberbettringer Str. 200, 73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd, Baden-Württemberg Germany, E-mail:

Funding source: University of Education Schwaebisch Gmuend

About the author

Euline Cutrim Schmid

Euline Cutrim Schmid is a full professor of Applied Linguistics and TEFL at the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd. She has a PhD in Linguistics and an M.A. in Language Teaching from Lancaster University, U.K, and she also holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has published and conducted research projects in the areas of computer assisted language learning, language teacher education and plurilingual approaches to foreign teaching and learning. Her recent books include Teacher Education in Computer Assisted Language Learning (Bloomsbury, 2019) and Teaching Languages with Technology (Bloomsbury, 2014, with Shona Whyte).

Acknowledgments

This research project is funded by a grant from the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd.

References

Anderson, Jason. 2018. Reimagining English language learners from a translingual perspective. ELT Journal 72(1). 26–37. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccx029.Search in Google Scholar

Anderson, Jim & Vicky Macleroy. 2017. Connecting worlds: Interculturality, identity and multilingual digital stories in the making. Language and Intercultural Communication 17(4). 494–517. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2017.1375592.Search in Google Scholar

Anderson, Jim, Yu-Chiao Chung & Vicky Macleroy. 2018. Creative and critical approaches to language learning and digital technology: Findings from a multilingual digital storytelling project. Language and Education 32(3). 195–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2018.1430151.Search in Google Scholar

Borg, Simon. 2006. Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Cambridge Polity Press.Search in Google Scholar

Bruen, Jennifer & Niamh Kelly. 2016. Language Teaching in a globalised world: Harnessing linguistic super-diversity in the classroom. International Journal of Multilingualism 13(3). 333–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2016.1142548.Search in Google Scholar

Bündgens-Kosten, Judith & Daniela Elsner. 2014. Rezeptives Code-Switching ein- und mehrsprachiger Lerner/innen in multilingualen Settings. Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen 43(2). 56–73.Search in Google Scholar

Burns, Anne. 2010. Collaborative action research for English teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Candelier, Michel. 2008. Awakening to languages and education language policy. In Jasone Cenoz & Nancy Hornberger (eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education: Knowledge about language, 1972–1985. Berlin: Springer.10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_151Search in Google Scholar

Candelier, Michel, Petra Daryai-Hansen & Anna Schröder-Sura. 2012. The framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures – a complement to the CEFR to develop plurilingual and intercultural competences. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 6(3). 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2012.725252.Search in Google Scholar

Council of Europe. 2001. Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Corcoll López, Cristina. 2021. Plurilingualism and using languages to learn languages: a sequential approach to deal effectively with language diversity. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 15(1). 42–51.10.1080/17501229.2019.1662423Search in Google Scholar

Council of Europ. 2016. European language portfolio. https://www.coe.int/en/web/portfolio (accessed 21 September 2020).Search in Google Scholar

Council of Europe. 2018. Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assesment: Companion volume with new descriptors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Corcoll, Cristina. 2013. Developing children’s language awareness: Switching codes in the language classroom. International Journal of Multilingualism 10(1). 27–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2011.628023.Search in Google Scholar

Corcoll, Cristina & Maria González-Davies. 2016. Switching codes in the plurilingual classroom. ELT Journal 70(1). 67–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv056.Search in Google Scholar

Cummins, Jim. 2007. Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics 10(2). 221–240.Search in Google Scholar

Cummins, Jim. 2017. Teaching for transfer in multilingual school contexts. In Ofelia García, Angel Lin & Stephen May (eds.), Bilingual and Multilingual Education, Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 103–115. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02258-1_8.Search in Google Scholar

Cutrim Schmid, Euline. 2021. ‘I think it’s boring if you now only speak English’: Enhancing learner investment in EFL learning through the use of plurilingual tasks. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. Advance online publication. 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2020.1868476.Search in Google Scholar

Cutrim Schmid, Euline & Torben Schmidt. 2017. Migration-based multilingualism in the English as a foreign language classroom: Learners’ and teachers’ perspectives. Zeitschrift für Fremdsprachenforschung 28(1). 29–52.Search in Google Scholar

Dahm, Rebecca. 2017. Can pluralistic approaches based upon unknown languages enhance learner engagement and lead to active social inclusion? International Review of Education 63(4). 521–543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-017-9636-3.Search in Google Scholar

Darvin, Ron & Bonny Norton. 2015. Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35. 36–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0267190514000191.Search in Google Scholar

Darvin, Ron & Bonny Norton. 2016. Investment and language learning in the 21st century. Language et Société 157(3). 19–38. https://doi.org/10.3917/ls.157.0019.Search in Google Scholar

De Angelis, Gessica. 2007. Third or additional language acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847690050Search in Google Scholar

De Angelis, Gessica. 2011. Teachers’ beliefs about the role of prior language knowledge in learning and how this influences teaching practices. International Journal of Multilingualism 8(3). 216–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2011.560669.Search in Google Scholar

Dmitrenko, Violetta. 2017. Language learning strategies of multilingual adults learning additional languages. International Journal of Multilingualism 14(1). 6–22.10.1080/14790718.2017.1258978Search in Google Scholar

Faneca, Rosa Maria, Maria Helena Araujo e Sa & Silvia Melo-Pfeifer. 2016. Is there a place for heritage languages in the promotion of an intercultural and multilingual education in the Portuguese schools? Language and Intercultural Communication 16(1). 44–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2015.1113751.Search in Google Scholar

Farrell, Thomas. 2008. Critical incidents in ELT initial teacher training. ELT Journal 62(1). 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccm072.Search in Google Scholar

Galante, Angelica. 2020. “The moment I realized I am plurilingual”: Plurilingual tasks for creative representations in EAP at a Canadian university. Applied Linguistics Review 11(4). 551–580.10.1515/applirev-2018-0116Search in Google Scholar

García, Ofelia & Jo Anne Kleifgen. 2018. Educating emergent bilinguals: Policies, programs and practices for English learners, 2nd ed. New York: Teachers College Press.Search in Google Scholar

Garrett, Paula & Richard Young. 2009. Theorizing affect in foreign language learning: An analysis of one learner’s responses to a communicative Portuguese course. The Modern Language Journal 93(ii). 209–226. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00857.x.Search in Google Scholar

Gogolin, Ingrid. 1994. Der monolinguale Habitus der multilingualen Schule. Münster: Waxmann.Search in Google Scholar

González, Norma, Luis C. Moll & Cathy Amanti. 2005. Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Search in Google Scholar

Haukås, Åsta. 2016. Teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism and a multilingual pedagogical approach. International Journal of Multilingualism 13(1). 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1041960.Search in Google Scholar

Hu, Adelheid. 2003. Schulischer Fremdsprachenunterricht und migrationsbedingte Mehrsprachigkeit. Narr: Tübingen.Search in Google Scholar

Jakisch, Jenny. 2014. Lehrerperspektiven auf Englischunterricht und Mehrsprachigkeit. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 19(1). 202–215.Search in Google Scholar

Jessner, Ulrike. 2006. Linguistic Awareness in multilinguals: English as a third language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.10.1515/9780748626540Search in Google Scholar

Jessner, Ulrike & Claire Kramsch. 2015. In The Multilingual challenge: Cross disciplinary perspectives. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.10.1515/9781614512165-002Search in Google Scholar

Jessner, Ulrike & Kerstin Mayr-Keiler. 2017. Why context matters: Social inclusion and multilingualism in an Austrian school setting. Social Inclusion 5(4). 87–97. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v5i4.1139.Search in Google Scholar

Kębłowska, Magdalena. 2012. The place of affect in Second language acquisition. In Miroslaw Pawlak (ed.), New perspectives on individual differences in language learning and teaching, 157–167. Berlin: Springer.10.1007/978-3-642-20850-8_10Search in Google Scholar

Kramsch, Claire. 2012. Authenticity and legitimacy in multilingual SLA. Critical Multilingualism Studies 1. 107–128.Search in Google Scholar

Kramsch, Claire. 2014. Teaching foreign languages in an era of globalization: Introduction. The Modern Language Journal 98(1). 296–311. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2014.12057.x.Search in Google Scholar

Krumm, Hans-Jürgen. 2009. Die Bedeutung der Mehrsprachigkeit in den Identitätskonzepten von Migrantinnnen und Migranten. In Ingrid Gogolin & Ursula Neumann (eds.), Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The bilingualism controversy, 233–247. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91596-8_13.Search in Google Scholar

Kalaja, Paula & Ana M. F. Barcelos. 2006. In Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches. New York: Springer.Search in Google Scholar

Li, Wei. 2014. Who’s teaching whom?: Co-learning in multilingual classrooms. In Stephen May (ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education, 167–190. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Lotherington, Heather. 2013. Creating third spaces in the linguistically heterogeneous classroom for the advancement of plurilingualism. TESOL Quarterly 47(3). 619–625. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.117.Search in Google Scholar

Lotherington Heather & PaigeCheryl (eds.). 2017. Teaching young learners in a superdiverse world multimodal approaches and perspectives. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315626079Search in Google Scholar

Marshall, Steve. 2020. Understanding plurilingualism and developing pedagogy: Teaching in linguistically diverse classes across the disciplines at a Canadian university. Language, Culture and Curriculum 33(2). 142–156.10.1080/07908318.2019.1676768Search in Google Scholar

May, Stephen. 2013. In The Multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education. New York and London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Norton, Bonny. 2000. Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Harlow: Longman/Pearson Education.Search in Google Scholar

Norton, Bonny. 2013. Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation, 2nd ed. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781783090563Search in Google Scholar

Norton, Bonny & Kelleen Toohey. 2011. Identity, language learning, and social change. Language Teaching 44(4). 412–446. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444811000309.Search in Google Scholar

Norton, Bonny & Peter De Costa. 2018. Research tasks on identity in language learning and teaching. Language Teaching 51(1). 90–112. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444817000325.Search in Google Scholar

Oliveira, Ana Luisa & Maria Helena Anca. 2009. ’I speak five languages’: Fostering plurilingual competence through language awareness. Language Awareness 18(3/4). 403–421. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658410903197355.Search in Google Scholar

Otwinowska, Agnieszka. 2014. Does multilingualism influence plurilingual awareness of polish teachers of English? International Journal of Multilingualism 11(1). 97–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2013.820730.Search in Google Scholar

Piccardo, Enrica. 2013. Plurilingualism and curriculum design: Toward a synergic vision. TESOL Quarterly 47(3). 600–614. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.110.Search in Google Scholar

Piccardo, Enrica. 2018. Plurilingualism: Vision, conceptualization, and practices. In Peter Pericles Trifonas & Themistoklis Aravossitas (eds.), Handbook of research and practice in heritage language education, 1–19. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44694-3_47.Search in Google Scholar

Potts, Diane. 2017. Critical praxis, design and reflection literacy: A lesson in multimodality. In Ruth Harman (ed.), Bilingual learners and social equity, 201–223. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60953-9_10.Search in Google Scholar

Prasad, Gail Lori. 2014. Portraits of plurilingualism in a French international school in Toronto: Exploring the role of visual methods to access students’ representations of their linguistically diverse identities. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics 17(1). 51–77.Search in Google Scholar

Prasad, Gail Lori. 2015. Beyond the mirror towards a plurilingual prism: Exploring the creation of plurilingual ‘identity texts’ in English and French classrooms in Toronto and Montpellier. Intercultural Education 26(6). 497–514. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.1109775.Search in Google Scholar

Prasad, Gail Lori. 2018. ‘But do monolingual people really exist?’ Analysing elementary students’ contrasting representations of plurilingualism through sequential reflexive drawing. Language and Intercultural Communication 18(3). 315–334. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1425412.Search in Google Scholar

Singleton, David & Larissa Aronin. 2007. Multiple language learning in the light of the theory of affordances. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 1(1). 83–96. https://doi.org/10.2167/illt44.0.Search in Google Scholar

Stille, Saskia. 2015. Identity as a site of difference: Toward a complex understanding of identity in multilingual, multicultural classrooms. Intercultural Education 26(6). 483–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.1109777.Search in Google Scholar

Stille, Saskia & Jim Cummins. 2013. Foundation for learning: Engaging plurilingual students’ linguistic repertoires in the elementary classroom. TESOL Quarterly 47(3). 630–638. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.116.Search in Google Scholar

Taylor, Shelley & Kristin Snoddon. 2013. Plurilingualism in TESOL: Promising controversies. TESOL Quarterly 47(3). 439–445. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.127.Search in Google Scholar

Vallejo, Claudia & Melinda Dooly. 2020. Plurilingualism and translanguaging: Emergent approaches and shared concerns. Introduction to the special issue. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23(1). 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1600469.Search in Google Scholar

Volgger, Marie-Luise. 2010. „Wenn man mehrere Sprachen kann, ist es leichter, eine weitere zu lernen…“ Einblicke in die Mehrsprachigkeitsbewusstheit lebensweltlich mehrsprachiger FranzösischlernerInnen. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 15(2). 169–198.Search in Google Scholar

Welply, Oakleigh. 2017. ‘My language … I don’t know how to talk about it’: children’s views on language diversity in primary schools in France and England. Language and Intercultural Communication 17(4). 437–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2017.1368145.Search in Google Scholar

Wilson, Jacklyn & Maria Gonzales-Davies. 2017. Tackling the plurilingual student/monolingual classroom phenomenon. TESOL Quarterly 51(1). 207–219. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.336.Search in Google Scholar

Ziegler, Gudrun. 2013. Multilingualism and the language education landscape: Challenges for teacher training in Europe. Multilingual Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/2191-5059-3-1 http://www.multilingual-education.com/content/3/1/1 (accessed 21 September 2020).Search in Google Scholar
Received: 2020-10-02
Accepted: 2021-06-10
Published Online: 2021-07-26
Published in Print: 2023-07-26

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Workplace communication in flux: from discrete languages, text genres and conversations to complex communicative situations
  3. Orienting to the language learner role in multilingual workplace meetings
  4. Negotiating belonging in multilingual work environments: church professionals’ engagement with migrants
  5. Changing participation in web conferencing: the shared computer screen as an online sales interaction resource
  6. Policing language in the world of new work: the commodification of workplace communication in organizational consulting
  7. “It’s not the same thing as last time I wrote a report”: Digital text sharing in changing organizations
  8. Regular Articles
  9. “It sounds like elves talking” – Polish migrants in Aberystwyth (Wales) and their impressions of the Welsh language
  10. Exploring lexical bundles in low proficiency level L2 learners’ English writing: an ETS corpus study
  11. Kingdom of heaven versus nirvana: a comparative study of conceptual metaphors for Christian and Buddhist ideals of life
  12. Linguistic multi-competence in the community: the case of a Japanese plural suffix -tachi for individuation
  13. Accent or not? Language attitudes towards regional variation in British Sign Language
  14. Validating young learners’ plurilingual repertoires as legitimate linguistic and cultural resources in the EFL classroom
  15. A corpus-based study of LGBT-related news discourse in Thailand’s and international English-language newspapers
  16. Academic emotions in giving genre-based peer feedback: an emotional intelligence perspective
  17. Detecting concealed language knowledge via response times
https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2020-0117
Keywords for this article
EFL; language and identity; language teacher education; multilingual turn; plurilingual education

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Workplace communication in flux: from discrete languages, text genres and conversations to complex communicative situations
  3. Orienting to the language learner role in multilingual workplace meetings
  4. Negotiating belonging in multilingual work environments: church professionals’ engagement with migrants
  5. Changing participation in web conferencing: the shared computer screen as an online sales interaction resource
  6. Policing language in the world of new work: the commodification of workplace communication in organizational consulting
  7. “It’s not the same thing as last time I wrote a report”: Digital text sharing in changing organizations
  8. Regular Articles
  9. “It sounds like elves talking” – Polish migrants in Aberystwyth (Wales) and their impressions of the Welsh language
  10. Exploring lexical bundles in low proficiency level L2 learners’ English writing: an ETS corpus study
  11. Kingdom of heaven versus nirvana: a comparative study of conceptual metaphors for Christian and Buddhist ideals of life
  12. Linguistic multi-competence in the community: the case of a Japanese plural suffix -tachi for individuation
  13. Accent or not? Language attitudes towards regional variation in British Sign Language
  14. Validating young learners’ plurilingual repertoires as legitimate linguistic and cultural resources in the EFL classroom
  15. A corpus-based study of LGBT-related news discourse in Thailand’s and international English-language newspapers
  16. Academic emotions in giving genre-based peer feedback: an emotional intelligence perspective
  17. Detecting concealed language knowledge via response times
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 29.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/applirev-2020-0117/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button