Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts

It is clearly illogical to search for one good, universal solution for multilingual education when educational contexts differ so widely due to demographic and social factors. The studies in this volume seek to investigate not only whether certain solutions and practices are 'good', but also when and for whom they make sense.

Agnieszka Otwinowska is Assistant Professor at the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland. Her research interests include crosslinguistic influences, bilingual and multilingual language acquisition in children and adults, language teaching, bilingual education and CLIL. She is the co-editor of Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts (with Gessica De Angelis, Multilingual Matters, 2014).

Gessica De Angelis works at the Centre for Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Her research focuses on multilingualism, language education, and second/third language acquisition. Her publications include New Trends in Crosslinguistic Influence and Multilingualism Research (2011, co-edited with J-M. Dewaele) and Third or Additional Language Acquisition (2007).

Agnieszka Otwinowska is Assistant Professor at the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland. Her research interests include crosslinguistic influences, bilingual and multilingual language acquisition in children and adults, language teaching, bilingual education and CLIL. She is the co-editor of Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts (with Gessica De Angelis, Multilingual Matters, 2014).

Gessica De Angelis works at the Centre for Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Her research focuses on multilingualism, language education, and second/third language acquisition. Her publications include New Trends in Crosslinguistic Influence and Multilingualism Research (2011, co-edited with J-M. Dewaele) and Third or Additional Language Acquisition (2007).

On the whole, the editors and authors achieved their goal of developing a deeper understanding of what is involved in teaching and learning in multilingual contexts. The insights and results contributed by the authors shape "Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts" into a useful resource for a variety of audiences including language educators, sociolinguists, language policy planners, and others conducting research in the field of language pedagogy and multilingualism.

Ulrike Jessner, University of Innsbruck, Austria, Current President of the International Association of Multilingualism:

This book is a very timely and important contribution to the rapidly growing field of multilingualism and multilingual education by putting an emphasis on novel perspectives of multilingual phenomena in education. The editors have managed to present a unique collection of papers focusing on different sociolinguistic settings of Canada and Europe (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland) which will stimulate multidimensional discussions in the academic community.

David Singleton, University of Pannonia, Hungary and Fellow Emeritus, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland:

The articles collected in this book not only provide a sampling of the phenomenon of multilingualism in a fascinating variety of its manifestations, but in addition offer a wealth of thoughtful and well-motivated discussion of the implications of this diversity in theoretical and practical terms.

Rachel Kraut, Rice University, USA; Heather Smyser, Defense Language Institute, USA; Zachary Brooks, University of Arizona, USA:

Given the growing number of multilinguals around the world (Hornberger, 2009), the insights and results contributed by the authors shape Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts into a useful resource for a variety of audiences including language educators, sociolinguists, language policy planners, and others conducting research in the field of language pedagogy and multilingualism.