Plurilingualism

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Plurilingualism is the ability of a person who has competence in more than one language to switch between multiple languages depending on the situation for ease of communication. [1] Plurilingualism is different from code-switching in that plurilingualism refers to the ability of an individual to use multiple languages, while code-switching is the act of using multiple languages together. [2] Plurilinguals practice multiple languages and are able to switch between them when necessary without much difficulty. [3] Although plurilingualism is derived from multilingualism (also referred to as bilingualism), there is a difference between the two. Multilingualism is connected to situations wherein multiple languages exist side-by-side in a society but are utilized separately. In essence, multilingualism is the coexisting knowledge of separate languages while plurilingualism is the interconnected knowledge of multiple languages. In general, plurilinguals have had contact with languages not native to them through educational institutions, however the education system plays only a small role in the linguistic competence of these individuals. [4] Learning a second language is thought to stimulate someone's plurilingualism. [1]

Contents

Definition and use

Plurilingualism was first equivalent to multilingualism when referencing plurilingual communities, where multiple languages were spoken in a community. [5] However, a distinction of plurilingualism was necessary to differentiate individual and society. Plurilingualism was used to focus on the individual as the agent in the interaction of languages since multilingualism was societal contact of languages. [6]

Plurilingualism does not necessarily mean a person is fluent in multiple languages, it means that a person can interchange more than one language with each other when a situation calls for it. A person is considered competent in plurilingualism when they can speak in one language while understanding another; and can switch between languages when appropriate and/or necessary. [2] According to the Council of Europe, plurilingualism can also be used to mediate conflict between those with no common language. [2] Researchers have even gone so far as to say that being able to understand different dialects and/or regional versions of one language opens the door for someone to be plurilingual. [3] People who are plurilingual tend to have better communicative sensitivity, creativity, and metalinguistic awareness. [7] The knowledge of multiple languages as well as the understanding of different cultures allows for the improved communicative skills. The advantages of plurilingualism seem to become greater the more languages someone learns. [7]

Second language learners

Historically during the formal learning of a second language, it has been common practice to maintain a clear division between the first and second language. [1] The division involves not speaking the first language while learning the second, as well as avoiding any reference to the elements of the first language. By not referencing the first language, instructors hope to develop in their students the same control of the language that native speakers have. This separation, referred to as a hard boundary, contrasts the soft boundary that comes with a plurilinguistic approach. An integrated curriculum, which utilizes the soft boundary, contrasts the different languages that are being taught and highlights the similarities and differences between the two. [1]

Plurilingual education

Plurilingual education has been an increasing form of education in Europe. It was first introduced to the education system in 1996, along with the idea of pluriculturalism. [2] According to the Council of Europe, it is imperative that students learn to be plurilinguists from a young age so that they can be not only be more competitive in an increasingly globalized world, but also be able to integrate within societies when necessary. [8] The founding principles of plurilingual education are the acceptance of cultural diversity, the right to use one's mother tongue as a form of communication, the right to gain experience and knowledge of another language, the acceptance that language is the core of human dialogue. [9] One of the few things plurilingual education promotes is "an awareness of why and how one learns the language one has chosen, a respect for the plurilingualism of others and the value of languages and varieties irrespective of their perceived status in society, and a global integrated approach to langue education in the curriculum." [8]

Plurilingual education developed in the European Union due to the multilingual and multicultural communities throughout the European Union. [2] Other multilingual countries are beginning to use plurilingual education as well. Some communities in Canada are implementing plurilingual education due to the increasingly multilingual society. The Canadian education system is utilizing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as a basis for their plurilingual education. [10] Asian countries that are highly multilingual are also considering plurilingual education. South Asian countries have many mother-tongues, however economies and societies may be based on another language. Plurilingual education benefits the individuals of such countries by gaining functional competency in multiple languages for specific social situations and pluricultural competence. [11]

Plurilingualism and pluricultural competence

Pluricultural competence is a consequence of plurilingualism. Pluricultural competence, on a basic level, is the understanding of several cultures. Rather than learning an additional language and/or culture, it is transforming the current knowledge as a whole. [3] Language and culture are interconnected, by learning a language an understanding of the culture is also gained. However, plurilingualism and pluricultural competence are not separately distinguished understandings of language and culture. As plurilingualism is the complex, hybrid understanding of multiple languages that build to form a larger understanding, pluricultural competence is the same. [12] The ability to comprehend and utilize culture in different situations is a valuable skill for individuals in multilingual societies. Depending on the social factors impacting a plurilingual at a time, their pluricultural competence is able to be altered to best adapt. [13] Being plurilingual and having pluricultural competence allows the speaker to choose words and phrases that best describe the situation, which would not be possible without having a blended context of both languages and cultures. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Cross-cultural communication is a field of study investigating how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. Intercultural communication is a related field of study.

In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker shifts to a different language, or language variety, often depending on context and setting. Code-switching is different from plurilingualism in that plurilingualism refers to the ability of an individual to use multiple languages, while code-switching is the act of switching between languages. Multilinguals will often do this when speaking with different people. Code-switching may happen between sentences, sentence fragments, words, or individual morphemes. Likewise, code-switching can occur when there is a change in the environment one is speaking. Code-switching can happen in the context of speaking a different language or switching the verbiage to match that of the audience. There are many ways in which code-switching is employed, such as when a speaker is unable to express themselves adequately in a single language or to signal an attitude towards something. Several theories have been developed to explain the reasoning behind code-switching from sociological and linguistic perspectives.

Intercultural communication is a discipline that studies communication across different cultures and social groups, or how culture affects communication. It describes the wide range of communication processes and problems that naturally appear within an organization or social context made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. In this sense, it seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures act, communicate, and perceive the world around them. Intercultural communication focuses on the recognition and respect of those with cultural differences. The goal is mutual adaptation between two or more distinct cultures which leads to biculturalism/multiculturalism rather than complete assimilation. It promotes the development of cultural sensitivity and allows for empathic understanding across different cultures.

Rod Ellis is a Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winning British linguist. He is currently a research professor in the School of Education, at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is also a professor at Anaheim University, where he serves as the Vice president of academic affairs. Ellis is a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University as part of China’s Chang Jiang Scholars Program and an emeritus professor of the University of Auckland. He has also been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated in English as CEFR or CEF or CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries. The CEFR is also intended to make it easier for educational institutions and employers to evaluate the language qualifications of candidates for education admission or employment. Its main aim is to provide a method of learning, teaching, and assessing that applies to all languages in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multilingualism</span> Use of multiple languages

Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Multilingualism is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.

Sequential bilingualism occurs when a person becomes bilingual by first learning one language and then another. The process is contrasted with simultaneous bilingualism, in which both languages are learned at the same time.

Cultural competence, also known as intercultural competence, is a range of cognitive, affective, and behavioural, linguistic, skills that lead to effective and appropriate communication with people of other cultures. Intercultural or cross-cultural education are terms used for the training to achieve cultural competence.

LOTE or Languages Other Than English is the name given to language subjects besides English in Australia, New York City, and other schools. The name evolved from 'heritage language', a term first used to refer to languages other than French and English in Canada. Later modified in relation to Australia to refer to languages other than English. LOTEs have often historically been related to the policy of multiculturalism, and tend to reflect the predominant non-English languages spoken in a school's local area, the idea being to play a part in the maintenance of cultural identities in local communities.

The STELLA project was originally supported and co-funded by the European Commission. The aim was to develop a new language learning methodology for online language learning suitable for European learners. The project's aim was also to deliver online language learning courses for less widely taught and used languages (LWTULs) within the European Union in order to meet the European Union's aim to "safeguard the linguistic diversity in Europe". The methodology was subsequently used in courses which further delivered languages considered to be of strategic importance to the EU and member states.


A significant construct in language learning research, identity is defined as "how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is structured across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future". Recognizing language as a social practice, identity highlights how language constructs and is constructed by a variety of relationships. Because of the diverse positions from which language learners can participate in social life, identity is theorized as multiple, subject to change, and a site of struggle.

Academic discourse socialization is defined as one's growing process to realize the academic discourse and reach the expectation of the academic community. Academic discourse socialization is a form of language socialization through which newcomers or novices gain knowledge of the academic discourses by socializing and interacting with peers, experts, or more knowledgeable people in their community and social network. A dynamic and complex process, academic discourse socialization requires negotiation of both knowledge and one's identity. This kind of interaction is defined as a bidirectional process in which both novice learners and experts learn from one another.

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is an approach for learning content through an additional language, thus teaching both the subject and the language.

The good language learner (GLL) studies are a group of academic studies in the area of second language acquisition that deal with the strategies that good language learners exhibit. The rationale for the studies was that there is more benefit from studying the habits of successful language learners than there is from studying learners who fossilize at an early stage or stop studying altogether. It was thought that if the strategies of successful learners could be found, then that knowledge could help learners who were not getting such good results.

Pluriculturalism is an approach to the self and others as complex rich beings which act and react from the perspective of multiple identifications and experiences which combine to make up their pluricultural repertoire. Identity or identities are the by-products of experiences in different cultures and with people with different cultural repertoires. As an effect, multiple identifications create a unique personality instead of or more than a static identity. An individual's pluriculturalism includes their own cultural diversity and their awareness and experience with the cultural diversity of others. It can be influenced by their job or occupational trajectory, geographic location, family history and mobility, leisure or occupational travel, personal interests or experience with media. The term pluricultural competence is a consequence of the idea of plurilingualism. There is a distinction between pluriculturalism and multiculturalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Translingualism</span>

Translingual phenomena are words and other aspects of language that are relevant in more than one language. Thus "translingual" may mean "existing in multiple languages" or "having the same meaning in many languages"; and sometimes "containing words of multiple languages" or "operating between different languages". Translingualism is the phenomenon of translingually relevant aspects of language; a translingualism is an instance thereof. The word comes from trans-, meaning "across", and lingual, meaning "having to do with languages (tongues)"; thus, it means "across tongues", that is, "across languages". Internationalisms offer many examples of translingual vocabulary. For example, international scientific vocabulary comprises thousands of translingual words and combining forms.

Translanguaging is a term that can refer to different aspects of multilingualism. It can describe the way bilinguals and multilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around them. It can also refer to a pedagogical approach that utilizes more than one language within a classroom lesson. The term "translanguaging" was coined in the 1980s by Cen Williams in his unpublished thesis titled “An Evaluation of Teaching and Learning Methods in the Context of Bilingual Secondary Education.” Williams used the term to describe the practice of using two languages in the same lesson, which differed from many previous methods of bilingual education that tried to separate languages by class, time, or day. In addition, Vogel and Garcia argued that translanguaging theory posits that rather than possessing two or more autonomous language systems, as previously thought when scholars described bilingual or multilingual speakers, bilinguals and multilingual speakers select and deploy their languages from a unitary linguistic repertoire. However, the dissemination of the term, and of the related concept, gained traction decades later due in part to published research by Ofelia García, among others. In this context, translanguaging is an extension of the concept of languaging, the discursive practices of language speakers, but with the additional feature of using multiple languages, often simultaneously. It is a dynamic process in which multilingual speakers navigate complex social and cognitive demands through strategic employment of multiple languages.

Language power (LP) is a measure of one's ability to communicate effectively in a given language, specifically one that is not native to the speaker.

The Purnell Model for Cultural Competence is a broadly utilized model for teaching and studying intercultural competence, especially within the nursing profession. Employing a method of the model incorporates ideas about cultures, persons, healthcare and health professional into a distinct and extensive evaluation instrument used to establish and evaluate cultural competence in healthcare. Although the Purnell Model was originally created for nursing students, the model can be applied in learning/teaching, management, study and practice settings, within a range of nations and cultures.

Sarah Jane Mercer is a British linguist. She is currently the head of the Department of English Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research focuses on applied linguistics, with a special focus on psycholinguistics from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory approach.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gorter, Durk; Cenoz, Jasone (2013-09-01). "Towards a Plurilingual Approach in English Language Teaching: Softening the Boundaries Between Languages". TESOL Quarterly. 47 (3): 591–599. doi:10.1002/tesq.121. ISSN   1545-7249.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Common European Framework Of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment". Council of Europe. February 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lüdi, Georges; Py, Bernard (2009-05-01). "To be or not to be … a plurilingual speaker". International Journal of Multilingualism. 6 (2): 154–167. doi:10.1080/14790710902846715. ISSN   1479-0718. S2CID   145273873.
  4. ↑ "Council of Europe Language Policy Portal". Language policy.
  5. ↑ Denison, Norman (1970). "Sociolinguistic Aspects of Plurilingualism". Social Science. 45 (2): 98–101. ISSN   0037-7848. JSTOR   41963410.
  6. ↑ Coste, Daniel; Moore, Danièle; Zarate, Geneviève (2009). "Plurilingual and Pluricultural Competence". Council of Europe.
  7. 1 2 Psaltou-Joycey, Angeliki; Kantaridou, Zoe (2009-11-01). "Plurilingualism, language learning strategy use and learning style preferences". International Journal of Multilingualism. 6 (4): 460–474. doi:10.1080/14790710903254620. ISSN   1479-0718. S2CID   145454611.
  8. 1 2 "Plurlingual Education in Europe - 50 Years of International Co-operation" (PDF). Council of Europe. February 2006.
  9. ↑ "Plurilingual and intercultural education: Definition and Founding Principles". Council of Europe.
  10. ↑ Wernicke, Meike; Bournot-Trites, Monigue (2011). "Introducing the CEFR in BC: Questions and Challenges". The Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics. 14 (2): 106–128. ProQuest   1016751477.
  11. ↑ Canagarajah, Suresh; Ashraf, Hina (2013). "Multilingualism and Education in South Asia: Resolving Policy/Practice Dilemmas". Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. 33: 258–285. doi:10.1017/S0267190513000068. ISSN   0267-1905. S2CID   143877134.
  12. ↑ Silver, Rita Elaine; Bokhorst-Heng, Wendy D. (2013). "Neither "Mono" nor "Multi": Plurilingualism and Hybrid Competence". TESOL Quarterly. 47 (3): 614–619. doi:10.1002/tesq.107.
  13. ↑ Moore, Danièle; Gajo, Laurent (2009). "Introduction – French voices on plurilingualism and pluriculturalism: theory, significance and perspectives". International Journal of Multilingualism. 6 (2): 137–153. doi:10.1080/14790710902846707. ISSN   1479-0718. S2CID   144611665.
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