Multilingual education in the light of diversity

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Multilingual education in the light of diversity

Lessons learned : analytical report

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While multilingualism and diversity have always been an integral part of Europe, they have also become important characteristics of many national education systems during the past two decades. The linguistic diversity of modern classrooms is shaped by 1) the presence of historical non-dominant language groups, which are being revitalised; 2) The growing mobility between countries which results in a variety of new languages and skills in the classrooms; and 3) changing educational and labour market demands that favour multilingual and multi-literate citizens. Consequently, more and more young learners are growing up with several cultures and languages and may experience multiple transitions between different school systems and school languages. Raised in changing multilingual and multicultural environments, individuals may no longer identify themselves with one language and culture but rather with a range of languages and cultures acquired in different situations. In the context of these social transformations, multilingualism is becoming more a way of life than a problem to be solved. The task of education stakeholders is to create school systems that bridge these various linguistic and cultural realities and support the mobility of the pupils across Europe. Schools need to provide an education that supports the development of learners’ linguistic and cultural resources, while at the same time balancing these with social, cultural and political demands. The challenge at hand is therefore to offer a multilingual schooling system that supports the inclusion of all pupils in which they can develop their full potential linguistically, cognitively and emotionally. In light of the above, this report reviews international research to reveal how national education systems can better support multilingualism in their schools. It tries to answer the following questions: How is multilingualism understood in different contexts and what are the main challenges and opportunities involved in promoting multilingualism in schools? What specific education policies and practices appear to be inclusive approaches promoting multilingualism and continuity of language learning? What is the role of different stakeholders in supporting multilingualism at individual and societal level? What key recommendations can be made that can serve as important (first) steps to improve present policies and ensure that they are linguistically and culturally sensitive? One of the limitations of this review was a lack of empirical evidence (in particular longitudinal research) in Europe that looks into comprehensive multilingual approaches of teaching highly diverse student population in schools. That said, there are many innovative practices and inspiring approaches that recognise linguistic capital as a resource, both emerging and being trialled, which the authors document in this review. However, most research concerning effectiveness and comparison of different instructional models is based on empirical material from North America.
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