Multilingual Contexts and Realities : FL Teachers’ Perceptions on Plurilingual Practices

Abstract

[Abstract] Even though multilingualism is not a new concept, in the last decades special emphasis has been placed on it through the plurilingual competence promoted by the Council of Europe and publications such as the Common European Framework of Reference (Council of Europe (CoE). Common European framework of reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at www.rm.coe.int/1680459f97, 2001). Educational multilingual contexts ought to cater to the development of the plurilingual competence; however, classroom reality often differs from this objective. It bears noting that language learning has increased in the last decades, triggered partly by the economic and sociopolitical demands of globalisation. However, that does not mean that plurilingualism is being implemented in these language learning contexts as languages are often considered separate entities with no interrelation among them. Hence, the concept of plurilingualism established by the CEFR (Council of Europe (CoE). Common European framework of reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, available at www.rm.coe.int/1680459f97, 2001) and reinforced by its Companion Volume in 2020 is frequently overlooked. In Europe, the implementation of a second FL occurs in secondary education (Beacco JC, Byram M, Cavalli M, Coste D, Egli Cuenat M, Goullier F, Panthier J. Guide pour le développement et la mise en œuvre de curriculums pour une education plurilingue et interculturelle. Council of Europe, p 13, 2016), therefore, it is at this stage when plurilingualism should be as its peak. Considering that FL teachers are one of the main agents in the promotion of students’ plurilingual competence, this study analyses FL teachers’ uptakes on their own teaching practices concerning these competences. For this purpose, 110 FL teachers from the bilingual region of Galicia (Spain) have answered a questionnaire on the aforementioned issues. Preliminary results show some awareness of the concept plurilingualism on the participants’ side. In addition, translanguaging practices to provide students with clarification have been reported by these teachers. Furthermore, participants report no joint projects among language departments as one of the main challenges in the implementation of a plurilingual curriculum.