Professional development to promote innovative language teaching: examples from multilingual Luxembourg

While multilingual programmes have been implemented in early childhood education in several countries in Europe, professionals may still be unsure of how to promote multilingualism and deal with language diversity. There is a need for professional development (PD) which can influence the practitioners’ attitudes, knowledge and skills, and the quality of their teaching (Egert et al., 2018; Peleman et al., 2017). This presentation begins with an outline of several theoretical models of PD and explains why integrated models that are collaborative, inquiry-based, and performance-based are the most effective in contributing to change. I will then present a PD used in Luxembourg to help early childhood practitioners develop and implement multilingual pedagogies. The model, which comprised training sessions, network meetings, and coaching, aimed to deepen the practitioners’ understanding of multilingualism and language learning, familiarize them with translanguaging (García & Reid, 2019) and enable them to implement language and literacy activities in Luxembourgish, French and children’s home languages (Kirsch et al. forthcoming). Finally, I provide insights into the professional learning of two preschool teachers. The PD, the experience of engaging in multilingual activities, and the reflection on teaching and learning, enabled the teachers to develop a positive stance to multilingual education, design productive leaning environments based on social-constructivist theories, and monitor language use to guarantee responsible translanguaging (Kirsch 2020)

Heranführung an die mehrsprachige Pädagogik durch Filmaufnahmen in der Lehrerausbildung in Luxemburg

Aufgrund von gesellschaftlichen, sprach- und bildungspolitischen Entwicklungen soll mehrsprachige Bildung ein fester Bestandteil des Schul- und Vorschulunterrichts sein. Es gilt deshalb, angehende LehrerInnen auf diese Neuerung vorzubereiten und ihnen beim Aneignen von Wissen und bei der Reflexion ihrer Haltungen zu helfen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Filmaufnahmen aus einer empirischen Forschung zur frühen mehrsprachigen Bildung in der Lehrerausbildung in Luxemburg eingesetzt. Ein Fragebogen und Gruppeninterviews mit den Studierenden zeigen, dass sie durch das Filmmaterial neues Wissen erwarben und an ihren Einstellungen arbeiteten. Die Veranschaulichung in den Filmen, die theoriegeleiteten Diskussionen im Seminar und die tiefe Auseinandersetzung und Reflexion der Studierenden waren lernförderlich.Societal developments, language policies and new understandings of language learning call for multilingual education in schools. Prospective teachers need to be prepared for this change and develop a stance and knowledge that further multilingualism. To promote learning, videos of a research project on multilingual pedagogies in early years were used in teacher education in Luxembourg. A questionnaire and group interviews with students showed that they developed new knowledge and worked on their stance towards multilingual education. The illustrations in the videos, the theory-led discussions as well as the students’ deep engagement and reflection promoted learning

Young children capitalising on their entire language repertoire for language learning at school

While translanguaging has been well researched in bilingual settings with older pupils and has been found to contribute to cognitive and personal development, there is little research on translanguaging of young multilinguals. In trilingual Luxembourg, at school, children learn Luxembourgish aged 4, German aged 6 and French aged 7, with the majority not speaking Luxembourgish on school entry. The number of languages to be learned may leave teachers little space to capitalise on home languages and encourage translanguaging. Drawing on qualitative methods, this paper contextualises and examines the practice and purposes of translanguaging of nursery and primary school children who speak a language other than Luxembourgish at home, while they collaboratively produce oral texts on the iPad app iTEO. The data stem from a longitudinal study using a multi-method approach. The findings indicate that the children made use of their multilingual repertoire in order to communicate, construct knowledge and mark their multilingual identity. Translanguaging was a frequent and legitimate practice in both classes although the older children drew less on home languages other than Luxembourgish. The children’s ability to translanguage and their opportunities for doing so were influenced by the multilingual learning environment, the curriculum and the language learning tasks

Heranführung an die mehrsprachige Pädagogik durch Filmaufnahmen in der Lehrerausbildung in Luxemburg

Aufgrund von gesellschaftlichen, sprach- und bildungspolitischen Entwicklungen soll mehrsprachige Bildung ein fester Bestandteil des Schul- und Vorschulunterrichts sein. Es gilt deshalb, angehende LehrerInnen auf diese Neuerung vorzubereiten und ihnen beim Aneignen von Wissen und bei der Reflexion ihrer Haltungen zu helfen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Filmaufnahmen aus einer empirischen Forschung zur frühen mehrsprachigen Bildung in der Lehrerausbildung in Luxemburg eingesetzt. Ein Fragebogen und Gruppeninterviews mit den Studierenden zeigen, dass sie durch das Filmmaterial neues Wissen erwarben und an ihren Einstellungen arbeiteten. Die Veranschaulichung in den Filmen, die theoriegeleiteten Diskussionen im Seminar und die tiefe Auseinandersetzung und Reflexion der Studierenden waren lernförderlich

Multilingual education in early years in Luxembourg: a paradigm shift?

This paper is based in Luxembourg where a multilingual programme has been implemented in early childhood education in 2017. The research project examines the language use in daily communication and literacy activities of educators and parents in day care centres, as reported by educators in two online-questionnaires. The findings show that the educators and parents use multiple languages when communicating, singing and reading with children in the centres. In addition to French and Luxembourgish which dominate, they use five other languages. Their reported multilingual practice reflects their beliefs that speaking and reading in several languages promotes language learning. However, while the programme is multilingual, a range of home languages are marginalised. The educators produce a language hierarchy in the centres which the parents reproduce. While collaboration with parents can be effective in bringing home languages into day care centres, educators need to be aware of language hierarchies and ideologies

The effect of Professional Development on Multilingual Education in Early Childhood in Luxembourg

While multilingual programmes have been implemented in early childhood education in several countries, professionals have shown to be unsure of how to deal with language diversity and promote home languages. Therefore, there is a need for professional development. The present article discusses the outcomes of a professional course on multilingual education in early childhood delivered to 46 early-years practitioners in Luxembourg. Using a questionnaire administered prior to and after the course as well as interviews, we examined the influence of the training on attitudes to multilingual education and activities to develop Luxembourgish and home languages. The analysis drew on content analysis, paired samples t-test and correlational analysis. The findings show that the course positively influenced the professionals’ knowledge about multilingualism and language learning, their attitudes towards home languages, their interest in organising activities in the children’s home languages and the implementation of these activities. The results shed light on special interest areas such as the quality of input that future professional development courses could focus on

Moving beyond language(s): a case study on a newcomer’s translanguaging practices

Numerous scholars have investigated translanguaging in students with a migration background by examining the deployment of their linguistic repertoire. By contrast, few studies have adopted a social semiotic perspective on translanguaging. Similarly, studies on newcomers in this field are scarce. Newcomers, especially those to the trilingual education system in Luxembourg, face significant language challenges. The present paper explores the ways in which Portuguese-speaking Harry combined the resources of his semiotic repertoire in science and French lessons in Year 4, and discusses different combinations of resources. Findings based on field notes and video-recordings of classroom activities show that the eleven-year-old engaged in learning by activating his prior knowledge and deploying his semiotic repertoire in resourceful ways. He mobilised features of five languages, coordinated linguistic, paralinguistic and extralinguistic resources, and aligned his resources to those of his peers. Furthermore, he reproduced the semiotic combinations of peers as well as the translanguaging practices in class. We show that a newcomer orchestrates his semiotic resources in complex ways to communicate, make meaning and engage in learning processes. Further research into the deployment of the semiotic repertoire at school is needed