Teaching foreign languages at the pre-primary level in a monolingual setting: the case of Poland

En Polonia, la enseñanza de una lengua extranjera a los más jóvenes, es decir, a los niños de 6 años o menos, tiene una tradición relativamente larga tanto en los servicios educativos como en la investigación, que surgió de las fuertes aspiraciones de los padres de que sus hijos alcancen logros educativos y, por consiguiente, profesionales en el mercado laboral globalizado. Los objetivos de este artículo son dos: en primer lugar, se pretende esbozar la evolución de las orientaciones de la investigación en la metodología de la enseñanza de idiomas a alumnos muy jóvenes (es decir, menores de 6 años) en las últimas tres décadas. A este respecto, se distinguen tres grandes líneas, a saber, el enfoque de adquisición del lenguaje, el enfoque pedagógico y el enfoque ecológico. En segundo lugar, la investigación polaca en la educación preescolar se va a esbozar en el contexto de estas grandes tendencias de la lingüística aplicada. Se cree que algunas de las conclusiones pueden ser relevantes para otros contextos en los que se está aplicando la enseñanza muy temprana de lenguas extranjeras.  In Poland, teaching a foreign language to very young children, i.e. aged 6 and below, has had a relatively long tradition in both educational services and research, which grew out of strong parental aspirations for their children’s educational, and consequently vocational, achievements in the globalized job market. The goals of the paper are twofold: firstly, it aims to outline the evolution of research directions in language teaching methodology to very young learners (i.e. below 6) over the last three decades. In this respect three major strands are distinguished, i.e. the language acquisition approach, the pedagogical approach and the ecological approach. Secondly, Polish research in pre-primary education is going to be outlined against the backdrop of these major trends in applied linguistics. It is believed that some of the findings may bear relevance to other contexts in which very early teaching of foreign languages is being implemented

La enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras en el nivel preescolar en un entorno monolingüe: el caso de Polonia

In Poland, teaching a foreign language to very young children, i.e. aged 6 and below, has had a relatively long tradition in both educational services and research, which grew out of strong parental aspirations for their children’s educational, and consequently vocational, achievements in the globalized job market. The goals of the paper are twofold: firstly, it aims to outline the evolution of research directions in language teaching methodology to very young learners (i.e. below 6) over the last three decades. In this respect three major strands are distinguished, i.e. the language acquisition approach, the pedagogical approach and the ecological approach. Secondly, Polish research in pre-primary education is going to be outlined against the backdrop of these major trends in applied linguistics. It is believed that some of the findings may bear relevance to other contexts in which very early teaching of foreign languages is being implemented.En Polonia, la enseñanza de una lengua extranjera a los más jóvenes, es decir, a los niños de 6 años o menos, tiene una tradición relativamente larga tanto en los servicios educativos como en la investigación, que surgió de las fuertes aspiraciones de los padres de que sus hijos alcancen logros educativos y, por consiguiente, profesionales en el mercado laboral globalizado. Los objetivos de este artículo son dos: en primer lugar, se pretende esbozar la evolución de las orientaciones de la investigación en la metodología de la enseñanza de idiomas a alumnos muy jóvenes (es decir, menores de 6 años) en las últimas tres décadas. A este respecto, se distinguen tres grandes líneas, a saber, el enfoque de adquisición del lenguaje, el enfoque pedagógico y el enfoque ecológico. En segundo lugar, la investigación polaca en la educación preescolar se va a esbozar en el contexto de estas grandes tendencias de la lingüística aplicada. Se cree que algunas de las conclusiones pueden ser relevantes para otros contextos en los que se está aplicando la enseñanza muy temprana de lenguas extranjeras

EFL teacher agency in mediating the socialisation of multilingual learners

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers are seemingly ideally placed to mediate the successful socialisation of multilingual learners into the new school environment for two major reasons. Firstly, as they have effective command of both L1 and L2 and often have experience of living abroad, they tend to exhibit higher levels of openness to new situations, empathy and understanding of the difficulties faced by multilingual learners. Secondly, the English class can itself be a platform for mutual understanding where learners are able to develop both English communication skills and intercultural competence (cf. Hopp, Jakisch, Sturm, Becker & Thoma 2020; Krulatz, Neokleous & Dahl 2022). As English is the language of instruction, it also has the potential to maintain levels of multilingual competence among those learners who already speak English as their heritage language (Banasiak & Olpińska-Szkiełko 2021), e.g. migrant children returning from the UK/Ireland. Drawing on data from a larger project (Rokita-Jaśkow, Wolanin, Król-Gierat & Nosidlak 2022), which consisted of interviewing 23 primary school EFL teachers in various contexts, this paper analyses the possible factors that impact teacher agency in the socialisation of multilinguals. It has been found that teacher agency in that respect appears to stem from teachers’ plurilingual competence and prior teaching experience. Surprisingly, personal experiences of intercultural encounters (e.g. time spent living abroad) or verbalised empathy, had little impact on teacher agency. This finding implies that even language teachers find it difficult to put themselves in the position of the multilingual learner and need specialist training in order to work with multilingual learners, which may convey an important message for educational decision-makers with reference to the formulation of future teacher education guidelines and curricula

Parental visions of their children’s future as a motivator for an early start in a foreign language

This paper reports on the qualitative part of a project investigating parental educational aspirations as manifested by enrolling their children (aged 3-6) into very early L2 instruction. The concept of educational aspirations is widely studied in educational psychology as well as in sociology and pedagogy. In SLA, these aspirations can fit in the new framework of imagery and creating visions as they are a part of an ideal L2 self. Data analysis concludes that parental visions towards their children’s achievement reflect self-efficacy beliefs; in other words, those parents who were unsuccessful foreign language (FL) learners themselves hoped that by starting early their children would learn lingua franca English well and this would help them achieve educational and vocational success, which indicates an instrumental motive. By contrast, those parents who were successful language learners were positive about their children’s future plurilingual attainment, not necessarily voicing the necessity of “an early start.” They believe languages contribute to overall emotional and cognitive growth, which shows more intrinsic and integrative motives. These findings suggest that the differences in ultimate FL attainment may start very early and are rooted in the socia (family) context

Social constraints of aspirations for second language achievement

Educational aspirations are dfined a ;educational goals students set for themselves' ( Trebbels, 2015:37). They are widely studied in psychological and sociological research, in which it was found that 1) they form in late adolescence and early childood, 2) their goal and level (i.e. high vs. low) are determined by the social environmnet they come from, i.e. their family background, peer and school influence. The paper presents the results of the qualitative study, in which 56 students of English philology in one of the vocational schools in the south of Poland expressed their aspirations in reference to their future foreign language attainment and associated vocational goals. The results showed that in the majority of cases the aspirations are not so high and fully-formed, which, it is hypothesised is rooted in the social background the students come from

Us and Them: On linguistic exponents expressing teacher attitudes toward foreign students in the light of critical discourse analysis

The following study utilises the data from a larger project (Rokita-Jaśkow et al., 2022) with a view to analysing the way in which EFL teachers describe their encounters with multilingual learners in their monolingual classes within critical discourse analysis framework and positioning theory. The analysis showed that the teachers studied position themselves and their students in relation to the newcomers differently depending on the language(s) they speak. The Us and Others distinction was more prominent in relation to English-speaking return migrant children, whom they positioned higher than their monolingual Polish students, and with whom they often struggled to maintain equal, if not superior position. Conversely, other multilinguals were positioned on the same level as Polish learners, yet subordinate to the teacher’s dominant role. It is concluded that such positioning, though marks inclusivity, signals persistent power relations in the educational setting, which may counteract integration of multilinguals

Multilingual Identity Construction: Some Evidence from Ukrainian Students of English in Poland

• Language constitutes an important construct shaping one’s identity, i.e. defines one as a legitimate member of a particular group of speakers. However, a question about the group membership in case of multilingual speakers can be raised. Taking Ukrainian students of English in Poland as an example of multilingual speakers, the article scrutinises the construction of multilingual identity from the poststructural per- spective [Norton 2013; Pavlenko & Norton 2019]. The purpose of the study was to investigate what languages they associate their identity with, now and in the future (“aspired identities”). Additionally, it aims to show how identities are consciously constructed and influenced by motivation to learn particular languages. The data an- alysed in the study was derived from oral interviews with four multilinguals. Their analysis allows to conclude that the aspiration to belong to the global community is typical of young multilinguals, for which knowledge of lingua franca English, as well as Russian, are seen as assets, although the national identity is strongly connected with their mother tongue i.e. Ukrainian. A different stance is observed in the forth case, a mature multilingual, whose identity seems to be stable and language learning motives purely instrumental

A learner with migration experience in an English class: challenges and opportunities

The increasing number of migrant learners in Polish schools poses a new challenge not only for teachers of the language of school education, i.e. Polish, but also for teachers of other subjects, including English. Depending on the migrant learner’s country of origin, English may be his/her foreign, third (or additional) or even first language. This situation increases the heterogeneity of the language group and raises new challenges, which according to Ruiz’s (1984) conceptualization could be approached by the teacher either as a threat to the monolingual policy in the classroom, or as a resource that has the potential to enrich foreign language lessons by developing plurilingual and intercultural competences. On the basis of available research (Rokita-Jaśkow, 2019, 2021), the article presents the challenges teachers face along with suggestions for teaching solutions

Research methods and tools used in studies of early L2 acquisition

This paper aims to present an overview of the most typical methods and tools used in studies of young children learning foreign languages. Two major groups of potential subjects have been distinguished and characterized: children learning L2 from the age of (0) 1 till 3 and from the age of 3 till 6. In the studies in the first group methods similar to studies of L1 are suggested: longitudinal case studies using observation diaries, audio- video recordings, interviews with parents, and vocabulary checklists for cross-sectional research. In the studies of older children (3-6) elicitation of language data during testing sessions is possible and recommended, for which the tools most frequently used are: imitation of a speaker, carrying out orders and using picture prompts