Exploring pre-service language teachers’ mindsets using a sorting activity

Researching mindsets has become a topic of considerable interest in language learning. However, the majority of studies tend to focus on learners and their mindsets, with very little research examining the mindsets of teachers, either in-service or pre-service. Yet, teachers' mindset beliefs about their competences as educators are likely to be fundamental to their willingness to engage in professional development and how they cope with challenges. In this study, we addressed two research questions: 1. What are pre-service teachers' mindsets about diverse language teaching competences? 2. In what ways do pre-service teachers explain their mindset beliefs about language teaching? Data were collected from 12 pre-service language teachers in Austria and Norway using two semi-structured interviews, a short background questionnaire, and a sorting task prior to the second interview. During the sorting task, the teachers arranged statements along a continuum and were asked in the following interview to explain their sorting. The findings revealed a set of interrelated beliefs best thought of as a system including beliefs beyond malleability. There was no evidence of categorical mindset beliefs but more orientations towards a particular perspective. The study raises important questions for research methodologies using binary dichotomies and single-point data collection tools.publishedVersio

Introduction

Introduction by guest editors: Marco Gargiulo, Åsta Haukås and Iørn Korzen

The Ungspråk project: Researching multilingualism and multilingual identity in lower secondary schools

The main objective of this article is to discuss the theoretical background and rationale for developing Ungspråk, a longitudinal, mixed methods study set in Norwegian lower secondary schools. The paper starts with an overview of different scholarly approaches to the study of multilingualism and their implications for research on multilingualism in education. After a brief introduction to multilingualism in Norwegian society and educational contexts, we present our research areas of interest and the main research questions. Particular attention is paid to the relevance of the concept of multilingual identity to the study. In addition, we discuss how the project will contribute to furthering the understanding of the relationship between multilingualism and intercultural competence. The mixed methods design of the Ungspråk project innovatively explores how different research methods and instruments can be combined to investigate questions related to multilingualism and multilingual identity and to create opportunities for meaningful interactions between researchers and participants. When discussing the mixed methods design of the project, we focus on how quantitative and qualitative components are integrated to address the research questions, engage participants in the research process and strengthen the overall validity of the findings. Overall, we hope that the Ungspråk project will contribute new insights into how languages can be learned and cultures explored in the 21st century multilingual classroom. Furthermore, the project may impact how researchers and participants interact with and benefit from empirical studies on education

School students' beliefs about the benefits of multilingualism

School students' beliefs about the benefits of multilingualismMultilingualism is increasingly seen as a resource among researchers, educators and in society. Whereas positive beliefs about the benefits of multilingualism may foster increased motivation for language learning, little is known about students’ beliefs about potential multilingual benefits. This study examined the beliefs of Norwegian secondary school students concerning the benefits of multilingualism and the role of some individual differences in these beliefs. The data consisted of questionnaires completed by 593 secondary school students. The initial descriptive statistical analysis showed that students held diverging beliefs regarding the benefits of multilingualism being more positive about benefits related to the language learning process and less positive about general cognitive advantages. Further statistical analyses with independent T-tests revealed interesting relationships between students’ overall beliefs about multilingualism and the following variables: Students’ who reported having friends with other home languages than Norwegian, students who had lived abroad and students with migration backgrounds held significantly more positive beliefs about multilingualism than students’ without such experiences. No significant relationships were found between students’ beliefs about multilingualism and the number of languages learned in school or students’ multilingual identity. Pedagogical implications for students’ language learning in school contexts are discussed.publishedVersio

Developing and validating a questionnaire on young learners’ multilingualism and multilingual identity

Validation of data collection instruments is a necessary step in all research and should be regarded as an integral component in every stage of the research process; however, the validation process is often not accounted for in detail in published studies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and validation of the Ungspråk electronic questionnaire, which was designed to explore teenagers’ multilingualism and multilingual identity in the Norwegian school context. It aims to examine whether having a multilingual identity correlates with several variables such as language practices, languages studied in school, open-mindedness, and beliefs about multilingualism. To our knowledge, the Ungspråk questionnaire is one of the first validated tools for quantitatively investigating learners’ multilingual identity in school settings. Different qualitative and quantitative procedures were adopted for validating Ungspråk, including piloting sessions with students from two lower secondary schools. The results of the validation processes suggest that the Ungspråk questionnaire is a robust instrument for investigating young learners’ multilingual identity. It is easy to use, acceptable to learners, and fulfils stringent criteria of reliability and validity.publishedVersio

Vermittlung der Textstruktur im fremdsprachlichen Deutschunterricht – eine Interventionsstudie

Der vorliegende Beitrag hat zwei miteinander verbundene Ziele. Als Reaktion auf das häufige Plädoyer für ein stärkeres Einbeziehen des Texts und der Textlinguistik in den Fremdsprachenunterricht wird erstens eine an der Universität Bergen, Norwegen, durchgeführte Unterrichtsreihe im Bereich der kontrastiven Textlinguistik bzw. Textgrammatik vorgestellt und erörtert. Zweitens wird im Rahmen eines Pretest/Posttest/Follow-up-Test-Designs geprüft, inwieweit die Vermittlung der Vorfeld-Funktionen bei der Textvernetzung im norwegischen und im deutschen argumentativen Text dazu beiträgt, dass sich norwegische Deutschstudierende textlinguistischer Unterschiede bewusst werden und dies in ihrer Schreibpraxis umsetzen

Visualising the language practices of lower secondary students: outlines for practice-based models of multilingualism

The multilingual turn in applied linguistics has produced a number of models that approach multilingualism from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. However, fully developed models of multilingualism that focus on the language practices of individuals and groups are still lacking. This paper contributes to address this gap by introducing visual models that represent the contexts of practice and attitudes to the languages in the repertoire of lower secondary pupils in Norway. The paper starts by introducing the rich linguistic scenario in Norway and the role of language learning in developing students’ multilingual abilities. After a brief discussion on the role of practice in language learning, we provide an outline of current models of multilingualism, situating our visual models, the Ungspråk Practice-Based Models of Multilingualism (UPMM), in the field. The paper then focuses on the properties of the UPMM, which represent data collected from an online questionnaire answered by 593 students in lower secondary school and allow for the exploration of data both from the perspective of the whole group of participants and from an individual perspective. Particular attention is paid to the interactive features of the models, which can be used by teachers and educators as pedagogical tools for exploring multilingualism and language learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the contexts of practice for the languages in the participants’ repertoires based on the visual models.publishedVersio

Investigating the effectiveness of an online language teacher education programme informed by self-determination theory

Despite the centrality of motivation for all learning, few studies have examined the effectiveness of online language teacher education (OLTE) programmes within a psychological framework. This explorative study seeks to address this gap by evaluating the effectiveness of a two semesters OLTE course for German teachers in the Norwegian context. The course was developed to address students’ innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness within the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). The paper first details the steps taken to meet students’ needs, and then evaluates the effectiveness of the programme by analysing the data from students’ questionnaires, which were completed after each of the two semesters. The results showed that most students were highly motivated throughout the course, and that their motivation increased over time. Furthermore, most of the students felt that their psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness were met. Thus, we suggest that designing OLTE programmes according to SDT principles can be an effective means of professional training for future language teachers.publishedVersio

Sprachbewusstheit und Fremdsprachenlernen. Inwiefern fördert die Grammatik in skandinavischen DaF-Lehrwerken die Sprachbewusstheit der Lernenden?

Dieser Artikel untersucht, inwiefern einige skandinavische Lehrwerke für junge DaF-AnfängerInnen das Potenzial haben, die Sprachbewusstheit der Lernenden zu fördern. Vor dem Hintergrund einer kurzen Übersicht zur für die Studie relevanten Forschung im Bereich Fremdsprachendidaktik und der jeweiligen Lehrpläne für die Schule werden Grammatikerklärungen und -übungen analysiert. Obwohl die Lehrpläne in Norwegen und Schweden große Ähnlichkeiten aufweisen, ist das Vorkommen von expliziten Grammatikerläuterungen und Grammatikübungen in den norwegischen Lehrwerken viel höher als in den schwedischen. In sämtlichen Lehrwerken werden die Lernenden jedoch nur vereinzelt dazu aufgefordert, Sprache zu beobachten, über Sprache zu sprechen und eigene Schlüsse zu ziehen. Die Schlussfolgerung ist demnach, dass die Lehrwerke nur begrenzt zur Förderung der Sprachbewusstheit der Lernenden beitragen