The challenge of plurilingual education:

Promoting transfer across the language curriculum

Luciano Mariani - Tesol – Italy 2006

Find the full text of this presentation at: www.learningpaths.org/papers/plurilingualnaples.htm

more languages

=

more “subjects”

?

The plurilingu

al curriculu

m

watertight compartments?

How does the learning of several languages affect language learning?How can we profit from the presence of several languages in the curriculum?

languages develop side by

side

A widespread image of the plurilingual curriculum …

… or pluri lingualism?

multi lingualism…

pluri linguingualism

more competence

s

or

more competence

?

The learner of a second or foreign language and culture does not

cease to be competent in his or her mother tongue and the associated culture. Nor is the new competence kept entirely separate from the old. The learner does not simply acquire

two distinct, unrelated ways of acting and communicating. The

language learner becomes plurilingual and develops

interculturality.Common European Framework

≠ +A bilingual is not the

sum of two monolinguals!

L1 L2

separate underlying proficiency

common underlying proficiency

L1 L2

L1 surface features

L2 surface features

L3 surface features

common underlying proficiency

central operating system

Learning an L2 is not just the adding of rooms to your house by building an

extension at the back …

… learning an L2 is the rebuilding of all internal

walls.Vivian Cook

train departure

times

gli orari di partenza dei treni

cheese pizza Straßenverkehr

sordnung

codice della strada

compound words – word order

pizza chees

e

Nonostante sia molto

anziana, lavora

ancora.

I like rock

because it's

exciting.

Ich habe kein Geld, deshalb kann ich nicht ins

Kino gehen.

linkers – discourse markers

E' una specie di

sedia, piccola.

C'est une personne qui

coupe tes cheveux.

It is used to take photos.

"adjusting" the message

from the products of particular languages …

… to the process of language learning

• which instructional conditions facilitate these processes?

Language learning within the iceberg:

• integration

• restructuring

• transfer• what exactly gets integrated, restructured, transferred ?

FIRST QUESTION:

what exactly gets integrated, restructured, transferred ?

charge

décharge

décharger

déchargement

charger

chargement

chargeur

Mut

Mißmut

mißmutig

Mißmutigkeit

mutlos

Mutlosigkeit

mutig

Knowledge (savoir)

- language specific

-general concepts (e.g. root, prefix, suffix)

+ s = plays

+ ing= playing

+ ed = played

+ er = player

play

Skills and strategies (savoir faire)

Knowledge (savoir)

I can guess

meanings

I can use what I

already know

I can take risks

Skills and strategies (savoir faire)

Knowledge (savoir)

Beliefs, attitudes,

motivations (savoir être)

knowledge

language awarenes

s

skills learning awareness

beliefs, attitudes

learner awarenes

s learning-to-learn (savoir apprendre)

SECOND QUESTION:

which instructional conditions facilitate the transfer between languages?

English …

… and its role as a bridge towards more

languages

Transfer

the application of previously acquired knowledge and skills to new

situations

Today’s task

Yesterday’s task

Last week’s

task

Last month’s

task

How is this task similar to others? How is it different?

1 - experience

Three conditions for cross-language transfer

3 - reactivation

2 - reflection

1st condition: experience

Beckham

Zidane

Totti Schumach

er

www.euronews.net

for articles on the same topic in seven different

languages

1st condition: experience

Beckham

do we need to understand everything?what are the

keywords?how are they built,

where do they appear in the

sentence?what about the words which come before and

after them?

Prefixes and suffixes?

The context?

Our own encyclopedia?

The Sherlock Holmes strategy?

Teacher and classmates?

A dictionary?

2nd condition: reflection

What problems did we have to face?

What helped

us?

… and how did we feel?

knowledge of specific language (English)

knowledge, skills and attitudes in language

learning

“international” words

match partitafootball ………

…………………

squadra

training

……………

“true friends”

stadium

stadio

point ……………

……………

passare

goal ……………

courage

coraggio

courageous

encourage

encouragement

discourage

discouragement

incoraggiare

incoraggiamento

scoraggiare

scoraggiamento

coraggioso

football team squadra di calcio

sports centre ………………..

……………….. coppa del mondo

training shoes ………………..

3rd condition: reactivation

Schumacher How did you tackle the BECKHAM text?

What did you do to guess the meaning of unknown words?

Let’s see if Sherlock Holmes works with the SCHUMACHER text … or if we need something else …

from reactivation to reflection

• What worked well with both English and German?

• What worked with English but perhaps not, or not so well, with German?

“true friends”

football Fuβball

stadium

Stadion

……………

Punkt

courage

coraggio

Mut

courageous

encourage

encouragement

discourage

discouragement

incoraggiare

incoraggiamento

scoraggiare

scoraggiamento

coraggioso

ermutigen

Ermutigung

entmutigen

Entmutigung

mutig

world champion

Weltmeister campione del mondo

………………..

Weltrekord record mondiale

playfield Spielplatz ………………..

1 - experience

The transfer cycle

3 - reactivation

2 - reflection

Beckham Zidane

Totti

Schumacher

The transfer

cycle

re-launching language education

as an explicit school policy

building a classroom culture based on teacher collaboration:

exploring and sharing our own knowledge, skills and attitudes

The plurilingual curriculum:

implications for schools and teachers

Let’s learn more languages -To speak a

common tongue.

 

Find this presentation and

further resources on

 www.learningpaths.org

 luciano.mariani@iol.it