Abstract
This article sets out to explore English as foreign language (EFL) teachers’ views of teaching migrant pupils with multilingual backgrounds in a regular classroom. Previous studies on multilingual pupils have mostly concentrated on second language learning contexts or on the role of pupils’ L1. In an increasingly multilingual world and due to growing migration, this study concentrates on EFL. The data were interviews with English teachers (n=7), who reflected on their experiences with migrant pupils in the foreign language classroom. The data were analysed through qualitative content analysis. The participants had not really pondered on the role of multilingualism in the EFL classroom and some underlying preconceptions could be detected. Teachers’ perception of the multilingual pupil was controversial in that they did not want to draw attention to the linguistic background of the pupil but, on the other hand, they had noticed that multilingual learners had greater language awareness than their mainstream peers. Although not fully aware of the potential of multilingualism and the pupils’ linguistic resources in EFL teaching, the teachers had used several ways of supporting their multilingual learners, reflecting the principles of translanguaging.
Tiivistelmä
Tässä artikkelissa tutkimme suomalaisten englanninopettajien käsityksiä maahanmuuttajaoppilaista, joilla on monikielinen tausta, vieraan kielen luokkahuoneessa. Aiemmat tutkimukset monikielisistä oppijoista ovat keskittyneet toisen kielen oppimiseen tai oppijan äidinkieleen. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskitymme englantiin vieraana kielenä, sillä maailma on aiempaa monikielisempi ja liikkuvuus yleisempää kuin ennen. Aineistona on englannin opettajien haastattelut (n=7), joissa he pohtivat kokemuksiaan maahanmuuttajaoppilaista vieraan kielen oppitunnilla. Analyysimenetelmänä oli laadullinen sisällönanalyysi. Tulokset osoittavat, että osallistujat eivät olleet pohtineet monikielisyyttä englannin oppitunnilla, mutta joitain ennakkokäsityksiä voitiin havaita. Opettajien käsitykset monikielisistä oppilaista olivat ristiriitaisia: he eivät halunneet johdattaa huomiota oppilaan kielelliseen taustaan, mutta toisaalta he olivat havainneet monikielisten oppijoiden olevan luokkatovereitaan kielitietoisempia. Vaikkakaan opettajat eivät tunnistaneet oppilaiden kielellisiä resursseja ja pohtineet monikielisyyden mahdollisuuksia, he olivat tukeneet monikielisiä oppilaita monia eri kielellisiä keinoja käyttäen.
Abstrakt
I den här artikeln undersöker vi finländska engelsklärares uppfattningar om invandrarelever med flerspråkig bakgrund vid undervisning av främmande språk. Tidigare studier om flerspråkiga inlärare har fokuserat på inlärning av andraspråk eller på inlärares förstaspråk. Vi lägger däremot vårt fokus här på engelska som främmande språk, eftersom världen är mer flerspråkig och mobilitet vanligare än förr. Materialet består av intervjuer av engelsklärare (n= 7), där lärarna resonerar kring sina erfarenheter av invandrarelever på språklektioner. Analysmetoden är kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultaten visar att deltagarna inte hade funderat på förekomsten av flerspråkighet på engelsklektionerna, men de visade sig ändå ha några uppfattningar om frågan. Uppfattningarna om flerspråkiga elever var motstridiga: å ena sidan ville de intervjuade lärarna inte fästa uppmärksamhet vid elevens språkliga bakgrund, men å andra sidan hade de noterat att flerspråkiga elever är mer språkmedvetna än sina klasskamrater. Även om lärarna inte identifierade elevernas språkliga resurser och inte tänkte på de möjligheter som flerspråkighet medför, hade de stöttat flerspråkiga elever på många olika sätt.
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