Jump to ContentJump to Main Navigation
Show Summary Details
More options …

 

Language Learning in Higher Education

Journal of the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CercleS)

Editor-in-Chief: Szczuka-Dorna, Liliana / O’Rourke, Breffni

Online
ISSN
2191-6128
See all formats and pricing
Online
Institutional Subscription
€ [D] 233.00 / US$ 350.00 / GBP 191.00*
Individual Subscription
€ [D] 49.00 / US$ 74.00 / GBP 40.00*
Print
Institutional Subscription
€ [D] 233.00 / US$ 350.00 / GBP 191.00*
Individual Subscription
€ [D] 233.00 / US$ 350.00 / GBP 191.00*
Print + Online
Institutional Subscription
€ [D] 277.00 / US$ 420.00 / GBP 227.00*
Individual Subscription
€ [D] 277.00 / US$ 420.00 / GBP 227.00*
*Prices in US$ apply to orders placed in the Americas only. Prices in GBP apply to orders placed in Great Britain only. Prices in € represent the retail prices valid in Germany (unless otherwise indicated). Prices are subject to change without notice. Prices do not include postage and handling if applicable. RRP: Recommended Retail Price.
More options …

Multilingual and multicultural task-based learning scenarios: A pilot study from the MAGGIC project

Inma Álvarez
  • Corresponding author
  • Faculty of Education and Language Studies, Department of Languages, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.
  • Email
  • Other articles by this author:
  • De Gruyter OnlineGoogle Scholar
 / María Luisa Pérez-Cavana
  • Faculty of Education and Language Studies, Department of Languages, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.
  • Email
  • Other articles by this author:
  • De Gruyter OnlineGoogle Scholar
Published Online: 2015-04-30 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2015-0004

30,00 € / $42.00 / £23.00

Get Access to Full Text

Abstract

In this article we report on the results of a pilot study on the use of task-based multilingual and multicultural professional scenarios for higher education teachers and learners at BA and MA level. The scenarios reflect new learning outcomes and assessment criteria for the presently under-conceptualised domain of communication in multilingual and multicultural settings (as opposed to monolingual regimes). The study was conducted as part of the work of the MAGICC project (Modularising Multilingual and Multicultural Academic Communication Competence for BA and MA level), which focused on the design of a conceptual framework based on existing practices, initiatives, tools, projects and elements from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe 2001), and in relation to multilingual and multicultural academic communicative competence, an area much less developed. We start by examining the meanings of multilingualism and plurilingualism in the context of formal education and review some of the practical pedagogical approaches that have been put forward for the introduction of a more flexible approach to language use in the classroom. We discuss in particular the pertinence of task-based learning for encouraging multilingualism. The testing of the MAGICC task-based multilingual scenarios revealed positive experiences among the users and highlighted the innovative contribution of the tasks for both students’ and teachers’ awareness of the possibilities of multilingual communication and the significant impact that a appropriate plurilingual practice can have on their self-awareness.

Keywords: multilingualism; plurilingualism; higher education; task-based learning; CEFR

References

  • Aiestaran, Jokin, Jasone Cenoz & Durk Gorter. 2010. Multilingual cityscapes: Perceptions and preferences of the inhabitants of the city of Donostia-San Sebastian. In Elana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (eds.), Linguistic landscape in the city, 219–234. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar

  • Biggs, John & Catherine Tang. 2007. Teaching for quality learning at university, 3rd edn. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.Google Scholar

  • British Council. 2012. Language rich Europe: Multilingualism for stable and prosperous societies. Brussels: European Commission. http://www.britishcouncil.nl/sites/britishcouncil.nl2/files/lre_review_and_recommendations.pdf (accessed 5January2015)

  • Byram, Michael. 1997. Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar

  • Cenoz, Jasone & Durk Gorter. 20011. Focus on multilingualism: A study of trilingual writing. Modern Language Journal 95(3). 356–369.Web of ScienceGoogle Scholar

  • Chesnut, Michael, Vivian Lee & Jenna Schulte. 2013. The language lessons around us: Undergraduate English pedagogy and linguistic landscape research. English Teaching: Practice and Critique 12(2). 102–120.Google Scholar

  • Council of Europe. 2001. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

  • Dlaska, Andrea. 2013. The role of foreign language programmes in internationalising learning and teaching in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education 18(3). 260–271.Web of ScienceCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Doiz, Aintzane, David Lasagabaster & Juan Manuel Sierra. 2014. Language friction and multilingual policies in Higher Education: The stakeholders’ view. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 35(4). 345–360.CrossrefWeb of ScienceGoogle Scholar

  • Eckerth, Johannes. 2008. Task-based language learning and teaching – old wine in new bottles? In Johannes Eckerth & Sabine Siekmann (eds.), Task-based language learning and teaching: Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical perspectives. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 13–46.Google Scholar

  • Eckerth, Johannes & Sabine Siekmann (eds.). 2008. Task-based language learning and teaching: Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical perspectives. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar

  • Ellis, Rod. 2003. Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

  • García, Ofelia. 2009. Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Malden, MA and Oxford, UK: Blackwell/Wiley.Google Scholar

  • Guerra, Juan C. (2004). Emerging representations, situated literacies, and the practice of transcultural repositioning. In Michelle Hall Kells, Valerie Balester, & Victor Villanueva (eds.), Latino/a discourses: On language, identity, and literacy in education, 7–23. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar

  • Hambye, Philippe & Mary Richards. 2012. The paradoxical visions of multilingualism in education: The ideological dimension of discourses on multilingualism in Belgium and Canada. International Journal of Multilingualism 9(2). 165–188.CrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hanks, William. 1996. Language and communicative practices. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar

  • Heller, Monica. 1999 Linguistic minorities and modernity: A sociolinguistic ethnography. London: Longman.Google Scholar

  • Herdina, Philip & Ulrike Jessner. 2002. A dynamic model of multilingualism: Perspectives of change in psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar

  • Hornberger, Nancy. H. & Holly Link. 2012. Translanguaging and transnational literacies in multilingual classrooms: A bilingual lens. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 15(3). 261–278.Web of ScienceCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • James, Carl & Peter Garrett. 1991. Language awareness in the classroom. London: Longman.Google Scholar

  • Jessner, Ulrike. 2008. Multicompetence approaches to language proficiency development in multilingual education. In Jim Cummins and Nancy H. Hornberger (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 5: Bilingual Education, 91–103. Boston, MA: Springer.Google Scholar

  • Jørgensen, J. Normann, Marth Sif Karrebæk, Lian Malai Madsen & Janus Spindler Møller. 2011. Polylanguaging in superdiversity. Diversities 13(2). UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/shs/diversities/vol13/issue2/art2 (accessed 10October2014).

  • Lähttenmäki, Mika, Piia Varis & Sirpa Leppänen. 2011. Editorial – The shifting paradigm: Towards a reconceptualisation of multilingualism. Apples 5(1), special issue on Mediated Multilingualism. 2–11.Google Scholar

  • Leaver, Betty Lou & Jane R. Willis (eds.). 2004. Task-based instruction in foreign language education: Practices and programs. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar

  • Lenz, Peter & Raphael Berthele. 2010. Assessment in plurilingual and intercultural education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Source2010_ForumGeneva/Assessment2010_Lenz_EN.pdf (accessed 10October2014).

  • Littlewood, William. 2004. The task-based approach: Some questions and suggestions. ELT Journal 58(4). 319–326.CrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Long, Michael. 2014. Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar

  • Long, Michael H. & Graham Crookes. 1992. Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly 26(1). 27–56.CrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • McCann, William J., Horst G. Klein & Tilbert D. Stegman. 2003. EuroComRom. The seven sieves: How to read all the Romance languages right away. Aachen: Shaker.Google Scholar

  • McDonough, Kim & Wanpen Chaikitmongkol. 2007. Teachers’ and learners’ reactions to a task-based EFL course in Thailand. TESOL Quarterly 41(1). 107–132.Google Scholar

  • MAGICC. 2013. MAGICC conceptual framework. Brussels: European Commission, Lifelong Learning Programme. http://www.unil.ch/files/live//sites/magicc/files/shared/Revised_Conceptual_Framework_MAGICC.pdf (accessed 1September2014)

  • Pavlenko, Aneta. 2005. Emotions and multilingualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

  • Pérez-Cavana, María Luisa. 2014. Developing language awareness through multilingualism: the MAGICC project. Paper presented at the CercleS conference, Fribourg, 4–6 September.Google Scholar

  • Pica, Teresa. 2005. Classroom learning, teaching, and research: A task-based perspective. The Modern Language Journal 89(3), special issue: Methodology, epistemology, and ethics in instructed SLA research. 339–352.Google Scholar

  • Rowland, Luke. 2012. The pedagogical benefits of a linguistic landscape research project in Japan. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16(4). 494–505.Web of ScienceGoogle Scholar

  • Sayer, Peter. 2010. Using the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource. ELT Journal 64(2). 143–155.CrossrefWeb of ScienceGoogle Scholar

  • Schapper, Jan M. & Susan E. Mayson. 2004. Internationalisation of curricula: An alternative to the Taylorisation of academic work. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 26(2). 189–205.CrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Skehan, Peter. 2003. Task-based instruction. Language Teaching 36(1). 1–14.CrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Trumper-Hecht, Nira. 2010. Linguistic landscape in mixed cities in Israel from the perspective of “walkers”: The case of Arabic. In Elana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (eds.), Linguistic landscape in the city, 235–251. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar

  • Velasco, Patricia & Ofelia García. 2014. Translanguaging and the writing of bilingual learners. Bilingual Research Journal: The Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education 37(1),6–23.CrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Williams, Cen. 1996. Secondary education: Teaching in the bilingual situation. In C. Williams, G. Lewis, & C. Baker (eds.), The language policy: Taking stock, 193–211. Llangefni, Wales: Canolfan Astudiaethau Iaith.Google Scholar

  • Zhao, Huanjing. 2011. How far do the theories of task-based learning succeed in combining communicative and form-focused approaches to L2 research. Journal of Cambridge Studies 6(1). 41–56.Google Scholar

About the article

Inma Álvarez

Inma Álvarez is a senior lecturer in the Department of Languages at the Open University, United Kingdom. She has researched and published on the intercultural dimension in the modern languages curriculum. In particular she has investigated the role of new technologies in education, including e-portfolios, and the new training needs of teachers and learners that come with the development of intercultural skills.

María Luisa Pérez-Cavana

Maria Luisa Perez Cavana is a lecturer in the Department of Education at the Open University, United Kingdom. Her research focus is on e-portfolios, learning styles and learner autonomy. She has researched and jointly published on supporting ‘learning to learn’ languages through a reflective and diagnostic tool, the Language Learning Support Dimensions (LLSDs).

Published Online: 2015-04-30

Published in Print: 2015-05-01

Citation Information: Language Learning in Higher Education, Volume 5, Issue 1, Pages 59–82, ISSN (Online) 2191-6128, ISSN (Print) 2191-611X, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2015-0004.

Export Citation

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton.Get Permission

Comments (0)

Please log in or register to comment.
Log in