Language Awareness in Multilingual Classrooms in Europe

Christine Hélot

ISBN 10: 1501510436 / ISBN 13: 9781501510434

Published by De Gruyter, US, 2018

About this Item

Within the scope of today's globalisation, linguistic diversity is a given fact of the world we live in. In several educational contexts in Europe, language awareness (LA) activities have been introduced with the objective to prepare pupils cognitively, socially and/or critically for life as multilingual, open minded and/or empowered citizens in a diverse world. Despite previous research in various contexts, the concept of LA remains problematic: a generally accepted, evidence-based conceptualisation is missing. This confronts both research and education with a challenge: in order to develop LA activities, implement them successfully in educational contexts and achieve the expected outcomes, we should know what the concept stands for, how it works and why we would choose to implement it in classrooms (or not). This volume focuses on three apparent simple questions: what, how and why? The first question - what? - refers to the concept(ual mess) of LA. The second question - how? - refers to the implementation of LA activities in several educational contexts. The third question - why? - is a recurrent theme running through all the chapters and deals with a reflection on the way we deal (un)consciously with LA activities in education.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781501510434

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Language Awareness in Multilingual Classrooms in Europe
• Publisher: De Gruyter, US
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501510436
• ISBN 13: 9781501510434
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 580 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Within the scope of today’s globalisation, linguistic diversity is a given fact of the world we live in. In several educational contexts in Europe, language awareness (LA) activities have been introduced with the objective to prepare pupils cognitively, socially and/or critically for life as multilingual, open minded and/or empowered citizens in a diverse world. Despite previous research in various contexts, the concept of LA remains problematic: a generally accepted, evidence-based conceptualisation is missing. This confronts both research and education with a challenge: in order to develop LA activities, implement them successfully in educational contexts and achieve the expected outcomes, we should know what the concept stands for, how it works and why we would choose to implement it in classrooms (or not). This volume focuses on three apparent simple questions: what, how and why? The first question – what? – refers to the concept(ual mess) of LA. The second question – how? – refers to the implementation of LA activities in several educational contexts. The third question – why? – is a recurrent theme running through all the chapters and deals with a reflection on the way we deal (un)consciously with LA activities in education.

About the Author

C. Frijns, University of Leuven; C. Hélot, University of Strasbourg; K. Van Gorp, University of Leuven; S. Sierens, Ghent University.