Didactic Challenges in the Multilingual Classroom—The Case of French as a Foreign Language

Multilingual environment has always been characteristic to Georgian reality. Today, due to current political or economic changes multilingualism has impacted the various fields including education. In this respect, Tbilisi State University is no exception, where the number of multilingual classes of ESL students of Azeri, Armenian and Georgian nationality is increasing. This process is accompanied by new challenges posed to the acquisition of the English language. The necessity of tackling these problems imposes responsibilities on English teachers, who are constantly engaged in the search for appropriate strategies and approaches fostering the proper learning process. Having a good command of a foreign language implies the acquisition of new language items and the development of all the skills and sub skills that cannot be achieved without knowing grammar as an important component for developing the receptive and productive skills. The paper aims at finding the efficient ways of teaching grammar in multilingual environment. For this purpose, the problems related to learning grammatical structures are identified and analyzed and their solutions are suggested. Reviewing the advantages and drawbacks of applying various approaches and strategies, the paper singles out teaching grammar in context and supports its utilization in the multilingual classroom with the findings demonstrated by the experiment conducted. The paper presents scholarly viewpoints regarding the above mentioned issues, inferences and concludes that the proper strategies, methods and approaches to teaching grammar should be determined considering the peculiarities of multilingual classroom so as to achieve the favourable learning outcomes.

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Engelsk som tredjespråk: Har lærere kompetanse til å støtte flerspråklighet?

Acta Didactica Norge ◽

10.5617/adno.2397 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Anne Dahl ◽

Anna Krulatz

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Multicultural Education ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

English Teachers ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Knowledge Of Language ◽

Research Questions ◽

Multilingual Classroom ◽

Language Teaching Methods

Denne artikkelen handler om norske engelsklæreres kompetanse i å arbeide med barn som har et annet morsmål enn norsk, og som lærer engelsk som fremmedspråk. Problemstillingene er "Hva slags utdanning og kunnskap innen flerspråklighet har engelsklærere i Norge?," "I hvilken grad føler engelsklærere i Norge seg forberedt på å undervise i flerkulturelle og flerspråklige klasserom?" og "Hvilken type kunnskap, ferdigheter og ressurser føler de behov for?". Vi presenterer resultater fra en nasjonal spørreundersøkelse hvor i alt 176 engelsklærere deltok. I tillegg presenterer vi resultater fra fokusintervjuer med i alt fire lærere fra to skoler. Resultatene viser at selv om engelsklærerne til en viss grad føler seg forberedt på arbeid med elever som ikke har norsk som morsmål, har svært få av dem utdanning som fokuserer på flerspråklighet. Svarene fra spørreundersøkelsen og fra intervjuene viser at engelsklærerne gjerne vil ha mer kompetanse på dette området. Vi vil derfor understreke betydningen av utdanning i teori og praksis om flerspråklig utvikling og flerkulturell utdanningsteori, og ikke minst betydningen av tilgang til faglig utvikling som fokuserer på flerspråklighet i skolen og i samfunnet for engelsklærere i Norge.Nøkkelord: engelsklærere, kompetanse, språkpedagogisk kunnskap,flerspråklighet, lærerutdanningAbstractThis paper examines the extent to which English teachers in Norway are prepared to work with children whose mother tongue is not Norwegian, and who are acquiring English as a foreign language. The research questions are “What type of education and knowledge in the area of multilingualism do English teachers in Norway have?,” To what extent do English teachers in Norway feel they are prepared to teach in a multicultural and multilingual classroom?,” and “What kinds of knowledge, skills and resources do they feel a need for?” We present the results of a national survey completed by 176 teachers. In addition, we present results from focused interviews with four English teachers from two schools. The results show that although English teachers feel somewhat prepared for work with students who are not native speakers of Norwegian, very few of them have an education with focus on multilingualism. Responses from the survey and the interviews show that English teachers would like to have more expertise in this area. Therefore, we want to emphasize the importance of providing English teachers in Norway with education in theory and practice of multilingual development and multicultural education as well as access to professional development that focuses on multilingualism in schools and in society.Key words: English teachers, preparedness, knowledge of language teaching methods, multilingualism, teacher education

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TEACHING LATVIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM: EXPERIENCE OF HUNGARY

SOCIETY INTEGRATION EDUCATION Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference ◽

10.17770/sie2018vol1.3226 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 490

Author(s):

Lasma Gaitniece

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Technology Development ◽

Opportunity To Learn ◽

Learning And Teaching ◽

Special Unit ◽

Language Studies ◽

Adriatic Coast ◽

History Of ◽

Multilingual Classroom ◽

The Baltic

Multilingualism has been highly valued in the society from ancient times. Nowadays, along with the increase of people mobility and technology development, foreign languages competence and its acquisition learning becomes increasingly important. At the same time, minority language studies, taking into account a relatively small number of their users, provide the necessary contribution to the preservation and further development of the cultural heritage of the world nations. For example, the goal of the Department for Uralic Studies, Savaria Campus of the University of West Hungary, was to create a special unit and invite specialists in order to study and promote the Central European region, its culture, as well as the ancient Amber Route that stretched from the East coast of the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic coast and the Apennine Peninsula. From 1992 to 2013, this unit offered students an opportunity to learn Latvian as a foreign language, as well as the history of Latvia and its culture, Latvian literature, folklore and ethnogenesis. This article, based on the author's personal experience, is devoted to the specifics of learning and teaching of the Latvian language to Hungarian students, as well as translating the works of the Latvian authors into Hungarian.

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Employing Latino Value Orientations to Facilitate Success in Stuttering Treatment

Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders ◽

10.1044/ffd18.3.111 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 111-118

Author(s):

Lourdes Ramos-Heinrichs ◽

Lynn Hansberry Mayo ◽

Sandra Garzon

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Therapeutic Relationship ◽

Service Provider ◽

Speech Therapy ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Value Orientations ◽

Collaborative Partnership ◽

The Family ◽

Therapy Services ◽

Cultural Connections

Abstract Providing adequate speech therapy services to Latinos who stutter can present challenges that are not obvious to the practicing clinician. This article addresses cultural, religious, and foreign language concerns to the therapeutic relationship between the Latino client and the clinician. Suggestions are made for building cross-cultural connections with clients and incorporating the family into a collaborative partnership with the service provider.

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Eye Movements of Children and Adults While Reading Television Subtitles

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040.12.3.196 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 196-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

Géry d'Ydewalle ◽

Wim De Bruycker

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Age Differences ◽

Information Sources ◽

Native Language ◽

Verbal Information ◽

Single Text ◽

Grade 5 ◽

Reading Patterns ◽

Attentional System

Abstract. Eye movements of children (Grade 5-6) and adults were monitored while they were watching a foreign language movie with either standard (foreign language soundtrack and native language subtitling) or reversed (foreign language subtitles and native language soundtrack) subtitling. With standard subtitling, reading behavior in the subtitle was observed, but there was a difference between one- and two-line subtitles. As two lines of text contain verbal information that cannot easily be inferred from the pictures on the screen, more regular reading occurred; a single text line is often redundant to the information in the picture, and accordingly less reading of one-line text was apparent. Reversed subtitling showed even more irregular reading patterns (e.g., more subtitles skipped, fewer fixations, longer latencies). No substantial age differences emerged, except that children took longer to shift attention to the subtitle at its onset, and showed longer fixations and shorter saccades in the text. On the whole, the results demonstrated the flexibility of the attentional system and its tuning to the several information sources available (image, soundtrack, and subtitles).

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Use of the TOEFL as a Standard for University Admission: A Position Statement by the Canadian Psychological Association

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759.14.3.261 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 261-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Marvin L. Simner

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Position Statement ◽

Considerable Evidence ◽

Canadian Universities ◽

Weak Relationship ◽

University Admission ◽

Canadian Psychological Association

Nearly all Canadian universities employ, as a standard for university admission, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). In light of considerable evidence indicating only a weak relationship between TOEFL scores and academic achievement, the Canadian Psychological Association recently issued a report containing a position statement that called upon Canadian universities to refrain from employing the TOEFL in this manner. Because the concerns raised in the report are likely to apply to many universities outside Canada, the entire report is reproduced in this article.

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