AILA Review - Volume 35, Issue 1, 2022

Metacognition has been increasingly discussed as one of the main features of learning in the 21st century (see Haukås, Bjørke, & Dypedahl, 2018). In the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism Theory (DMM) (Herdina & Jessner 2002), which applies Complexity and Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) to multilingualism, it is argued that multilinguals develop increased knowledge of languages and language learning through experience. In this article a CDST perspective on multilingual learning and teaching with a focus on metacognition will be presented. The central sub-component of metacognition in DMM, in the form of multilingual awareness, comprising metalinguistic and cross-linguistic awareness in multilingual learners, will be discussed as a core feature of multilingual proficiency in multilingual development. In a number of studies in the Austrian and South Tyrolean context multilingual awareness has turned out as a core factor in both learning and teaching. These studies show that multilingual awareness has to be trained in multilingual pedagogical approaches in order to foster multilingualism. A holistic approach is needed to deal with the ongoing tensions between complexity, dynamics, adaptation and stability. Although it becomes clear that the nature of multilingualism can only be understood in relation to its context, it is nevertheless possible to isolate and define constant factors in an efficient multilingual awareness training as provided by the Five Building Blocks of Holistic Multilingual Education.

Since the late 1990s the notion of a plurilingual and pluricultural competence as elaborated by Coste, Moore and Zarate (1997) has had a strong impact on the didactics of languages. Several plural approaches have been developed which aim at developing competences in several languages and/or cultures (Melo-Pfeifer & Reimann, 2018; Reissner, 2010; Tost Planet, 2010), with intercomprehension didactics being one of them. However, existing frameworks (e.g. the Cadre de référence pour les approches plurielles des langues et des cultures (CARAP)/Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures (FREPA) (Candelier et al., 2007, 2010), or the Companion volume of the Common European framework of reference for languages (Council of Europe, 2018)) do not adequately describe the specific competences that underly intercomprehensive activities. In our contribution, we will present the framework of reference for intercomprehension (= IC) developed within the European project EVAL-IC (Evaluation des compétences en intercompréhension, Erasmus+). The framework is based on a dynamic and complex competence model, comprising of six levels of competence which can be regrouped into three larger levels (basic, advanced, expert). It provides descriptors for the following intercomprehensive activities: written and oral receptive IC; written and oral interproduction; and written and oral interactive IC as well as a global description of each level. The work carried out might also help to apply or further develop plurilingual and pluricultural approaches in higher education.

Despite decades of research supporting the pedagogic value of learners’ plurilingual resources to their linguistic and academic development, pre-service teachers frequently arrive at university inculcated in ‘target language only’ practices underpinned by monoglossic ideologies. The challenge for teacher education is to productively disrupt quotidian beliefs about language beliefs and prompt reconsideration of future classroom practices. Drawing on the work of the Douglas Fir Group (2016), this paper explores the identities, beliefs and values of two student-teachers as they emerged over the length of an innovative English-German pedagogic project on plurilingualism. The project involved German student-teachers developing a language portrait project for Grade 6 students; student-teachers using project data for undergraduate assignments; and English MA students interviewing young learners about their language portraits via videoconference. The videoconference provided young learners further opportunities to use their plurilingual resources and MA students with data for assignments on identity and investment. Working with DFG’s framework (2016), we examine the interplay of the meso- and macro-dimensions of the larger project’s design and the sometimes contradictory indexing of values and identities within and across activities. Analysis reveals that design choices sometimes unintentionally reinforced linguistic ideologies inconsistent with the project’s objectives, though these conflicts also led student-teachers to unexpected insights. We close with personal reflections on the implications of the first iteration of this design-based research project for the advancement of plurilingual pedagogies in teacher education.

Key findings, analysis and recommendations that have emerged from a research project, ‘Using Human Language Technology to enhance academic integrity, inclusivity, knowledge exchange, student diversity and retention’ at the University of South Australia conducted in 2019 are discussed in this article. The primary purpose of the project was to address some of the challenges and opportunities afforded by increasing student and teacher diversity at a predominantly English-medium Australian university through newly enhanced human language translation technology (HLT) also known as machine translation (MT). This technology is frequently used for the translation of human language, and it falls under the umbrella of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. From the institution’s perspective, key aims of the project were to contribute to the university’s Digital Learning Strategy priorities and core values embedded in a structural transformation of the university. These include integrity, accountability, diversity, social justice, engagement and collaboration. The researchers’ objectives focussed on multilingual pedagogies using HLT to support knowledge exchange (transknowledging), and translanguaging for all students. These disrupt inequitable hierarchies, and position bi-/multilingual students as valuable resources for monolingual staff and students.

The context of this exploratory study is a Language Café, a bottom-up initiative in which Jews and Palestinians, residing in the same multilingual neighborhood in Jerusalem, learn Hebrew and Arabic from each other. The study explores the features of the bilingual pedagogy which has evolved in the Language Café and the participants’ perceived teaching and learning experiences. A qualitative research design was applied utilizing several data sources: (a) observations and field notes (b) language learning materials; (c) semi-structured interviews with the project leaders; (d) interviews with the Jewish and Palestinian participants and (e) photos posted on social media. Inductively oriented content analyses revealed a number of themes suggesting that the bilingual pedagogy applied in the Language Café is based on principles of equality, equity, and bidirectional respect with regard to the participants’ plurilingual/pluricultural repertoires. The learning process is primarily learner-centered, with a continuous engagement of the participants in interactional activities. Yet, given the unique geopolitical situation, conflictual issues surface. The analyses further reveal that the language learning experience in this context is conducive to the participants’ language and cultural knowledge and to their engagement with the Other group. The participants’ accounts suggest that the Language Café sessions have reduced prejudices and feelings of fear and tension between the two groups. Indeed, the Language Café is perceived as part of the broader geopolitical endeavor to reconfigure the neighborhood within the local municipal binational context where language is used as a means to foster identity affirmation and sociocultural connectivity.