BENG207
Embracing Linguistic Diversity in English Language Education

ECTS Value: 4 ECTS

Contact Hours: 20

Self Study Hours: 48

Assessment Hours: 32

 

Overall Objectives and Outcomes

In today’s increasingly diverse classrooms, it is crucial for English language educators in Malta to develop strategies for effectively teaching in multilingual settings. This module equips participants with the knowledge and skills to create inclusive, engaging lessons that leverage students’ home languages to enhance English language acquisition. Through interactive workshops and hands-on activities, participants will explore:

  • Theories and best practices in multilingual pedagogy
  • Techniques for assessing and building upon students’ linguistic repertoires
  • Strategies for creating a classroom environment that values and celebrates multilingualism
  • Methods for collaborating with parents and the wider community to support multilingual learners.

By the end of the module, participants will have a toolkit of practical, research-based approaches to ensure that all students in Malta’s linguistically diverse classrooms can succeed in their English language learning journey.

By the end of this module, the learner will be able to:

Competences

  • a)Recognise pivotal issues linked to Malta’s present sociolinguistic landscape and their impact on English language learning;
  • b)Elaborate on significant local sociolinguistic challenges within the broader context of sociohistorical and political phenomena and events, and their implications for teaching English to multilingual learners;
  • c)Elucidate strategies fostering language transmission and preservation of both majority and minority languages within the local educational sphere, and how these strategies can be applied to enhance English language learning;
  • d)Assess existing approaches, practices, and policies in their effectiveness regarding responsiveness to multilingualism, and identify opportunities for improving English language education in multilingual classrooms;
  • e)Identify the challenges and opportunities presented by multilingualism in education, and how these factors can impact the teaching and learning of English;
  • f)Create inclusive, effective English language lessons that leverage students’ linguistic diversity.
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Knowledge

  • a)Understand the concept and consequences of multilingualism by exploring research and policy, particularly in relation to English language learning and teaching;
  • b)Identify methods, strategies, and techniques that facilitate effective teaching and learning in multilingual educational settings, with a focus on enhancing English language acquisition;
  • c)Develop positive attitudes towards multilingualism and its role in enriching the English language learning experience;
  • d)Increase awareness of the educator’s proactive role in shaping language policy, especially as it pertains to supporting English language learners;
  • e)Develop a deeper understanding of Malta’s unique sociolinguistic context and its relevance to English language teaching.
  •  

Skills

  • a)Critically assess attitudes and beliefs within their own and others’ language ideologies, considering their evolving understanding of multilingualism and its impact on English language learning;
  • b)Utilise knowledge of the interconnectedness of language policy across social levels, domains, and stakeholders to inform effective English language teaching practices in the micro-level classroom context;
  • c)Formulate a personalised language policy that appropriately addresses the needs and opportunities within a specific sociolinguistic context, with the aim of enhancing English language acquisition;
  • d)Justify analytical conclusions about phonetic or phonological features using structured, evidence-based arguments.
  •  

Assessment Methods

This module will be assessed through: Presentation and Assignment

Suggested Readings

Core Reading List

  1. Coelho, E. (2012). Language and learning in multilingual classrooms: A practical approach. Multilingual Matters.
  2. García, O., Johnson, S. I., & Seltzer, K. (2017). The translanguaging classroom: Leveraging student bilingualism for learning. Philadelphia: Caslon.
  3. Garcia, O., Lin, A., & May, S. (2017). Bilingual and multilingual education (Vol. 5, Encyclopedia of Language and Education). Springer International Publishing AG.
  4. Panzavecchia, M., & Little, S. (2019). Beyond Words: Language Hybridity in Post-Colonial Multilingual Classroom Environments – Malta’s Way Forward. In: V. Anderson & H. Johnson (Eds.), Migration, Education and Translation: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Human Mobility and Cultural Encounters in Education Settings (pp. 161-173). Abingdon: Routledge.
  5. Panzavecchia, M. & Little, S. (2020). The Language of Learning: Maltese teachers’ views on bilingual and multilingual primary classrooms. E-JournALL, EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 7(1), 108-123
  6. Panzavecchia, M. (2023). “Issa open your books għax ser nibdew il-lesson tal-English.”: The impact of Maltese primary school teachers’ language backgrounds on linguistic identities, language use, and pedagogical practices. Malta Journal of Education, 4(2), 117–143.
  7. Paris, A. & Farrugia M.T., (2019). Embracing multilingualism in Maltese schools: from bilingual to multilingual pedagogy. Cahiers internationaux de sociolinguistique, (2), 117-140.
  8. Parnis, M. & Schembri, H., (2023). Reaching and Teaching Students from Ethnic Minorities in a Maltese State School. Symposia Melitensia. Vol 19, pp. 23-45.
  9. Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2013). Longman dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics (4th Edition). Routledge.

Supplementary Reading List

  1. Camilleri Grima, A. (2013). A select review of bilingualism in education in Malta. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 16(5), 553-569.
  2. Camilleri Grima, A. (2013). Challenging code-switching in Malta. Revue française de linguistique appliquée, 18(2), 45-61.
  3. Camilleri Grima, A. (2018). Globalization and Education: what future for the Maltese speaking child? Éducation et sociétés plurilingues, (44), 31-43.
  4. García, O. (2013). From diglossia to transglossia: Bilingual and multilingual classrooms in the 21st century. In: C. Abello-Contesse, P. Chandler, M. López-Jiménez & R. Chacón-Beltrán (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education in the 21st century: Building on experience (94, pp. 155-175). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
  5. García, O., Skutnabb-Kangas, T., & Torres-Guzman, M. E. (2006). Weaving spaces and (de) constructing ways for multilingual schools: The actual and the imagined. In: O. García, T. Skutnabb-Kangas, & M. Torres-Guzman (Eds.), Imagining multilingual schools (pp. 3-47). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
  6. Little, S. (2017). Whose heritage? What inheritance?: conceptualising family language identities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 1-15.
  7. Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281-307.
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