Gérard Gretsch

iTEO as a Tool-and-Result in dialogical multilingual language learning

In this paper I will document and analyse the use of the iTEO app (henceforth iTEO) for the iPad in the learning of French in a second grade class in Luxembourg. The analysis of the data will result in the characterising of iTEO as a tool-and-result promoting and propelling dialogue and meta-linguistic awareness in multilingual language learning through the recording of utterances for creating stories, a process I refer to as ‘storying’. In contrast to still prevailing monological and teacher centred visions of language learning in many classrooms in Luxembourg, the app we developed privileges interactions and dialogue among peers as propellers of the learning of French. This dialogic interaction based on Bakhtin’s view that language lives only in dialogic interactions (Bakhtin 1984, 139) draws on manifold resources from the context of the pupils’ private and official language use. I will describe the tool and suggest how it could be used in the national and local Luxembourgish educational and institutional settings where language learning is of foremost importance and relevance. These suggestions rest on a thorough analysis of dialogues and interactions between two pupils in a process of joint story building.

Förderung von Sprach(lern)bewusstheit und Sprach(lern)kompetenz durch germanische Interkomprehensionsansätze

Ausgehend von dem Ansatz der germanischen Interkomprehension testet die in diesem Beitrag vorgestellte quantitative Studie das metalinguistische Wissen sowie die Transferfähigkeiten einund mehrsprachiger Lernender. Sie geht der Frage nach, ob die Mehrsprachigkeit der Teilnehmer tatsächlich eine Ressource oder eher eine Barriere bei interkomprehensiven Aufgaben, die metalinguistisches Wissen verlangen, darstellt. Getestet wurden 577 einund mehrsprachige Schülerinnen und Schüler der fünften und zehnten Klassen unterschiedlicher Schulformen im deutschsprachigen Raum. Durch Mittelwertvergleiche konnte gezeigt werden, dass Mehrsprachigkeit nicht per se kognitive Vorteile bei dieser Art von Aufgaben bietet. Based on the Germanic intercomprehension approach, this article presents the results of a quantitative study that tested metalinguistic knowledge of monoand bilingual students. The goal of this study was to determine whether the students’ multilingualism can be regarded as a resource or rather as a barrier for solving intercomprehensive tasks. The study was conducted in the German speaking area with N=577 monoand bilingual students of different age groups (5th and 10th grade). The comparisons of means (t-tests) show that multilingualism does not automatically lead to cognitive benefits in this type of task.