Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer

Multilingual awareness and heritage language education: children's multimodal representations of their multilingualism

In this article, we analyse visual narratives of multilingual children, in order to acknowledge their self-perception as multilingual selves. Through the analysis of drawings produced by children enrolled in Portuguese as heritage language (PHL) classes in Germany, we analyse how bi-/multilingual children perceive their multilingual repertoires and depict the relationship between the various multilingual and semiotic resources. The analysis describes five tendencies of representation of the multilingual self, covering diverse representations from juxtaposition to coordination of linguistic resources, and using several visual resources, such as flags and speech bubbles. The integrated analysis of childrens linguistic and visual resources clarifies how they perceive their multilingualism and uncovers their multilingual awareness. We will (1) reflect on some pedagogical and political challenges that PHL classes in Germany face, regarding the enhancement of a deeper multilingual awareness; and (2) evaluate the data collection methodology, i.e. drawings as narratives about multilingualism or ‘multimodal translanguaging’, namely its validity and usefulness in order to understand childrens perceptions about multilingualism and about their multilingual selves.

The role of the family in heritage language use and learning: impact on heritage language policies

We analyze the way children and youngsters perceive the role of family in the use and acquisition of the heritage language (HL), through two complementary means: drawings produced by children and students participating in a discussion forum. Our study reveals: (1) the convergence of perceptions that children and adolescents have about family involvement and its roles in the maintenance of the HL, in terms of affective, cognitive, and interactional support; and (2) the affective, cognitive, and interactional scaffolding family provides for HL development. The analysis guides the proposition of several means of fostering the familys engagement in HL education, going beyond traditional roles and encouraging participative and deliberative actions within the curriculum, the programs, and the classroom.

Language negotiation in multilingual learning environments

The present study focuses on the negotiation of the languages of communication in language-learning activities involving multilingual learners. Its overall purpose is to throw light on the conditions that surround the creation and the maintenance of multilingual communicative spaces, as well as on the tensions and forces (both communicative and acquisitional) that influence language management in those spaces. Two different corpora, multilingual chats in Romance languages and informal conversations in Spanish L3, are analysed in order to identify the pragmatic functions accomplished by a language switch. Findings suggest that languages which are not part of the learning/communication contract can play mediation and remediation roles, and that the negotiation sequences that lead to their temporary inclusion (and the subsequent modification of the contract) or to their exclusion from the communicative situation can have a significant influence on the development of learners’ multilingual competence, understood as the ability to use two or more languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, regardless of their proficiency in the languages involved.

Blogs and the Development of Plurilingual and Intercultural Competence: Report of a Co-Actional Approach in Portuguese Foreign Language Classroom.

Focusing on the topic of the development of the plurilingual and intercultural competence through the integration of electronic communicative practices both in foreign language classrooms and non-formal contexts, this work aims at defining and characterizing, in view of a co-actional perspective, a “pedagogical blog”, by considering it from three different axes: a personal and social dimension, a collaborative and co-actional dimension and the management of linguistic and cultural repertoires dimension. In order to do so, this contribution presents and describes a case study which will highlight how blogs can be used in order to develop plurilingual and intercultural competences: we will present the classroom dynamics developed by the blog “Falar pelos cotovelos”, a year-long project created within the scope of the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a foreign language, in a non-formal setting (non-scholar public). Throughout the discussion of this purposeful sampling, our analysis will allow us to consider pedagogical blogs as means of socialization, as instruments at the service of exolingual interaction and as time-spaces for languages and cultures.

‘O que diriam sobre os portugueses?????’ [What would you say about Portuguese people?]: intercultural curiosity in multilingual chat-rooms

Abstract In this study, we intend to discuss questioning as a sign of Intercultural Communicative Competence in plurilingual environments, stressing the relationship between questioning and the process of developing discovery skills in Romance chat-rooms. Focusing specifically on episodes beginning with intercultural questioning, we will analyse: (1) typical situations leading to these kinds of questions and; (2) recurrent discursive topics of the corpus. These two subjects will allow us to reflect on how plurilingual/intercultural on-line communication ‘re-socializes’ individuals, creating new images/representations about others and their (inter)cultural identities and by promoting a greater awareness of what it means to participate in intercultural discussions. Procuraremos, neste estudo, analisar o processo de questionamento como sinal de Competência de Comunicação Intercultural, evidenciando a relação entre o acto de questionar e o processo de desenvolvimento da competência de descoberta em chats romanófonos. Debruçando-nos sobre episódios iniciados com questionamento de teor intercultural, analisaremos: (1) as situações que despoletam este tipo de questões; (2) os tópicos de discussão recorrentes nestes episódios. Estes dois focus de análise permitir-nos-ão reflectir acerca de como a comunicação plurilingue/intercultural ‘re-socializa’ os sujeitos, criando novas imagens/representações acerca dos outros e das suas identidades (inter)culturais e promovendo uma maior consciencialização do que significa participar em discussões interculturais.

Is there a place for heritage languages in the promotion of an intercultural and multilingual education in the Portuguese schools

ABSTRACT This paper is part of a case study aimed at researching the multilingual repertoires of young people from a linguistic and cultural minority. Further, it analyzes the role of and the place given to heritage languages (HL) in the development of a multilingual and intercultural competence in schools. In the scope of the study mentioned above, a survey was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed to students from a migrant background. These students attended two primary and secondary schools in the central region of Portugal during the academic year 2013–2014. Results show that the respondents value their HL and perceive them as an instrument of social interaction as well as identity construction and affirmation. Additionally, the results show that both school and teachers recognize and respect the students’ linguistic and cultural capital as well as their composite and plural identities. However, they do not take advantage of this in the classroom by not promoting activities that enrich their students’ cultural and linguistic culture. In this context, the possibilities for an education in/with HL, as a pedagogical and didactic project, are not yet present in the school curriculum and habitus, on the one hand, because there are no educational language policies that incorporate it, and on the other hand, because both school and teachers do not seem to value the role and usefulness of HL in the promotion of an intercultural and multilingual education.

Drawing the plurilingual self: how children portray their plurilingual resources

Abstract Social representations have a deep impact on how societal multilingualism, individual plurilingualism, and plurisemiotic resources are described, reported, and accepted. Traditionally, two perceptions of the relationship between languages in plurilingual minds have been prevalent: the juxtaposed and the interdependent representation. A third perspective has recently emerged, reporting more dynamic and plurisemiotic communicative practices. We will analyze the most frequent patterns children use to represent their linguistic resources through visual narratives and how these representations fit into those perspectives. Our analysis evinces the dominance of more traditional representations of plurilingual resources as the sum of features from several clearly separated languages. However, some productions already point out at more supple and flexible possibilities of arranging linguistic resources. Finally, we provide some clues about the development of linguistic curricula designed for plurilingual children engaged in Heritage Language classes, and we discuss epistemological issues regarding the analysis of multimodal plurilingualism and complex plurilingual practices.

The multilingual turn: implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education

Catalan is being promoted as the region’s language of integration, and there is the danger of making (immigrant) students with more complex and richer linguistic repertoires feel excluded, and of putting Catalan first and the students’ needs (such as the acquisition of English) after. These are some of the insights provided in the case studies, and I mention them to show that the analyses are in-depth, paying a great deal of attention to the socio-political realities of the different territories. Chapter 11, ‘Conclusion,’ is of similar length to the introduction and effectively summarizes the main points raised throughout the book, making mentions to the examples and case studies. This is a book that combines strong convictions with scientific rigor. It describes what is going on, and it exhorts us to move in a specific direction. The author addresses two important social issues. First, there is the need to incorporate into classroom practice what students use outside the classroom. As already argued above, this is easy when the varieties have social currency and harder when they are stigmatized. But it must be done in all cases if we want all students to feel part of the community of practice. Incorporating the varieties means not only using them but also analyzing them and discovering their similarities and differences. Second, there is the issue of access to varieties and registers that students might need in order to succeed when they leave school. And depending on the context, this might mean less use of the mother tongue in education or caring less about the ‘health’ of the national language. The book could be particularly useful to (future) teachers and sociolinguists. The author, in fact, addresses both groups and warns us that we ‘need to move beyond a mere celebration of translanguaging and ensure that ... students become aware of the differences between their mixed language and the standard variety, thus leading them to develop high proficiency in the standard, which is required for their educational and later professional success’ (115). In other words, celebrating this diversity (rather than trying to stifle it) is a step forward, but it is not enough. We also have to equip these students International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 771

Multilingual interaction in chat rooms: translanguaging to learn and learning to translanguage

ABSTRACT In this chapter, we analyse the co-construction of meaning by university students in romance language (RL) chat rooms, in an online platform focused on multilingual language practice and learning. This communicative situation can best be described through the concept of ‘intercomprehension’, i.e. a multilingual and multisemiotic communicative practice between speakers of different languages (in this case, typologically related languages), and will be analysed using a translanguaging lens, which is embedded in a heteroglossic perspective. Such an analysis invites us to perceive fluidity in the borders between languages and inside individuals’ repertoires. In this particular multilingual learning situation, where participants communicate to learn and learn to communicate in RL chat rooms, we will observe speakers’ double orientation towards translanguaging, i.e. the interconnection between ‘translanguaging to learn’ and ‘learning to translanguage’. The results demonstrate a strategic use of translanguaging skills (with specific affective, cognitive and social goals), together with the subjects’ explicit agency when engaged in intercomprehensive communicative practices.

Português como Língua de Herança: Que Português? Que Língua? Que Herança?

RESUMO: Refletimos, nesta contribuição de índole ensaística, sobre o conceito “Português como Língua de Herança” (PLH) partindo da sua natureza tripartida. Assim, desenvolveremos a nossa reflexão em torno dos três aspetos seguintes: i) que Português é abarcado nos estudos sobre PLH, se pensarmos que se trata de uma língua pluricêntrica?; ii) que noção de “língua” subjaz aos trabalhos acerca do PLH e como é que essa noção influencia a natureza dos fenómenos investigados?; e iii) de que herança(s) se fala nos trabalhos sobre PLH e como se valoriza (ou não) o indivíduo no processo de “herdar”?