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Article published In:
Language Teaching for Young Learners
Vol. 5:2 (2023) ► pp.217–246

Introducing plurilingualism in the English as an Additional Language classroom through plurilingual approaches

A study in a Catalan primary school

| University of Barcelona
| University of Barcelona

This article discusses research that was carried out in Barcelona, Spain which explored plausible facets for introducing pluralistic approaches in the English as an Additional Language classroom. The research triangulates data collected from administrative personnel, teachers, and students aged 7–8 years in order to identify plausible approaches to synthesize the instruction of teaching English with the development of plurilingual concepts and skills. Methodological approaches included interviews with the administrators, questionnaires with both students and their teachers and a multimodal activity done in the EFL classroom. Through the discussion of the results we highlight specific techniques, such as Intercomprehension, that facilitate language instruction for Additional Language Learners in a linguistically diverse community that has various languages in the social and learning environments. Through the data analysis, we identify aspects that could help facilitate the instruction of English as an additional language in multilingual settings.

Keywords: plurilingualism, pluralistic approaches, language teaching, English as an Additional Language, young language learners, language education
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Macro to micro: Language education policies and Catalonia
    • 1.2Plurilingualism: A conceptual framework
    • 1.3Plurilingual approaches
  • 2.The research
    • 2.1Environment
    • 2.2Language instruction at school
    • 2.4Research questions and objectives
    • 2.5Data collection: Participants, design and procedure, results and analysis
      • 2.5.1Questionnaires
        • 2.5.1.1Participants- Questionnaires
        • 2.5.1.2Design and procedure- Questionnaires
        • 2.5.1.3Results and analysis- Questionnaires
      • 2.5.2Multimodal activity
        • 2.5.2.1Participants- multimodal activity
        • 2.5.2.2Design and procedure- Multimodal activity
        • 2.5.2.3Results and analysis- multimodal activity
      • 2.5.3Semi-structured interviews
        • 2.5.3.1Participants- semi-structured interviews
        • 2.5.3.2Design and procedure- Semi-structured interviews
        • 2.5.3.3Results and analysis- Semi-structured interviews
  • 3.Synthesizing results
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 2 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ltyl.00037.ste
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