Abstract: Plurilingual Teaching Practices in Dual Language Programme
Research Question:
What are the plurilingual practices in play at the interaction of English and French (the two academic languages and students’ home languages) in coteaching situations in the dual language programme of LGB primary?
A brief background:
At Campus of La Grande Boissière (LGB) Primary, International School of Geneva, Dual Language Programme was instituted in 2011 to promote bilingualism and plurilingualism among primary students. In this programme, transdisciplinary units of inquiry are facilitated in both English and French simultaneously by two teachers for four lessons every week.
Dual Language lessons are transacted through units of inquiry where all children access content in a bilingual setting. This model provides language separation; while ensuring that children are supported in the language of instruction. It allows children to work collaboratively and use language to fulfil a purpose rather than having to examine the discrete elements of language as is the case in standard curriculums. Conceptual learning is facilitated by the presence of two teachers each serving as a model for one of the two languages. The teachers get to work collaboratively and plan lessons that are rich both in conceptual learning and in language input.
At the school level, the units of inquiry taught in the ELP (English Language Programme) and the FLP (French Language Programme) have been aligned to afford a similar language experience in both programmes and effective collaboration and planning. The Dual Language Programme compliments, and is supported by, the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and FSL (French as a Second Language) programmes which have the student population split into language proficiency groups for five lessons a week.
Wonderings:
In this context I would like to research the Plurilingual Practices in Dual Language Programme Since Dual Language is taught in years 3 and 4 in a whole class setting for four lessons a week and the same students are then grouped into different language proficiency levels for 5 EFL lessons. In this hybrid context my wonderings are related to the language learning experience of our students in Dual Language Programme. How does the experiential nature of the units of inquiry motivate the children to learn language in class? How does the presence and interactions of the two languages of instruction encourages them to access their latent common linguistic core? How does translanguaging play in (knowledge of language of instruction, mother tongue, words and phrases and teaching of functional language in the target language, code mixing, gestures and actions). What are the core strategies in place? How is this facilitating learning and meta learning in language and concepts? Since conceptually driven units of inquiry tend to be content driven. In this context, how are the co-teachers working to optimise the ‘latent common linguistic core’ (Cummins 2005) of the two languages? Is here a close alignment along thematic and linguistic lines?
To further focus I'd like to narrow my research to the following question(s)
1) What are the plurilingual practices in play at the interaction of English and French (the two academic languages and students’ home languages) in coteaching situations in the dual language programme of LGB primary? This will focus on translanguaging and metalinguistic awareness in 7-9 yr old children. The exploration will be from the perspective of the children and teachers/admin).
2) How can we further develop the plurilingual practices of this programme?
3) Are there potential collaborations possible with other schools (with a hope to leverage our learning and experiences with each other)?