Teachers negotiating multilingualism in the EFL classroom

Abstract

<p>This article sets out to explore English as foreign language (EFL) teachers’<br />views of teaching migrant pupils with multilingual backgrounds in a regular<br />classroom. Previous studies on multilingual pupils have mostly concentrated<br />on second language learning contexts or on the role of pupils’ L1. In an increasingly<br />multilingual world and due to growing migration, this study concentrates<br />on EFL. The data were interviews with English teachers (n=7), who reflected on<br />their experiences with migrant pupils in the foreign language classroom. The data<br />were analysed through qualitative content analysis. The participants had not<br />really pondered on the role of multilingualism in the EFL classroom and some<br />underlying preconceptions could be detected. Teachers’ perception of the multilingual<br />pupil was controversial in that they did not want to draw attention to the<br />linguistic background of the pupil but, on the other hand, they had noticed that<br />multilingual learners had greater language awareness than their mainstream<br />peers. Although not fully aware of the potential of multilingualism and the pupils’<br />linguistic resources in EFL teaching, the teachers had used several ways of supporting<br />their multilingual learners, reflecting the principles of translanguaging.<br /></p>