Activating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the Language Classroom

Book excerpt: This book challenges the reader to rethink and reimagine what diversity in language education means in transnational societies. Bringing together researchers and practitioners who contributed to the international LINguistic and Cultural DIversity REinvented (LINCDIRE) project, the book examines four pillars of innovation in language education: the Action-oriented approach, Plurilingualism, Indigenous epistemologies and Technology enhanced learning. The book critically discusses plurilingual pedagogical approaches that draw on learners' linguistic and cultural repertoires to encourage and support the dynamic use of languages in curricular innovation. It is a fundamental resource for language teachers, curriculum designers and educational researchers interested in understanding current thinking on the relevance and benefit of a plurilingual paradigm shift for language education in today's societies. More specifically, this book: Examines the development of plurilingualism and the potential of real-life oriented teaching and learning. Explores the concept of plurilingual and pluricultural competence. Focuses on collaboration and reflection from a humanistic tradition. Explores educational technology and explains the limitations and challenges of adopting ready-made tools. Highlights the iterative, design-based research process that informed the development of LINCDIRE’s pedagogical framework and action-oriented scenarios. Introduces practical examples of action-oriented tasks and scenarios, and illustrates the online tool (LITE) in terms of its current functionalities and design. Describes the implementation challenges and opportunities of plurilingual action-oriented tasks and discusses the results of implementation. Finally, the book examines future pedagogical innovation and research directions in order to help readers reflect on the implications of achieving sustainable change in language education. This exciting collection addresses an important question in language education: How can plurilingualism and cultural diversity be harnessed to promote sustainable innovation in language learning and teaching? Readers will find contributions from the diverse authors timely, compelling, and engaging. — Dr. Bonny Norton, FRSC, University Killam Professor, UBC Dept. of Language & Literacy Education, Canada Embracing a design-based research framework, this book offers learners and teachers powerful validation and a rich, relatable and inspiring action-oriented approach to holistic, dynamic, mediated, embodied, true-to-life, plurilingual language teaching and learning. — Dr. Elka Todeva, Professor of Applied Linguistics, MATESOL Program / Advanced Seminar in Plurilingual Pedagogy, SIT Graduate Institute, Washington, D.C. Anyone seeking innovation in Language Education will find in this volume a treasure trove of theoretical, empirical and methodological insights to answer the questions that arose among the 25 co-authors’ discussions to rethink language use, language learning, and language teaching. — Dr. Mercedes Bernaus, Emeritus Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain This thought-provoking and timely book argues convincingly for the need to reconceptualize innovation in language education in an increasingly diverse world. —Dr. Regine Hampel, Associate Dean (Research Excellence), Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University, UK