Abstract
In most education systems in the world, the unequal power relationships across languages mean that it is far easier to learn dominant languages and far more difficult to develop one’s literacy in a minority language. In the face of such inequality in contemporary multilingual primary classrooms, a new conceptualization of language education is required. Following on Hawkins’s proposal to develop a new approach he called language awareness (LA), many researchers in Europe and elsewhere have proposed awareness-raising activities aimed at exploring the functioning of language and languages in everyday life through the acknowledgment of students’ plurilingual repertoires as resources for learning. While not teaching one specific language, LA is meant to promote the emergence of a new linguistic culture in schools that can answer some of the challenges posed by multilingualism and multiculturalism.
Research on LA at primary has pointed to the holistic and inclusive dimension of this model of language education and on the way it can transform the schooling experience of minority speaking students whose linguistic, cultural, and identity capital becomes validated through LA activities. Because LA challenges negative discourses on minority languages and their speakers, it also has an effect on teachers’ perception of bi-/multilingualism and can be used in teacher education to develop a critical awareness of power issues related to languages. However, new research is needed to elaborate a more theoretically coherent conceptualization of LA and to find out whether, beyond the empowerment of immigrant learners and their family, such a model can give enough long-term support to emergent bilinguals and minority language speakers.
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Hélot, C. (2016). Awareness Raising and Multilingualism in Primary Education. In: Cenoz, J., Gorter, D., May, S. (eds) Language Awareness and Multilingualism. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_29-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_29-2
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Awareness Raising and Multilingualism in Primary Education- Published:
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_29-2
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Awareness Raising and Multilingualism in Primary Education- Published:
- 30 August 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_29-1