ABOUT
Research into multilingualism has now reached a point where possessing skills in multiple languages is considered in all areas as having value and potential [Berthele 2014]. At the same time, however, the interconnection of these skills and resources, especially in the field of education, remains a desideratum [Busch 2013; Hufeisen 2011]. In addition, assessing the entire multilingual repertoire of pupils to develop both fluency of the prestigious official and foreign languages, as well as the indigenous and non-native languages less used, is no easy task.
CONTEXT
Additionally, in multilingual regions such as the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (in which pupils not only have skills in two or three local languages, but also in other linguistic varieties or many other foreign or ethnic languages)[Engel et al. 2013], initiatives are being taken to make language learning more integrated [Gelmi/Saxalber 1992; Verra 2004; Scochi 2011]. However, the integrated language teaching, together with the development of multilingual school curricula based on it [Hufeisen 2011; Krumm/Reich 2011], does not effectively build on the pupil’s individual multilingual skills as it is unable to detect and describe the entirety of their multilingual repertoire. For this reason, there is a need to make the full range of language skills, i.e. all languages, operational, but none of the available tools for assessing language skills, nor the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) meet this objective.
FREPA
An alternative approach is provided by the framework for multilingual approaches (FREPA), which offers theoretical descriptors for cross-linguistic skills and resources of multilingual pupils [Candelier et al 2009; Meißner 2013], but which has not yet been empirically validated. Therefore, it is not clear to what extent this tool can describe how pupils draw on their individual language repertoires in multilingual learning scenarios or interactions.
OBJECTIVES
The research of the RepertoirePlus project is part of the aforementioned framework and will focus on assessing and making the individual linguistic repertoires operational, and will look at how they are used in multilingual interaction. Via an empirical validation of tools already developed to describe the repertoire of language skills and multilingualism, our study will inductively and deductively provide us with new information vis-à-vis assessing language repertoires and their use in multilingual interaction. On the one hand, the example of South Tyrol shows which repertoires pupils possess and to what degree they are aware of their extent and ways of applying them in multilingual situations. On the other hand, it will examine how pupils activate and use their language repertoire in interactive multilingual learning scenarios, in the context of a ‘language village’. Finally, our study will look at what pupils think regarding how they exercise their language repertoire. In summary, we can say that the general aim of this study is to demonstrate how to detect and describe individual linguistic repertoires with appropriate tools and, beginning with this, how to develop their strategic use in the domain of cross-linguistic teaching scenarios.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berthele, Raphael (2014): „Mehrsprachiges Repertoire und rezeptive Kompetenzen. Theorie, empirische Forschung und mögliche Konsequenzen für die Praxis“. Lecture at the annual conference „Tertiärsprachendidaktik – Deutsch als Folgefremdsprache“ of the association ‘Belgischer Germanisten- und Deutschlehrerverband‘, Antwerp. Available online at: http://docplayer.org/18347643-Mehrsprachiges-repertoire-und-rezeptive-kompetenzen-theorie-empirische-forschung-und-moegliche-konsequenzen-fuer-die-praxis.html (last access: 11/09/2017).
Busch, Brigitta (2013): Mehrsprachigkeit. Vienna: Facultas UTB.
Candelier, Michel; et al. (2009): Referenzrahmen für Plurale Ansätze zu Sprachen und Kulturen. Graz: EFSZ / Strasbourg: Europarat. Available online at: http://archive.ecml.at/mtp2/publications/C4_RePA_090724_IDT.pdf (last access: 11/05/2014).
Engel, Dana/Hoffmann, Martina (2016): ‚Zum Umgang mit Sprachenvielfalt an Südtiroler Schulen. Das Südtiroler Kooperationsprojekt „Sprachenvielfalt macht Schule“ stellt sich vor‘, in: Drumbl, Hans/de Carvalho, Geraldo/Klinner, Jörg (ed.): conference proceedings of the 15th international conference for German teachers (IDT), Bozen 2013, Band 8 Sprachenpolitik und Sprachenvielfalt, Bozen: bupress.
Gelmi, Rita; Saxalber, Annemarie (ed.) (1992): Integrierte Sprachdidaktik. Muttersprache – Zweitsprache. Theoretische Beiträge. Bozen: Beiträge zu Erziehung und Unterricht in Südtirol. Bozen: Schriftenreihe Päd. Institut.
Krumm, Hans-Jürgen; Reich, Hans H.: Curriculum Mehrsprachigkeit. 2011. Available online at: http://oesz.at/download/cm/CurriculumMehrsprachigkeit2011.pdf (last access: 10/20/2017).
Hufeisen, Britta (2011): „Gesamtsprachencurriculum: Überlegungen zu einem prototypischen Modell“. In: Baur, Rupprecht; Hufeisen, Britta (ed.): “Vieles ist sehr ähnlich.” ‐ Individuelle und gesellschaftliche Mehrsprachigkeit als bildungspolitische Aufgabe. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Hohengehren. pp. 265–282.
Meißner, Franz-Joseph (2013): Die REPA-Deskriptoren der ‚weichen Kompetenzen‘ – eine praktische Handreichung für den kompetenzorientierten Unterricht zur Förderung von Sprachlernkompetenz, interkulturellem Lernen und Mehrsprachigkeit. Available online at: http://www.certilingua.net/wp-content/uploads/gifon-bd2.pdf (last access: 11/09/2017).
Scochi, Claudia (2011): Wege zur Mehrsprachigkeit in Südtirol: Von Sprach- und Schulpolitik über Schulgeschichte zum Sach- und Fachunterricht in der Zweitsprache. Saarbrücken: VDM.
Verra, Roland (2004): Ladinisch – Paritätisch – Mehrsprachig. Aspekte der Mehrsprachigkeit in der ladinischen Schule. Bozen: Ladin Board of Education and Culture.