Do societal and individual multilingualism lead to positive perceptions of multilingualism and language learning? A comparative study with Australian and German pre-service teachers

Abstract

Many metropolitan cities have undergone rapid demographic changes in recent years, and such changes hasten and widen linguistic diversities. Similar changes are happening in Sydney, Australia and Hamburg, Germany. These changes are most acutely felt and observed in the classrooms where multiple languages are spoken, despite a prevalent monolingual mindset in education in both these contexts. What do pre-service teachers think of language learning and multilingualism in the face of demographic and sociolinguistic changes? This is a particularly urgent question for pre-service teachers, whose perspectives on multilingualism will considerably influence on how their students view language learning and maintenance. Based on a survey of 436 pre-service teachers in Sydney and Hamburg, this comparative study explores the relationship between their linguistic profiles (monolingual, multilingual and how they become multilinguals) and the way they perceive societal multilingualism and the need to promote multilingual education to all. The findings suggest that formal language education, more than heritage backgrounds and knowledge, provided the necessary experience to foster a more open attitude towards societal multilingualism and language learning.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Viele Großstädte erlebten in den letzten Jahren einen rapiden demografischen Wandel, der die sprachliche Vielfalt enorm erweitert hat. Beispiele hierfür sind Sydney in Australien und Hamburg in Deutschland. Diese sprachlichen Veränderungen sind am deutlichsten in den Klassenzimmern zu spüren und zu beobachten. Dort werden häufig mehrere Sprachen gesprochen, obwohl sowohl im australischen als auch im deutschen Bildungswesen eine einsprachige Denkweise vorherrscht. Was denken jedoch angehende Lehrkräfte über Sprachenlernen und Mehrsprachigkeit angesichts der demografischen und soziolinguistischen Veränderungen? Dies ist eine besonders drängende Frage, da ihre Ansichten über Mehrsprachigkeit einen erheblichen Einfluss darauf haben, wie ihre Schüler:innen das Sprachenlernen und den Spracherhalt sehen.

Die vergleichende Studie greift diesen Sachverhalt in einer Umfrage unter 436 angehenden Lehrkräften in Sydney und Hamburg im Rahmen auf. Sie untersucht die Beziehung zwischen den linguistischen Profilen der angehenden Lehrkräfte (einsprachig, mehrsprachig und wie sie mehrsprachig wurden) und der Art und Weise, wie sie die gesellschaftliche Mehrsprachigkeit und Notwendigkeit der Förderung mehrsprachiger Bildung für alle Schüler:innen wahrnehmen. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass reines Sprachwissen und Herkunftssprachenkenntnisse dabei eine geringere Rolle spielten. Sprachunterricht scheint hingegen notwendige Erfahrungen gebracht zu haben, die eine offenere Haltung gegenüber gesellschaftlicher Mehrsprachigkeit und Sprachenlernen förderten.

ABSTRACT (PLAIN LANGUAGE)

In recent years, population in many metropolitan cities has changed rapidly and such changes have resulted in more languages being spoken and used. Major cities like Sydney in Australia and Hamburg in Germany are also experiencing rapid population changes. We are now seeing more students speak and use many languages in the classroom, but English and German, respectively, are still the dominant languages used in the classrooms in the two countries. When student populations are changing, what do pre-service teachers think about language learning and multilingualism? This is an important question because teachers influence how their students think. We gave 436 Australian and German pre-service teachers a survey to find out about the languages they speak, their beliefs about languages and multilingual education. Even though many pre-service teachers come from families that speak different languages, they do not necessarily support additional language learning. From the survey, we found that when pre-service teachers learn languages at school, they are more likely to have open attitudes about multilingualism and language learning.

Keywords:

• Societal multilingualism
• individual multilingualism
• multilingual education
• (student) teachers’ beliefs
• pre-service teachers

Notes

1 Despite recognising that putting up such a ratio as a way to compare linguistic repertoires might transmit an additive view of individual multilingualism and the misconception that languages are isolated from each other and thus easily identified and counted, we nevertheless decided to opt for this option, using students’ accounts of their languages.

Additional information

Funding

This project is supported by DAAD under the scheme, IVAC - International Virtual Academic Collaboration 2020-2021 (project number 57563713).