Multilingualism – a new old approach to learning and teaching (foreign) languages

Abstract

Članek prikazuje koncept čezjezičnosti. Gre za t. i. novi stari koncept, saj gre na eni strani za ‘stari’ način komuniciranja, ki ga spontano in nezavedno že od nekdaj uporabljamo govorci različnih jezikov v različnih komunikacijskih okoliščinah, na drugi strani pa za ‘novi’ koncept, saj se mora v institucionalnih okvirih šele uveljaviti. Namen prispevka je opisati in predstaviti koncept čezjezičnosti s teoretskega vidika, in sicer tudi v primerjavi z jezikovnim preklapljanjem. Zlasti nas zanima njegov potencial v pedagoških okvirih učenja in poučevanja tujih jezikov, saj koncept postavlja vse jezike, tj. tako tuje kot vse materne jezike učencev, v bolj enakovreden položaj. Teoretska izhodišča bodo osvetljena z ugotovitvami ilustrativnega pedagoškega eksperimenta.

The paper explores the concept of translanguaging. It may be considered, in fact, as a new-old concept, since it reflects a method of communication that has always been used spontaneously and unconsciously by speakers of different languages in different communicative situations. It is also a new concept because it has yet to be established in institutional frameworks. This paper’s purpose is to describe and present the concept of translanguaging from a theoretical point of view and in comparison with code switching. We are particularly interested in its potential within the pedagogical framework of learning and teaching foreign languages, as the concept places all languages, i.e., both foreign and all the students’ mother tongues, in a more equal position. The theoretical starting points will be illuminated by the findings of an illustrative pedagogical experiment.