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Published on 24/09/10 at 22:00:54 GMT by Redaksjonen
It is common to assume that bilinguals separate their languages and their language mixing is associated with poor language skills. A common notion is that the bilinguals are twice monolinguals with fully developed skills in both languages. All or nothing, and therefore teaching one language at a time is the "normal" teaching method often applied when teaching bilingual and multilingual minorities.
With such a static and balanced approach to bilingualism, where both languages are like two equalsized bicycle wheels in unison in which every wheel is moving in the same direction, it contributes to development of dynamic multilingualism. Using the parable a moon car, with the opportunity to travel with many wheels varied with regards to time and the unknown landscape, is more appropriate. This approach also fits better with the fact that languages in the 2000s multilingual societies are rarely divided and defined as single and uniform systems but rather overlap, interact, merge and intersect.
The simultaneous presence of several languages also characterizes many people's everyday lives. A conversation at the dinner table in a multilingual home often means a tacking between multiple languages to include family members in different generations. In the workplace this could be a diverse and collaborative use of different languages for different modalities such as in reading in one language and speaking differently. TV viewing and cinema often involves simultaneous exposure of spoken English or another foreign language and Swedish (major language). Another mixed language situation, well known for many Scandinavians, consisting of communication in which participants use their respective mother tongue as a helping tool to understand the majority language.
Overlapping and heterogeneous languages are also common for environments with intense language contact. Recent research has shown how, in particular, many young people in such environments appear to develop an increasingly sophisticated cross linguistic ability and express themselves in ways that may make it difficult to distinguish between the individual language and codes in their language. The evidence suggests that such an hybridized language is associated with advanced language abilities and skills in mastering a more homogeneous and unified standard language.
Schools seems to use a traditional approach in multilingualism. Multilingual pupils often hear the rebuke "Here we speak Swedish (majority language)" when using their mother tongue as a communication tool in the classroom. Those pupils are invited by this approach to get around in a rather wobbly wheels instead of using the lingual resources they have. An approach which serves as watertight bulkhead between the mothertongue teaching, other teaching and classroom learning.
The modern school today with the help of new technologies could instead open to the world and offer almost limitless possibilities for building a lingual bridge, communication and learning in the global network. So why not put the wheels in motion and take advantage of the multilingual classroom full potential! Even very limited language skills in a less widespread language can open new worlds. Sure, English is a fantastic global communication tool but because threequarters of the world's population actually does not speak English, there is every a good reason to broaden the repertoire!
Source: Inger Lindberg, Professor at the Institute of Education Sciences with a focus on language and language development (USOS), Stockholm University.
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