MuLiPEC – Developing multilingual pedagogies in Early Childhood

Calls for multilingual pedagogies have reached early childhood education and some multilingual programmes have been implemented in Europe. However, many programmes continue to be based on monolingual ideologies and, therefore, their focus frequently remains on the majority language. The project MuLiPEC addressed the need for the development of multilingual pedagogies in early childhood education in Luxembourg. To this end, the research team offered a professional development (PD) path to preschool teachers (formal education sector) and caretakers working with 2- to 5-year olds in the non-formal education sector (e.g. crèches). The aims of the research project consisted of analysing the influence of the PD on the practitioners’ attitudes, knowledge, and practices; comparing practices across settings; and investigating the influence of multilingual practices on children. The integrated model of PD included a 15-hour course attended by 46 participants in the summer of 2016 as well as coaching and six network meetings offered to a subset of seven PD participants from September 2016 to September 2017. These seven teachers and educators worked in a preschool, an éducation précoce, a crèche and a maison relais pour enfants (day-care centre), respectively. The PD addressed perspectives of multilingualism, theories of language learning, pedagogical principles, activities with books, rhymes and songs in multiple languages, and language-supporting strategies. The project used quantitative methods (i.e. a survey done prior to and after the PD) and qualitative ones. The researchers observed the professionals, video-recorded activities, asked the professionals to video-record activities themselves, and regularly interviewed the practitioners. Simone Mortini, the PhD candidate, focused on the children in the four institutions and investigated the languaging practices and the agency of eight children over the course of one academic year. The analysis of the quantitative data drew on content analysis, paired samples t-test and correlational analysis whilst the qualitative data were analysed with thematic analysis and a socio-cultural perspective of conversation analysis. The findings from the questionnaires completed by 44 participants before and after the PD, show that the course positively influenced the practitioners’ knowledge about multilingualism and language learning, their attitudes towards translanguaging and home languages, as well as their interest in organising activities in children’s home languages. The longitudinal study carried out with seven practitioners provided further details. The findings from the observations, interviews, and the questionnaire (administered at three time points) indicate that these professionals developed a positive stance towards translanguaging, learned to design a child-centred multilingual learning environment, and implemented activities in languages other than the institutional ones. Their languaging practices included translating, ‘home languaging’ and translanguaging, thus, using semiotic resources flexibly and fluidly. The flexible language use facilitated communication and promoted the children’s participation, language learning and well-being. There were differences across the settings. The practitioners in the formal sector as well as in the crèche designed a more holistic multilingual learning environment compared to the caretakers in the day care centre who needed more time to move away from monolingual ideologies and learn how to plan child-centred activities. All practitioners but especially the former, used a range of language-supportive strategies in Luxembourgish, French and home languages, in daily routine activities, storytelling and focused language activities. Furthermore, the practitioners in the formal sector translanguaged more strategically than those in the non-formal sector. These differences are related to the practitioners’ views of multilingualism and their ability to monitor children’s linguistic needs, which are mediated by their own experience of multilingualism and qualification. Finally, the professionals’ translanguaging stance and multilingual practices propelled children’s language-based agency. Their agentic behaviour moved on a continuum from ‘participatory’ to ‘controlling agency’, reflecting both the differing languaging practices and pedagogies, and children’s personal backgrounds. The project MuLiPEC contributes to knowledge production as it is one of few that demonstrates the positive influence of a PD on ECEC professionals’ multilingual practices and provides insights into translanguaging pedagogies and children’s language-based agentic behaviour in a multilingual context.