Teachers Beliefs And Strategies When Teaching Reading In Multilingual Settings

Globalization has not only changed our society, it has also had a profound effect on education. Many schools deal with student populations that due to migration have become increasingly multilingual. Politically, few would argue against the importance of multilingualism; rather, it is promoted to the fullest. However, in practical terms the challenges associated with teaching and educational policies have increased manifold as a result of the linguistic diversity among student bodies. Reading is certainly regarded as a key learning skill, however, the question arises as to how the students' life-world multilingualism is taken into consideration. Furthermore, being considered part of teachers' professional competence, teachers' mental processes and perceptions (beliefs) have been the focus in several different academic fields. Previous research suggests that there are significant links between teachers' beliefs and practices. This thesis explores the aforementioned aspects in greater detail, with the overall aim to gain a deeper understanding of teachers' beliefs and strategies when teaching reading in multilingual settings. Using a cross-disciplinary, qualitative research approach, the empirical inquiry is based on case studies within different, linguistically diverse settings. The case studies include classroom observations as well as teacher interviews in German, Swedish and Chilean grade 4 classrooms.

How can technology-enhanced tasks be used to support oral communication in heterogeneous English as a Foreign Language (EFL) primary classrooms? This study explores pre-service and in-service teachers' cognitions on the use of technologyenhanced foreign language learning tasks in the young learners' classroom. The study investigates the aspects of technology-enhanced tasks that participants consider as having a relevant impact on the development of learners' oral communicative competence, the criteria participants consider relevant for the design of such tasks in ways that cater for the needs of heterogeneous groups, and the support participants consider helpful in order to create and implement such tasks. Data were collected by carrying out three small-scale technology-enhanced projects in EFL primary school classrooms in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The findings suggest that technology-enhanced tasks are well suited to supporting heterogeneous groups of primary school children in speaking English.

This book comprises the proceedings of the TEQIP III Sponsored 2nd International Conference on “Gender Equity: Challenges and Opportunities” (2nd ICOGECAO 2020 -Virtual Mode), held at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India, from 25 to 27 November 2020. ICOGECAO provided a platform for researchers from multiple countries to present their views about the challenges associated with gender equity. Gender equity is one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5) set up by the United Nations in 2015, to promote and empower all genders equally. The proceedings strongly support the ideas of gender neutrality and blow out the mind-set of limiting gender studies to only women rights. They offer a collection of articles that break the stereotypes and myths often wrongly associated with gender. The ideas in the presented papers highlight gender-based discriminations, ask important questions and share facts that encompass beyond the so-called boundary lines. The authors contributed on various topics including but not limited to violence, crime, discrimination, and abuse against women and LGBTQ+ community. The basic motive of the presented book is to incorporate ideas and contribute to the sensitization and education about the important yet often neglected issues of gender equality. Thus, this book proves to be an essential resource for educators and researchers working in the field of gender studies. The work presents challenges caused due to COVID-19, social media, popular culture and work–life balance and explores empowerment through law, skills, technology and media. Some interesting case studies highlighted gender discrimination in science, sports and law. A variety of papers on literary texts were examined from a gender lens. The proceeding is divided into five subsections: 1. law, 2. literature, 3. management, 4. sociology and 5. social studies. The proceeding provides a wider perceptive and visuals about the scenarios which needs attention. The ideas presented will be helpful for achieving the sustainable development goal of gender equity to a greater extent.

"Language teachers are concerned with the relationship between what they know or believe and what they practice. In this book, Yang Gao thus addresses this gap. Using the complex dynamic system theory, he reports the characteristics of the Chinese EFL teachers' belief system and highlights the complexity of the system, the non-linearity, and unpredictability of the subsystems. He further explores the relationships between the stated beliefs and the actual practices among the Chinese EFL teachers. One of the key contributions through the book is the conceptualized model in studying EFL teachers' beliefs and practices"--

Bringing together the voices of a diverse group of scholars and language professionals, this edited collection, concerned with the cultivation of plurilingualism in multilingual educational settings, builds on the theory and practice of linguistic and cultural mediation both as curricular content and social practice. The chapters view mediation as an important aspect of communication which involves dynamic, purposeful interactivity, implicating social agents in the negotiation and construction of socially situated meanings across different languages and within the same language. Theoretically informed chapters present views on mediation as well as contributors’ research and project outcomes in educational interventions. They also describe how mediation has been incorporated in educational practices and how it materialises in social contexts. Ultimately, this book makes the case for why mediation constitutes a key competence to be developed for active global and local citizenry in today’s societies where there is an increased rate of knowledge acquisition and exchange. Presenting research from classrooms and other multilingual environments, this book offers concrete suggestions for the development of language users/learners’ ability to mediate within and across languages. It will appeal to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of language and education, education policy and politics, bilingualism and plurilingualism more generally. Curriculum designers may also find the volume of use.

This book explores language teacher beliefs in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading instruction in the context of Chinese university English instructors. Since the 1990s, there has been a renewed interest on teacher beliefs in the domain of language teacher cognition. However, most studies in this area aim at investigating the relationship between particular aspects of teacher beliefs and classroom practices, largely ignoring the complexity of teacher beliefs. This study explores the issue from an alternative perspective by conceptualizing teacher beliefs as a complex, dynamic and multi-faceted system. By adopting five rounds of interview and four classroom observations, the year-long study reveals seven key features of the belief system shared among six participants. It calls for the holistic, complex and insider view to examine teacher beliefs in relation to the sociocultural and historical contexts where the teachers work and live.

Multilingual Approaches for Teaching and Learning outlines the opportunities and challenges of multilingual approaches in mainstream education in Europe. The book, which draws on research findings from several officially monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual countries in Europe, discusses approaches to multilingual education which capitalise on students’ multilingual resources from early childhood to higher education. This book synthesises research on multilingual education, relates theory to practice, and discusses different pedagogical approaches from diverse perspectives. The first section of the book outlines multilingual approaches in early childhood education and primary school, the second looks at multilingual approaches in secondary school and higher education, and the third examines the influence of parents, policy-makers, and professional development on the implementation and sustainability of multilingual approaches. The book demonstrates that educators can leverage students’ multilingualism to promote learning and help students achieve their full potential. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of language education, psychology, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.