Multilingual Literacy

Edited by Esther Odilia Breuer, Dr. Eva Lindgren, Dr. Anat Stavans, Elke Van Steendam

Publication date:

21 January 2021

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781800410695

This book investigates multilingual literacy practices, explores the technology applied in different educational frameworks, the centrality of multilingual literacy in non-formal, informal and formal educational contexts, as well as its presence in everyday life. Thematically clustered in four parts, the chapters present an overview of theory related to multilingual literacy, address the methodological challenges of research in the area, describe and evaluate projects set up to foster multilingual literacy in a variety of educational contexts, analyze the literacy practices of multilinguals and their contribution to language and literacy acquisition. This volume aims to initiate a change in paradigms, shifting from structured and conservative problematizations to inclusive and diverse conceptualizations and practices. To that end, the book showcases explorations of different methodologies and needs in formal and non-formal educational systems; and it serves as a springboard for developing multivocal participatory spaces with opportunities for learning and identity-building for all multilinguals, across different settings, languages, ages and contexts.

Contributors

Esther Odilia Breuer and Elke Van Steendam: Multiple Approaches to Understanding and Working with Multilingual (Multi-)Literacy

Part 1: Issues, Methods and Insights into Multilingual Literacy

Tiane Donahue: Linguistic and Social Diversity, Literacy and Access to Higher Education
Monika Angela Budde and Franziska Prüsmann: Studying the Learning of Immigrant Students with Limited German: A Proposal for Developing and Applying an Instrument for Selecting Suitable Research Participants
Annika Norlund Shaswar: “I Should Really Interpret Word by Word for You”: Researcher, Interpreter and Interviewee Negotiating Roles, Responsibilities, and Meanings in Two Multilingual Literacy Research Interviews

Part 2: Formal Education Framework: Multilingual Literacy in Classroom Practices

Ulrike Jessner, Emese Malzer-Papp, Elisabeth Allgäuer-Hackl: Paving a New Way to Literacy Development in Multilingual Children: A DMM Perspective
Malgorzata Machowska-Kosciak: “He Just Does Not Write Enough For It”- Literacy Practices Among Polish Adolescents in Ireland
Åsa Wedin: Construction of Identities in Diverse Classrooms: Writing Identity Texts in Grade Five

Part 3: Formal Education Framework: Technology-Driven Multilingual Literacy in School

Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer: Developing Multiliteracies in Online Multilingual Interactions: The Example of Chat-Room Conversations in Romance Languages
Claudine Kirsch: Promoting Multilingualism and Multiliteracies through Storytelling: A Case Study on the Use of the App iTEO in Preschools in Luxembourg

Part 4: Non-Formal Education: Multilingual Literacy at Home, in the Community and in Cyberspace

Deborah Bergman Deitcher, Helen Johnson, Dorit Aram: Multilingual Preschoolers’ Word Learning from Parent-Child Shared Reading of Informational and Narrative Books
Anat Stavans, Maya Tahar Eden and Lior Azar: Multilingual Literacy: The Use of Emojis in Written Communication
Anat Stavans and Eva Lindgren: Building the Multilingual Literacy Bridge

Index

This book is a welcome addition to multilingual literacy studies in which theorizing, research, and implications for practice are intertwined in innovative ways. Readers will find a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives, and a wealth of novel insights on the acquisition and teaching of literacy by multilinguals of different ages, for different purposes, in diverse formal and informal contexts.