What are multilingual education theories?(2)

5. Holistic Multilingualism

• Key Idea: Learners’ multiple languages form an integrated system, and skills in one language can support development in others.
• Implications:
  • Promote cross-linguistic transfer by teaching commonalities between languages (e.g., similar vocabulary or grammatical structures).
  • Encourage metalinguistic awareness by having students compare and contrast their languages.

6. Interdependence Hypothesis (Cummins)

• Key Idea: Skills and knowledge acquired in one language can transfer to another, particularly in literacy and academic domains.
• Implications:
  • Strengthen literacy and academic skills in the learner’s strongest language(s) first.
  • Use multilingual teaching strategies to support cross-linguistic transfer.

7. Language Hierarchies and Ideologies

• Key Idea: Language policies and educational practices often reflect societal hierarchies, where some languages are valued more than others.
• Implications:
  • Multilingual education should challenge linguistic hierarchies and promote equity among all languages spoken by students.
  • Foster additive multilingualism, where all languages are developed and valued equally.

8. Language Awareness Theory

• Key Idea: Raising students’ awareness of how languages work fosters better understanding and acquisition of multiple languages.
• Implications:
  • Integrate activities that encourage students to reflect on linguistic structures, patterns, and cultural contexts of different languages.
  • Teach students to identify and leverage similarities between the languages they know.

(To be continued)