Language Policy for the Multilingual Classroom

Christine Hélot is a professor of English and teacher educator at the University of Strasbourg in France. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College (Dublin). She has published several books and numerous articles both in French and English on bilingualism and bilingual education, language education policies, language awareness and intercultural education.Muiris Ó Laoire is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Ireland. A graduate of the National University of Ireland, he is author of books, textbooks and several articles and chapters on multilingualism, bilingualism language policy and pedagogy.

In this book, Hélot and O’Laoire fill the gaps that Hélot has so well identified in the past with possibilities - possibilities to educate for social equity and plurilingualism. But instead of arguing for top-down language education policies, Hélot and O’Laoire open possibilities in the ecology of classrooms through the agency of teachers and students. Focusing on pedagogies of the possible, this book is ground-breaking in its ecological approach that will appeal to scholars, policy makers and educators alike.

• PART 1. THE ECOLOGY OF THE MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM: FROM COMPLEXITY TO PEDAGOGY1A Perspectives on the learnersAngela Creese and Adrian Blackledge: Ideologies and Interactions in Multilingual Education: What can an Ecological Approach Tell us about Bilingual Pedagogy?Carola Mick: Heteroglossia in a Multilingual Learning Space: Approaching Language beyond “Lingualisms”Christine Hélot: Children’s Literature in the Multilingual Classroom: Developing multilingual literacy acquisitionAnne Marie De Mejía: Multilingualism and Pedagogical Practices in Colombia’s Caribbean Archipelago1B: Perspectives on the teachersKate Menken, Alexander Funk and Tatyana Kleyn: Teachers at the Epicenter: Engagement and Resistance in a Biliteracy Program for “Long-Term English Language Learners” in the U.S.Bernadette O’ Rourke: Negotiating Multilingualism in an Irish Primary School Context Pierrot Ngomo: Exploring New Pedagogical Approaches in the Context of Multilingual CameroonPART II: DECONSTRUCTING THE MYTH OF MONOLINGUALISM Perspectives on Identities, Ideologies and PoliticsUte Walker : Linguistic Diversity as a Bridge to Adjustment: Making the Case for Bi/multilingualism as a Settlement Outcome in New ZealandMichael Clyne: Three is too many in Australia: Questioning the Monolingual MindsetZvi Bekerman: Integrated Bilingual Education: Ethnographic Case Studies from the Palestinian-Jewish ‘Front’