Exploring technologically enhanced plurilingual approaches in language teacher education: insights from pre- and in-service teacher training sessions in French-speaking Belgium

Meunier, Fanny
(2024) 21st AILA World Congress — Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (11.August.2024)

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This presentation delves into the dynamic intersection of Language Teacher Education, Plurilingualism, and Digital Technologies, investigating their implications for effective language instruction. The study involves pre-service teachers (who are being introduced to these approaches as part of their initial training) and in-service teachers (who are learning more about these approaches with a view to adapting their existing practices to accommodate these innovative paradigms). The training sessions have been designed to empower teachers both with conceptual understanding and practical application of technologically enhanced plurilingual approaches in language education. The presentation reports on four distinct teacher training sessions conducted in French-speaking Belgium (two pre- and two in-service). The two first sessions, one pre-service (n=40) and one in-service (n=6) took place in 2023, and the last two will take place early 2024 (pre-service, expected n=45; in-service, expected n=8). The primary objective of this presentation is to provide a comprehensive analysis of teachers' reactions to technologically enhanced plurilingual language instruction. The research investigates both the opportunities and challenges perceived by teachers in the application of these paradigms. The study draws on both quantitative and qualitative data, including surveys, observations, and interviews, to gain a nuanced understanding of teachers' perspectives. Initial findings (first two sessions) reveal that while teachers generally acknowledge the benefits of technologically enhanced plurilingual approaches, they also grapple with various obstacles such as limited technical proficiency, time constraints (including the management of ‘one target language’ versus ‘plurilingual aspects’), and concerns about maintaining linguistic focus. The second objective of the presentation is to propose pragmatic suggestions for facilitating a smooth incorporation of technologically enhanced plurilingual approaches into existing language teaching practices. These recommendations include : recourse to targeted professional development opportunities via teachers’ communities of practices (e.g. sustainable collaborative spaces for teachers to exchange experiences and best practices), the importance of discerning technological choices (opting for selectivity over abundance), and the iterative use of technology to ensure meaningful and impactful learning outcomes. The presentation is part of symposium 5.16: Transforming Language Teachers’ Ideologies and Pedagogies: How Plurilingualism and Agentive Digital Technologies Are Internationally Used for Inclusion and Sustainable Language Learning (chaired by Angelica Galante & Euline Cutrim Schmid).
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Meunier, F. (2024). Exploring technologically enhanced plurilingual approaches in language teacher education: insights from pre- and in-service teacher training sessions in French-speaking Belgium. 21st AILA World Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/218114