Invited Guest Presentation | Engaging Students and Teachers to use their Multilingual Repertoires as a Resource for Learning and Teaching

On Friday, October 27th, guest speakers Jérémi Sauvage and Nathalie Auger, University of Montpellier, France, will be presenting their lecture on Engaging Students and Teachers to Use their Multilingual Repertoires as a Resource for Learning and Teaching: Examples in France and Europe.

Multilingualism in Europe, particularly within France, presents a unique blend of challenges and opportunities in the realm of language education. In this two-part discussion, we intend to fuse theoretical insights into language acquisition with their practical implementation in real-world classrooms, all within the context of a multilingual environment.

Jérémi Sauvage will initiate the conversation by delving into the historical evolution and legislative framework underpinning French language instruction. He will underscore the traditional French perspective, which separates language acquisition, often approached from a psychological standpoint, from pedagogy, predominantly rooted in educational sciences. He will contrast this with the more integrated approach prevalent in North America, exemplified by organizations like CARLA, and explore the feasibility of incorporating such methodologies into European settings.

Nathalie Auger will follow with pragmatic solutions, emphasizing the significance of capitalizing on students’ pre-existing linguistic and cultural knowledge in the process of second language acquisition. Drawing upon an array of scholarly sources, she will introduce the “language diamond” model, designed to harness all available linguistic resources for more effective language learning. The presentation will be enriched with live demonstrations, video clips, and web resources to substantiate the model’s applicability.

In sum, this discussion aims to strike a harmonious balance between linguistic theory and teaching methodologies, with a particular focus on the French perspective in this context.