EDiLiC Conference Thessaloniki (Greece), July 6th-9th, 2021
Online conference
Pluralistic approaches, plurilingual competences, language appropriations: the learner at the center of educational realities
This 9th conference seeks to showcase reflection on evidence-based practices, professional expertise and research findings in the field of pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures.
The theme of the 9th Congress of the EDiLiC Association, organized in Greece, pursues reflection initiated by the association and its members in recent years whilst taking into consideration local realities and challenges. This reflection is further explored from a dual, yet paradoxical perspective: that of the impact of the implementation of pluralistic approaches on the development of the plurilingual skills of learners and that of the absence of such approaches in the day-to-day life of schools, both in terms of curricula and teaching practices.
During this conference we will pursue ideas initiated at the Rennes (2014) and Györ (2016) conferences and reexamine the recommendations resulting from the work of the Council of Europe. In particular, we aim to support “overarching language education, inclusive of and relevant to all school languages and all disciplinary fields, which encourage the construction of identities open to linguistic and cultural plurality and diversity, in the sense that languages are the expression of different cultures and of differences within a specific culture” (Cavalli et al., 2009: 8).
Our objective during this congress is to make our exchanges an important contribution to the implementation of pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures in contexts which may be deprived of official and explicit support allowing the establishment of plurilingual and multi / intercultural educational practices, as in the case of the Hellenic context.
Thus, this congress will give presenters the opportunity to present work that
- promotes the establishment of pluralistic approaches in formal and informal language teaching contexts, such as those for refugee or immigrant populations;
- involves the use of pluralistic approaches within the framework of the teaching of a subject integrated into a foreign language;
- demonstrates an evolution of representations and teaching and learning practices towards a pluralistic perspective.
Our congress aims to give voice to innovative experiences, coming from various contexts, while operationalizing a pragmatic plurilingualism through the use of several languages and through a truly intercultural attitude, thus taking up the discussion launched at the 8th EDILIC congress in Lisbon ( 2019).
Axes of the congress
Axis 1
• Pluralistic approaches and the development of the plurilingual and intercultural skills of learners
A true integration of pluralistic approaches in curricula and in daily teaching-learning raises a series of challenges and necessitates overcoming certain obstacles. It can also add value to the development of learners' skills. This axis examines connections that could exist between languages intended for education (nursery, foreign, second, etc.) from a perspective that takes into account and emphasizes individual and collective plurilingualism. Interventions will show the advantages of pluralistic approaches but also the difficulties faced by education actors (teachers, educators and decision makers of language policies) as well as the resistance that would prevent the implementation of these approaches in different educational systems.
Axis 2
• Pluralistic approaches from a socio-affective perspective
The desire to give schools the opportunity to offer, establish and disseminate inclusive education also requires the establishment of approaches that actively participate in the development of the students’ well-being.
This axis will host presentations highlighting the work of the contribution of pluralistic approaches in the establishment of socio-affective experiences contributing to the development of intercultural and inter-linguistic reflection as well as to the modification of the representations and attitudes of the pupils and the teachers.
Axis 3
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Integrated didactics and linguistic and non-linguistic teaching
This axis intends to give a rightful place to works which, on the one hand, help to support the definition of integrated didactics and, on the other hand, expose various uses of it in the teaching of linguistic and non-linguistic disciplines. The questions that could be discussed here are: What are the cognitive advantages of these approaches? How could we deal with the difficulties that arise and what are these difficulties? How can they influence the representations of learners and teachers?
Axis 4
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Research and training articulation
Teacher training in general and in particular for language teachers or content teachers (at primary, secondary and university levels), working in formal or informal contexts (associations, NGOs, artistic circles), constitutes the main accessible way to the establishment of pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. During the congress, various initial and continuing training programs will be presented which are developed to prepare practitioners in the field to design material based on pluralistic approaches, adapted to new audiences, and to implement it in their establishments. Another concern of this axis will relate to the impact of these programs on the educational practices, representations and attitudes of teachers and learners.
Axis 5
• Alternative pluralistic approaches in formal and informal fields
This axis focuses on the presentation of artistic and creative practices as favorable fields for the establishment of pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. Plurilingual Kamishibai, children's albums, plays, artistic creations in the broad sense ... are particularly favorable tools for the implementation of pluralistic approaches, thus giving the possibility of creating plurilingual, pluricultural and intercultural activities and productions from the linguistic repertoires of learners.