Language education in diverse communities: Ethics, multilingualism and teacher professionalism
Post-event Report
By: Lays Fenilli (UEM/Goldsmiths)
“Diversity is not just everywhere, it is increasing”. This was one of the topics that Professor Constant Leung emphasized in his talk organised by the CME last Tuesday (26th June 2024) at King’s College London.
To start his presentation, Professor Leung showed some statistical data showing that ethnolinguistic diversity is ever-present in many communities across the world, and used as an example the UK context in which 39.9% of the people of London are of Asian, Black and Mixed backgrounds (UK Census, 2021); 22% of school students are users/learners of English as an additional language (EAL) in England (1.6 million) (DfE, 2022). Considering this background, he argued that educational response to diversity is a key challenge of our time.
Parting from this linguistically diverse overview, he then discussed language policies, pointing that there is no place for EAL in UK’s curriculum, which is, in its turn, composed by a selection that is always ideologically driven. Still referring to language policies, Professor Leung commented on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which in its latest version (2020) has amplified the notion of plurilingualism, plurilingual competence and repertoire as well as established a connection between these ideas and the concepts of mediation and emotional intelligence as part of linguistic proficiency. Having these changes and challenges in mind, Professor Leung then questioned the role of English teachers in diverse and multilingual settings, considering the increase in sponsored professionalism that affects teachers’ autonomy, and emphasized the ethical sensibility that is required by language education if oriented by the premise of Equality of Treatment, which embraces difference as a key aspect of individuals’ unique identity.
At the end of the talk, Professor Leung brought up some thought-provoking questions such as, “If plurilingualism is part of English-medium communication, how and how far should lingua franca/translanguaging pedagogy and assessment be explicitly adopted?” The event was concluded by audience questions and discussion.
multilingualismwithenglish.org 