| CODE | IAL3007 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | The Multilingual and Multicultural Classroom | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Inclusion and Access to Learning | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | For learners with a migrant background, competence in the language/s of schooling is a precondition not only for integration but also for educational attainment. Education institutions in Malta are faced with a number of challenges in relation to growing levels of mobility. Enabling children and young adults to access learning quickly is critical to ensuring they can reach their potential and progress to higher education and employment. In the process of learning the language of schooling in addition to their mother tongue, learners gain linguistic and meta-linguistic skills together with multicultural competences. The study-unit encompasses the study of teaching in a multilingual and multicultural context and discusses language development techniques by defining what works to enable migrant learners with a different home language than the language of school instruction to participate in learning; to attain proficiency in the language of schooling; and to succeed academically (qualifications, progress to higher education, progress to employment) reaching their full potential. The multicultural component of the course will assist educators in developing an educational response objective based on encounters with diversity of cultures. The final objective of the course is to develop the encounter with diversity of languages and cultures into a learning experience. Study-unit Aims: The aims of this study-unit are to identify the linguistic, cultural and educational (pedagogical and didactic) challenges that teachers and students need to address in a multilingual and multicultural classroom; to identify possible ways to meet these challenges; to develop material for in‐service training of educators in order for them to be better equipped to meet the challenges of the multilingual and multicultural classroom and thereby improve the quality of their teaching. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explain different ways for supporting migrant parents in the education of their children; - Identify strategies and techniques to support learners to access the curriculum; - Name support agencies that address multilingual and multicultural classrooms; - Critically appraise European policies in relation to migrant learners; - Retain mother tongue competences within the classroom; - Identify cultural diversities within the classroom. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Design and implement systems for assessing children’s language skills and other knowledge and competencies; - Provide migrant parents instruments and strategies to build their emotional support and their cooperation with the school throughout their children’s education; - Implement strategies and techniques to let the students access to the curriculum; - Prepare support in and outside the multilingual and multicultural classroom; - Apply research based teaching approaches that address a multicultural classroom; - Design programs and projects to develop mother tongue competences through non-formal and informal learning; - Incorporate cultural diversity skills within teaching. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts - Banks, J.D. (Ed.) (2007). Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives. San Francisco: Wiley - Coelho, E. (2012) Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms: A Practical Approach. Multilingual Matters: Canada. Supplementary Readings - Language teaching and learning in multilingual classrooms. EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Directorate-General for Education and Culture Available online at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/languages/library/studies/multilingual-classroom_en.pdf - Opportunities and challenges in the multilingual and multicultural learning space. Final document of the IntlUni Erasmus Academic Network project 2012-15 Available online at: http://intluni.eu/fileadmin/intluni/Opportunities_and_challenges_of_the_MMLS_Final_report_sept_2015.pdf |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Sandro Caruana Francois Mifsud |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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