Babylonia Multilingual Journal of Language Education

Editorial

2024-06-03T04:22:41-07:00

As spring 2024 gets underway in many Swiss cities, urban and Sunday dilly-dalliers may well have been taken by surprise by the sight of wild plants and multicolored flowers in once neatly manicured green areas.

For some years now, close-cropped lawns and carefully thought-out flower beds have been giving way to wilder, more natural spaces: flower patches in the city. These colorful expanses of meadow flowers are gaining ground in our urban environments, and with them many benefits for biodiversity.

This issue of Babylonia is not, of course, about biodiversity as such (nor does it deal with the subject of linguistic ecology), but the parallels with efforts to take variety and variation into account in the language classroom are obvious. We show a less monogamous, more natural perspective on the languages and dialects present in the language classroom, one in which rigid norms and uniform approaches give way to a growing recognition of linguistic diversity. On the contrary, as several contributions in this issue show, rigorous pedagogical management of linguistic diversity (in repertoires, skills, registers, etc.) is fundamental.

At a time when Switzerland has been sanctioned by the European Court of Human Rights for its climate policy, we leave you to judge the initiatives taken in Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain and China to promote linguistic diversity in the language classroom for yourselves.

Enjoy this issue!

Accueillir la variation en classe : l’exemple des pratiques langagières des enfants du voyage

2023-09-29T01:03:31-07:00

Les élèves se présentant comme voyageurs ont des pratiques langagières souvent stigmatisées et stigmatisantes dans une école française idéologiquement monolingue et monovariétale. Après une présentation des éléments linguistiques saillants, nous analyserons les enjeux sociolinguistiques et didactiques qui interviennent dans les interactions scolaires entre élèves voyageurs et enseignants. Nous prendrons comme cas d’étude l’analyse d’une séquence composée de 3 séances de conjugaison dans une classe de CM2.

Consapevolezza e riflessione linguistica nella scuola primaria

2023-10-04T06:33:52-07:00

L’area di confine dell’Alto Adige-Südtirol presenta un contesto scolastico dove l’uso delle lingue è oggetto da un lato di politiche linguistiche dichiarate, dall’altro gli usi dei parlanti sono lo specchio della complessità sociolinguistica del territorio. Il contributo si focalizza nell’ambito degli usi, dell’esplicitazione della consapevolezza linguistica, espressione della percezione da parte dei parlanti.

Dopo un questionario di riflessione socio-metalinguistica, le attività proposte a quattro classi della scuola primaria sono state di comprensione del testo, di manipolazione della morfologia nominale e riflessione linguistica metacognitiva. I percorsi hanno aiutato a sviluppare negli apprendenti la consapevolezza della ricchezza del proprio repertorio linguistico

Uno studio quant/i-qualitativo sulle varietà dell’italiano in manuali d’italiano LS destinati ad apprendenti sinofoni

2023-10-09T23:59:55-07:00

Abstract

In the last two decades, there has been a steady increase in the number of Italian learners in universities in China. The first university course in Italian was opened in 1954 and nowadays there are about 42 universities where there is a undergraduate course in Italian. The present paper aims to conduct both a quantitative and qualitative study of the varieties of Italian offered in Italian textbooks released in China for Italian learners and then to observe whether and how these varieties differ including at the diachronic level. Finally, the study concludes with some reflections about the varieties to be offered in classes to Chinese students of Italian as LS.

Est-il possible, en cours de FLE, d’intégrer les différentes variétés linguistiques dans le système universitaire espagnol ?

2023-11-21T01:25:50-08:00

The acquisition of foreign languages in Spanish university teaching occupies a privileged place in various degree courses and therefore, the aim of this article will firstly be to provide feedback on practices aimed at integrating French Swiss “romand” into both degree and master’s courses, and to evaluate learners ludically using gamification.

Secondly, we will analyse the attitude of the students and of my colleagues, in order to determine whether it would be appropriate to continue to make forays into varieties through conferences, which would make it possible to integrate the cultural diversity of the French-speaking world and enrich FLE courses, or whether we should remain to simple lexical examples interspersed between didactic units.

«Sie haben nur darauf gewartet, bis endlich mal jemand nachfragt» –

2023-10-26T03:37:32-07:00

Students build up metalinguistic knowledge based on their individual, often plurilingual language experience, although this background is hardly ever part of metalinguistic discourse in the classroom. This paper discusses examples of teachers’ assumptions and observations about how students respond to questions concerning languages, especially regional varieties. Data from 10 interviews with teachers for grades 7-9 show they are interested in and even impressed by students’ knowledge and experience, but they do not normally refer to it in language lessons. Thus, research as well as teacher training should highlight both the way students think about language(s) and teachers’ knowledge about their doing so.

Comportement normatif dans l'enseignement de L1 chez les élèves de Suisse romande et romanche

2023-10-19T00:27:01-07:00

Almain fin a la fin dal stgalim primar s’exerciteschan ils:las scolar:as rumantsch:as en ina uschenumnada «dubla diglossia» (Kristol en Cathomas 2005) u enconuschientscha da duas variantas, auta e bassa, dal tudestg e dal rumantsch. Cunquai che la cunscienzia metalinguistica dependa t.a. er da las savidas en circulaziun e dal context social (Pinto & El Euch 2015) che influenzeschan il cumportament linguistic (Prikhodkine 2012), avain nus perscrutà cun in questiunari da grammaticalitad sin tge moda che ca. 30 scolar:as sursilvan:as da 12-13 onns da la Scola populara da Mustér expriman lur giudicaments normativs. Il questiunari è vegnì suttamess ad el:las en il decurs da schaner 2023. A medem temp avain nus intervistà lur scolast:as per stabilir sin tge maniera ch’il bun rumantsch vegn preschentà en classa da L1. Nus cumparegliain noss resultats cun quels da trais gimnasis da la Svizra franzosa, per verifitgar sche l’ambient pluriling pudess rinforzar l’instinct normativ u, anzi, contribuir ad ina toleranza superiura envers eventualas divergenzas dal diever.

Varietäten in Sprachlehrwerken des Deutschen und Italienischen: eine kontrastive Beispielanalyse

2023-10-10T00:02:38-07:00

Living languages are characterised by heterogeneity emerging from different historical, political, and social processes which can be analysed from manifold analytical perspectives (cfr. Krefeld 2010; Löffler 2010). The importance of applying a multilinguistic approach to language teaching arises from the increasing heterogeneity of communicative situations (Katerbow 2013), that makes the internal multilingualism an important part of the broader linguistic competence both in the first and in second language (Kaiser/Ender 2020; Spiekermann 2007). The German language takes a special place in the field of multilingualism because of its diachronic and synchronic pluricentricity (Glauninger 2001), which shows itself in clear linguistic, socio-cultural differences between standards, thereby influencing the formation of identity in combination with the internal multilingual landscape. On the contrary, the Italian language is considered as monocentric. However, the diatopic differences, which arise from both formal and functional perspectives, play from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives a fundamental role in the creation of the standard. Moreover, the Italian standard is currently evolving in the form of the so called “neo-standard” (vgl. Ballaré 2020; Berruto 2012) which shares many features with the oral communication. The aim of this pilot study is to investigate if and to what extent the manifestations of heterogeneity mentioned above are reflected in four selected language textbooks belonging to the B1 level. They will be analysed and compared according to following research questions: Which varieties are taught? Are there any differences? In what contexts and though what attitudes are they used? How are they taught (through specific exercises, reading, within communicative structures etc.)? Are they explained, translated, or integrated with metalinguistics references? The results can serve as starting point to other investigations including other textbooks belonging to higher of lower levels of competence.

Schriftbildlichkeit Et si des posts Instagram étaient une occasion de réfléchir en L1 sur la langue écrite au secondaire 1?

2023-10-04T01:57:59-07:00

Dans ce texte nous analysons un corpus de posts du chanteur et youtubeur Joyca pour proposer un ensemble de phénomènes à faire observer aux élèves : a) les caractéristiques du post Instagram de manière générale, à savoir les contraintes techniques et matérielles de ce médium ainsi que les usages linguistiques qu’ils révèlent ; b) le positionnement de son énonciateur et les caractéristiques de son destinataire ; c) le rapport texte et image. Ensuite, nous explorons des pistes de réécriture pour amener les élèves à réfléchir sur l’inscription de ces posts dans un contexte de production et sur le rapport de ces posts à des écrits qui émanent de contextes de communication requérant l’usage d’une norme dite standard.

Tutto il bello della varietà

2023-10-09T03:04:01-07:00

Un’insegnante d’italiano va a confessare i suoi errori. Durante il colloquio con il prete si scoprirà che l’insegnante nel suo lavoro ha agito come se esistesse un’unica varietà d’italiano, quella della lingua parlata in Italia, pur insegnando in Ticino. Una volta pentitasi la donna sarà perdonata a patto di scontare una penitenza un po’ particolare.

Introduction

2024-04-03T05:12:25-07:00

In dieser Ausgabe von Babylonia stellen wir die Frage nach Sprachvariation und Sprachvarietäten im Sprachenunterricht, der sich grundsätzlich an kodifizierten sprachlichen Normen orientiert. Wenn man eine kommunikative und handlungsorientierte Sprachendidaktik ernst nimmt, stellt sich die Frage, wie wir mit der sprachlichen Vielfalt und mit entstehenden Kommunikationsformen umgehen. Was stellt sich das mittlerweile schon in die Jahre gekommene Lehr- und -lernziel kommunikative Kompetenz im Zeitalter der sozialen Medien dar, die den sprachlichen Raum, in dem wir uns bewegen, zusammen mit der Mehrsprachigkeit neu definieren. Dazu kommt die Frage nach den Sprachvarietäten, mit denen wir tagtäglich konfrontiert sind: Dialekt, Umgangssprache, verschiedene Standardvarietäten gehören für viele zum sprachlichen Repertoire. In der fachdidaktischen Literatur wird darüber diskutiert, manchmal auch in der Ausbildung von Lehrer:innen, aber haben diese Fragen Eingang in die Klassenzimmer, in die Lehrpläne und die Lehrwerke gefunden?