This paper reports on seven years of collaborative research with the Department for Education and Child Development. The longitudinal study examines the impact ofa multilingual literacy approach as it has been applied...This paper reports on seven years of collaborative research with the Department for Education and Child Development. The longitudinal study examines the impact ofa multilingual literacy approach as it has been applied in the teaching of French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish across 12 different schools in South Australia. The move to introduce the study of additional languages in Australian primary schools has yet to establish wide-ranging and on-going student engagement and often fails to progress students beyond simple pragmatic language use. It is argued that a new approach integrates languages in daily classroom literacy practices can redress this situation： a multilingual literacy approach. The theoretical framework that drives this approach draws from the notions of universality and transfer that are established in the literature. A critical realist paradigm provided a framework for integrating research methods： employing contingency theory and pragmatic methods of philosophy also ensured that values and hermeneutics were not sidelined in the explanation of the study＇s acts and outcomes. This longitudinal study demonstrates that when the aforementioned theoretical notions bridge the research-practice divide and are adopted into daily classroom teaching and learning activities, there is a qualitative and quantitative improvement in students＇ literacy learning展开更多
文摘This paper reports on seven years of collaborative research with the Department for Education and Child Development. The longitudinal study examines the impact ofa multilingual literacy approach as it has been applied in the teaching of French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish across 12 different schools in South Australia. The move to introduce the study of additional languages in Australian primary schools has yet to establish wide-ranging and on-going student engagement and often fails to progress students beyond simple pragmatic language use. It is argued that a new approach integrates languages in daily classroom literacy practices can redress this situation： a multilingual literacy approach. The theoretical framework that drives this approach draws from the notions of universality and transfer that are established in the literature. A critical realist paradigm provided a framework for integrating research methods： employing contingency theory and pragmatic methods of philosophy also ensured that values and hermeneutics were not sidelined in the explanation of the study＇s acts and outcomes. This longitudinal study demonstrates that when the aforementioned theoretical notions bridge the research-practice divide and are adopted into daily classroom teaching and learning activities, there is a qualitative and quantitative improvement in students＇ literacy learning
