Abstract
In light of the increasing linguistic and cultural diversity that characterizes South Tyrolean schools, the COMPASS initiative (Didactic Competences in the Multilingual Classroom) was launched in 2021 with the aim of supporting teams of primary schoolteachers on their way towards embracing more inclusive forms of plurilingual education. The initiative entails two main components, i.e. a two-year professional development course and a longitudinal research study into teacher attitudes, knowledge and practices. In the professional development course, a major focus is placed on exploring concepts, strategies and practices geared towards pedagogical translanguaging (Cenoz & Gorter 2022), intended here as the strategic activation and use of the students’ whole linguistic repertoires for both language and content learning. After sketching the main principles behind the COMPASS initiative in this lecture, I will discuss the preliminary results of the qualitative analysis conducted on data gathered from two teacher teams currently participating in the initiative. The data were collected in May 2022 through focus group interviews aimed at gaining insights into the teachers’ experiences with the first year of training. Overall, the findings stress the importance of promoting reflexivity through training, collaboration and exchange among teachers as well as between teachers and researchers.
Cenoz, J. and Gorter, D. (2022). Pedagogical Translanguaging (Elements in Language Teaching). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press