Abstract
Schools in South Tyrol (Italy) are part of a tripartite educational system that aims at promoting the Italian language while also preserving the linguistic identity of the two autochthonous minorities, i.e. the German- and Ladin-speaking communities (Alber 2012). Institutional trilingualism thus has a strong impact on the linguistic landscape of South Tyrolean schools, with visual signs sketching a panorama of the relationships between the three main languages of the territory. Within this scenario, a further layer of complexity is brought about by new languages and varieties introduced into the area by migration flows. The increasing linguistic diversity of the province raises the question of the role and significance of all languages in school, particularly of those languages that students bring into the classroom but are not formally part of the curriculum.
Against this backdrop, in our talk we examine how three teams of teachers transformed the linguistic landscape of their schools over the course of a school year. To do so, we report on the efforts that the teachers made to enrich their schoolscapes, the challenges this posed, and the impact that such a shift had on teachers and pupils alike. All teacher teams are participating in a two-year professional development and research initiative on plurilingual education, the aim of which is to support them in valorising and mobilising the increasing linguistic heterogeneity of their classes for more inclusive teaching and learning. Within the initiative, attention is also given to the physical landscape of the school, as well as to its connections to pedagogical choices and actual language practices within the classroom (Menken et al. 2018).
References
Alber, E. 2012. South Tyrol’s education system: plurilingual answers for monolinguistic spheres? L’Europe En Formation 363, 399–415.
Menken, K., Pérez-Rosario, V. & Guzmán Valerio, L. 2018. Increasing multilingualism in schoolscapes: new scenery and language education policies, Linguistic Landscape 4, 101-127.