Abstract
This questionnaire was used in the spring of 2021 by the research team of the project „One school, many languages / A lezione con più lingue / Sprachenvielfalt macht Schule” (SMS 2.0) of Eurac Research in the context of a cross-sectional, explorative study on plurilingual education. Plurilingual education is understood here as any approach in which two or more languages are strategically used for teaching and learning with the aim of encouraging students to gain increased awareness of and appreciation for linguistic diversity, and to leverage the resources of their repertoires to enhance their overall learning (Guarda 2023).
The study in which this questionnaire was developed involved a selected sample of teachers of every subjects and working at all levels of education – from primary to upper secondary school – in the Italian province of South Tyrol, a historically multilingual area where three official languages (German, Italian and Ladin) now coexist with the new forms of multilingualism brought by recent migration flows. The aim of the study was to explore whether and how plurilingual education was implemented by the questionnaire respondents, as well as to identify their formative needs with regard to its implementation.
Based on this, the main research questions that informed the study are as follows:
• RQ1. With which frequency, if any, did the questionnaire respondents implement plurilingual didactic activities (PDAs) before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic? • RQ2. In case the respondents did implement PDAs, what kind of activities did they conduct in their classes? • RQ3. In case the respondents did implement PDAs, which languages and/or varieties did they involve? • RQ4. In case the respondents did not implement any PDAs in their classes, what reasons did they provide? • RQ5. What were the respondents’ formative needs with regard to plurilingual education and its implementation?
Since the study took place in a time when schools in Italy were still dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, it was hypothesised that the frequency or conditions of PDA implementation had been affected by the emergency situation. This aspect was taken into account while designing the questionnaire, and this is also why the research questions reported above make reference to experiences in times before the outbreak of the pandemic. The questionnaire includes 55 items distributed across four sections: these aimed at collecting information about the school the respondents were working in, their experience – if any - with plurilingual education, their formative needs and their biodata.
The questionnaire can be adapted to inform the design and administration of future questionnaires aimed at a deeper understanding of plurilingual education through the experiences and perspectives of schoolteachers, both in South Tyrol and in other increasingly multilingual contexts. Users acknowledge and agree that the survey is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind, and that users assume all risks and liabilities arising from or relating to its and recipient subsidiaries’ use of and reliance upon the survey. Eurac Research makes no representations or warranties of any kind whatsoever, express or implied, at law or in equity, in connection with or with respect to the survey, including any representations or warranties in regard to quality, performance, or noninfringement.
If interested, researchers can read more about the questionnaire, as well as about the findings of the study in which the questionnaire was administered, in the following publications:
Guarda, M., Colombo, S. & Flarer, H. (2022). Plurilinguismo: uno studio esplorativo sulla didattica plurilingue. Bolzano: Eurac Research. https://sms-project.eurac.edu/report-didattica-plurilingue/?lang=it ISBN: 978-88-98857-77-7
Guarda, M., Colombo, S. & Flarer, H. (2022). Mehrsprachigkeit: Eine explorative Studie zur Mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik. https://sms-project.eurac.edu/bericht-mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik/?lang=de ISBN: 978-88-98857-76-0.
Guarda, M. (2023). Plurilingual education through the teachers‘ eyes: insights from South Tyrol. In: Fusco, F., Marcato, C. & Oniga, R. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium on Plurilingualism, 252-269. Udine: FORUM.