This comparative case study took place with three cohorts of pre-service primary generalist teachers in England, Denmark and Italy to explore their experiences of learning an additional language using a narrative inquiry approach. The purpose was to analyse the participants’ narrative accounts to find out a model for the development of trainee teachers’ linguistic and pedagogical competences as well as their language awareness. The study aimed to re-examine the role of the mother tongue (L1) when learning another language (either foreign or additional), whilst concentrating on the use of transferable strategies by developing both individual and shared metacognition as a learning tool.

The need to equip future teachers with the knowledge and skills in other languages becomes imperative as per the increasing number of students in our schools who can confidently use more than one language. In this context, monolingualism offers opportunities for teachers to re-consider the pedagogical value of students’ native languages, acknowledge their cultural capital and develop language awareness to open the curriculum to a multicultural and plurilingual dimension. Although policies regarding additional languages in the classroom have been passed in Europe, these are now dated and there are very limited evidence-based training approaches that specifically address practices in language development. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing knowledge-base to inform the development of future language education policies and update the ones currently in place.

Traditionally, the use of the L1 when learning another (L2) has been actively discouraged (Lado, 1957; Krashen and Terrell, 1983; Pennycook, 1994) upon the belief that L1 interferes with the process of L2 acquisition and is, therefore, responsible for the learners’ errors (Pacek, 2002). However, this perspective has been contended (Cook, 2001; Jiang, 2002) as it has been possible to establish that the L1 has positive influences on the development of an L2. Studies undertaken by Auerbach (1993), Mitchell (1988), Phillipson (1992), Schweers (1999) and Wells (1999), amongst others, attest to it.

Since the participants of the study are all expert users of at least one L1, they already possess specialised knowledge and skills which make them communicatively competent. The premise of this study, therefore, is two-fold: on one hand, it seeks to explore whether the L1 can be used as a learning tool and, on the other, whether learners can also employ language strategies to facilitate L2 learning by transferring strategies between languages. The topic of strategic learning has been extensively researched from the perspective of cognitive psychology (Chamot, 2004; Oxford, 2011) and has given rise to several teaching and learning approaches. For this study, however, the model developed by Chamot (2004) has been chosen as it aims to develop learners’ communicative abilities with a special focus on productive skills.

According to Chamot (ibid.), strategies can be taught explicitly. This position rests on a mentalist view which considers language to be a product of cognition. Whilst we agree with such a view, we also hold that language is a social endeavour which emerges and develops from interpersonal relationships. As such, we adhere to the perspective that sees language as a mediating tool (Vygotsky, 1978) and, consequently, believe that the cognitive dimension of strategic learning needs revision so that it aligns more closely to a socio-cultural position where participants can use their existing expertise in L1 to learn an L2. With this purpose in mind, we have framed the study using the model of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991) as our participants (novice trainee teachers) are indeed inserted in communities where they learn the subject matter (an L2) and the craft of teaching from the more experienced members (in-service, qualified teachers).

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