Researchers working at the intersection of linguistics and education have for decades challenged the assumption that teaching and learning should take place through the medium of a single language (Baker, 1993; Cummins, 1981; García, 2009). Indeed, there is wide agreement among researchers on the benefits of utilizing students’ multilingual abilities for enhanced learning outcomes and fostering school belonging. Although researchers have long claimed that a multilingual turn is underway in education (Conteh & Meier, 2014; Krulatz & Christison, 2023; May, 2017), other researchers continue to report that teachers still hold deficit beliefs about students’ multilingualism (Pulinx et al., 2017), pre-service teachers are insecure about multilingual pedagogies (Dražnik et al., 2024; Iversen, 2024), and education systems follow a monolingual norm (Gogolin, 2021). Thus, there appears to be a gap between researchers’ recommendations and the practical realities of most schools in terms of their engagement with multilingualism.  

Bringing together experienced researchers within the field of multilingual pedagogies working in different national contexts across Europe, this symposium explores how we can chart a new way forward by moving multilingual pedagogies from theory to practice. Drawing on their extensive experience from various research projects and different teacher-researcher collaborations, the individual presentations share insights into the potential obstacles and opportunities in promoting multilingual approaches to education.   

Baker, C. (1993). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Multilingual Matters. Conteh, J., & Meier, G. (Eds.). (2014). The multilingual turn in languages education: Opportunities and challenges. Multilingual Matters. Cummins, J. (1981). Empirical and Theoretical Underpinnings of Bilingual Education. Journal of Education, 163(1), 16-29. Dražnik, T., Llompart-Esbert, J., & Bergroth, M. (2024). Student teachers’ expressions of ‘fear’in handling linguistically diverse classrooms. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(8), 3127-3142. García, O. (2011). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. John Wiley & Sons. Gogolin, I. (2021). Multilingualism: A threat to public education or a resource in public education? – European histories and realities. European Educational Research Journal, 20(3), 297-310. Iversen, J. Y. (2024). Pre-service teachers’ agency to enact multilingual pedagogies: A longitudinal case study. European Educational Research Journal. Krulatz, A., & Christison, M. (2023). The multilingual turn in language education. In Multilingual approach to diversity in education: A methodology for linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms (pp. 1-23). Springer. May, S. (Ed.). (2013). The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. Routledge. Pulinx, R., Van Avermaet, P., & Agirdag, O. (2017). Silencing linguistic diversity: The extent, the determinants and consequences of the monolingual beliefs of Flemish teachers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 20(5), 542-556.