Visualising the language practices of lower secondary students: outlines for practice-based models of multilingualism

Abstract

The multilingual turn in applied linguistics has produced a number of models that approach multilingualism from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. However, fully developed models of multilingualism that focus on the language practices of individuals and groups are still lacking. This paper contributes to address this gap by introducing visual models that represent the contexts of practice and attitudes to the languages in the repertoire of lower secondary pupils in Norway. The paper starts by introducing the rich linguistic scenario in Norway and the role of language learning in developing students’ multilingual abilities. After a brief discussion on the role of practice in language learning, we provide an outline of current models of multilingualism, situating our visual models, the Ungspråk Practice-Based Models of Multilingualism (UPMM), in the field. The paper then focuses on the properties of the UPMM, which represent data collected from an online questionnaire answered by 593 students in lower secondary school and allow for the exploration of data both from the perspective of the whole group of participants and from an individual perspective. Particular attention is paid to the interactive features of the models, which can be used by teachers and educators as pedagogical tools for exploring multilingualism and language learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the contexts of practice for the languages in the participants’ repertoires based on the visual models.