Page 231 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 231
mobilising the potential held by one’s entire linguistic repertoire ...
and redefining power relations in the case of minority languag-
es in the language constellation. (Hélot & Laoire, 2001, p. XVIII)
We include this long passage above because it underlines the idea of
recognising the potential of the school environment/context, which is also
the focus of the PYD perspective and was presented in part two of this arti-
cle. It seems that the addition of a multilingualism perspective can contrib-
ute to PYD precisely by revealing the perhaps hitherto overlooked dimen-
sion of the linguistic potential of youth. In addition, the contextualisation
of the PYD model with plurilingual and translanguaging practices might
offer a valuable tool to help teachers and learners become aware of their
strengths and develop efficient strategies for expanding and using their lan-
guage repertoires, which may help them in educational settings to improve
their teaching and learning.
In the second part of the article, we indicated the points common to
both areas and showed the potential of a collaborative approach by present-
ing intersection of concepts and research results. While many issues remain
unsettled as to how to properly link multilingualism and PYD, especially
on the methodological level, this was not the paper’s purpose. Nevertheless,
the interdisciplinary multilingualism research already shows the language
context is significant for investigating the strengths of immigrant youth
as part of their multilingual/multicultural identities. By understanding
language characteristics as an asset, the significance of multilingualism
should be indicated in the framework of socially just policies or preven-
tion programmes with the development of a multilingualism-friendly en-
vironment as one of those fostered conditions that promote adolescents’ at-
tributes of thriving. As Jean-Marc Dewaele, who have we referred to many
times, writes below about the line of extensive research on the connections
between multilingualism and personality:
In short, it seems that learning a foreign language tends to make you
a better person, more creative, more open-minded, more empathic, more
emotionally stable, more sociable, more likely to enjoy foreign language
classes, better equipped to learn new languages and less anxious in com-
munication. (Dewaele, 2016, p. 13)
Literature
Aronin, L., Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dis-
pensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5, 1–16. https://doi.
org/10.2167/ijm072.0
231
and redefining power relations in the case of minority languag-
es in the language constellation. (Hélot & Laoire, 2001, p. XVIII)
We include this long passage above because it underlines the idea of
recognising the potential of the school environment/context, which is also
the focus of the PYD perspective and was presented in part two of this arti-
cle. It seems that the addition of a multilingualism perspective can contrib-
ute to PYD precisely by revealing the perhaps hitherto overlooked dimen-
sion of the linguistic potential of youth. In addition, the contextualisation
of the PYD model with plurilingual and translanguaging practices might
offer a valuable tool to help teachers and learners become aware of their
strengths and develop efficient strategies for expanding and using their lan-
guage repertoires, which may help them in educational settings to improve
their teaching and learning.
In the second part of the article, we indicated the points common to
both areas and showed the potential of a collaborative approach by present-
ing intersection of concepts and research results. While many issues remain
unsettled as to how to properly link multilingualism and PYD, especially
on the methodological level, this was not the paper’s purpose. Nevertheless,
the interdisciplinary multilingualism research already shows the language
context is significant for investigating the strengths of immigrant youth
as part of their multilingual/multicultural identities. By understanding
language characteristics as an asset, the significance of multilingualism
should be indicated in the framework of socially just policies or preven-
tion programmes with the development of a multilingualism-friendly en-
vironment as one of those fostered conditions that promote adolescents’ at-
tributes of thriving. As Jean-Marc Dewaele, who have we referred to many
times, writes below about the line of extensive research on the connections
between multilingualism and personality:
In short, it seems that learning a foreign language tends to make you
a better person, more creative, more open-minded, more empathic, more
emotionally stable, more sociable, more likely to enjoy foreign language
classes, better equipped to learn new languages and less anxious in com-
munication. (Dewaele, 2016, p. 13)
Literature
Aronin, L., Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dis-
pensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5, 1–16. https://doi.
org/10.2167/ijm072.0
231
