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Article published In: Multilingual education or How to learn to teach multilingual learning:
Edited by Eva Vetter and Nikolay Slavkov
[AILA Review 35:1] 2022
► pp. 12–37

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Metacognition in multilingual learning and teaching

Multilingual awareness as a central subcomponent of metacognition in research and practice

 | University of Innsbruck
 | University of Innsbruck
Published online: 27 September 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.22010.jes
Abstract
Metacognition has been increasingly discussed as one of the main features of learning in the 21st century (see Haukås, A., Bjørke, C., & Dypedahl, M. (Eds.). (2018). Metacognition in language learning and teaching. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism Theory (DMM) (Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2002). A dynamic model of multilingualism. Changing the psycholinguistic perspective. Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), which applies Complexity and Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) to multilingualism, it is argued that multilinguals develop increased knowledge of languages and language learning through experience. In this article a CDST perspective on multilingual learning and teaching with a focus on metacognition will be presented. The central sub-component of metacognition in DMM, in the form of multilingual awareness, comprising metalinguistic and cross-linguistic awareness in multilingual learners, will be discussed as a core feature of multilingual proficiency in multilingual development. In a number of studies in the Austrian and South Tyrolean context multilingual awareness has turned out as a core factor in both learning and teaching. These studies show that multilingual awareness has to be trained in multilingual pedagogical approaches in order to foster multilingualism. A holistic approach is needed to deal with the ongoing tensions between complexity, dynamics, adaptation and stability. Although it becomes clear that the nature of multilingualism can only be understood in relation to its context, it is nevertheless possible to isolate and define constant factors in an efficient multilingual awareness training as provided by the Five Building Blocks of Holistic Multilingual Education.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Change in dynamic systems
  • Metacognitive and multilingual awareness as emergent properties of multilingual development
    • Metacognition in childhood
    • Language choice in early social interactions
  • Cognitive benefits of multilingualism
  • Teaching and training multilingual awareness in the educational context
    • The 5 Building Blocks of holistic language education
      • Introduction and overview
      • Other contexts – New foci
      • The 5 Building Blocks in detail
      • How to deal with diversity in the classroom
      • How to build on students’ real life experience, their concepts and world knowledge
      • How to deal with the language(s) of schooling
      • How to deal with multilingualism
      • How to develop multilingual awareness/language learning awareness
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • References
References (76)
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