Page 60 - Compétences plurilingues : perspectives et actions / Plurilingual competencies: perspectives and actions

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S. Prevratilova: Plurilingual Students in Tandem Language Exchange...
ing Czech as a second language for international students). Students work in pairs, where
the international student learns Czech as a second language, and the Czech student practices
the foreign language. For both participants of the language exchange, the target language is
usually L3+.

At the time of this research, the tandem course participants had to attend three sessions
with the supervisor. In the irst one, the course supervisor introduced them to the nature
of the course and some basic principles of autonomous learning essential for working in
the tandem course, such as self-assessment, goal setting, interdependence, reciprocity, and
re lection (Little et al., 2017), course requirements and Moodle support. While the students
were encouraged to utilize the guidelines in Moodle to enhance their tandem work, they
did not receive any speci ic training in language teaching or the plurilingual approach to
language learning. The second (mid-term) session provided space for sharing experiences
and discussing problems. The inal meeting offered room to re lect on the experience. In all
three sessions, students received guidelines for the tasks they needed to complete to receive
credits for the course (2 ETCS). The tandem pairs had to perform three tasks: 1. Create
a worksheet for the tandem partner, 2. Keep a learner diary, 3. Write a inal re lection that
made the students re lect on the course and simultaneously served as a data collection tool.

Research Questions and Design
This study employs a qualitative research design to explore the ideal multilingual selves,
the perceived positive language interaction (PPLI), and plurilingual strategies among two
participants engaged in the language tandem course. Qualitative research allows for an in-
depth exploration of participants’ perceptions and experiences, providing an understand-
ing of their motivation that quantitative methods might overlook (Ushioda, 1994). The data
sources for the analysis were leaner diaries, tandem course re lections, semi-structured in-
terviews, and a lesson recording.
The study addressed the following research questions:

1. What sources of motivation shape the participants’ multilingual motivational pro ile?

2. How do participants perceive the interaction among the languages they have learned?
3. What plurilingual strategies do they employ in their tandem?

Participants

This study focuses on a tandem language exchange involving two participants, identi ied by
the pseudonyms Ella and Aneta. Both learners were in their early twenties and enrolled
in a bachelor’s program at the faculty. While Ella was pursuing a program conducted in
English, Aneta was a student in the standard Czech language program.

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