Page 82 - Compétences plurilingues : perspectives et actions / Plurilingual competencies: perspectives and actions

A. Alchazidu: Building Presentation and Communication Skills...

perience with a plurilingual approach (see Fig. 1). Thus, the very irst step consisted in
presenting the concept of plurilingualism as such and explaining that it was going to be ap-
plied in the same way as it is de ined in CEFR (2020).
Do you have any previous experience with plurilingual approaches in your previous studies?
17 answers

Figure 1: Question regarding students’ experience with plurilingual classes. Semester Start. Source:
the author, 2023
The second question in the survey was centred on the language repertoire of the students
(see Fig. 2). Further discussions during the semester revealed, however, that students
tended to underestimate their competence in other languages. In this regard, there was
a constant need to encourage students, motivate them, and especially convince them that
their potential mistakes did not obstruct effective communication, because in given situ-
ations they were irrelevant. As a result, students inally abandoned the idea of the high
pro iciency concept as a necessary requirement for successful active communication.
In how many languages are you able to communicate, i.e. understand the information being
transmitted, and respond, even if it is only in a very simple way?
17 answers

Figure 2: Question regarding students’ linguistic repertoires. Semester Start. Source: the author,
2023
During the course, the axis of each lesson consisted of exercises based on the concept of
microactivities, which targeted one speci ic phenomenon or topic at a time. The microac-
tivities lasted from 5 to 10 minutes and by their nature allowed for natural code-switching
in a non-invasive way. In this regard, it was important for the teachers to know what the stu-
dents’ attitudes towards swift changes of languages were. The third question in the survey
revealed that 15% of students were willing to accept code-switching as a communication
strategy, while for 35% of the group it was a challenge they were likely to accept depend-

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