◐ Alderik Blom | ◓ Marguérite Corporaal | ◑ Peter Gilles | ◒ Caterina Sugranyes
Caterina Sugranyes Ernest
Universitat Ramón Llull, Barcelona (Spanje)
Biography
Dr Caterina Sugranyes is a professor of Language Didactics and Education at the Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Sciences Blanquerna at the Ramon Llull University in Barcelona and the leading researcher of the Research Group GREDA_languages.
She studied French philology and linguistics at the University of Barcelona and the University of Ghent in Belgium. Sugranyes was raised amongst languages and has been a language teacher and teacher educator for over 25 years and has always understood teaching plurilingually even though she was unaware of this until she started wording her PHD "A plurilingual approach to language teaching and learning in Catalonia" back in 2015. She accompanies, listens and supports teachers and student teachers in rethinking their own teaching practices.
At present her research focuses on the use and visibility of own languages at schools as a way of encouraging plurilingual identity to boost overall language wellbeing. She is the coordinator of the ECML project “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of (language) teachers” and is part of the ENROPE consortium - European Network for Junior Researchers in the Field of Plurilingualism and Education- as a senior researcher.
Abstract
Embracing a positive approach to promote effective plurilingual teaching through plurilingual wellbeing
Are teachers plurilingual? Should they be? Are they aware of their plurilingual status? Do teachers call upon their own language resources to teach plurilingually? Do teachers really believe in plurilingualism? What relationship do teachers have with their own languages? Is this important? How can we help teachers to linguistically step out of their comfort zone?
This presentation explores the relationship between teachers’ views of language, their language repertoires, and how they teach and handle plurilingualism in the classroom. It does so by addressing the concept of plurilingual wellbeing (Sugranyes et al., 2024), which is defined as being aware and valuing one’s own language repertoire and feeling comfortable with using it in a variety of contexts.
Plurilingual wellbeing embraces a positive approach to teaching (Mercer, 2021) which stems from research on teacher wellbeing, language awareness and plurilingual identity and it understands how teachers navigate their own plurilingualism and that of learners.
The exploratory study presented examines the plurilingual wellbeing of 22 teachers from 9 European countries during the school year 2024-25. Data analysis focuses on understanding what hinders and fosters plurilingual wellbeing. The results highlight how the teacher’s context and experiences they have with languages and language learning are key factors in developing their plurilingual wellbeing.
Much research in the field tends to focus on language learners’ needs, this presentation instead sheds light on how teachers' plurilingual wellbeing can play a crucial role in fostering plurilingualism.
◐ Alderik Blom | ◓ Marguérite Corporaal | ◑ Peter Gilles | ◒ Caterina Sugranyes