Plurilingual practices in Lx Turkish learning: A case study from an online summer intensive program

Abstract

Drawing on a case study in a beginner-level intensive program held online by a US university, this article examines when and how learners sought out plurilingual and pluricultural connections relevant to Turkish learning. Compared to a monolingual orientation, a plurilingual approach to Lx learning encourages learners to draw upon diverse languages, cultural knowledge, and experiences in approaching the target language. Learners of less commonly taught languages often have unique motivations for learning (Dörnyei & Al-Hoorie, 2017), and prior experiences in language learning, making them particularly poised to mobilize diverse resources and benefit from a plurilingual approach (Wei & Ho, 2018). Data collection included a language history questionnaire, pre- and post - program plurilingual and pluricultural competence measures, semi-structured interviews, and classroom recordings. Findings reveal the activation of plurilingual practices is not limited to occurrences of lexical and cultural overlap and emphasize the centrality of the instructor in drawing upon plurilingual resources.

Keywords

• plurilingual practices
• turkish learning
• intensive programs
• less commonly taught languages