Working Papers in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (Apr 2015)
Multilingualism and the Holistic Approach to Multilingual Education
Abstract
The number of multilingual speakers now outnumbers that of monolinguals (Tucker, 1998). In a figure provided by the Linguistic Society of America, nations that are monolingual or mono-ethnic are the minority; on the contrary, scholars estimate over five-thousand languages are spoken in 160 nations around the world (Valdés, 2012). For those people, the usage of multiple languages occurs on a daily basis, possibly due to the emergence of global markets or the development of the Internet. The present commentary discusses multilingualism in relation to a newer perspective to multilingual education. First, the scope of multilingualism will be provided, followed by a discussion on a newer trend – a holistic approach – to multilingual education. A particular focus will be placed on monolingual bias and insights for research on multilingualism will be proposed.
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