Introduction: multilingual approaches to teaching and learning

In the wake of the increasing societal diversity in Europe, it is imperative that teachers reflect on their teaching approaches and adjust them to cater for the growing number of multilingual pupils. This introductory chapter outlines the monolingual mindset and language hierarchies that still exist in European education systems, and explains these are a result of the nation-forming movements of the nineteenth century. Next, four types of language instruction are presented: foreign language instruction; second language pedagogy; bilingual/monoglossic instruction; and plurilingual/heteroglossic instruction. The chapter continues with different types of multilingual approaches in mainstream educational settings that capitalise on multilingualism for teaching and learning, among them intercomprehension and translanguaging. Having explained these, the chapter explores the importance of partnerships with parents, professional development, and language policies because these actors and factors contribute to the effectiveness and sustainability of the approaches. The chapter concludes with a presentation of the structure of this volume as well as of the individual chapters.