The new Multilingualism Decree: Study on teachers' view

Abstract

The role of English as a global language is unquestionable. Consequently, governments focus on fostering the learning of the foreign language. The Valencian Government tries to achieve this goal and strengthen the minority language (Valencian) through a new Multilingualism Decree that regulates English, Valencian and Spanish as the media of instruction, although the number of hours varies taken into account three levels that are established in the Decree. In the following paper, we carried out a study in the IES Ribalta, an emblematic high school of Castelló de la Plana, so as to ascertain a) the teachers’ opinions about the Decree, b) the effects of the new Decree on IES Ribalta and c) the opinion of the teachers about what subjects should be taught using English as the language of instruction. Moreover, this information allows us to recommend IES Ribalta which level should choose. This study shows that teachers agree with the Decree and think it will be helpful to foster English and to achieve a balanced command of the two official languages. However, they underline that the Valencian Government should invest in teachers’ language training. Lastly, they believe that Technology and Physical Education are the two subjects more suitable to implement through English. To conclude, we recommend IES Ribalta to choose the intermediate level since the high school will be able to select how many subjects will be taught through English and Valencian each academic year and this level allows fostering the English-speaking competence.