Exploring teachers’ practices and language attitudes in multilingual settings

Abstract

The aim of this TFM is to observe teachers’ practices and attitudes towards languages in three different multilingual settings: An English language model, a Catalan language model and a Spanish language model. Thirty teachers, ten from each multilingual setting took part in the study by answering a questionnaire and participating in a semi-structured interview with the researcher. Findings of the study show that the communicative language teaching is the approach teachers claim use. However differences are found in teachers ‘practices that can be explained due to the curriculum or methodological training. In addition, although teachers’ belief that multilingual education is important, they mainly rely on one language: English in the English language model, Catalan in the Catalan language model and Spanish in the Spanish language model. Finally, teachers’ attitudes towards languages are in line with the sociolinguistic status of each language: The prestige of English as a lingua franca, the prestige of Spanish as a majority language and the lack of prestige of Catalan as a minority language.