Transforming Pedagogical Practices for Academic Success (TransPAS)

Context

China is a multilingual country with over 280 languages spoken by its 56 ethnic groups. While Mandarin Chinese is promoted as the national lingua franca, the government has also encouraged the teaching and learning of minority languages.

In ethnic Korean communities, for example, there are ethnic Korean minority schools at all education levels, where formal instruction of both Korean and Chinese languages is provided.

Since 2001, English has been introduced into the national curriculum of primary education, contributing to a notable upsurge of English language learning throughout Chinese society. Today, English has become the most popular foreign language in China and plays a vital role in one’s academic and professional advancement.

The problem

Despite the bilingual advantage in additional language learning observed among European cases, Korean-Chinese bilingual students from ethnic minority schools tend to show lower English literacy skills compared to their monolingual counterparts. Furthermore, students in ethnic minority schools have been found to experience a decline in motivation for English learning as they progress to higher grades, whereas those in mainstream schools demonstrate an increasing motivation. There is no doubt that an enquiry into English language teaching and learning in this context is urgently needed, in particular to explore potential pedagogical solutions for bridging the language divide.

Meanwhile, it’s also been found that more than 70% of students prefer their teachers to use both Chinese and Korean in English class. This aligns with the growing popularity of a multilingual pedagogy in academia, which challenges the monolingual ideology in language education and views learners’ languages as resources for teaching and learning.

However, it’s not clear for English teachers how to transform their teaching practices and adopt a multilingual pedagogy.

Technology Overview

To maximise the potential of multilingual children and improve their language learning outcomes, TransPAS will provide research-led consultancy service to revitalise the multilingual schools in minority communities.

Our service will empower teachers with pedagogical training and innovative teaching resources, evaluate students’ multilingual competence with tailored assessment tools, and enlighten school leaders with research evidence and expert advisory reports.

The teacher training will comprise seminars and workshops guided by researchers, where teachers will develop lesson plans leveraging the students’ prior languages.

To recognise the teachers’ professional development, they will receive a certificate of teaching expertise, indicating their ability to implement multilingual pedagogy to achieve their teaching aims.

Students will be assessed in all three languages before and after the intervention, as their prior languages will also be enhanced through the multilingual teaching approach.

Finally, we’ll publish the teacher training materials and the multilingual lesson plans, as a practical guide for those working in multilingual schools across different contexts.

Opportunity

The team at TransPAS call upon the support of potential sponsors for funding and is seeking potential partner organisations who share our vision. TransPAS is also open to partnerships with individuals who have experience in brand and marketing to help enhance the social impact of TransPAS and ensure its long-term sustainability.

Founders

Tianyi Zheng, PhD student

Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge

Main contact for TransPAS

Tianyi is a PhD student in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests include language and literacy development in multilingual children, language teaching pedagogy in multilingual education, and translanguaging practices. She obtained an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Oxford and an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She also had work experience as a research assistant with the School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Prof. Ianthi M. Tsimpli, FBA

Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge

Ianthi Maria Tsimpli’s research focuses on multilingualism, language acquisition, language impairment, language in education and the interaction between linguistic and cognitive skills in children and adults. Before moving to Cambridge, she was Professor of Multilingualism and Cognition at the University of Reading and Professor of Psycholinguistics: Language Development and Language Impairment at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is also Fellow of the British Academy and a member of several editorial boards of international journals of linguistics and language development. She has directed several externally funded, major research projects on bilingual and multilingual education in Europe and in India focusing on evaluating the cognitive, linguistic and educational costs and benefits for learners in these contexts and on developing educational interventions to improve oral and written language comprehension, literacy and learning skills in socioeconomically disadvantaged learners.