Multilingual Turn in Language Teaching and Testing

The updated CEFR 2020 included an expanded understanding of multilingualism and plurilingualism, incorporating scales for mediation and integrating plurilingualism as a core concept in language learning and teaching. The most recent curriculum created by the National Education Agency (NSA) specifies that one of the basic learning objectives for foreign languages is to develop the ability and desire to learn languages throughout life and lists cultural competence as one of the key competencies. This seminar will start by giving an overview of changes in how multilingualism and plurilingualism are viewed in language teaching and testing as well as examples of assessment tasks from different contexts. The second part of the seminar will include examples of class activities that can be used to help students develop an appreciation of multilingualism and to use it in their language learning and that can be used by teachers to develop related competencies. Finally, teachers will have the opportunity to reflect on multilingualism in language learning.