From TESOL to TOLSE: Plurilingual Repertoires at the Heart of Language Learning and Teaching

Abstract

In this contribution I claim that, in light of current language education policies that encourage language learning and, paradoxically, have led to the reinforcement of English as a foreign curricular language, the time has come to conceptualize teaching other languages to speakers of English (TOLSE; Melo-Pfeifer in Multilingual turn in foreign language education: facts and fallacies. John Benjamins, New York, Amsterdam, pp 191–212, 2018) from the perspective of multilingual education. More specifically, if English has become the most taught (foreign) language worldwide, I claim that English could be an ally in foreign language learning and teaching if combined with learners’ first and foreign languages. In light of research in third language acquisition (see Vetter and Jessner in International research on multilingualism: breaking with the monolingual perspective. Springer, 2019 for recent accounts), whereby previous linguistic knowledge, in the first and foreign language(s) generally, and English specifically, influences how other languages will subsequently be learned, my claim is that pluralistic approaches (Candelier et al. in Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. Graz, Conseil de l’Europe, 2012) to TOLSE should be encouraged in order to develop and capitalize on plurilingual resources.