Page 44 - Linguistically Diverse Educational Contexts

LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS
The approach focuses on helping learners master subject content and communicate knowledge effectively and appropriately across disciplines, cultures, and languages, in multiple ways, so that they become creative, responsible global citizens (Meyer & Coyle, 2017, p. 204). Subject learning has two components – both the construction of knowledge and the communication and sharing of that knowledge. In order to identify the main components of subject literacy, relating to both knowledge construction and knowledge sharing (to share knowledge, appropriate language must be used), and to show that deep learning requires the learner to produce connections between conceptualising and communicating, the Graz Group created a model (2015) showing the interdependencies of this complex process.
Figure 3: Graz Group's model for plurilingual development
(Meyer & Coyle, 2017, p. 205)
This model emphasises the need to actively explore the connections between the two continua when engaging in subject knowledge-building activities. Progress can be seen when beginners increase their meaning-making potential by moving up the continuum, while increasing their ability to verbalise increasingly complex content using language to demonstrate their understanding.
Language plays a dual role in learning. On the one hand, it serves to make learners' understanding and thinking visible; on the other hand, it is a tool for the teacher who, through it, can mediate learners' thinking and understanding through pedagogical intervention and scaffolding to enable them to master specific skills and knowledge.
Cognitive discourse functions were found to play a crucial role in knowledge construction as they contribute to the creation and reinforcement of mental patterns underlying epistemological elements
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