In March and April, experts in the field of multilingualism will present multilingualism from the linguistic, psycholinguistic and educational perspectives. On 15th April, the third lecture will be held. Prof. Jasone Cenoz from the University of the Basque Country will speak about multilingualism and translanguaging in education.

In the series of six lectures, “Current trends in multilingualism research”, researchers will present linguistic, cognitive, affective and educational aspects of multilingualism. International experts will discuss the findings of empirical research on individual multilingualism. Specialists will explain the mechanisms which underlie the functioning of multilingual adults and children. Also, they will discuss individual differences in the acquisition of new languages, expressing emotions in foreign languages, multilingualism in education, as well as linguistic and cognitive development of multilingual children.

The lectures are organised by the University of Warsaw School for International Science, in collaboration with the International Association of Multilingualism under the Initiative of Excellence – Research University project (IDUB Action II 3.7 “Multilingualism”), coordinated by Prof. Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic from the UW Faculty of Modern Languages.

Languages in everyday use

Multilingualism refers to the usage of several languages by the same person for varied purposes.

 

A multilingual person is defined neither through the prism of the order of the languages learned, nor the proficiency in those, but functionally, as the ability to use those languages on daily bases,” explains Prof. Agnieszka Otwinowska.

Multilingualism, defined in that way, is common in modern societies, including Poland, as many people develop multilingually due to international mobility, migration or schooling. On the one hand, multilingualism is an opportunity, and on the other, it is a challenge and responsibility, especially for teachers working with multilingual children and youth.