In multilingual contexts, a more multilingual focus is starting to be implemented in both language and content subjects’ classrooms because it is being seen as a resource among researchers and educators (Cenoz & Gorter, 2017; Cenoz & Santos, 2020). However, instruction about multilingual pedagogies is fundamental for teachers to embrace the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual focus on language education (Gorter & Arocena, 2020). Students’ beliefs have hardly been studied but in a study carried out with secondary school students in Norway, Haukås et al. (2022) concluded that those students felt that their language awareness helped them learn languages more effectively. The objective of this paper is to analyze the students’ beliefs regarding a multilingual approach in education and its potential benefits. This study was carried out in four secondary schools of the Basque Country where students both in the control group and in the experimental group were asked to fill in a questionnaire on beliefs about multilingual education before and after the latter group took part in an intervention aimed at overcoming comprehension difficulties they may have with academic language. The results show that beliefs are difficult to change and that using a multilingual approach is not enough for students to see the benefits it may yield.

Authors:
Alaitz Santos Berrondo, University of the Basque Country, Spain
Elizabet Arocena, University of the Basque Country, Spain

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Alaitz Santos Berrondo is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at University of the Basque Country in Spain

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