by Helen Pattio Combe
Introduction
Multilingualism is a key aspect of my life, and a huge part of my identity, not only as a person, but as a language teacher too. As a French-Italian woman, and more specifically from the bilingual region of Italy named Val D’Aoste, I grew up between two countries, and I heard, used, and spoke at least three languages from the very beginning of my life. I was lucky to encounter English in kindergarten and to add it to my daily lexical repertoire almost immediately. I fell in love with it and I have been teaching full-time English for eight years now, mostly in higher education, and I still consider myself an avid language learner, despite my strikingly slow advancement in German and Japanese.
I have taught English in the UK, in the US, and even did a stint in Qatar, where I was the only non-native English teacher (and forgive me for using the terms ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ – but I feel they are the most appropriate for what I have to say in this article). The infamous “where are you from?” always stings, no matter how many times I hear it.
When I became Head of Department and thus in charge of the curriculum and the hiring process, among other duties, I realized that I was finally in a position where I could change things for multilingual English teachers.
The multilingual teacher
The world of ELT is changing, and changing fast. We can thank AI and online platforms for some of this – more and more students are seeking technological solutions instead of attending conventional English-language classes. Instead, I’m seeing increasing numbers of specialist courses being offered, with a lot of classes like marketing and accounting running with English as the medium for instruction (EMI).
There are certainly issues with this approach, however. AI has not reached the stage of being truly interactive, and not all of the tutors you can find online are qualified or use the best approaches. If you’re the only student, you won’t experience communication in the same way, either – there are distinct advantages to the group setting, and negotiating meaning and outcomes certainly top that list.
EMI lecturers do not necessarily focus on the English part of the programme – their interest is in communicating the core message of their specialised syllabus, and I’ve heard many tales of students enrolled on EMI courses then needing somewhat remedial English language lessons to keep up with their classmates.
Teaching English is much more than teaching just a language, going further than the dichotomy between native and non-native speakers teachers, but “between those who know how to teach just one standard national language and those who know how to teach multilingual crossing skills” (Kramsch and Zhang, 2018:4).
Since English is an International language, and since “at least 80% of the interaction in English are between non-native speakers” (Crystal, 2018), having a realistic understanding of how English is used also depends on the teacher, and in our case, multilingual teachers. Highlighting that critical component was an important part of the new curriculum I implemented as Head of Department: emphasis was placed on the material used in class, which had to be not only authentic, but also had to offer a variety of international perspectives.
English as a Lingua Franca was also added to the curriculum this academic year, considering that ELF is “any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option” (Seidlhofer, 2011: 7). A development session was organized for the teachers to emphasize the difference between the different types of English and their attendant expectations (English as a Second Language, English as an Additional Language, English as an International Language, and English as a Lingua Franca).
We then organized workshops and a lecture around that specific theme with the students, during a week-long event dedicated to languages. The main goal of these events was to make the students understand by themselves the importance of communication more than anything else.
Moreover, I am located in France, which is distinctly a monolingual setting, per its history. I might add that the policy behind language teaching does not ultimately encourage language proficiency either. The mere concept of multilingualism, let alone plurilingualism, is still neglected. As Lightbown and Spada (2015: 98) put it, “[O]ne or two hours a week will not produce advanced second language speakers, no matter how young they were when they began.” Forlot (2022) picks up the thread, saying, “[F]ostering a multilingual education in France is, to say the least, a difficult task ahead”. The task is not impossible, but for those teachers who want their students to achieve success with their language studies, there are many obstacles to be overcome.
Multilingualism in ELT
Something always struck me as a language learner, even before I started teaching: how can we motivate learners to progress if the only model provided is the native speaker one?
Then, another question arose when I started teaching: one of my colleagues, who was a native French speaker, was always putting on a fake British accent every time she had to speak in French to her students. She had what might classically be called great pronunciation and had, I felt, mastered English: but when she had to switch to French for some basic explanations, she would adopt a fake British accent to express herself in her mother tongue. I confronted her once about this fake persona; she told me that it would hurt her credibility as an English teacher if her students were to understand that she was perfectly bilingual in French and English. The other question formed in my head then: what do such teachers see as their role in the language classroom?
Besides providing another model of language proficiency, multilingualism in ELT can be seen as transformative to the students who can then realize the impact and the importance of English and languages in general.
By promoting multilingualism, through their own presence as a model of a successful language learner, the multilingual teacher also “creates awareness for the psychological dimension of multilingual practices in terms of an important individual resource but also a legitimized means of promoting social and political recognition” (Ceginskas, 2022), and “plays a key role in legitimizing multilingual languaging” (Gynne, 2019: 351).
As I discussed this particular point with my fellow English teachers, they all highlighted the fact that they indeed felt responsible for their students, seeing themselves “less as ambassadors or bridge builders between two countries than as explorers, adventurers, exotic and eccentric border crossers” (Kramsch and Zhang, 2018: 146).
When I started my own career as an English teacher, I faced criticism due to the color of my passport: despite holding the right credentials (I naively thought that having a CELTA was sufficient proof of my qualifications – in many contexts it is, but sadly not universally), I was still rejected as I was not a native speaker of English, but merely someone who had learned the language. I am proud to be a language learner: this is indeed a big part of my identity, and it makes me as legitimate to stand in the classroom as any other teacher. Challenging the “monolingualism is the norm” discourse daily is just a bonus.
I am circling back to my first example of the colleague who put on a fake British accent while talking to her students, despite not being British, fearing the loss of her credibility. By putting on this accent, she wanted to feel legitimate as an English teacher. Indeed, as Kramsch and Zhang (2018:13) write,“[T]here is a tension between on the one hand, a humanistic education associated with languages taught as foreign languages for their cultural and symbolic value and on the other, an instrumental view of education associated with English and other languages that are taught as second languages for their exchange value”; perceived legitimacy, or its absence, falls into the latter category.
This whole legitimacy discussion can also be related to the concept of credibility: by putting on this fake accent, this particular teacher wanted to underline her credibility as an English teacher, which can lead us to wonder why she felt that need. She was fully qualified, she had a lot of experience as a teacher but somehow, what made her a credible teacher was her… accent? The school we worked at should have provided the legitimacy and the credibility that this teacher so desperately needed at that time. Not a fake persona.
Conclusion
The monolingual mindset is very much dominant within some societies, and despite higher education’s best efforts to broaden students’ minds, the picture remains black and white. Yes, offering English as a Medium of Instruction offers a window on a multilingual world, but it is replacing one major language (for example, French) with another major language (English) without giving any thought to the thousands of nuances in between.
In a time and space where multiculturalism and multilingualism are inevitable, highlighting the key role of languages in cultures is only the beginning. Helping students to navigate through a new culture, to communicate as much as possible without yearning for absolute (and perhaps even unachievable) proficiency, are among the different goals and justifications of having multilingual and multicultural language teachers.
For a country such as France, in which culture is such a prominent part of national identity, the whole concept of multiculturalism and multilingualism in education can sound more like a threat than a promise: it will take time to see a real shift in higher education policies that will allow the multilingual seed to blossom.
And elsewhere? Others have written on the native speaker issue in EFL – Marco Faldetta is one example, as recently as Issue 53 of the IH Journal. There are schools where multilingual support – and the legitimacy of multilingual teachers – is already pervasive; let us hope that this is a trend that spreads far and wide.
References
Ceginskas, V. L. A. (2022) Multilingualism as part of social reality. in Multilingualism and education (eds Prasad, G. , Auger, N. and Le Pichon-Vorstman, E.) Cambridge: CUP
Crystal, D. (2018) The Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP
Faldetta, M. (2024) Rethinking the Native Speaker Paradigm. IH Journal #53
Forlot, G. (2022) Fighting off Zombies. in Multilingualism and education (eds Prasad, G. , Auger, N. and Le Pichon-Vorstman, E.) Cambridge: CUP
Gynne, A. (2019) “English or Swedish, please, no Dari!”: translanguaging and language policing in upper secondary school’s language introduction programme in Sweden. Classroom discourse 10(3-4) 347-368
Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. (2013) How languages are learned, 4th edition. Oxford: OUP
Kramsch, C. and Zhang, L. (2018) The Multilingual instructor. Oxford: OUP
Seidlhofer, B. (2011) Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: OUP
Author Biography
Helene Pattio Combe is the National Head of Languages and Cultures at Quest Education Group in France. She holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Portsmouth, an Instructional Leadership Certificate from Harvard University and continues her research in multilingualism at the University of Portsmouth, where she is finishing an MA in TESOL, Management and Leadership.
